New Haven Junction

war hat said "if you don't take it on the inside I will pour it over your head". That's where it went. Charlie said "what is Clara going to say tonight when she smells the whiskey!"

Across the road was the driveway to the milk plant and Kilbourn's. On the west side was Grant Crane's small house. He was the railroad station agent. On the east side was the Spriggs' house which is still there today as offices.

The first building was the A.B. Kilbourn Grist Mill. They would grind the grain that was grown here for all kinds of feed for animals. They also sold E.W. Bailey's feed that came in bags on the railroad on the sidings that the businesses all shared. Kilbourn's had a place in Bristol also. They trucked the bag grain from here. The burlap bags were brought back to the mill and they would give you .03 to .05 cents for each bag. Kilbourn's also was the first John Deere dealer around here. The farm equipment came here on flat cars by rail.

My father, Solon bought his first tractor and plows from them. A 1935 John Deere "A" and plows with steel wheels for $935.00. Big "Joe" Bolduc bought a model "D" and thrasher in 1940. This is how I met my wife, Raymonde, helping her father thrash his grain with the Bolduc's machine in 1948.

In the 1940's they moved the Ice House that was for the milk plant up against there mill and put in a grain mixer so the farmers could put in other ingredients in there grain. They also had more storage room for bag grain that was coming in by rail. This was when farmers were buying more grain then they could raise.

I wrote the history of the ice house and icing in 2001 (see attached article).

Sheffield Farms was on the end of this driveway starting in 1910. When my father took can there they were dumping it into a vat then piped it into a car on the rail siding then shipped to New York City. This is where the ice came in. They would put blocks of ice in the railcars to keep it cool. I always heard that in the summer when it was really hot they would put some right in the vat of milk to cool it on the way. They got their water from springs in Charlie Wright's pasture by the tenant house. They had a cistern by the plant for storage as the plant grew they drilled a well by the cistern which flowed over most of the time.

Many of the old timers worked at the Plant. Chet Briggs was the first Plant Manager that I remember along with George Palmer, then Clint Sherman as fireman and helpers. They kept the steam boiler a humping for steam to wash everything.

You had to have your milk in the plant yard by 10 A.M. This way they could get the milk on the train. You always tried to be there early before the three milk haulers came in from Lincoln, Bristol, and Monkton because they could have up to 100 cans of milk on. If you got behind them you would get out and help them unload. That took time!

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