New Haven Junction

H.P. Hood's bought out Sheffield Farms because they paid more for Boston milk than New York. Soon after Hood's bought, bulk tanks came in and that was the end of many farmers because of the cost. Oliver Sprigg was the last plant manager.

On the southeast side of the driveway was Cam and Jesse Spriggs' farm, stock yard and house. The house is the only thing left as of 2004. I loved to go to the milk plant with Dad to drive by the Sprigg's barnyard on the way in. You never knew what would be in the yard for livestock or fowl. Cam was a cattle buyer by trade, but he wheeled and dealed in fur buying and any kind of fowl. There was a horse and carriage barn that was hooked onto stock pens and shoots to handle cattle to load both truck and rail. Noble Whitney and Garfield Grant from New Haven street also shipped from here. When we first moved here cattle were driven down the roads to be shipped by rail, so it was a popular yard. Jesse was a hard working woman. She had a flock of sheep that she kept across the tracks from the milk plant in a pasture and barn over there.

In the 1950's Oliver and Betty Sprigg started a store in Cam's house. We use to buy some groceries there.

On the east side of their house was a rail siding, where carloads of things came and went. Jackman Fuel's from Bristol unloaded all their coal there. They also had weigh scales on Route 17 in the back of the store and in between where the post office is now. Bristol Box Shop and the other lumber companies all loaded and unloaded here on the sidings.

The station is all fixed up now. After a train jumped the tracks and hit the south end. All the mail for Bristol, New Haven and surrounding towns came in by rail. As a kid it was fascinating to see the flyer come through with mail car in it going like a streak and catch the mail bag that was hung on a special pole next to the tracks. The mail car had a special arm that grabbed the bag, then swung it into the mail car where the mailman would unhook it. It was the mailman's job to throw the mail bag out for the surrounding towns. He did this in all of a second.

The station agent also had to receive the telegraph messages that were received in the station. They were telegraph lines that ran along the tracks. Poles that had a 2 or more cross arms that carried 20-30 lines. They are all gone now. The town is in an uproar (now 2004, because Velco wants to run an electric line along the tracks). Progress is hard to accept.

Across Route 7 was a Texaco garage that was run by Howard Wright, then Bill Bennett. Dad bought gas for his truck in 5 gallon cans to run our milk machine pump plus we had to have a motor available when the wind didn't blow to run our windmill that pumped the drinking water for the cows. We had a jack pump for backup, 90 cents for five gallons of gas. Whoa!! The first garage burnt one afternoon when I was in school at Beeman. Rea} black smoke. When they built the new one they put in a place to sit next to the front window to gossip. All town politics were thrashed out there. Boy they would get real hyper!!

Page 3