QL{)c faxmcx'5 iHout!)lij faisitor. 



83 



The Aijrifulliiral Cniriiiiiltee who exniiiiiied 

 this |ilaiiiaiiiJii, iX'|)ort lliiil Furt Hill Ii.-im Iummi tin- 

 der riiltiVMtioii tliirty or liii'ty ycjiis. TImtu was 

 n very liciivy croii (il' corn iipoii il, iiiiil :i l:u;;i! 

 liiiiiilK^t of peii-viiiis, jiiiil llie coiicliision was 

 Ilial, hy llli! I'iin; he.-lowed ii|ioii it, its |ii'()(lii(-tinii 

 was iiiiliiiiilcd. Ill lliu ii{iluiids of llie firm, tli'^ 

 Comiiiiltct; loiMid cotloii ^n-owiiin idiuiMliiiitly 

 ii|iiiii l.'iiid wliicdi had not heeii a great wlilli; iiii- 

 d>;r ciillivulioii. 



jyhrde F!shen/. — But if the daii(sers nntl priva- 

 tions ot'llic NVliale Mshery .ire {.'reiit, its lieiii.lii'ial 

 residis are an adequate eoiii|ieiiS!iliiin. It is iiii- 

 possihlt; to roiiipass in » siiij;h.' view the !iles>iiiL's 

 iiestoH'cd upon iiiankiiiil hy this liranrh oj'eiilir- 

 prise. There is no iiieoih.'r of society who is 

 not iiidHhled lo this soiiree liir many ol his eli- 

 joyineiits. Let the laihes consider that the per- 

 leetion of their stays is derived from nhalehone, 

 and Irt liiiii who carries an iiiiihrella make a sim- 

 ilar reflecliuii. Xet the traveller w ho ijlides aloii^ 

 twelve miles an lionr in n sleamhoat, or twenty- 

 five in a locomotive, considi r that he is under 

 oMiiialioii to the whaler (c)r the oil, whitdi thus 

 smoothes his way and expedites his jonrney. Let 

 the man who liiiys eoiton for a shiit, at ten cents 

 n yard, thank the winder, for it was whale oil 

 that hihrieated the machinery w hich prodiK I'd il. 

 Let every human hein^ ih.-it wears cloth or con- 

 sumes any otiier article pr(jdiiced iiy machinery, 

 ackiio« lrd;;e the idiliiiaiion he owes to llie dariiiy 

 jierseveraiice ol' the whaler, for these are all, in 

 some dejrree, the results ol his toil and enter- 

 prise. Let even the dainty reailers ol hooks con- 

 sider thai hy the ii:;hr vvhicli is llie product of 

 the whaleman's skill, their p.-iyes are, |ierhaps, 

 composed; and let every I'ainily ciridc, happy and 

 cheerlid in the lilaze of the asiral lamp, remem- 

 her llmt they too, owe their eiijoyment, in part, to 

 these adveninrons men of the harpoon. Lei even 

 the memliers of the hrilhaitt evening' party re- 

 meniher that the li;;lit which •ileams Iroiii raii;;es 

 ofspermaceli tapers, and hestowsnn lieaniy more 

 lieHiiehing el;:'.rms, is ihe fruit of the seauiim's 

 dalii-er and the scaniaii's piivation. Al.is, how 

 "liiile does one part of the world consider in 

 what manner the rest live!" While the dance 

 ami the sonj; enthral the <;;ay cir<de of the saloon, 

 liow Hir are the joyons throng from relleeliiiir 

 tliat Ihoiisands of their fellow heings are upon 

 the Ireachernns wave, Kiilinu' and snf}'Hri!;:r lo 

 provirle a Inxnrions light to shine ti[)0ii their plea- 

 sures! 



'JVie Sent Fisheri/. — We are little apt to consider 

 the romance which is involved in the history of 

 many (d" oiir coiiimotiest comforts. 'I'he hoy 

 with his seal-skill cap is content to feel its warnilli 

 in ihe hitter hrealli of wiiiier, wiihont refieeiiiig 

 upon the tale that cap could tell, il' it were gifted 

 Willi speech, lis orii'inal owner was horn and 

 inirsed upon the Arctic shore, « here winter holds 

 .'III almost eternal dominion. There, amid fields 

 of ice, and in daily (iimiiiarity with the whale, 

 the walrus, and the white iiear, it ptirsned it.* joy- 

 ous and sportive career. Uivin!; in thedcpihsof 

 the sea, or iniL'raling on floating fields of ice, it 

 seemed forever happy in companionship «iiij its 

 fellosvs, and s.'ave even to the ghastly scenes of 

 the Arctic world an aspect of cheerfulness. At 

 length it was slain by the spear of the Lsqiii- 

 inan.^, or the cliih of the sealer; the skin was 

 stripped off and trnnsoorted to Europe. Having 

 undergone a process of dressing, it crossed the 

 Atlantic, passed under tlie hammer of the auc- 

 tioneer, reached the shop of the furrier, and af- 

 ter due conformation from the sheers and needle, 

 arrived at its ultimate destiiintioii on the school- 

 boy's pate. 



Erlciil of .Irrrlcu'lure. — If we reflect that about 



800,000.000 of human heiiigs, 

 50,000,000 doniestieated horses, asses and 

 mules, 



].'^0.000,000 domesticated cattle, 



300,000,000 domesiiealed sheep, 

 80 000,000 domesticated swine, 

 12,000,000 domesticated gnats, 

 nre to he fed every day liy the industry of innn, 

 we shall have some fiiitit conception of the vast 

 scale upon which the operations of asricnltnre 

 are condnclerl. If we conceive that the sun, in 

 its daily course, wakes up the whole human r.ice 

 to ihnir labors, and imagine ourselves as acco.n- 

 jiaiiying his morning rays in their flight over the 

 world, we may easily fancy the spectacles of ac- 



tivity we should witness, on tlie iiillri, and in the 

 valleys, and the spreading out from the arctic to 

 the aiitareli<' circle I 



H'undern of lln'. Cullon Manufaclonj. — Nor will 

 our woniler be aliaied when we consider the re- 

 sults of these establishmenls. A single cotton 

 factory — that of the !\lerrimacU at Lowell — pro- 

 duces S.IO.OOO y.irds of cotton (doth a week, or 

 l->..500,000 yarils a year. There are about 5,000 

 yards ol thread in a yard of doth ; thus every 

 working day, this factory spins (iOO million feel 

 of thread ; 50 millions every working hour, and 

 nearly one million every minute ! Thus, a cord 

 of siitlicieiit leiiiilh to belt the worhl at the equa- 

 tor, is produced by a single fictory in two hours. 

 This is the work of one establishment, and is not 

 more tliaii a two hnudri.'dih part of the wlnde 

 mauiificliire of the L'uited Slates! The length 

 of thread drawn out by the cotton lactories ol 

 the worlil, cannot he less than fifteen millions ol 

 li'et every working second, or every tin;e the 

 heart beats! Snidi is the bewildering magnitude 

 (d'ihe scale njjon which this single brunidi of hu- 

 man industry is conducted. 



H'untkrs of the Iron JMiinnfnntor!j. — The amount 

 of iron annicilly produced in the United States, 

 is 300,000 Ions, all of which, and iiincdi more, is 

 consumed iii this country. The anionut of nails 

 alone is supposed to be 50,000 tmis. Forty thou- 

 sand casks, or fom' million pounds, an; aimnally 

 made by the Boston Coiiipaiiy, on the mill-d. in. 

 If \\i: suppose tliat the nails will averaL'e KiOtoa 

 pound, the number here produced ea<'.li working 

 day, would be nearly two millions! 'J'liis is sup- 

 posed to but the l>venty-fifih part of the nail 

 manufacture of the United St.-iles! It seiuns in- 

 credible that about lifty luillioiis of nails are 

 made, bought, sold, ami used, every day, in tlie 

 United States — yet such Si.-oms to be the fact. — 

 Peter Parley. 



The Water Power of !Veiv England. 



Althoui;li we do not get a sight of the paper 

 exchanged with ns every week, we have more 

 iIkiii <ince bad occasion to be highly gratified 

 « ith the graphic sketches of different pans of 

 our own New Englaiil, drawn by the editor "f 

 the Congregational Journal of this town. IJrought 

 u|) in the printing office close by ns, belijie he 

 prepiu'ed himself in academic shades as a '-gown- 

 man learned," our own vanity woiild say to him, 

 — "yon re(;eived the better part of your educa- 

 tion" where we obtained the "little leaiiiing" 

 that has been toils so " dangerous" as to leail 

 lo the utterance of words, whiidi a wiser head 

 might have suppressed. ]n the Journal of hii\n 

 It), Air. AVooil thus iliscouises upon the 

 Valley of the Merrimack. 



The valley of llie Connecticut has been re- 

 garded as tiie glory of New England: nor in the 

 expansion of its meadows, the riidmess of its 

 soil, the sweep of its fiirms, its nidile river and 

 iutetligent iuhabitaiits, is it an empty boast. But 

 its glory, if it does not pass away, as indeed it 

 never can, is destined at least to he divided. A 

 smaller stream, running through a less productive 

 valley, but dashing down from lofiier bills, will 

 soon become a rival. The valley of the Comiec- 

 ticiit will be admired for its [irosperons agricnl- 

 Inre and tranquil beaut}', while that of the Mcr- 

 rimac'i, aboumiiiig in noble waterliills at every 

 few mries' distance, will present an almost con- 

 tiiinons line of towns, villages and cities, created 

 by its manufacturing capabilities. 



Omitting the curve of the Merrimack as it 

 sweeps .along the fine old towns of llavcrhill, 

 Bradford, .\mesbnry and Newburyport, let us be- 

 gin at Andover. Some seven miles below Low- 

 ell, a tract of land has bi^eii pnndiasi'd hy a rich 

 Boston company for the site of .another city of 

 looms and spindles eqnallina Lowell itself. Low- 

 ell already contains above 2.5,000 inhabitaiils ; and 

 as the Courier informs ns, a iiuiiiber of addition- 

 al mills of the largest dimensions are to he erect- 

 ed the present season, which when fidly inaniied 

 with operalives, together wiili the attendant pop- 

 iilaiiiin, will increase the luiinhcr of souls to 

 3f;,000. 



Leaving Massachusetts, the next considerable 

 village is Nashua, 18 miles above, where the oc- 

 cupancy ol the water power has erected a prince- 

 ly vill.ige, and filled it with a busy population of 

 G,000. I'^ight iiiihs above Maslina the Souhegan 

 comes fiiamingand dashing through the town of 

 Merrimack, as if impatient for a band lo direct 



its power to useful results. Less in volume than 

 the Nashua, but superior in its fall, it is said to 

 be capable of tiiriiiug as niiieli machinery anil 

 bringing around it an equal population. We iin- 

 dersland the site has just been purchased by a 

 company determined tosuff'er tlie stream to run 



in vain no lou:;er. Ten miles fr Souhegan 



brings ns to Manchester, already iinmbering itjj 

 !),000 inliahit.ints, and desiineil speedily to be- 

 come the Lowell of New Ham|isliire". Eight 

 miles onward lies Hookset, containing a respec- 

 table inannfaclnriiig establishnieiit, and capable 

 by the use of its entire water power of cre.itiii" 

 a large and prosperous village. Two miles brings 

 lis to the wild Siincook in Pembroke, on wliiidi 

 the first cotton factory was erected in New 

 Hampshire. Five miles further, Garvin'M Falls, 

 on the southern bound.iry of Concord, furnish a 

 water power equal to that of Manchester,* willi 

 a wide expanse of table land [leculiarly fivorablr; 

 for the hiring out of a large tosvn. The water 

 power, with the contiguous land, is already in 

 the bands of the company which is working 

 such wonders at Manchester. Sewell's Falls, 

 about three miles above Concord State House, 

 furnish a considerable jirivilege: and if the plan 

 of caualliiiL' lo the East Village is carried out, on 

 which .'?4n.000 have been already expendetl, a 

 large m.iniilactm ing establishment will be llio 

 result. 



Six miles above Concord, the Contocool; d.ish- 

 es into the Merrimack at Fishersville, with a (iill 

 of lifty feel, and a power of carrviim machinery 

 superior to the N.ishiia. Twelve mdesabove Ihe 

 Coiilocook \\G reacdi Franklin Village. At this 

 point the Winnepisiogee and I'emigewasset unite 

 to form the Merrimack, giving a water powc r 

 equal to that of Lowell. At Franklin the latter 

 river has a fall of twenty feet entirely unoccu- 

 pied, at the same time it is easily available; 

 while the Winnepiseogee along its whole course 

 is iineqii.illed in the constancy of its water, and 

 the iinmber and safety of its sites. For two 

 miles only, from its junction with the Pemige- 

 wasset, it has a fall of not less than 144, feet ; of 

 which 50 are at Saubornton Bridge, ))artly occii- 

 pieil, and furnishing another power equal to the 

 Nashua. Four miles above, at Union Bridi'e, an- 

 other fine site presents itself with a fall of 20 

 feet. To say nolhiug of the flourishing villages 

 at Meredith Bridge, and Lake villase a little be- 

 yond, the outlet of the lake furnishes a fidl of 

 eleven feet, which may be tnriied to important 

 purposes. Not only will all the manufaciiiriiig 

 villages along the Merrimack, but on tlie Winne- 

 piseogee itself, be enhanced in value hy the e.xe- 

 cniioii of the purpose to dam the outlet, and 

 make the whole lake a great reservoir for all the 

 mills from the outlet to Lowell. The population 

 supported by nianufactnring along the Winne- 

 piseogee river, is said to be 4,000; while the 

 number it is capable of supporting by the occu- 

 pancy of all its water privileges, is computed at 

 one liundred thonannd, or more than one third of 

 th(! population of the Stale! 



Returning lo I'emigewasset— at Bristol, twelve 

 miles above Franklin, there is ti coiilimions lidj 

 five miles in length, giving on an average 50 feet 

 descent to the mile; by easy caiialling the whole 

 river can be diverted from its chauiiel and ex- 

 pended upon the countless wheels of successive 

 mills, giving occupation to thonsauds and tliou- 



*.\Ir. Wood will strinrt corrpcted on this point oT wnter 

 power. 'I'licrc ig not perhaps in the whole v.illey a (.etof 

 thlis thit is half oqu\l lo the water power at M^nchei^ter 

 — Lowell itself cannot tioast ol' the one half of Mannhes- 

 ler. Tile site below Lowell, lately bouijlit up hy *' Ihe 

 rich Bo>ton Company," galhering tiie \vater power of fallg 

 Tor pevpral miles, will not prohahly come up to one-fourlli 

 iif the iManchuster power, which, in its whole extent, em- 

 hriccs a fall of about seven(v-hve feet. Tnere is net, 

 when we lake into consideration the permanent potirce of' 

 '.he supply from the principal parent lake issuing its con- 

 stint and nearly equal stream in I'reshel and in drou^'h', 

 the hi^h and dry canal wliirh no revolution in the rivt-r 

 cm disturb, and the extent of the fall securing the double 

 use of the water — thera is not in the United States such 

 and so valuable a water power as that, the use ol' which 

 has but now just commenced to build up the crealer inau- 

 uracturina; town cil' J\ew Enc^land. which is soon destined 

 lo become the real Manchester ol' America. Manchester 

 has an immediate waterfall double in distance to that of 

 any other jail upon tiie river. It beiufr understood that a 

 water power increases in a compound ratio, the fall of the 

 same stream at any one point sixty feet will be at least 

 four times as great as a fall of thirty feet. Alanchester 

 has the advantage of twice the number of feet fall lo the 

 power concentrated at any other place above or below in 

 the waten of the Merrimaclt.— £(i. Jl. Vitiior. 



