331 JAMES BICHENO FRANCIS. 



landed in New York City, April 15, 1833, consigned with letters of 

 introduction to Phelps, Dodge, & Co. 



Confident in himself, he sought Mr. George W. Whistler, then in 

 charge of the construction of the Stoniugtou Railroad, who was so 

 favorably impressed by the appearance of the youth that he sent him 

 at once to Mr. James P. Kirkwood, the resident engineer. When 

 Mr. Whistler, the following year, was called to Lowell by the Pro- 

 prietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimac River as their engineer, 

 strongly confirmed in his estimation of the capacity and intelligence 

 of Mr. Francis, he offered him the position of his assistant and that 

 of surveyor of the company. 



English locomotives had already been imported and set up by this 

 company ; but it was decided to build locomotives larger and of a new 

 type, and for the designing of these especially Mr. Whistler had been 

 called to Lowell. Under his charge successful locomotives were built 

 for the Western and Providence Railroads, and in Mr. Francis he 

 found an able assistant. 



In 1837 Mr. Whistler resigned his position as engineer, and was 

 succeeded by Mr. Francis, who married Miss Sarah Browuell, and 

 settled permanently at Lowell. 



He had already found that, in his anxiety to get early into practical 

 work, his school life was incomplete, and that he needed a more ex- 

 tended mathematical education, and undertook to obtain this by his 

 own study, with the result that in this branch his education was be- 

 yond any college requirements of the time. 



As engineer of the company he finished the Boott Canal, and the 

 Boott and the Massachusetts Mills, which completed the laying out as 

 contemplated by the original proprietors. 



The Boston Manufacturing Company at Waltham supplied stock- 

 holders and mechanics, machinery and mills, for the enterprise at 

 Lowell. There were improvements and extensions, but the type was 

 preserved. Continued success made the management conservative, and 

 it was not till about 1841, after the death of most of the earlier direc- 

 tors of the corporations, that it was thought necessary to investigate 

 what had been done outside by manufacturers in this country and 

 abroad, and a radical change in spinning machinery was adopted ; more 

 space was required per pound of product, the canals were of too small 

 capacity, and more economy in the use of water was now of importance. 

 The water-wheels of the best patterns of the times, and giving a large 

 percentage of effect on the single fall, were becoming old and worn, 

 and not adapted to the change expected to be made in the canals. 



