«Sl)c JTarmcfV. ittoutl)lj) bisitor. 



119 



tlie ronfirips of Boston, piinicd over the railroads 

 iif.-uly thirty iiiilfs into the interior: tlie l)ricUs 

 of which M;iiichester is hiiilt coiiie iit loss cost 

 from smoking kilns alonj; the river ahove. Tlie 

 perfect f,'rniiite of our own Rattlesnake hills in 

 Concord, drawn some miles to the railro.nl, is 

 taken for the better anil more heaiiliful limnda- 

 lions of the Manclu'ster edifices. In the trans- 

 port of weight, the railroads between Boston 

 and the mannfiictnrinj; cities and towns upon the 

 Merrimack do all but annihilate distances. An- 

 thracite, as the most heating fuel for the smith- 

 ery, comes up liom the seaboaril. having been 

 transported lon^' distances to and over sea, from 

 the interior of Pennsylvania and .Maryland, while 

 charcoal is broi^dit down fiom the forests above 

 OS the fuel of more easy ignition. Leaving iMan- 

 chesteron Friday morning, we .saw a train of cars 

 which came n[> the |)revious night laden with the 

 shining amhracite, containing at one time of 

 [lassage a greater Height than all the merchan- 

 dize bronght twenty-five years ago to and 

 through the village of Concord in the business 

 of n whole snjnmer. What a great labor-saving 

 machine is the steam-power of a railroad, which 

 perflirnis, in less than four hours, the work of 

 many oxen and horse teams, for an entire year's 

 business. 



The machine shop of the Amoskeag compa- 

 ny is believed to be the most perfect of any es- 

 tablishment of the kind in this country, or per- 

 haps in the world. Its artisans are so ipiick and 

 C.Xpert in their operations as to bring out all the 

 new improvements of British and French man- 

 iilactures almost as soon as they can get their 

 new articles in quantities over the water ; while 

 Yankee ingenuity seldom fails to improve ii[)on 

 the improvement which it imitates. The .Amos- 

 keag machine shop I'urnlshed the first carpet 

 power looms at Lowell, which place that manu- 

 factiu'e beyond all Euro|)ean competition, and 

 must destroy the profits on all hand carpet weav- 

 ing. Not for Manchester alone has this machine 

 shop done hiisiness, although it wouhl seem 

 hardly possible that one such establishment 

 would he sufficient to supply the new mills 

 which are there annually erected. The last erec- 

 tion is the muslin de laine establis'iment for the 

 Manchester corporation, not yet fully completed 

 in all its parts, but knovvn to be more perfect 

 than any other factory of the kind in the world. 

 These works are to embrace as well the priming 

 as the niamifaclure of the cloth. Although this 

 is one of the few manufactures which may be 

 seriously affected by the late reduction of tjiini- 

 mums in the late tariff, yet we have good reason 

 to believe that American genius and enterprise 

 viill successfully carry out this great investment 

 without sacrifice toils numificentownei-.s, who de- 

 serve much of the State and Nation, for embark- 

 ing in it their capital without hesitation. The 

 edifices erected for this corporation, being those 

 lowest down upon the liver, for beauty and sim- 

 plicity of arrangement, for permanence and safe- 

 ty of material, being nearly fire proof, and for 

 extent of range and room mider the same roof, 

 are said to be exceeded no wherein this country 

 or in Europe. 



Leaving Manchester over the lower or Grainte 

 bridge, we find the old Piscataquog village of 

 Bedford in close contiguity, and another village, 

 the residence of Judge Stark, surrounrled by 

 other neat white buildings, growing into exist- 

 ence at the north. The travelled road towards 

 Boston on the west side of the Merrimack, as 

 well as the singe road to Amherst and the south- 



west, leave Manchester over this bridge. Old 

 Piscalacpiog, although partially sliorn of her 

 former gay a(;tivily of business, by the removal 

 to another woild of the enterprising men of 

 former times, and by the recent attractions of 

 Manchester, near by, which have been a load- 

 stone to the country about — old Piscataquog 

 " will rise again." As good farmers as are to be 

 found in Hillsborough, live in the town of Bed- 

 ford ; and here may be seen the efltect of the 

 agricultural improvements of the age. The no- 

 ble twin mountains, so prominent for many miles 

 in all directions, lie in the north-west corner of 

 this town, being, we believe, partly in New Bos- 

 ton, and partly in Goff^toun. Willi the isolated 

 Jo English hill, still further wes', near the line 

 between New Boston and Amherst, the twin 

 Unconoonucks in a line nearly east and west, are 

 the same ridge of rocks as those of the great 

 Amoskeag fulls, through which the water first 

 broke its way, and has since continued to wear 

 in a series of many tliousand years. 



The road to Amherst through the broken parts 

 of Bedford and Amherst, whose wood and tim- 

 ber has been vastly increased in value by the 

 great imiirovements around them, is now one of 

 the best kind for easy travel. While passing 

 over it all the way u|ion n trot in the shorlenefl 

 distance of more than a mile, the mind turned 

 back to look for the old road over the rocky 

 ridges on either hand, which in bye-gone years, 

 while journeying homewards towards the kind 

 emhruees of Iriends ami relatives, still occupying 

 ihe home of our childhood, had been encounter- 

 ed with so much sweat and labor to the beast 

 which bore us along. 



Amherst still remains the same pretty shining 

 village it was forty years ago, improved by addi- 

 tional wood and brick buildings — not so busy as 

 it then was — still now upon tlie week day more 

 than upon the Sabbath, which brings upon the 

 plain from a distance, as well as near, its nume- 

 rous Christian worshippers. Amherst has still 

 left its men of wealth and enterprise; and al- 

 though it has no water-power for manufacturing 

 purposes, the new railroad, if the branch granted 

 at the late session of the Legislature shall not be 

 defeated by the rival etTorts of another town 

 much favored hitherto by Amherst people, with 

 steairi power, will soon change the stillness of 

 that sub.'-tantial old town for the rattle of the 

 spindle and the shuttle, intermingling with the 

 sound of the file and anvil. Why should not 

 anthracite do the work there that it is already 

 doing at Manchester ? 



The branch railroad contemplated to unite 

 with the Concord railroad near the mouth of 

 Souhegan river, running over a distance of seven 

 miles, uniting the heart of Hillsborough county 

 both with Manchester and the capital of the 

 State, on the one band, as it does with the capi- 

 tal and emporiiiu] of New England, on the other, 

 was a most happy thought as connected with the 

 Concord road, rather than encounter the expense 

 of a separate organization. The distance is 

 more than half the length of the Nashua rail- 

 road, and such is the favorable location, that the 

 whole distance may be encountered with less 

 excavation than occurs on other practicable 

 routes in the distance of a sin^'lo mile. Easily 

 might this branch be extended whenever the 

 business of the manufacturing villages of Mil- 

 forrl, Wilton, Mason and New Ipswich shall re- 

 quire, up the Souhegan river to its sources at the 

 foot of Wetalick on the height of land between 

 New Hampshire and Massachusetts. This way 



is that which will better suit the south-westerly 

 section of Hillsborough county, than would a 

 direct connection with the Filchburg road fur- 

 ther south. This hitter connects with Boston 

 only: the people of that region talk of their 

 business with Manchester, and Nashua, and Low- 

 ell, as more imp.ortant than even their direct 

 trade with Boston itself. At ]iresent, Amherst 

 would be the terminalion of the branch railroad. 

 The village lies in an amphitheatre almost sur- 

 rounded by hills : its direct course to Milford, 

 about three miles, would encounter an elevation 

 of some difficulty ; but this might be avoided by 

 pursuing the bank of the Souhegan all the way 

 from .Merrimack, through the southerly breadth 

 of Amherst, the whole length of the beautiful 

 town of Milford, to Wilton, tlirough whose mag- 

 nificent bills the river winds its way from south- 

 west to northeast, in a valley of easy excavation, 

 with a grading no greater than the fall of the 

 stream. In former days, all the travelled roads 

 crooked their ways over the hills, whereon the 

 sturdy forest settlers made themselves excellent 

 farms. Now the distance has been shortened, 

 and the roads almost reduced to an easy level, by 

 following the river and its branches. At East 

 Wilton, comes in that branch from the mouth, 

 through whose valley has been constructed the 

 Forest road, leading to Charlestown, on the Con- 

 necticut river, which has turned a large portion 

 of the old travel from Amherst, through Milford. 

 Up to this point, about seventeen miles from its 

 confluence with the Merrimack, the Souhegan 

 preserves nearly a level the whole distance. Up- 

 on its banks are many fine farms, making nearly 

 the entire distance through Milford a continued 

 village, redolent at this season, with flourishing 

 hop fields, besides tlie accustomed grain, grass 

 and vegetable grovvth usual to the farmer. This 

 is the enchanting ground which has reared and 

 brought into action, the musical family of the 

 Hutchinsons, whose voices have resounded in 

 distant lands, and been listened to with delight 

 by [lolished and critical amateurs in both hemis- 

 pheres, and whose praises have been sounded as 

 well in the great cities as among the population 

 of pastoral simplicity, amidst the hills. The late 

 successful tour of a part of the family of pioneer 

 minstrels of the "Old Granite Slate" in Europe, 

 has enabled them to add to their quiet posses- 

 sions upon the banks of the Souhegan, another 

 farm to be greeted as '■' sweet home " in their re- 

 turn from future distant journeyings, besides 

 putting an additional cool twenty thousand spot 

 in their locker. 



Half way in the distance through Wilton above, 

 comes down another branch of the river, open- 

 ing the entire south-east side of the liigh range 

 of Peterborough hills, through a lower part of 

 which passes the long travelled road from the 

 seaboard to that manufacturing town situated 

 upon the southerly waters of the Coiitoocook : — 

 the amphitheatre of this northern branch gives 

 the eiilire town of Temple, edged by Wilton on 

 the north-east, and New Ipswich on the south- 

 west. The main branch keeps further south- 

 west, and furnishes, six miles above Wilton, the 

 water-power for cotton factories at Mason village, 

 and two miles further on, other factories in New- 

 Ipswich. Saving the factory at East Wilton 

 several years ago burned, all the establishments 

 on the Souhegan are now, and have been for 

 some time in prosperous business. Great addi- 

 tions have been made to the buildings and busi- 

 ness of Milford : over the Souhegan river at the 

 village has recently been thrown one of those 



