Ziplines Go Way Back

Today is April 1, traditionally a day wherein jokesters have a field day playing pranks on many unsuspecting others. However, this post doesn't fit that category. It's no joke, but a factual and tale that's part of history in Nashua, NH.

If you think ziplines are relatively new, you'd be mistaken. The fact is that they have been around for hundreds of years. In mountainous or jungle areas they were used as a way of transport and of sending supplies from place to place. Those in remote areas liked them as they were easier to build and quicker to use then bridges.

We can remember Johnny Weissmuller swinging through jungle treetops in a dozen Tarzan films from the 1930s and 1940s. How about you? 

Despite their long history, modern zipline courses only started in the 1970s. Seventeen years ago, the U.S. had about 10 commercial zipline compared to over 400 now and today, 72 countries boast commercial zipline courses.

Here in Nashua, NH, as far back as 1888 some folks were actually ziplining  on what was called an aerial trolley. 

There was only one in the city and it operated for 20 years from 1888 to 1908 within the mill yard area of the Nashua Manufacturing Company (NMC). It was privately owned and used for transport to and from work at the mill, which is now the Clocktower Apartments, where we live. 

My interest began a couple of weeks ago after seeing this vintage photo of that aerial trolley in The Downtowner, a local online publication. The information that was included with the photo is shown below but did not provide much information.

As recently as 1908, folks used an aerial trolley, basically the precursor to a zipline, to cross the Nashua River at the Cotton Mill. They built the existing Cotton Mill Transfer Bridge on this site in 1910. Can you imagine doing this back in the day – in turn of the century attire.

The photo shows someone going from a point of origin (most likely on Front St) to the large brick NMC mill building. So many questions went unanswered, including who built the trolley, who used it, how long was it used, and finally what happened to it? 

Despite countless online searches, a call to the local historical society, and a library visit, there was no info to be found on this device. However, its owners could be traced, which is how I learned about the ownership of this one-of-a-kind transport, as well as its demise. My source documents were online copies of information from two local papers, Nashua Daily Telegraph (1869-1904), Nashua Telegraph (1901-1952), also statewide NH newspapers, Ancestry (library edition) and census records. All of these could be accessed on the Nashua Public Library website and were available to any library user. 

Here is the rest of the story — as much as I could learn. 

The Nashua aerial trolley had 4 owners in its 20-year history (all males) who lived in the same general neighborhood. Three of these men, under the age of 30, worked at the NMC textile mill and used the trolley to cross the Nashua River from Front St to their mill jobs; one may have rented out its use to mill workers. 

Photo from Nashua Public Library shows NMC and homes along Front St.

Years ago, Front St. which is directly across the river from the former NMC was a residential neighborhood. Many of the residences, as partially shown in this undated photo, were either owned or rented by NMC mill workers.

Parking lot industrial buildings along Front St today

Today, all that residential area is long gone and the land is taken up by buildings, parking lots, and apt buildings as shown in this recent photo. Only the Nashua River remains unchanged.

Who started the aerial trolley?

In 1888, George Wells, 28, and Woodman F. Davenport, 30,  wanted to shorten their work route to the mill and avoid a longer and roundabout way across the old Main St bridge. According to the 1900 census, Wells and Davenport were both machinists. Wells lived at 30 Front St and Davenport lived a block over on Franklin St. and they got permission to build the aerial trolley. It consisted of a two-line system going from a Front St location to the mill and vice versa. There was no information on who granted permission, who built it, or how it was built.

Trolley ownership transfers twice

It's unclear how long Wells and Davenport owned the trolley before selling it to the Rev. Issac D. Colburn who lived at 12 Front St. He didn't work at the mills and it's probable that he rented the trolley for use by mill workers. Again, no specifics or dates could be located.

Then, in 1898, Jewell Wallace, 29, who lived at 40 Front St ,and a neighbor of Wells, Davenport and Colburn purchased the rights to the trolley. In the 1900 census, his occupation was listed as a machinist in the mill cloth room. Wallace was to be the final owner as both he and the trolley would met their demise. 

Here's where the story ends . . .

Wallace had advanced to become head man in the sample cloth department by 1908. On the weekend of Aug 8, he was working late to prepare for a major sample auction set for Aug 10-12 in NYC. According to a Nashua Telegraph account, 1907 and into 1908 found numerous NH textile plants in Lowell, Lawrence, Manchester and Nashua either shut down or on short time schedules due to lack of orders. Mill warehouses were full of material. Workers at those mills, like Wallace, were preparing sample cards to show buyers the quality of cloth goods produced at the mill in anticipation of sales. 

On Saturday, Aug 8, 1908, Wallace again rode the trolley across the river to work after telling his wife, Minnie, that he expected to work late. When he failed to return home for dinner, Minnie, who could hear the mill machinery running until late at night, didn't worry about his no-show. But early Sunday morning when her husband still wasn't home, she became alarmed, went to the home of neighbors (George Peno and William Senecal) and asked them to look for her husband. 

After checking, they found that the cable was broken and the trolley seat and its passenger were missing. (According to another article, it was Mrs. Wallace who went to the river bank and found the broken cable.) Finding the broken cable led to the prevailing theory that the 30 lb. trolley had struck Wallace in the head causing him to fall into the river. 

Police were notified and the river was dragged with grappling irons for hours with no results. Then, a party of canoeists found Wallace's cap caught in a bush. Shortly afterwards, a fellow mill worker hoisted the trolley up on a grappling hook. Shortly afterwards, Wallace's body was found in 8 feet of water, some 20 feet from the shore and about 10 feet down river from where the trolley had been located.

Headline in Nashua Telegraph on Monday, August 10, 1908

The medical examiner, who stated that Wallace's death was due to a blow to the head, later listed drowning as the cause of death on his death certificate. He was 39 years old.

Gravesite of Jewell Wallace & Family

The NYC sample sale auction was held as scheduled. It was declared to be a huge success and was said to have made the name Nashua synonymous with household blankets. Some 700 buyers purchased the entire accumulation of blankets and flannels at prices better than the NMC had expected. 

Unfortunately, Wallace never knew about this success which was due, in large part, to the efforts of he and his fellow mill workers. He and members of his family are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Nashua, NH. As the headstone reveals, the family suffered earlier tragedies with 3 children dying very young, a common occurrence in that century.

After his death, the trolley was never replaced. Instead, the Cotton transfer Bridge was built in 1910 as a safer travel alternative. It is one of the oldest riveted single span high Pratt truss bridges remaining in NH. (Designed by Thomas and Caleb Pratt, a Pratt truss includes vertical members and diagonals that slope down towards the center of the bridge.) It was used to transfer 500 lb cotton bales and also served as a foot bridge.

Cotton Transfer Bridge across Nashua River, NH

This view shows the bridge today as it straddles the Nashua River between Clocktower Apts (formerly the NMC) and Cotton Mill Apts.

The bridge is no longer covered or used for materials transport. It's primarily a foot bridge accessed from stairs on both sides and offers an alternative to way to cross the Nashua River instead of using the Main St bridge.

Main St bridge across Nashua River

I found this story a fascinating part of Nashua's history despite its tragic ending. In the end, there were many more questions than answers found. For now, the local history room of the Nashua Public Library remains closed. However, when it reopens, I will check its resources to see if more information can be found. If so, an update will be the topic of a future blog post.

That said, there's still a wealth of information available online through the library's resources. And, despite not finding much on this topic, looking at newspapers from the previous century was quite fascinating. Future posts may include some local topics or advertisements in local newspapers from the 1800 and 1900s.