22 COMMEECIAL IMPOKTANCE OF WHITE MOUNTAIN FORESTS. 



$100,000,000. Several million dollars have been expended upon 

 canals and dams alone, one canal at Lowell having cost more than 

 $500,000. Two canals at Lawrence cost $250,000 each. The popu- 

 lation in the ten water-using cities, from Laconia on Lake Winni- 

 pesaukee to Newburyport on the sea, is about 400,000. 



Table 11 indicates the volume of business in only a few industries 

 at Lawrence, Lowell, and Manchester dependent upon the water 

 powers of the Merrimac at those places. 



Table 11. — Value of annual product and number of wage-earners in certain industries 

 on the Merrimac River, 1905. a 



Place. 



Industry. 



Value of 

 product. 



Number 

 of wage- 

 earners. 



Lawrence . . 



Lowell 



Manchester 



'Cotton goods 



Dyeing and finishing textiles 



Foundry and machine shop products 



Paper and wood pulp 



[Worsted goods 



'Cotton goods 



Foundry and machine shop products 



Hosiery and knit goods 



Woolen goods 



Worsted goods 



Cotton goods 



Total 



,745,611 

 ,428,174 

 ,418,491 

 ,650,206 

 ,926,964 

 ,340,925 

 ,438,729 

 ,816,964 

 ,579,363 

 ,978,552 

 ,366,061 



3,956 



1,158 



897 



599 



12,216 



12,936 



2,294 



4,324 



1,391 



1,235 



9,884 



86,690,040 



50,890 



a Census of Manufactures, U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor. 



SACO RIVER. 



The source of the Saco River is in a small lake at the top of the 

 Crawford Notch, 1,900 feet above the sea. It flows in a southeasterly 

 course about 75 miles to the sea, or 104 miles measured on the river, 

 and drains a basin of 1,750 square miles, almost exactly one-half 

 of which lies in New Hampshire. The streams that unite to form 

 the Saco drain the steep south slopes of Mount Washington, the 

 Presidental Range and the mountains southward, including Mount 

 Chocorua and most of the Sandwich Range. The main stream falls 

 more than 1,100 feet in the first 14 miles and 333 feet in the next 18 

 miles. Like the upper reaches of the Merrimac these streams have 

 no lakes to restrain their flow, and are held back solely by the forests 

 on the mountains. They are variable streams, and in New Hamp- 

 shire not much used thus far as water powers. In Maine the current 

 flows over level stretches, broken at six places by falls affording power 

 sites of a very high order. The lake drainage, which affects the 

 lower Saco River only, is considerable, the lake surface covering 84 

 square miles. Not all of the powers on the Saco have been developed, 

 nor even carefully estimated. The theoretical horsepower, therefore, 

 can only be generally stated at about 60,000. 



tCir. 168] 





