HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 'JJ 



doubtedly the first Aiiinskeag manufactory. Over the whole sec- 

 tion surrounding the falls, on either side, in fact from Goffe's 

 Falls to Martin's Ferry, a great number of the various relics 

 above enumerated have been picked up, several valuable collec- 

 tions having been made, perhaps the most interesting being that 

 of the late Samuel B. Kidder. They were more numerous up- 

 on the village-site referred to, on the elevation west of the P. C. 

 Cheney Company's mills, as well as elsewhere and near by, on 

 the large island below the falls and the level stretch of land im- 

 mediately below the great eddy. At all these points, as well as 

 in the bed of the river, valuable finds have rewarded the patient 

 relic-hunter. At the mouth of Christian brook, known also in 

 later times as the " fair-ground brook," and also at the mouth of 

 Ray brook, there have been found many interesting relics. The 

 bank of the river north of the latter stream is quite steep, and 

 here about twenty years ago the writer found a nest of a dozen 

 or more large chipped slate-stones, wholly unlike the convention- 

 al spear-head, but yet of undoubted human workmanship, which 

 had been probably used for cleaning fish. They were buried at 

 a considerable depth, having been uncovered by a fall of earth 

 occurring because of high water. There are signs of old fires, 

 pieces of charred wood remaining at a depth of three or more 

 feet. Throughout this entire section similar mementos have 

 been discovered, especially on the sandy margins of lakes and 

 ponds. A symmetrically chipped arrow-head of milk-quartz was 

 found by the writer, when a mere boy, on the beach at Massa- 

 besic Lake. 



The foregoing facts, even in the absence of other evidence, 

 is ample to establish the presence of Indians here in considera- 

 ble numbers and for a long period, probably centuries before the 

 advent of the whites. Tradition assigns no spot which we can 

 point out as an Indian burial place. It is said there are several 

 Indian graves near the entrance from the highway to the Devil's 

 Den in Chester. It is also said and has long been currently 

 believed that the site of a number of wigwams was upon Brown's 



