The number of towns in the county is twenty-six, and the 

 population in 1837, was 28,655. 



The county is watered by the Connecticut river, which div- 

 ides it through its whole length from north to south. The 

 river is of an average width of one-eighth of a mile, running 

 for a considerable part of the distance between high banks, but 

 in some cases, bordered by extensive tracts of rich alluvion. 

 The Deerfield river, a tributary of the Connecticut rising in 

 Vermont, pursues a winding course through the county, run- 

 ning sometimes south, sometimes north, and sometimes east, 

 and entering the Connecticut at Deerfield. It is navigable for 

 flat-bottomed boats, not more than half a mile from its entrance 

 into the Connecticut. Miller's river on the eastern side of the 

 Connecticut, rises in the northern part of Worcester county, 

 runs through the whole length of the eastern side of Franklin 

 county, and empties itself into the Connecticut about four miles 

 above the mouth of the Deerfield. There are several other 

 small streams in the county, tributaries of the Deerfield or of 

 the Connecticut, which mark their rough and rapid way among 

 the mountains and hills, and furnish supplies of the purest wa- 

 ter for cattle, and various mill powers for manufacturing pur- 

 poses. The hills, likewise, everywhere abound with springs, 

 so that it is extraordinary to find a farm of any considerable 

 extent, which is not well watered in every part. 



II. Aspect. — The aspect of the county is broken and 

 mountainous. There are ranges of mountains of red sand- 

 stone, extending along the western bank of the Connecticut for 

 several miles, which seem to be broken portions' of the range of 

 mountains commencing at New Haven, Conn., on the shores 

 of Long Island Sound, and running in a northerly direction to 

 the southerly line of New Hampshire. In the western parts of 

 the county there are mountains, which belong to the Green 

 Mountain range. The Deerfield river, as you ascend towards 

 its source, after leaving its extensive meadows within the town 

 of Deerfield, seems to have threaded its way through ranges of 



