Clark's Bears, named Clark's Trading Post until 2019, is a visitor attraction in

Lincoln, New Hampshire Lincoln is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the second-largest town by area in New Hampshire. The population was 1,631 at the 2020 census. The town is home to the New Hampshire Highland Games and to a portion of Fran ...

, United States, in the White Mountains. It is known for its trained

bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

and for the White Mountain Central Railroad, a 30-minute, steam-powered train ride. The attraction is located along U.S. Route 3, north of the village of North Woodstock and south of

Franconia Notch Franconia Notch (elev. ) is a major mountain pass through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Dominated by Cannon Mountain to the west and Mount Lafayette to the east, it lies principally within Franconia Notch State Park and is traversed ...

History

The property opened as a roadside stand in 1928 known as "Ed Clark's Eskimo Sled Dog Ranch", selling souvenirs and allowing visitors to view Florence and Ed Clark's Labrador

sled dog A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in Dog harness, harness, most commonly a Dog sled, sled over snow. Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years and, along with watercraft, were the only transport ...

s. The Clarks purchased their first

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations grou ...

in 1931 and used it to attract tourists. The Clarks' sons, Edward and Murray, began training the bears in 1949 and created a bear show. In the 1950s, the Clark brothers began salvaging old steam locomotives and displaying them at the Trading Post. This led to the construction of the White Mountain Central Railroad, a purpose-built

tourist railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

with a

standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...

track. Construction on the railroad began in 1955 and the first train ride was on July 30, 1958. The railroad includes a 1904

Howe truss A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a bridg ...

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

that was originally located in

East Montpelier, Vermont East Montpelier () is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,598 at the 2020 census. History East Montpelier became a town in 1859. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total ...

, where it spanned the

Winooski River The Winooski River (formerly the Onion River) is a tributary of Lake Champlain, approximately long, in the northern half of Vermont. Although not Vermont's longest river, it is one of the state's most significant, forming a major valley way from ...

and carried trains for the

Montpelier and Barre Railroad Montpelier or Montpellier may refer to: Locations Australia * Montpelier (Queensland), a hill in the suburb of Bowen Hills, Brisbane Canada * Montpellier, Quebec France * Montpellier, a city in southern France ** The University of Montpellier ...

. The bridge was purchased by the Clark brothers and dismantled in 1964, then moved and reassembled to span the

Pemigewasset River The Pemigewasset River , known locally as "The Pemi", is a river in the state of New Hampshire, the United States. It is in length and (with its tributaries) drains approximately . The name "Pemigewasset" comes from the Abenaki word ''bemijijoase ...

near the Trading Post. The current train ride is powered during most of the season by a 1920

Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

, and mid-weeks during

fall foliage Autumn leaf color is a phenomenon that affects the normal green leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs by which they take on, during a few weeks in the autumn season, various shades of yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown. The phenomenon ...

season by a 1943

GE 65-ton switcher The GE 65-ton switcher is a diesel-electric locomotive built by General Electric. It has a B-B wheel arrangement, with models producing 400–550 horsepower. The 65-ton is an upgraded GE 44-ton with a heavier frame and a more powerful diesel engi ...

(diesel powered). The 30-minute train ride includes an appearance by a character known as the Wolfman, presented as a wild prospector protecting his

unobtainium Unobtainium is a term used in fiction, engineering, and common situations for a material ideal for a particular application but impractically hard to get. Unobtainium originally referred to materials that do not exist at all, but can also be used ...

mine by harassing the train passengers.

Museums

Clark's Bears includes several museums: * Americana Museum – collections of American historic items including steam and gas engines, early household appliances, advertising and products * 1884 Pemigewasset Hook and Ladder Fire Station – horse-drawn fire engines, wagons and firefighting equipment * Clark History Museum – History of Clark's Trading Post and the Clark family * Florence Murray Museum – includes antique games, guns, swords, souvenir china, typewriters, railroad memorabilia * Avery's Garage – a replica gas station with early motoring memorabilia, vintage motorcycles and antique automobiles

References

External links

* * *{{HAER , survey=NH-39 , id=nh0278 , title=Clark's Bridge, Spanning Pemigewasset River at Clark's Trading Post, Lincoln, Grafton County, NH , photos=10 , color=1 , data=6 , cap=2 Buildings and structures in Grafton County, New Hampshire Historic American Engineering Record in New Hampshire Lincoln, New Hampshire Museums in Grafton County, New Hampshire Roadside attractions in the United States Tourist attractions in Grafton County, New Hampshire Amusement parks in New Hampshire 1928 establishments in New Hampshire

History

Museums

See also

References

External links