OPENING ADDRESS. 7 



During King Philip's war, which began in 1675, the Paw- 

 tuckets with their chief withdrew to Canada and the fort at 

 Pawtucket Falls was occupied by the white settlers, under 

 command of Maj. Thomas Henchman. This war resulted in 

 destroying no less than thirteen towns and six hundred colo- 

 nists. The people of Chelmsford, Dracut, Tj-ngsborough, 

 and all the other towns in this vicinity erected garrison 

 houses, several of which are still standing. There is one in 

 Lowell on land formerly belonging to the town of Dracut, 

 but recently annexed to Lowell, owned by our enterprising 

 townsman Henry Emory. When the war was over these In- 

 dians returned to their reservation from Canada, but they 

 had previously sold to various persons small tracts of their 

 land, and in 1686 Col. Tyng and Mn}. Henchman purchased 

 all that remained, leaving them only their rights of fishing 

 and hunting. They soon after returned to Canada and joined 

 the St. Francis tribe, and never came back to their old hunt- 

 ing grounds. 



It was not until near the close of the last century that 

 anything was done towards making the waters of the Merri- 

 mack specially available for the industries of the white race. 

 About this time, however, there was a demand for the wood 

 and timber from the extensive forests along the shores of the 

 Merrimack, and millions of feet of lumber and thousands of 

 cords of wood were rafted down the river ; but the descent 

 at Pawtucket Fall was so great, the current so swift and the 

 rocks so dangerous, that it was impossible to pass them with 

 rafts, and great trouble and expense was incurred by team- 

 ing this lumber around the rapids. It was finally deter- 

 mined to construct a canal around the falls, and an Act of 

 the General Court was obtained, incorporating Dudley At- 

 kins T3aig, William Combs, Joseph Tyler and others a 

 " body politic and corporate," by the name of the Proprie- 

 tors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimack River. A canal 

 was accordingly constructed, connecting the Merrimack above 

 the falls with the Concord River below, a distance of a mile 

 and a half, the descent being thirty-two feet, requiring four 

 locks, and costing $50,000. 



The same year (1792) Parker Varnum and others were 

 incorporated as the "Proprietors of the Middlesex Merri- 



