GRANDUNCLE CLARENCE REMEMBERS MORE5

 GrandUncle Clarence led an interesting life. Here he talks about
blowing up a mountaintop and handling a team of skittish horses.

And he was still a teenager at the time! :



“I was born March 17, 1895 in Cambridge, NH. I’m 80, and mister, 
last winter I shoveled snow off 35 camps!

Father used to blacksmith for Blanchard and Twitchell. He looked 
after the campsite and he was a good logger.

I never got much learning, left school in the fourth grade and by the 
time I was 15 had my own steam drill. I was going to be an engineer.

Just happened the engineer, Silas F. Peasely, same engineer who put 
the road up Mount Washington, was working in these parts and I 
went up to see him.

He had a job taking the top of a mountain and I wanted the chance to 
do it.

‘Well’, he said ‘I don’t see why not.’ He messed around a little with
pencil and paper and finally he said, ‘I’ll give you $ 66.25 if you drill it, 
blow and furnish your own dynamite. I’ll have the teams there to 
move the rock.’

 I was a tickled to death youngster, I’ll tell you.

My drills was 30 inches and ten feet, and I bought 25 drills and a set of
sharpening tools. Just to test out the new stuff I set the machine up on
granite ledge and let her go full steam. At about 8 inches the drills quit
cutting. I pulled them out and they were as flat as a broomstick. Never
cut the top off a mountain that way

I proceeded to temper those drills and I tempered them right.

I didn’t know anything about dynamite so I put what I figured was 
going to most certainly be enough. I put a box and a half into the holes 
and set my wire. I had bought 500 feet, figuring that would be plenty, 
but overlooked that I would have to double my wire so I could then 
only reach 250 feet.

So I set my charger behind a thicket of water maples no bigger than 
your arm about 200 feet from the charge.

Now, Peaseley had brought his wife and family to see the mountain
top go up and he had his teams and men ready to haul it away.

I set her off, and Jesus, if the rocks didn’t rain down on us. There was
enough charge in that mountain to do the job four times. It set the rock
right in the road. Peaseley was tickled to death. I got my $66.25 and 
felt like an accomplished engineer. Peaseley went on to become world
famous.

After that my father took me with him to drive horses, and gave me a 
six horse team. We went through Bethel and Andover with sledges and 
just as I got my team onto the tracks in Lewiston a train came blowing 
and steaming and roaring. I wish you could have seen those horse eyes 
when they saw that. I got down and went up to the leaders and calmed 
them and just lucky they didn’t get destroyed themselves and me too 
into that train.

Then after we got across the track along comes an electric car. Now, 
mister my pole horses weighed 1700 lbs. each and the one on the electric 
car side jumped over his pole. I got them untangled- I’ll admit I was a 
rugged chap and I got the sledge where they wanted it.”