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.

THTE MERRIMACK RJVER;
fixed ammunition; a stone mill (four stories), Worsted Company; a
wooden mill (two stories), carpets and dry house; also, a large
boarding-house. These mills are driven by two turbine wheels of
two hundred and thirty-one horse-power, with a reserve engine of one
hundred and fifty horse-power, to be used in the event of low water.
Two boilers, five feet in diameter and sixteen feet in length, each with
eighty tubes, supply the steam. A branch of the Boston and Lowell
Railroad affords easy transportation directly to and from the mills.
It has been found that much of the available power is lost by the
incapacity of the canal, and a saving enlargement is projected the
coming season, so that mechanics of all kinds can here find permanent
room and power to prosecute their business, which will ultimately
build up around these falls a large and important manufacturing
village.
The political and military history of Gen. B;. F. Butler is well
known to the world, but of his extensive engagement in the pleasant, peaceful pursuits which adorn, dignify, and enrich a community,
little, perhaps too little, is known to the general public. Upon the
reorganization of the defunct Middlesex Company, Gen. Butler became a large purchaser of the new stock, and, with his characteristic
energy, devoted much time to the practical details of manufacturing.
When the Whipple Falls property was put in the market, Gen. Butler, seeing its real value and importance for manufacturing and mechanical purposes, lost no time in securing it on his own account,
and forthwith adopted measures for the'founding of those enterprises
which have already added largely to the business and prosperity of
Lowell, and places Gen. Butler among the leading and successful
manufacturers of New England, while it presents him as a promoter
and patron of those arts which, while they give comfort, industry,
and thrift to a community, afford additional stability and perpetuity
to its institutions. Men of great means are not always men of great
deeds, and it is certainly refreshing to contemplate a public-spirited
and liberal man whose means are equal to his disposition, and who,
in his investments, has the sagacity to discriminate in favor of such
substantial interests as will surely tend to the present and prospective advantage of the place and the people. The difference between a
comprehensive and a superficial mind is as marked as between the
generous and sordid, and is patent to all. While the one is satisfied
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