File:A history of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in three parts - I. An account of the development of the social and industrial life of the town from its first settlement. II. The houses and homes of Hatfield, (14597734607).jpg

Identifier: historyofhatfiel00well_0 (find matches)
Title: A history of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in three parts : I. An account of the development of the social and industrial life of the town from its first settlement. II. The houses and homes of Hatfield, with personal reminiscences of the men and women who have lived there during the last one hundred years; brief historical accounts of the religious societies and of Smith Academy; statistical tables, etc. III. Genealogies of the families of the first settlers
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Wells, Daniel White, b. 1842 Wells, Reuben Field, b. 1880, joint author
Subjects:
Publisher: Springfield, Mass. : Pub. under the direction of F.C.H. Gibbons
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

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apawonk brook ofIndian times, has changed its winding course to any appre-ciable extent since the first coming of the white settlers.Some of the swamps have been drained by the residents ofthe town and some ponds created by artificial means. The clearing of forests was not a part of the work ofthe first settlers in preparation for establishing themselvesin their new homes, for the meadows and uplands were keptfree from underbrush and to a large extent of trees by theannual burnings by the Indians every November to checkthe growth of brush so that they could get about moreeasily to hunt and fish and to have cleared land for culti-vation. The fires once started were allowed to burn them-selves out and consumed the young forest growth for miles HISTORY OF HATFIELD. around. It is doubtful if there was much timber withinthe present boundaries of the township, a reason for thespecification in the Indian deeds of the right to cut treesfor use. The forest growth now covering- the hills at the
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A View in the Meadows. west of the town and parts of the plains is of comparativelyrecent development. The early settlers made stringent regulations againstthe unnecessary felling of any tree and the town of Hatfield HISTORY OF HATFIELD. 3/ voted in 1671, the year after its incorporation, that no manshould seil clapboards, shingles, or rails out of town, andcoopering stuff was not to be delivered out of town unlessmade into casks. For white pine in any quantity they hadto go as far as Northfield. Pine and chestnut and othersoft woods could not stand the ravages of the fires, butthere was probably a considerable quantity of oak and elmscattered about through the meadows, standing in clumpsor as isolated trees. The swamps were heavily wooded,mostly with oak. The elm in front of the Congregationalchurch that blew down in 1868 was probably there beforethe white men came. The first white inhabitants adopted the Indian customof annual burning to keep the unused land free from bushes,which b

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