140
��BAKER'S RIVER.
��Asquamchutnauke and pursued bis wind- ing and sorrowful way up through the valleys, now so pleasant and peaceful, and by the site of the present villages, now so bus} 7 , bustling and active.
The second exploring party on this river was a company sent out by the General Court of New Hampshire, in the spring of 1753, to explore the " Coos Country", with directions to pursue the track of the Indians as they came from the great valley to Baker's River and the Pemigewassett and returned again with their prisoners. This company was led by Col. Lovewell, Major Tolford and Capt. Page, with John Stark for their guide. They left Concord March 10, 1753, and in fifteen days reached the Con- necticut River at Piermont. They spent but one night in the valley and returned by way of Baker's River. This expedi- tion having proved a failure, the Govern- ment sent another company under Capt. Peter Powers of Hollis, N. H., Lieut. James Stevens and Ensign Ephraim Hall, both of Townsend, Mass., to effect if pos- sible, what had hitherto been attempted in vain.
This company started from Concord, then Rumford, June 15, 1754. They passed up the Pemigewassett and Ba- ker's River to Pond Brook ; thence up to Baker's Pond; thence northerly, through the east of Piermont and Haverhill, till they struck the Oliverian Brook; thence west to Connecticut River and thence up as far as Lancaster and then returned by the same course.
We have been furnished with the jour- nal of Capt. Powers on this excursion by the Rev. Grant Powers, formerly of Ha- verhill, who was a descendant of the Captain. We will give a few extracts re- lating to their journey up Baker's River, introducing such comments as seem ap- propriate, and will commence with the entry in the journal for Thursday, June 20, 1754, which is as follows: "We steered our course one turn with another, which were great turns, west, north west, about two miles and a half to the crotch or parting of the Pemigewassett River at Baker's River mouth ; thence from the mouth of Baker's River up said
��river north west by west, six miles. This river is extraordinary crooked and has good intervales; thence up the river about two miles north-west and there we shot a moose, the sun about half an hour high and then encamped.
(This was about 8 miles from the mouth of the river and must have been near where Rumney village now stands, and near where Stinson had been shot, something over two years before.) "Fri- day, June 21, we steered up the said Ba- ker's River with our canoes about five miles as the river ran, which was extra- ordinary crooked. In the after-part of this day there was a great shower of haile and mine, which prevented our pro- ceeding any farther, and here we camped and here left our canoes, for the waterin the river was so shoal that we could not go with them any farther. (This w T as probably somewhere in the vicinity of Smart's Mills in Wentworth.)
"Saturday, June 22. This morning was dark and cloudy weather; but after ten of the clock, it cleared off hot, and we marched up the river near the Indian carryingplace from Baker's River to Con- necticut River and then camped and could not go any further, by reason of a great shower of raine, which held almost all this afternoon.
" Sunday, June 23. This morniug dark and cloudy weather and we marched up the river about one mile and came to the Indian carrying place', and by reason of the dark weather, we were obliged to fol- low the marked way, that was marked by Major Lovewell and Captain Tolford and others, from Baker's River to Connecticut River, and this day's march was but about six miles, and we camped between the two first Baker's Ponds, and it came on a great storm of rain, which prevented our marching any farther, and on this day's march we saw a considerable quan- tity of white pine timber and found it was something large, fit for thirty inch masts as we judged. But before this day's march we saw no white pine timber that was very large on this Baker's River, but a great quantity of small white pine, fit for boards and small masts. And on this river there is a great quantity of ex-
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