THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISSTOR. 



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riniack larger than this — above It tiie main branch of Peniigewasset, having 

 its source in tlie Iiighest mountains running across the county of Grafton; 

 and a frw milca below its confluence witii tliatniain branch, the Contoocook, 

 wliich embraces the waters running from the Monadnock near tiie south line 

 of the State to those of Kcarsarge and Ragged mountains near its centre. — 

 But no stream gives so much permanence to the Merrimack river below as 

 tlie Winnipisscogee river, which is fed immediately by the lake from which 

 it derives its name. 



The Winnipiss(y)gee river runs the distance of about fifteen miles from tlie 

 lake before it unites with the main stream at the flourishing village of Frank- 

 lin : ilj waters never vary over four feet (except dammed up by ice) between 

 the highest freshet and dryest season of the year. Tliey are clear and pellu- 

 cid as silver. This river is one of the most desirable and available water pow- 

 ers in t!ie country. Experienced manufacturers who have built and own mills 

 on streams near the seaboard, after they have seen this stream, say that with 

 all the additional expense ol the present transport, the same mills erected on 

 the Winnipisseogee would be more valuable than at the point of their present 

 location. There are yet no companies of extensive capital loc?.ted upon this 

 stream. Its fall in the distance of fiffceen miles is estimated at 234 feet. The 

 outlet of the lake commences at its southwest arm, and is the dividing line 

 between the towns of Gilford and Meredith. At this outlet the fall is four- 

 teen feet when the lake is at the highest point. Here a new village has 

 sprung up called the Lake Mills, at which there are two cotton factories, four 

 saw, two shingle and two clapboard mills, and one iron foundry. Between 

 this river and Meredith Bridge, whose direct distance is only one and a 

 half miles, the river passes through two beautiful oblong bays of considera- 

 ble extent. The village of Meredith Bridge on both the Meredith and Gil- 

 ford sides has a population of probably 2000 inhabitants : here are falls in the 

 river of eleven feet, with four cotton and one ticking factory, one saw, 

 one clapboard and ivvo shingle mills, one grist and one clothing mill. Below 

 Meredith Bridge are the Sandbornton bays, through which the river has its 

 course. The Great Bay divides Sandbornton, which is a peninsula surround- 

 ed by water on three sides, from Meredith, also a peninsula surrounded on 

 three sides; this bay extends some seven miles to the north and is two to four 

 miles in breadth. From the Great Bay to the Little Bay, below Union Bridge 

 in Sanbornton, the fall is sixteen feet ; and at Union Bridge there are three 

 saw mills, two grist mills, one clapboard and two shingle mills. From Union 

 Bridge to Philbrick's dam, in the distance of three and a half miles, the fall 

 is eleven leet ; and from this point to Sandbornton Bridge, one-fourth of a 

 mile, the fall is six feet more. At the village of Sandbornton Bridge are three 

 saw mills, one sattinelt and cassimere factory, three grist mills and one cot- 

 ton and one shingle mill. From Sandbornton Bridge to the Steep Eddy, a dis- 

 tance of two miles, the fall is thirty feet: here is a saw mill, shingle and 

 clapboard mill and trip hammer. From this point to Peabody, Daniell and 

 Company's paper mill, near tlie confluence of the Winnipisseogee with the 

 Pemigewasselt (where the united streams take the name of the Merrimack) 

 the fall in the distance of little more than two miles, is one hundred and fort ij 

 feet. The Smilhville Factory Village is situated on both sides of the Winni- 

 pisseogee river, which divides Franklin from Northfield, and is of conse- 

 quence partly in both towns: at this village there are two cotton mills, two 

 paper mills, one sattinett factory and three machine shops. 



We have been thus particular that we might impress on our readers who 

 participate in its benefits below, the value of this excellent stream both as a 

 water [)ower for extended manufactures, and as the plain source of the steady 

 water power tliat furnishes the g.reat manufacturing establishments which 

 already exist or are in preparation at Amoskeag and Lowell below. Without 

 the reijervoir of water in Winnipisseogee in a dry season, which flows through 



this river in no inconstant supply, the largest manufacturing establishments 

 in America would be comparatively of little value. Not more steady to them 

 has been the constant supply of water from this source, than has been the 

 par value of those manufacturing stocks which have depended on this w^ter 

 for its supply. 



The cut which is presented below is a representation of the paper mill and 

 contiguous buildings belonging to Messrs. Peabody, Daniell and Co. being 

 the lowest manufacturing establishment on the Winnipisscogee river, and 

 within the distance of half a mile of the principal village of Franklin situated 

 on the westerly bank of the Merrimack. 



April 27, 1837, these gentlemen encountered witli only a partial insurance 

 the loss of their mills, machinery and stock, by fire, to the amount of ^bout 

 ^25,000. In the fall of the same year they erected less expensive buildings, be- 

 ing those shown in this plate : the expense of Ihese was about ^15,U00. Their 

 paper machine is a curiosity worthy the attention of every man who inter- 

 ests himself in the improvements of the day : it is the invention of an Euro- 

 pean, and benrs the name of its inventor, being called the Fordonier paper 

 machine. Those who worked at the iiand process of paper making thirty 

 years ago never dreamed that paper could be made with the facility and in 

 tbe manner it is completed by this machine. A lot of paper sufficient for an 

 edition of books can be completed from the rags in twenty-four hours. In 

 the same week the rags have been transported from Concord, the paper made 

 and returned, printed into newspapers, and again returned to Franklin. By 

 the Fordonier machine the paper is gaged so as to come out at a uniform 

 weight and thickness; and the texture of the paper is decidedly better than 

 that manufactured in any other manner. Messrs. Peabody, Daniell and Go's, 

 machine was made at Windham, in Connecticut, by Phelps and Spaftbrd. — 

 The ingenious inventor has never derived any advantage from his labor: his 

 patent was defective from the deficiency of a single word in the description. 

 The machine takes the pulp in a liquid state appearing like thin milk por- 

 ridge, and at once converts it into a continuous roll of uniform paper of the 

 desired thickness, which is readily cut into sheets of the various sizes. So 

 superior is the Fordonier paper, that the printers are reluctant to use any 

 other when they can obtain this. The cost of the machine was $4,000, ex- 

 clusive of }lt!300 for transportfrom Connecticut. 



This machine saves an immense personal labor. Messrs. Peabody, Daniell 

 and Co. have manufactured during the year 1840 with their machine about 

 two hundred tons of rags, averaging about two thirds of a ton per day. In 

 an adjacent mill, where they manufacture with one of the cylinder ma- 

 chines in common use an inferior paper, they consumed about one hundred 

 and twenty-five tons. Their sales of paper in the time were very near $46,- 

 000. They consumed, principally in their drying apparatus, about five hun- 

 dred cords of wood. Their number of operatives, men and women, averag- 

 ed only about sixteen persona. To produce an equal quantity of paper in the 

 old way, the labor o? probably forty persons would be required. 



The transport of two hundred tons each way from Franklin to Boston, a 

 distance of about one hundred miles, is an item of no inconsiderable expense 

 for one establishment. At ten dollars the ton tliis expense would be four 

 thousand dollars. A rail road to that point would reduce the cost of transport 

 at once more than one half, and ultimately to less than one fourth the pres- 

 ent price. In such an event how decisively would the value of water power, 

 which is found in the two hundred and thirty-four feet fall on the Winnipis- 

 seogee river, be raised to the present owners? Brought within half a day's 

 journey of Boston, this river, whose waters are as pure as those of a living 

 spring, from whose overflow no danger to the moat perfect security is ever 

 apprehended, and of whose failure there need be no apprehension, would b© 

 more valuable than we cam now appreciate. 



VIEW OF PEABODY, DtANIELL AND COS PAPER-MILLS AT FRANKLIN, N. H. 



