Sometimes the most remarkable things happen during the lulls of a long construction project like the replacement of our Depot Street Bridge.
Last year, while working a fundraising table at the Guilford Welcome Center for the Bellows Falls Downtown Alliance, I happened to meet Holly Parker, a transportation planner for SLR Consulting from New Haven CT who had been hired by Brattleboro to work on its Master Walk Bike Plan.
I learned that Holly’s great-grandfather, Justus Hunting Beal, shown here on the left, was a prominent surveyor in the Connecticut River valley and an integral part of the development of many Bellows Falls infrastructure projects in the early 20th century. These projects helped to shape the Village with the expansion of the Bellows Falls canal, the introduction of streetlights downtown, the development of hydroelectric power, and the expansion of the municipal water supply at Minard’s pond.
A Fascinating Work Diary
Justus Hunting Beal, who was born in 1874 and died in 1944, left behind a diary and survey log, which Holly and her family graciously shared with me. More than one hundred years later, this record of his work gives us a rare first-hand account of how one man’s career helped create the Bellows Falls of today.
Leaving high school after one year, Beal eventually went to work for J. G. White Engineering—a New York company founded in 1899 to build dams, bridges, and power plants—as part of a team surveying future transmission lines in Maine and New Hampshire.
An early assignment on the Kennebec River in Maine shows the challenges of conducting survey work during a New England winter in 1910. Beal writes:
On Feb. 23 left Boston for Skowhegan, Me. Arranged to go up the Kennebec and make surveys near the outlets of Moosehead Lake. Engaged two rodmen at Skowhegan and started north on the Somerset R. R. from Madison on Feb. 25th and went to Moore’s siding in Squaretown and found accommodations at a lumber camp near the Kennebec a short distance below the outlet of Indian Pond. This was very rough, tho flat country and we had to work on snowshoes all the time and had some very long hikes to and from work.
Bellows Falls 1911-1923
We first find Beal in Bellows Falls in December 1911, surveying the gorge below the Vilas Bridge. Here are two diary entries from 1913:
May 27 to Aug. 11 — gathering flood data along Connecticut River Vernon to Bellows Falls.
Nov. 26th to Dec. 31 — survey for transmission line Bellows Falls to Brattleboro.
Survey work on the transmission line continued throughout 1914. Beal’s work was year-round, but he seemed to be closer to his North Street home in Brattleboro during the winter, as we can see in these three entries from 1915-16:
Dec. 19 to 31 — Surveys at Bellows Falls, locating canal, canal sections, current meter work and setting gauges.
Jan. 1 to Jan. 5 — Surveys at Bellows Falls — canal and mills.
Oct. 30 to Dec. 31 — At Bellows Falls making topo survey vicinity of paper mills.
By 1917, Beal was spending much of his time in Bellows Falls:
Jan. 1 to Feb. 22 — Topo. surveys at Bellows Falls and detail surveys of mills. (2 and 3 field parties.)
Feb. 23 to Apr. 13 — Bellows Falls pond survey and detail surveys and plotting at Bellows Falls mills. Three field parties most of the time.
Apr. 14 to Apr. 28 — Detail surveys and plotting at Bellows Falls locating property lines on Bellows Falls Pond survey.
A view of the Hotel Windham in 1932 showing streetlights on the Square (see 1923 log detail below)
This diary entry from 1921 shows Beal’s easygoing disposition:
Mar. 11 — Left Wilmington at 1 p.m. by auto and arrived in Brattleboro at 11 p.m. delayed by condition of roads. Auto part way, ox team part way and horses part way — pleasant trip.
In 1923, now nearly 50 years old, Beal is still doing strenuous winter work:
Feb. 19-24 — With two men on timber cruising trip to Somerset and Stratton — camped at various shacks we found in the woods. Snow about five feet deep.
And in the following month we find the final Bellows Falls entry in Justus Beal's work diary:
Mar.14-19 — Survey at Bellows Falls for street lighting system.
These brief entries in a professional surveyor’s diary inevitably leave us wanting more, with many unanswered questions! If you have any information on these activities, please reach out.
We'll post an update soon on the Depot Street Bridge project and let you know what's planned for 2025. In the meantime, here is a final photograph that we recently unearthed showing our town at work in winter 1927, reaping the benefits of Justus Hunting Beal's extensive fieldwork.
Questions?
You can email us at any time with questions about the Depot Street Bridge replacement project, either directly at developmentassist@rockbf.org or via the blog, and we'll respond. You can also send us information on the history of the area, which we'll be happy to share with the community through this blog.
Thanks for reading and keep an eye out for the next post!
Betsy Thurston
Executive Director of the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance
and Rockingham Development Assistant