The Thoreau 14 - another new List

[Mark Schaefer]

16 Thoreau Journals transcripts are currently online

Many you may already know this, but I will post the links. 16 yet to be published volumes of a new publishing project are currently available in online transcripts.

47 handwritten manuscript volumes of Thoreau's journals survive. As I understand this, these were excerpted and regrouped into the 14 Journal Volumes published in 1906. The new project will publish the entire 47 surviving manuscript volumes, with some regrouped again. In the complete journal record there are several chronological gaps, including the one that covered his 1844 Catskill trip. So there may be several missing manuscript volumes in Thoreau's journals. If we are fortunate additional manuscripts may yet be found.

 

[Amicus]

Thoreau's Journals

Many you may already know this . . . .

I only knew some of it, not including the availability of those on-line unpublished typescripts, so thanks again. Just to elaborate, the complete new edition of the Journal, which contains and will contain much that was omitted from the previous edition, will comprise 17 printed volumes, and Princeton University Press has already published 7 of those (Vols. 1 through 6 and 8, with Vol. 7 slated for publication later this year). I checked Vol. 8 out of my local library last week and it makes for fascinating browsing - very well done - although I found nothing specifically relevant to this thread.

What I do not know of is a way to word-search any of this stuff, or a comprehensive index to the entire Journal. Maybe something is out there now, or maybe the publication project will culminate with such an index.

Those typescripts are rough, but you can zero in on a particular date, if it is included. I just read some of the entries for his July 1858 trip through the Lakes district, by Red Hill and "Ossipee Mountain" and up to the Whites, including his second ascent of "Agiocochook." They didn't include anything significant that I hadn't seen in published excerpts.

In addition to the Journal, it is possible that Thoreau's Correspondence may shed light on his mountain hikes, and I see that the Thoreau Project is also working on a three-volume edition of that.

 

[NewHampshire]

Whereas North is blocked by South when looking down the Merrimack Valley (I assume that's what they mean, anyways, southeastish), South would have had clear views of it most likely.

From the 2 main view spots on north you can see from downtown Manchester all the way to a Northerly direction....I would think this qualifies as "Merrimack Valley"

I still vote for South which once had a fire tower

According to Firelokout.org (erroniously entered as being in Milford) the firetower on South Uncanoonuc did not begin operating until 1911 (tough for HDT to climb to the firetower when he was dead )

The book by J. Parker Huber to which Mark S. has provided a link includes a Journal entry from 1848 omitted by Howarth. In it, Thoreau identifies the North peak as the one with the commanding view of the valley. He provides few specifics on his hike, on which he was accompanied by Ellery Channing, and Huber speculates that they crossed the summits of both South and North U.

Yup, that sounds about right. As I said, from the 2 main viewpoints one can see from downtown Manchester out to a northerly direction. Also, it is possible to do both peaks in one trip (I have heard of people doing, not that I personally have). My Uncle is a memeber of the local snowmobile club, and while viewing a trailmap of his I see it is possible to use hiking and snowmobile trails to connect the two peaks. However, just because there is a snowmobile trail does not necessarily mean it is legal to use said trail. I don't know what the private property issues would be, so can not comment if those who claimed to have connected the two in one hike have done so legally.

Brian

 

[Amicus]

Which Uncanoonuc? On closer examination...

In [the Huber book], Thoreau identifies the North peak as the one with the commanding view of the valley.

The divergent observations of three Uncanoonuc veterans set forth above sent me back to the extract from Huber's book, from which I cannot cut-and-paste (copyright protection, I assume). I learn, however, that the identification of "North" U. is not in fact by Thoreau but by Huber - a bracketed insert by her in Thoreau's original text.

I also learn that Thoreau's text is not from his Journal, as I had assumed, but from A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Here is what he actually wrote:

Its [Uncannunuc's] name is said to mean "The Two Breasts," there being two eminences some distance apart. The highest, which is about fourteen hundred feet above the sea, probably affords a more extensive view of the Merrimack valley and the adjacent country than any other hill, though It is somewhat obstructed by woods. Only a few short reaches of the river are visible, but you can trace its course far down stream by the sandy tracts on its banks.

Huber has added "North", in brackets, after "The highest...", in her version. I see from my AMC So. NH Guide that No. U. is indeed the higher, but by a mere 9 feet. That is well within Thoreau's margin of error - from his other writings I have learned that he was spotty on elevations and relative heights.

So, it seems to me that Thoreau is at least as likely to have been referring to South U. Does the full quote above change any minds on this important point?

 

[NewHampshire]

Does the full quote above change any minds on this important point?

Nope. I still say it sounds like North. But tis nothing but MHO.

Brian

 

[carole]

Your list may get longer if "the hills of southern Vermont (1856)" count.
(see page 73 of "Forest and Crag")

 

[Amicus]

Your list may get longer if "the hills of southern Vermont (1856)" count.
(see page 73 of "Forest and Crag")

All of the peaks on the current List are over 1,000 ft. (including both Uncanoonucs - that remains unresolved, in my mind). Thoreau did most of his tramping within walking distance of Concord, Mass. and I wanted to avoid sub-1K bumps such as Mt. Misery in Lincoln.

So, are those Forest and Crag hills on the VT 1K List? (Sorry to confess that I don't own a copy, although I've read a lot of it in others' copies). In any case, that is a secondary source, and my experience with Huber on the Uncanoonucs makes me a bit leery of those. Quotations directly from Thoreau preferred, thank you.

 

[carole]

All of the peaks on the current List are over 1,000 ft. (including both Uncanoonucs - that remains unresolved, in my mind). Thoreau did most of his tramping within walking distance of Concord, Mass. and I wanted to avoid sub-1K bumps such as Mt. Misery in Lincoln.

So, are those Forest and Crag hills on the VT 1K List? (Sorry to confess that I don't own a copy, although I've read a lot of it in others' copies). In any case, that is a secondary source, and my experience with Huber on the Uncanoonucs makes me a bit leery of those. Quotations directly from Thoreau preferred, thank you.

It doesn't specify what hills. That's for you to find out.

 

[Amicus]

That's for you to find out.

On his excursion of September 1856, in the course of which he hiked up Kilburn and Wantastiquet on the NH side of the Connecticut River, Thoreau was a guest for four days at the home of Addison Brown, a former Unitarian minister, in Brattleboro. He took the occasion to make some quiet explorations around Brattleboro, searching brooks and hillsides for evidence of new plants. He walked the banks of the Conn. and West Rivers and traversed the Coldwater Path along Whetstone Brook (now in W. Brattleboro, north of VT 9). I'll check later if I think of it, but assume all that terrain is below 1K.

 

[Papa Bear]

I'm happy to do so, since I have included "Ossipee Mountain" with perhaps less justification. Henceforth, it will be the "Throreau 16+" (and more peaks may yet be added, if someone trolls the full Journal and finds one or two that Howarth and Huber may have overlooked).

Thanks for all this additional information, and in particular your link to the book by Jane Parker Huber. It is just 100 pages and seems to be out of print, but the extensive linked excerpts also confirm Thoreau's hike to the summit(s) of "Uncannunuc" - more below on that.



The book by J. Parker Huber to which Mark S. has provided a link includes a Journal entry from 1848 omitted by Howarth. In it, Thoreau identifies the North peak as the one with the commanding view of the valley. He provides few specifics on his hike, on which he was accompanied by Ellery Channing, and Huber speculates that they crossed the summits of both South and North U.

The south peak was used in 1848 by the U.S. Coast Survey as one of the primary triangulation stations of the original survey of the east coast. Note:

From the reports at the time, this station had to have a direct line of sight to
Belknap (Gunstock), Agamenticus, Mt. Ann (Thompson), Blue Hill, Wachusett and Monadnock.

See Eastern Oblique Arc


I'd say that must have had a pretty clear view nearly 360 degrees. The other day, Roy and I were up there and not surprisingly, we could see none of the above peaks.

A real peakbagger would climb both peaks (we of course drove up ).

 

[RoySwkr]

the firetower on South Uncanoonuc did not begin operating until 1911 (tough for HDT to climb to the firetower when he was dead )

There were no fire towers anywhere in NH or perhaps the world in Thoreau's time so of course he didn't climb any. I merely thought that the peak selected for the tower was probably the one thought to have the best view.

I have done the loop up S by the boy scout trail and down the incline RR, not a bad hike up but depressing when you get there. Even without the radio towers the summit is too overgrown for sweeping views but you can peek out.

N peak is a nicer hike with bigger view ledges but still a lot of trash.

 

[Amicus]

The south peak was used in 1848 by the U.S. Coast Survey as one of the primary triangulation stations of the original survey of the east coast.

Thanks for this interesting information. That the Coast Survey used the South, rather than the North, peak at around the same time as Thoreau's hike lends further weight to my suspicion that he meant the South peak in his paragraph quoted above. Moreover, while current topos apparently show the North peak to be 9 feet higher, that may not have been the perception in Thoreau's day. From this section of the 1906 Milford Quad, I would have concluded that the South peak was slightly higher. (Note also the striking resemblance to something of the two peaks.)

I had intended for a long time to hike the Uncanoonucs anyway, as a mildly interesting hike within an hour's drive. I will now make it a point to touch both summits.

 

[rocket21]

I had intended for a long time to hike the Uncanoonucs anyway, as a mildly interesting hike within an hour's drive. I will now make it a point to touch both summits.

You'll have to hop a fence to touch the south summit

 

[Amicus]

Throreau's Hikes in Vermont

That's for you to find out.

I've done some more research on this, which seems to indicate that Thoreau's only hikes in Vermont were in the course of his September 1856 visit to Brattleboro. I've read his complete Journal entry for that visit, using the on-line typewritten archive to which Mark Schaefer provided a link. It seems that, while on the Vermont side of the Conn. R., he didn't wander too far from Town. His Vermont high-point seems to have been:

[Sept. 8, 1856] Pm-- Clearing up-- I went a’botanising by the Cold-water Path. For the most part along a steep wooded hill side on Whetstone Brook--& through its interval.

This indicates that, while he may have traveled some distance along the flank of one of the mountains west of Brattleboro, he did not ascend. This is consistent with the balance of that entry, in which he treats Wantastiquet, across the River, as "Brattleboro's mountain," and his ascent of that as his one mountain hike during his visit.

I happened upon a brief account by Miss Mary Brown, one of Thoreau's two female companions on the Wantastiquet climb, which I found interesting:

He struck me as being very odd, very wise and exceedingly observing. He roamed about the country at his own sweet will, and I was fortunate enough to be his companion on a walk up Wantastiquet Mt. I was well acquainted with the flora and could meet him understandingly there, but was somewhat abashed by the numerous questions he asked about all sorts of things, to which I could only reply “I do not know.” It appealed to my sense of humor that a person with such a fund of knowledge should seek information from a young girl like myself, but I could not see that he had any fun in him. The only question I can now recall is this. As we stood on the summit of Wantastiquet, he fixed his earnest gaze on a distant point in the landscape, which he designated, asking “How far is it in a bee line to that spot?”

 

[Papa Bear]

You'll have to hop a fence to touch the south summit

You go under, not over the fence. At least as of last Tuesday.

 

[NewHampshire]

I have done the loop up S by the boy scout trail and down the incline RR, not a bad hike up but depressing when you get there. Even without the radio towers the summit is too overgrown for sweeping views but you can peek out.

N peak is a nicer hike with bigger view ledges but still a lot of trash.

Agreed on both counts. I had done North 3 times before going up South. Considering how steep the trail up North was I figured South would be similar. It was an interesting walk up the Boy Scout trail, but I could not believe it when we emptied out onto the road without so much as breaking a sweat! I assume the RR incline might be a bit steeper (I saw Marc Howes had a trip report on his website up about it once.) Overall I would say these two peaks are an ok place to make a quick run up if you live in the area. If you have to drive more than 20 minutes to get them though it, very honestly, may be a bit of a let down and waste of a good day hike.

Brian

 

[rocket21]

The incline is consistently steep, but certainly not killer. I found it to be more challenging than the trail that goes up the north face of the north peak. I drove down to hike both of them earlier this month, and added Oak Hill to make a three-small-hike-day, which justified the drive. I was let down by south, as there were very limited views to be had. North was nice, but as noted, the hike isn't too substantial.

 

[RoySwkr]

(Note also the striking resemblance to something of the two peaks.)

I will now make it a point to touch both summits.

Uncanoonuc is an Indian word that means ...

You can get within inches of the height of S Peak by just walking up to the fence, if you want views like Thoreau they are to be found lower down anyway

 

[Amicus]

Uncanoonuc is an Indian word that means ...

That's how they looked to me too. Those old maps are so beautifully etched.

You can get within inches of the height of S Peak by just walking up to the fence, if you want views like Thoreau they are to be found lower down anyway

I won't feel compelled to crawl under or over a fence for the highpoint - Thoreau wouldn't have bothered. Not that he wasn't an obsessive, but the Lists had yet to be invented.

 

[rocket21]

I won't feel compelled to crawl under or over a fence for the highpoint - Thoreau wouldn't have bothered. Not that he wasn't an obsessive, but the Lists had yet to be invented.

You sir are not a Thoreau scholar.

From Ktaadn

Leaping over a fence, we began to follow an obscure trail up the northern bank of the Penobscot.

Not only did a fence not stop Thoreau, but he *leaped* over it