The old depot of the West River Railroad in Newfane Vermont was where Station Master JJ Green, a prominent citizen of the town who wore many hats, including telegraph operator and journalist, worked each day and kept a diary for the year 1885. The depot was lovingly restored in recent years by The Historical Society of Windham County into the West River Railroad museum, where the original copy of Green's diary and many other artifacts are preserved. The book, 'The Diary of JJ Green: A Daily Record of the Year 1885 by a Stationmaster on the West River Railroad', gives an intimate view of life at the time, reflections on the seasons and current events, and the woes of the West River Railroad. The story is poignant, the diary ironic: JJ Green died on the train on his way to deliver a story to the Vermont Phoenix in Brattleboro in the infamous “Wreck at Three Bridges” the very next year (1886). The second third of the podcast is an interview with writer and narrator Deborah Lee Luskin on a bit of the history of the West River Railroad, where it fit-in regionally and a sense of how it was used. A description of the museum is also discussed as well as the West River Trail's recreational possibilities.
Today you can walk or ride your bike along several lengthy segments of the old West River Railroad thanks to the efforts of non profit Friends of the West River Trail. You can also pick up physical maps at their trailhead on the river near the Marina Restaurant in Brattleboro. That’s also where the West River and Connecticut River meet, just next to the Vermont Canoe Touring Center, where the bridge collapsed and JJ Green died. It’s also where the Amtrak line crosses on a new bridge today.
The West River Railroad Museum in Newfane and the Historical Society of Windham County nearby in Newfane are well worth a visit.
This episode of the Brattleboro Words Trail Podcast was researched, written and narrated by Deborah Lee Luskin. It was produced and edited by Donna Blackney. Executive Producer was me, Lissa Weinmann. The voice of JJ Green is John Loggia. The voice reading the 1885 newspaper account of JJ Green’s death is Jon Mack. Mastering of the original Brattleboro Words Trail audio and all Brattleboro Words Trail audio was by Guilford Sound. Audio editing for the podcast was by Alec Pombriant. Credit for JJ Green image goes to Daniel Brooks and the Historical Society of Windham County. Thanks to Laura Wallingford at the Historical Society of Windham County for her guidance and support.
Downloadable Trail Maps:
Link to Friends of West River Trail lower section of the West River Trail map, Brattleboro and Dummerston: https://westrivertrail.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/west-river-trail-map_11x17-2018.pdf
Link to Friends of West River Trail upper section of the West River Trail map, Townsend to Londonderry: https://westrivertrail.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uppersectiontrailmap.pdf
For more on the West River, see Brattleboro Words Trail Elizabeth Florette Fischer story for a glimpse into the unique geology of the site, and the piece on the ancient Petroglyphs on the West River.
JJ GREEN DIARY: LIFE AND DEATH ON THE WEST RIVER RAILROAD
VOICE OF HOST LISSA WEINMANN: Welcome to the Brattleboro Words Trail Podcast.
VOICE OF JJ GREEN: (Train sounds and funerary music) The Diary of JJ Green, A Daily Record of the Year 1885 by a Station Master on the West River Railroad. Thursday, January 1st. This has been a beautiful, mild New Year's Day.
DEBORAH LEE LUSKIN, NARRATOR: In 1885, JJ Green was 45 years old and held important jobs in Newfane, where he lived his entire life. Thanks to the diary he kept that year, we know quite a lot about both the man and about ordinary daily life in Newfane toward the end of the 19th century. Why or how this particular diary survives is not known, but it did.(Train sound and whistle) The handwritten document is on display at the West River Railroad Museum, located in the former Newfane station, where JJ Green was both the station master and telegraph operator (telegraph sounds).
JJ GREEN: Friday, January second. Yesterday, I collected all my railroad bills and have sent in the money due the company today. The dramatic club gave an exhibition and dance at the Union Hall tonight, and we have dedicated the new dining room with a supper for about 100 people. Everything passed off splendid and everybody seems happy.
Green wrote in lovely, old fashioned script, using ink that's starting to fade. For a 21st century person used to typed print, it's a challenging document to read. Luckily for us, the Windham County Historical Society has published the diary in book form. This edition includes an introduction with a brief biography of Mr. Green, background information about the village of Newfane at that time, some history of the West River Railroad and a description of the editorial process used for transcribing the diary into the book.
The diary is filled with ordinary details of how Mr. Green spent his time and money. He notes attending funerals, going to Temperance Union meetings and attending town meeting. The news he records is mostly local, like the jailbreak on April 18th.
JJ GREEN: About three o'clock this morning, George Underwood called me and said that five of his prisoners had broke jail and he wanted I should telegraph all around to notify officers to be on the lookout for them. They cut a hole through the privy door and went down through the cellar and also unlocked every door in the jail, leaving all the doors open…..Monday, April 20th, they caught four of the prisoners about nine o'clock last night, so they were out about 24 hours.
NARRATOR: In addition to station master and telegraph operator, Green was a trustee of the brick bank that's still in use today and headed up the committee responsible for its construction. He was also the custodian of the Union Hall, where theatricals, meetings and social events took place ... and he was a farmer. Every day, Green records the weather first, usually in relationship to his farming activities. He notes whether it was wet or dry, seasonable or unusual. He comments on the quality of the sap run in April, on the crows getting into his corn in June, about haying in July, harvesting oats in August, digging potatoes in September and picking apples in October.
JJ GREEN [00:04:01] On Saturday, July 25th. Hot as peppers today! I have been piling up planks and boards, putting away the stuff generally that was left from the house repairing. It is a job to get cleaned up.
(Rooster crows) Sunday, a fine day. I have spent it reading and resting. I have been reading most of the time, a very interesting article about astronomy in The Century Magazine. The revelations of the telescope and mathematics are indeed wonderful, and past our comprehension. But still, they are far short of demonstrating what the human mind most wants to know - the conditions of the planet and the surrounding worlds that seem to revolve in a never-ending space. Imagination would fain people there with life and beings like ourselves, full of hope. But is it a fact? That is the question we want answered!
NARRATOR [00:05:03] In one of the longest entries in the diary, Green considers his lot in life on July 30th.
JJ GREEN [00:05:10] No change in the weather. Everything is drying up. This is my 45th birthday, and as I look back over the past with its varying fortunes and remember the hopes and expectations of my youth and compare them with the realization of actual life, I find the ideal and the real to be wide apart. And although I have had a fair success in life and in matter of health, wife and family have been indeed highly blessed, and feel deeply and thoroughly thankful to the God who gave me life. Still, I have to say, it is not as I had hoped. And if life has been disappointing to me, what must it be to those who have lost health, wealth and family and everything that the heart holds dear?
Friday, the 25th, a fine day for Christmas. If this is a correct almanac for January, it will be a pleasant month. I have been busy all the time. There has been a Christmas festival at Union Hall tonight. They had two trees, well-loaded with presents.
NARRATOR [00:06:23] (Train traveling sound) JJ Green's good fortune ran-out on August 18th of the following year.(sound of a crash)
NEWS ACCOUNT READ BY JON MACK [00:06:39] (sound of teletype) Friday, August 20th, 1886, the Vermont Phoenix: Not in many years, if ever in its history, has the Brattleboro community received so rude a shock as was occasioned by the railroad disaster on Wednesday afternoon, when the Brattleboro and Whitehall Railroad Bridge across the mouth of the West River went down under the 4:30 freight train with passenger car attached, and the bridge, locomotive and seven loaded freight cars were precipitated in a confused mess to the river bottom, a distance of 40 feet below. Not a splinter of the bridge was left between the abutments. HA.Smith, the engineer, went down with his machine and was killed instantly. JJ Green, Station Agent at Newfane, was crushed in the chest and hurt internally. His death took place at 8:00 in the evening.(sad music)
He was conscious until shortly before the end came recognized as friends and appreciated all that was done for him. He called constantly for his wife and the doctors did everything possible by the injection of stimulants to prolong his life until she came. But she did not arrive until about an hour after he had breathed his last.
On Thursday morning, his body was placed in a casket and taken home to Newfane. Mr. Green took a deep and intelligent interest in public affairs, educational, historical, political and industrial, and was a frequent contributor to the columns of The Phoenix on matters of public concern. Indeed, one of his errands to Brattleboro by the fatal train was to bring a communication for these columns, the unfinished manuscript of which was found in his pocket after his death. On the day of his death, he attended the Sons of Temperance Picnic, where he acted as toastmaster, and probably the last public service he ever performed was to write the paragraph in regard to the picnic, which is printed under the Newfane head today.
JJ GREENE READS HIS LAST ARTICLE [00:08:58] News from Newfane: Lafayette Division of the Sons of Temperance held a basket picnic on the Windham County Fair Ground Wednesday, to which they invited Excelsior Division of Williamsville and True Blue Division of Townshend, who responded with a hearty goodwill that brought nearly 150 people together who have put their shoulder to the wheel of the Temperance car. Their deportment and the short pointed after-dinner speeches were such as would convince the most skeptical of the superiority of a clear head wherever a man may be.(Auld Lang Zyne music and sounds of a train disappearing into the distance).
(theme music interlude)
HOST: In this next part of the story, we hear a bit more from JJ Green and our narrator, Newfane writer Deborah Lee Luskin, shares some of the history of both the West River Railroad and the West River Railroad Museum in Newfane, Vermont.
JJ GREEN VOICE: Wednesday, 19th August. We worked at the depot all our spare time. Coulson mining the walls and fixing it so as to look neat and comfortable. The Women's Christian Temperance Union held a lawn party on the common by the fountain this evening. They had it light it up with Chinese lanterns so that it presented a fine appearance. The people were served with ice cream, cakes and lemonade, and the hole was interspersed with good music. The engine Brattleboro has come back here for water tonight.
LUSKIN (FROM AN INTERVIEW): The West River Railroad started operations in 1880, and it went until 1936. The museum has JJ Green's diary, and the museum has a replica of the telegraph office that he would have used. There are tracks laid out in front. It's a beautiful museum. There are a lot of signs that JJ Green would have seen and maybe installed their fabulous photographs in the Museum of the Railroad. And there's also a water tower (tank house). It's a very rare water tower (tank house) from the steam engine days. It has a big wooden tub (water tank) on the second floor. The trains needed water to make steam, and so they'd have to stop and get water all along the line.
There was a lot of industry up in the West River Valley during the time of the train and the train carried workers, but it also carried wood out of the forest. There were so many goods being shipped that they made an addition to the Depot. There is a Fairbank scale in the Depot that was manufactured up in St. Johnsbury and it is still operational.
People would take the railroad out of the hills, down to Brattleboro and back in one day to go shopping and get their mail. This was before Route 30 was passable, before people had cars, when a trip to town could take a long time. Travel was so laborious. People got to the train however they could, and there were whistle stops along the train track. There are pictures in the museum. You could hang out a white cloth and it tells the engineer to stop the train and you can either get on or sometimes you can deliver something to the engineer to pass on to the next station.
There was a lot of industry up in the West River Valley during the time of the train and the train carried workers, but it also carried wood out of the forest. There's so many goods being shipped that they made in addition to the depot, and in it they added a fairbank scale manufactured up in St. Johnsbury and it is still operational.
JJ GREEN: Tuesday, February 10th. Last night, we had what seems to be one of the worst storms of the year, and this morning we found some four or five inches of wet snow and slush sticking to everything like so much glue. It completely stopped the passenger train this morning at Wheeler's Mills above Jamaica so that they could not get through until the snow plow with two engines got them out about two p.m.. They reached here about 3:30 and left at four, and I hear they have got into Bratt at 10:00 tonight. The snowplow has been off the tracks several times today.
LUSKIN: I live in Newfane. I've always known about the West River Railroad because I drive up and down Route 30. You can still see bridge abutments and I was drawn to the book 36 Miles of Trouble and all the troubles the railroad did have. But I don't think they were particularly unusual for narrow gauge railroads into the hills at that time. Trains regularly jump the tracks. Keeping up the rails was a full time job, and if there was a lot of rain, they'd get washed out and people would just fix them right there as passengers would stand aside if they could. That wasn't always possible, and sometimes people got hurt and sometimes people died.
JJ GREEN: Tuesday, February 17th, a fine day. The storm last night was a fearful one, and the wind has blown so that it has drifted badly. Two engines have been all day going less than four miles. At this rate, it will take all week to get the road clear. I have worked most all the time today shoveling snow off the platform and in front of the depot. I am tired tonight.
LUSKIN: The West River Railroad was initially planned to go from Brattleboro to Whitehall, New York, where it would have connected to a main trunk line railroad. And had that happen, it would possibly still be in business today. It was not ever finished all the way to Whitehall, and it was also billed as a narrow gauge railroad to begin with. That means all the merchandise, all the freight that went from the West River Valley down to Brattleboro had to then be transferred into the standard gauge cars, so it all had to be handled a second time.
In 1905, the railroad was sold and the new owners increased it to standard gauge so freight didn't have to be transferred. Just the cars could be reconfigured onto the train that was going to Boston or New York.
We think of railroads as urban and depressed, but the railroads that went into the hills just went on these narrow little trails through the woods. And you can ride your bike or you can hike on the railroad trail down in Brattleboro. And then there are little parts of it that you can take up in Townsend and Jamaica, and it gives you a sense of how beautiful it was to take a rural railroad.
HOST: Today you can walk or ride your bike along several lengthy segments of the old West River Railroad thanks to the efforts of the Friends of the West River Trail. They are a non-profit group working to connect the segments they’ ve already made available for recreation into a continuous 36-mile trail. Links in our podcast notes take you to their site where you can download trail maps. You can also pick up physical maps at their trailhead on the river near the Marina Restaurant in Brattleboro. That’s also where the West River and Connecticut River meet, just next to the Vermont Canoe Touring Center, where the bridge collapsed and JJ Green met his tragic end. It’s also where the Amtrak line crosses on a new bridge today. And please consider visiting the West River Railroad Museum in Newfane; You won’t be disappointed, and you’ll feel a little closer to the life and times of old station master JJ Green.
(CREDITS) This episode of the Brattleboro Words Trail Podcast was researched, written and narrated by Deborah Lee Luskin. It was produced and edited by Donna Blackney. Executive Producer was me, Lissa Weinmann. The voice of JJ Green is John Loggia. The voice reading the 1885 newspaper account of JJ Green’s death is Jon Mack. Mastering of the original Brattleboro Words Trail audio and all Brattleboro Words Trail audio was by Guilford Sound. Audio editing for the podcast was by Alec Pombriant. Our theme music is by Ty Gibbons. Many thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities for making the Brattleboro Words Project possible and to the Vermont Arts Council for its help in getting this podcast up and running. We’re also grateful to Laura Wallingford at the Historical Society of Windham County for her guidance and support.
Downloadable Trail Maps:
Link to lower section of the West River Trail map, Brattleboro and Dummerston: https://westrivertrail.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/west-river-trail-map_11x17-2018.pdf
Link to upper section of the West River Trail map, Townsend to Londonderry: https://westrivertrail.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/uppersectiontrailmap.pdf