The Merrimack River: its source and its tributaries. Embracing a history of manufactures, and of the towns along its course; their geography, topography, and products, with a description of the magnificent natural scenery about its upper waters./ By J. W. Meader.

ITS SOURCE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
He is a scholar, poet, and naturalist; and, being a gentleman of
leisure and possessed of ample means, his zoological gardens contain
the most extensive private collection to be found in New England,
if not in the United States.
Bowman's Brook, so called from Jonas B. Bowman, Esq., some
years deceased, has its course through the north-easterly portion of
this town, and has been generally known until within a few years as
the best trout brook in all this region.
John A. McGaw, Esq., a native of Bedford and a wealthy New
York merchant and importer, has a fine summer residence near this
stream, on the river road, one of the finest drives in the city of Manchester. MIr. MeGaw's estate comprises about sixty acres of fertile
interval; his buildings are elegant, and surrounded with fruit and
ornamental trees. He has, also, one of the largest and best trout
ponds in the State. The splendid location and the tasteful improvements give warrant to the expression, "altogether beautiful," as
often applied to this situation.
Pulpit Brook has a fall of two hundred feet, and is a very pictu
resque cascade.
Bedford was granted, in 1733, to the officers and soldiers of the
Narraganset War. It was settled four years after by Robert and
James Walker, and, in 1738, Col. John Goffe, Miatthew Patten, and
Capt. Samuel Patten settled in the town. The first white child
born here was Silas Barron.
On the bank of the river, near Goffe's Falls, an Indian burialplace was discovered, and, in 1821, Dr. Woodbury exhumed several
skeletons, one of which was evidently buried in a sitting posture, and
had long hair like a female, which was in a very perfect state of
preservation.
Dr. Peter P. Woodbury, an eminent physician, practised medicine in this town until his death, about ten years since. He was a
brother to the Hon. Levi Woodbury.
The Souhe,gan River, on which are located a number of mills and
shops, empties into the Merrimack on its left bank. The Souhegans
lived upon this river, occupying the rich intervals upon each bank
above and below its mouth. Souhegan is a contraction of Souheganash, an Indian name in the plural number, meaning worn out
lands. These Indians were often called Natacooks, or Nacook, from
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