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.

TIIE 3IEPRI I 1A C'I IVER;
excellences end; for, aside from being an outlet for accumulatedl
waters, and a highway for an occasional shipload of immigrants from
the Old World, and a conveyance for lumber, it is entirely value less, and worse. It necessitates an outlay for protection from floods
and ice, expensive bridges, and the employment of a large number
of that unprofitable, unproductive, and expensive class known as
soldiers.
How different it is withl the beautiful MIerrimack!- rolling aiong
between its natural banks without encroachment, affording sites for
cities, factories, and shops, dispensing wealth on every hand, giving
employment, and, consequently, health, character, and happiness to
many thousands who are employed in the peaceful pursuits which
tend to carry a high civilization, comfort, and happiness to the re m,;test lands; and the high order of intelligence, skill, progress, and
prosperity attained by the thriving communities along tile course of
this stream may be in part attributed to its unparalleled usefulness.
Nor is this its only merit. From the time when the first hardy
pioneer set his foot upon this rock-ribbed soil, and set a stern face
towards the unbroken wilderness and its inhabitants, this river is
commingled with its history as with the ocean itself, and has full
many of those daring deeds, and terrible slaughters, and fearful tor tures, and hair-breadth escapes, which entitle its contiguous territory
most emphatically to the distinctive appellation of the "Dark and
Bloody Ground."
. As will be seen, history has had much dealing with this river, and
it has been celebrated in story and song; and, though much has
been said of it in so many ways by so many admiring people, still
its incomparable beauty and value are, if not unknown, certainly not
appreciated to the fullest extent even yet. It does not appear that
the Indians had any regular and permanent settlement at the headwaters of the Merrimack, although it was in the direct thoroughfare
between the tribes of Massachusetts, the lower Merrimack, and
Canada.
The Pennacooks and confederate tribes traversed this region constantly from Massachusett6 to the St. Francis country, often
lounging about the headl-waters of the Androsco,ggin and the
Connecticut, where it' may be said they maintained permanent
settlements, and kept in this manner and in this direction a line
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