Chatoque follow up

In an earlier blog, I suggested that the building seen in this woodcut “View of Chocorua mountain from Chatoque corner, Conway” looks a lot like the current White Mountains Hostel on Washington Street not far from the Conway Public Library. 

The print was published in Charles Thomas Jackson’s 1844 book on New Hampshire Geology.

Below is a photograph of the White Mountains Hostel I took recently.

If you look closely at the area then known as Chatoque corner in Conway on a map and try to line up the geographical features in the background of the print, that leads you to this spot.

One of the things that struck me about the woodcut was the curious case of the triple chimneys seen in the print (you can click on the images to enlarge them).

This possible clue led me in two different directions, first back into the recesses of our archives and secondly back out into the field. 

On display near the circulation desk of the Conway Public Library can be found an 1896 Bird’s Eye View of Conway.

If you look at the area on the view where the line of sight would be you can in fact find only one building that faces the street at the same direction and according to this print did indeed have three or even four tall narrow chimneys.

At this level you can see Washington Street in relation to the covered bridges, both of which remain to this day.

At this level you can see more of the architectural details of the buildings on the street.

You may notice that most of the other buildings in that area could be eliminated as their gable end instead of their eaves side face the street. Let’s zoom in to different points.

Notice the “connected buildings” on the bird’s eye view where the main house is connected to an ell and then to the barn. Thomas Hubka wrote a great book we have here at the library about this phenomenon called “Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn. He maps out this 19th century architectural process and explains that is limited to a small area in New England, including Conway.

Hubka will be offering a series of lecture programs in the area later this year thanks to the New Hampshire Humanities Program.

Another great resource for understanding historic buildings is James Garvin’s book, “A Building History of Northern New England” and the many reports on his website. 

Hubka and Garvin describe the changes over time of both style and technology that would help solve our mystery of the curious case of the missing chimneys and the migrating barn.

A close look at the roof suggests there may have been two or even three chimneys here.

Amphitheaters and Uva Ursi

A number of years ago I came across an interesting reference in Thoreau’s journal about a scenic view he described as he entered Conway village in July 1858. You can read it at this link.

On July 6, he wrote that “The scenery in Conway and onward to North Conway is surprisingly grand. You are steadily advancing into an amphitheatre of mountains."

I love the idea of comparing an ancient amphitheater with the horseshoe shaped mountain ranges that enframe Conway starting on the west from Chocorua to the Moats, the Presidentials, Kearsarge, Green Hills and ending on the east with Redstone ledge. These mountains frame the spot Thoreau paused that now overlook the sports fields of Kennett Middle School.

It later became a popular spot for White Mountain Artists.

This literary metaphor of an amphitheater shape is even more interesting when you realize Thoreau, a transcendental philosopher, poet and man of letters got the imagery from a geologist, Charles Thomas Jackson. A giant of literature basically plagiarized an almost forgotten and discredited scientist. Oh yeah, and Thoreau migrated the reference about 35 miles northeast of where Jackson coined it.  

So let’s explore some comparisons between Thoreau and Jackson besides the fact that they both knew how to rock the then popular under the chin neckbeard with the totally clean shaven face (no mustache) look.

They both wrote in a very folksy intimate way with lots of personal anecdotes. 

For example, in his journal, Thoreau goes on to write that “I do not know exactly how long we had seen one of the highest peaks before us in the extreme northwest, with snow on its side just below the summit, but a little beyond Conway a boy called it Mt. Washington. I think it was visible just before entering Conway village.”

You can see this snow in the pictures above.

I find it fascinating that Thoreau had to ask a little local boy for the name of the mountain that crowns New England.

So how do we know that Thoreau got the amphitheater idea from a geologist? Well it takes a bit of sleuthing because Thoreau did not directly cite his source about the amphitheater, but we do know that he had read Jackson, because, just the day before Thoreau wrote in his journal about his visit to Red Hill. He said that “Dr. Jackson says that Red Hill is so called from the uva-ursi on it turning red in the fall.” Uva Ursi is also known as bearberry.

You can see the Jackson wording if you come to the Conway Public Library's Henney History Room or you can read it here and now at this link.

Both Jackson and Cole described the aesthetics of climbing Red Hill as well as the scientific and economic aspects of the landscape. Jackson’s reference to an amphitheatre which Thoreau then took as his own was on the next page as the bearberry comment. 

“This mountain is covered with soil and is wooded nearly to the summit. It owes its name to the circumstance of the leaves Uva Ursa with which it is covered, changing to a brilliant red in the autumn. Great numbers of visitors ascend this mountain, attracted by the unrivalled beauty of the scenery of the country bordering on Lakes Winnipissiogee and Squam. On a clear day, the view from its summit is of great extent. The lofty peaks of Kearsarge, Sandwich, Whiteface, Conway, Pigwacket and Ossipee mountains, seem to enclose, in an amphitheatre, the lakes with their numerous the spruce and pine, forming the most beautiful mountain view which this country affords.”

Jackson included a view from Red Hill.

By the way, the views from the top of Red Hill also became popular in White Mountain art and is a great hike today.

Plumbago, molybdena, mica and gold: Charles Jackson’s Treasure Map

In a recent blog, we introduced the work of geologist Charles Thomas Jackson on the geology of New Hampshire from the early 19th century. We started with a “View of Chocorua mountain from Chatoque corner, Conway” printed in his 1844 Final Report. We focused on the relationship between art, history and science. 

My title for this blog, “Plumbago, molybdena, mica and gold” refers to some of the economic benefits Jackson evisioned coming from his mapping out New Hampshire’s geology. He literally created a treasure map for the State. 

You can click on the image below to enlarge it and explore the key to some of the symbols he used to identify the location of geological deposits he considered important. In his book he describes these deposits and oh so much more!  

Then when you look at the map itself, you can see how he has applied these symbols as a finding guide for economic exploitation of the landscape.

If you want to explore Jackson's map in detail you can follow this link to Dartmouth's map site where you can zoom in really study it.

As we will see, in later maps, the focus changed from the micro id of potential mines to mapping the larger scale interactions of the bedrock geology. This was facilitated by the transition from Jackson’s relatively rough lines, shapes and symbol cartography to much finer mapping techniques and the use of color.

This obvious difference in the look and appearance of earlier maps compared to later maps was in turn facilitated by improvements in the technology of surveying and measuring the land to get the data used to make the maps.

So let’s take a quick look at how Jackson did his field work. Jackson was certainly “outstanding in his field” and in 1836 the artist Franz Graeter recorded Jackson and his survey party working in Maine.

The following are examples of the kind of tools and equipment Jackson mentioned as using in his books on New Hampshire. To learn more about this fascinating study, drop on by, click or call us at the Conway Public Library's Henney History Room.

One hundred years ago this month

The Masonic Hall Theatre advertised the film “Where are My Children” on page one of the Reporter, Conway’s local newspaper on February 1, 1917. No children under sixteen years of age were to be admitted. A little internet research tells us that the film dealt with controversial adult themes and social issues of the day. The film played to packed houses throughout the country, except in Pennsylvania where it was banned.

The next week they announced that they were starting a new “family friendly” policy of having a special matinee for ladies and children, with movies free of suggestion of crime, domestic relations and melodrama.

The pair of front page ads shows the dramatic social tensions of the day and the ways they were handled before our more modern system of film ratings.    

In other front page news, from February 8, New Hampshire State Senate killed the suffrage bill, denying women the right to vote.

It was not until page four, that we would read that the United States had broken off diplomatic relations with Germany.

Prohibition was another issue of the day.

As usual there were more column inches about farming than the war raging in Europe, women’s right to vote, or the sale of alcohol.

There was an in-depth article about a new type of butter churn, that used the power of gears and belts to improve on efficiency.

Finally, the Martha Washington tea party was called off due to illness.

So there we are, all the news fit to print from one hundred years ago this month, a combination of social tensions, impending war, and hope for a peace jubilee. In some ways, things really have not changed all that much.

Chocorua from Chatoque

Spelled "Chatoque" in the illustration caption published in 1844, with a “q” this area of Conway is more commonly pronounced with a “g.”

However, earlier this week historian Brian Wiggin confirmed that while most people do pronounce it as “Shatagee” is should take on more of a French style sound with the "q."

That debate has been raging since at least 1853 when naturalist Thaddeus William Harris wrote to Edward Tuckerman. He explained that “At North Conway, I became acquainted with old Mr. Willey, the brother of the person of this name, who, with his family, perished by the slide. He gave me some interesting information about this region. I made enquiries concerning the name sometimes given to Conway Corner, & the manner of spelling it. It is not Shategee, though so pronounced. It should be written Chateauguay or Chateaugay.”

The official street sign near there now spells it as “Chatague Lane.” I have found at least 8 other ways of spelling it.

In his letter to Tuckerman, Harris went on to explain that “The origin of its application to Conway corner is comparatively recent, & is thus explained. Soon after the close of the last war with Gr. Britain, a great muster was held at the Corner, in which there was got up a sham fight to represent the skirmish that took place in Oct. 1813 on the Chateauguay in the North Eastern part of New York, a place since known as Chateauguay or Chateaugay, Four Corners. From this circumstance, Conway Corner afterwards got the nom de guerre of Chateaugay, or as ignorantly pronounced Shategee. The facts seem to be so well authenticated, and withal so reasonable, that I have no reason to doubt their correctness.”

It is interesting to think that Conway folks were doing a "sham fight" perhaps, like a historical reenactment of a battle that the Americans lost to the Canadians during the War of 1812. They continue to reenact this battle today near the international border.

A number of period guide books describe “Chatoque” or Conway Corner as a small village with great potential. A map from 1860 shows us some details of Chatoque or Conway Corner with its tannery, post office, Conway House hotel, mills, church, school and shops along with the names of the home owners. For more on Conway Corner see my previous blog.

However, this wood cut view of Chocorua from Chatoque is not from a tourist guide book, map or book of artistic views. 

It is from a book on geology commissioned by the State of New Hampshire written by Charles Thomas Jackson. It comes from the early 19th century, a time when science, art, and history were not so far apart and as we will see, these disciplines were actually much more connected that today.

This is the first of a number of blogs we will be doing on this geology report. We will look at the book with its study of seeds and soils, mining, milling and manufacturing,  as well as its interesting connections and parallels to Henry David Thoreau and Thomas Cole.

It will also explore the author’s experience with dramatic "economic embarrassment," controversies over ether and the telegraph, shame, insanity and death. It is better than a soap opera, so stay tuned!

But for now, back to the view of Chocorua from Chatoque. You can click on the image at the beginning of the blog to enlarge it. 

In studying White Mountain scenes, I always try to find the original location of the view. Luckily, I see this basic view every work day walking to and from the parking lot and the Conway Public Library. Of course, you can’t always take an artistic rendering as an accurate representation. However, there are clues that the delineator, who is not given credit here, was a good observer and interpreter of the landscape.

In the print, you can clearly see the pyramid shaped cone of Chocorua and the undulating knobs of the “three sisters” to its north (right). If you line up the ridge in the middle ground with the proper peak, you get a pretty good idea that it is from today’s Washington Street and in fact, the building looks a lot like the current White Mountains Hostel.

As we will see, the author, Charles Thomas Jackson, was obsessed with improving maps and getting the angle correct with measurements for his understanding of the landscape, so I feel a connection and kinship with him in many ways (the fun stuff, not the controversies and insanity).

Actually, even with the limitations of the wood cut printing technique, the unknown artist did good job of capturing the contours, land forms, and ridges of the view, even down to the dirt road in the foreground.  As we will see in future blogs, there is lots more to mine in Jackson's work about art, history and science.