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 SOUBRCE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
was to be accomplished, though with a settled faith that his purpose,
still only faintly outlined in his own mind, would mature, and the
evidence of his creative genius become familiar to men by plain, outward, and visible signs, while the advantages should be great, and
benefit the race located permanently here. Scarcely more than a
myth himself, and his project a kind of phantasy, he was yet, when
securely enthroned on this then solitary spot, the embodiment of
the Spirit of Progress, - the wizard who should wield the enchanter's wand, and the waste places were to be occupied by a people
characterized as enterprising, skilful, industrious, and thrifty. It
was not long before his very eccentricity assumed a tangible and
practical shape, and, in 1795, he set a carding-mill in operation.
Soon after, expressing an intention to extend and increase liis business in the same direction, he was taken aside by a friend and gravely
advised to desist, as the capacity of the works already in operation
was sufficient to amply accommodate all Middlesex County, and such
a reckless investment would not only exhibit a stupid oversight, and
lack of judgment and sound discretion, but would involve him in
inextricable financial ruin. Nevertheless, he continued to increase
his business, and of course his income. Mr. I-ale dug a canal in
Chelmsford, which was, considered as an individual enterprise, an
operation of considerable magnitude, and displayed his interest and
belief in internal improvements. It is said, also, that he conceived
and suggested the idea of constructing another canal, which was
acted upon some years after, the canal being now a " power in the
land." Shops and mills began to multiply about the Wamesit Falls,
dwellings followed the house of religious worship, and the courthouse and the cemetery have appeared,- emblems of a high civilization. As Lowell rapidly increased, by the improvement of its
splendid water-power, in population and productiveness, it began to
attract the attention of economists at home and abroad, and, in
1834, an agent was sent to the United States by the "Citizen
King," to inspect the public works of this country. He visited
Lowell, its shops and factories, and, of the impressions there received, M. Chevalier wrote to the' Paris " Journal des Debats" as
follows: -
" Unlike the cities of Europe, which were built by some demigod, son of Jupiter, or by some hero of the siege of Troy, or by an
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