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 SO UPCE AN'D ITS TRIBUTARIES..
the month of November, 1821, and a slight snow covered the ground.
The party consisted of Patrick T. Jackson, Kirk Boott, Warren
Dutton, Paul Moody, John W. Boott, and myself. We perambulated the grounds, and scanned the capabilities of the place, and the
remark was made that some of us might live to see the place contain twenty thousand inhabitants. At that time there were, I thinlk,
less than a dozen houses on what now constitutes the city of Lowell,
or rather the thickly settled parts of it: that of Nathan Tyler,
near the corner of Merrimack and Bridge Streets; that of Josiah
Fletcher, near the Boott sills; the house and store of Phineas
Whiting, near Pawtucket Bridge; the house of Mrs. Warren, near
what is now Warren Street; the house of Judge Livermore (Edward St. Low), east of Concord River, then called B3elvidere, and a
few others. Formal articles of association were drawn up, bearing
date the 1st of December, 1821. They are recorded in the records
of the Merrimack MIanufacturing Company."..... "An
act of incorporation was granted 5th of February, 1822."
. v... "' In December, 1822, Mlessrs. Jackson & Boott were
appointed a. committee to build a suitable church; and in April,
1824, it was voted that it should be built of stone, not to exceed a
cost of nine thousand dollars. This was called St. Anne's Church,
in which MIr. Boott, being himself an Episcopalian, was desirous of
trying the experiment whether that service could be sustained. It
was dedicated by Bishop Griswold.".... "The first lwheel
of the Merrimack Company was set in motion on the 1st of September, 1823. In 1825, five hundred dollars were appropriated for
a, library. Three additional mills were built. In 1829. one mill
was burnt down; in 1853, another. In 1825, MIr. Dutton, going
to Europe, Nathan Appleton was appointed president. The first
dividend of one hundred dollars per share was mrnade in 1825. They
have been regularly continued, with few exceptions, averaging something over twelve per cent. per annum to the present time.'.
' At the annual meeting at Chelmsford, May 21, 1823, the
directors were authorize(l to petition for an increase of capital to
one million two hundred -thousand dollars; and, on the 19thl of
October, 1824, a new subscription of six hundred shares was voted,
and a committee appointed to consider the expediency of organizing
the Canal Company, by selling them all the land and water power
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