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.

THE XfERBI1L[AC RI~ IEP;
Chocorua Peak. It is the very heart of this magnificent wild that
gives the Merrimack to the use and profit of man. In this great solitude,- which excels even the famous Adirondac country in the wildness and grandeur of its natural scenery, in the beauty of its forests,
the number, form, and majestic proportions of its mountains, in the
solemn, oppressive silence which pervades its w hole extent, in the number of its cool, pure, pellucid springs, brooks, and ponds, which is so
secure from the invasion of nman that the sounds and sights of civilization are completely shut out from its extensive recesses, - there are
game and fish worthy of the sportsman's attention, skill, and courage.
The east branch, and, in fact, the whole vast network of waters about
the source of the Merrimack, are bountifully stocked with trout, and
the places which once knew the superb salmon, it is hoped and believed, will soon know him again. Each cold, transparent spring
sends down the mountain-side its inimitably musical rill, which,
meandering through the shaded reaches of the forests, pours the
wealth of its generous flood into the cool, secluded pond, which, in
turn, disgorges through circuitous channels to the swelling bosom of
the Merrimack. Being a dense, luxuriant, unbroken forest, where
the woodman's axe has never yet been heard, many parts of which
the white man's foot has never traced, the fly can nowhere be used
except in the Pemigewasset itself, or on some portions of some of its
largest tributaries, and on the ponds. Here the fly, of a color best
suited to the season, may be advantageously employed, and the best
time to take the trout is from the moment there is a streak of day till
sunrise or after. and again when the sun declines below the forests
and the hills until dark. But the brooks may be successfully followed any portion of the day, yielding an abundance. The trout in
all these waters are uniformly the best variety of salmon trout, varying in size of course; specimens being taken weighing from onefourth to two and a half pounds and upwards, -the latter large
enough to create the most nervous excitement and anxiety while tha
gorgeous prizes were being secured, and sufficiently large and luscious to satisfy any reasonable ambition or palate.
The wealth and productive capacity of the vast network of the
upper waters of the Merrimack in the way of trout, invariably of
the finest variety, is astonishing. For many years thousands of
p e o p l e have annually visited the White Mountain region; the gen
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