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HAND BOOK A
OF
BUSINESS IN LOWELL,
WITH A
HISTORY OF THE CITY.
BY CHARLES COWLEY, ESQ., A MEMBER OF THE MIDDLESEX BAR.
MAID
HAI
OF
THE
HUMAN
ART IS
GOOD
*
LOWELL
SPEC F 74 .L9 C77
LOWELL: Published by C. D. Green. 1856.
VINCENT J-R KEHOE
FARM LANDS FOR SALE. THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAIL ROAD COMPANY
IS NOW PREPARED TO SELL ABOUT
TIVO MILLIONS of ACRES of FARMING LANDS, IN TRACTS of 40 ACRES AND UPWARDS, On long credits, and at low rates of interest.
These lands were granted by the Government, to aid in the construction of this Railroad, and are among the richest and most fertile in the .tite. They extend with the Road, from Chicago on the North-East to Cairo at the South, and from thence to Galena and Dunleith in the extreme North- Western part of the State. Most of these lands lie immediately on, and within six miles of, the Road, and none are more than fifteen miles distant from it ; hence, ready and cheap facilities are furnished for transporting the products to any of the Eastern or Southern markets. The great in- crease of population by immigration, &c., and the consequent rapid growth of flourishing towns and villages on the line of the Road and throughout the State, furnishes a substantial and growing home demand for every kind of farm and garden produce.
In the northern and central parts of the State, prairie lands predominate, interspersed with mag . nificent groves of oak and other timber; in the southern, the timber is more abundant, and exceed- ly valuable.
The soil is a dark richi mould, from one to five fect in depth, is gently rolling and peculiarly fitted for grazing cattle and sheep, or the cultivation of wheat, Indiau coro, etc The air is pure and bracing. the climate more healthy, mild and equable than that of any other part of the Union ; while living streams and springs of excellent water abound.
Economy in cultivating and great productiveness are the well known characteristics of Illinois lands Trees are not required to be cut down, stumps grubbed, or stone picked off, as is generally the case in cultivating new lands in the older states. The first crop of Indian corn, planted on the newly broken sod, usually repays the cost of plowing and fencing.
Wheat sown on the newly turned sod is sure to yield very large profits. A man with a plow and two yoke of oxen will break one and a half to two acres per day. Contracts can be made for break- ing, ready for corn or wheat, at from $? to $3 per acre. By.judicious management, the land may be plowed and fenced the first, and under a high state of cultivation the second rear.
Corn, grain, cattle, etc., will be forwarded at reasonable rates to Chicago, for the eastern, and to Cairo, for the southern market.
Bituminous coal is extensively mined along the Road, and supplies a cheap and desirable fuel ; being furnished at many points at $1,50 to $1,00 per ton. Wood can be had at the same rate per cord. Extensive quarries have been opened in the southern part of the State, near the line of this Road, of building stone of excellent quality, such as white and blue lime-stoue, and white and red sand-stone, which can be had for a little more than the expense of transportation .-
{yThe government lands, in the Land States, having generally been withdrawn from market, emigrants from the eastern States and Europe can be accommodated by this company with valuable farms at the old prices and terms, which, in all probability, will double in value in twelve months.
When these land are restored to market, persons who think of settling on them, or in Minnesota, should bear in mind that the lands of this company, at the prices for which they are sold, are better investments than those in other States or Territories more remote from market, at government prices ; for the reason that the expense of transporting the products of the latter to market will al- ways be a heavy drawback on them, and after a few years' cultivation they require manuring, which is not the case with Illinois lands.
The same remarks hold good in relation to the lands in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, for although vacant lands may be found nearer the water courses, the distance to market is far greater, and every hundred miles the products of those lands are carried, either in wagons or in- terrupted water communications, increases the expense of transportation, which must be borne by the settlers, in the reduced price of their products ; and to that extent precisely are the incomes from the farms, and of course on their investments, annually and every year reduced
The great fertility of the lands now offered for sale by this company, and their consequent yield over those of the eastern and middle States, is much more than sufficient to pay the difference in the cost of transportation, especially in view of the facilities furnished by this Road, and others with which it connects, the operations of which are not interrupted by the low water of summer or the frost of winter.
PRICE AND TERMS OF PAYMENT.
The price will vary from $5 to $25, according to location, quality, etc. Contracts for Deeds may be made until further notice, stipulating the purchase money to be paid in five annual instalments. The first to become due in two years from date of contract, and the others annually thereafter. The last payment will become due at the end of the sixth year from the date of the contract, and the lands are not subject to taxation till finally paid for. Interest will be charged at only three per cent. per annum.
As a security to the performance of the contract, the first two years' interest must be paid in advance, and it must be understood that at least one-tenth of the land purchased shall yearly be brought under cultivation. Twenty per cent. from the credit price will be deduct- ed for cash. The Company's construction bonds will be received as cash.
Ready Framed Farm Buildings, which can be set up in a few days; can be obtained from responsible persons.
They will be 12 feet by 20 feet, divided into one living and three bed-rooms, and will cost complete, set up on ground chosen anywhere along the road, $250 in cash, exclusive of transportation. Larger buildings may be contracted for at proportionate rates. The com- pany will forward all the materials for such buildings over their road promptly.
[SEE THIRD PAGE OF COVER.]
AUBURN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
UNIVE
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INSTRUCTION
FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT
OF SCIENCE
H
AND AARTS
C
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EXTENSI
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F 74 .L9
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7
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation
http://www.archive.org/details/handbookofbusine00incowl
with Sequedo of
856-
A
HAND BOOK
OF
/
BUSINESS IN LOWELL,
WITH A
HISTORY OF THE CITY.
-
BY CHARLES COWLEY, ESQ., A MEMBER OF THE MIDDLESEX BAR. 1
H
ART IS
GOOD
LOWELL
1
LOWELL : PUBLISHED BY E. D. GREEN. 1856.
5
1
..
ATING
LOWELL DAILY COURIER STEAM PRESS.
AUBURN UNIVERSITY RALPH BROWN DRAUGHON LIBRARY AUBURN UNIVERSITY, ALABAMA 36849
PREFACE.
TWO OBJECTS have been sought to be compassed by this work. The first was, to exhibit, by cards and advertisements, a sort of daguerreotype view of the business of Lowell ;- "to hold, as 'twere, the mirror " up to the trade and industry of this busy and thrifty community. The other was, to present a concise and general view of the history of this place,-from its occupation as the head-quarters of the Pawtucket Indians, two centuries ago, to the close of the second decade of its existence as an in- corporated city.
In preparing this historic outline, my chief purpose has been, to seize on the salient points, facts, incidents and events of our urban history, together with such traditions and episodes as have any local interest ; and to weave the whole together in the form of a readable and interesting narrative The character of the work did not admit of minute details, a display of erudition, or a parade of rhetoric. The solemn monotony and stately dignity of history,-the painful particularity and prudish precision of chronologers and almanac-makers,-have been freely sacrificed for the lively flow of story.
I acknowledge, with pleasure, my obligations to the City Clerk, and to various individuals whose names delicacy forbids me to mention, for their politeness in favoring me with the use of records and documents, which have aided me much in the composition of this work.
Far from wishing to cultivate in the breasts of my readers a sentimental attachment to a place confessedly deficient in intel- lectual attractiveness and the charms of a refined social atmosphere, -I still cherish the hope, that the perusal of these pages may
ABT 7154
2C
7
tend to awaken that due sense of local pride, that patriotic public spirit, the absence of which, among us, has so often been the subject of criticism, both from strangers and residents, heretofore.
Conscious that many things have been omitted which deserved insertion,-I trust that nothing has been inserted which any will wish to have had left out. If this sketch shall serve to inform my readers of any facts, of which they are gratified to learn ;- if it shall serve to amuse them during an hour of leisure, or to charm away the visiting spirit of ennui ;- it will have accom- plished all that I have desired or attempted.
Lowell, July 1st, 1856.
C. COWLEY.
The Merrimac River Valley.
FEW regions on the globe possess more natural loveliness than this valley. Few have won such renown as theatres of manufac- turing enterprise. Man and Nature, cooperating to a common end, have here reared a noble monument of physical beauty and mechanic art. Even in an agricultural point of view,-but especially when considered in respect to the extent and variety of its operations in manufactures,-this valley ranks among the most interesting regions on the western continent.
The Indian name, Merrimac, says Douglas, an early writer, signifies "a sturgeon." It was applied to the river in conse- quence of the abundance of sturgeon and other fish, taken from its waters. The first settlers frequently called it " Sturgeon River."
The head of this river is on the northerly border of Merrimac county, in New Hampshire. Here the Winnipissawkee, the outlet of the lake of that name, unites with the Pemigewasset, which rises in the White Mountains, that "milk the clouds." The union of these two streams forms the great river of the valley. The tributary waters of the Contoocook, Shahegan, Nashua, Con- cord, and a hundred lesser streams, are received by the Merri- mac at various points of its course. The general direction of the river, during the first eighty miles of its career, is southerly ; but after entering Massachusetts, it bends to the northeast. Having described a journey of a hundred and ten miles, it discharges into the Atlantic, a brief distance below Newburyport.
Its course is interrupted by numerous water-falls, which furnish incipient agents of mechanism, that will endure till manufactures perish, or these waters cease to flow. By means of dams and
6
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
canals, these natural resources of water-power have been much augmented and improved. The wild Merrimac, which once rol- led unchecked to the Atlantic, has been tamed to the purposes of man, domesticated to labor, and charmed into bondage to "the wizard of mechanism." Populous cities, great bee-hives of indus- try, have sprung up all along its banks, like the enchanted palaces of the Arabian tales. The whole valley, from lake to sea, teems with the sights and sounds of the spindle and the loom.
At the head of this valley stands Concord, the capital of New Hampshire, " the Switzerland of America." Below Concord is Hooksett, just rising into the eminence of her sister-cities. A little lower is Manchester, a fine miniature of her English name- sake. Where a single saw-mill stood, twenty years ago, now stand the Stark Mills, which consume more cotton, and weave more cloth, than any similar establishment of which the world can boast. Fifteen miles lower is Nashua, and still lower looms up the Queen-City of the valley,-LOWELL,-the subject of this sketch. Ten miles lower on the river,-
" Which still in varying beauty flows along," __
is Lawrence,-fitly named after the great Merchant Prince, the Medici of America. Ten years ago, a few sandy farms were all that it contained. Now, it displays a double row of factories, among which is the largest mill in the world; and the sites of many others yet to be. Below Lawrence are Haverhill, Brad- ford, West Newbury, Salisbury, the two Amesburys, with Newburyport, the key of them all.
With a population of two hundred thousand souls, -all engaged in the industry of the factory or of the farm,-what an aggregate of productive force is here ! In adventurous enterprise, in energy of character, in general intelligence,-not to mention civil and religious freedom,-the people of this valley are unsurpassed by any of the communities of Christendom. But when we consider in what struggles they are engaged, and what difficulties beset their path to competence, we shall find that the life of these indus- trious artizans, whose fabrics are sold in all the marts of the world, is anything but paradisical ;- it is not the life of which poets have
7
HAND-BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS.
A. LAWRENCE, M. D.,
S 9
.
Office and Residence No. Il John Street,
(ESTABLISHED OCT. 1sT, 1839.)
DR. LAWRENCE INSERTS THE
BEST
GOLD PLATE AS PURE AS GOLD COIN. ON
THOSE PREFERRING SILVER, OR BUTTA PERCHA PLATES CAN BE ACCOMMODATED.
Teeth Filled with Chemically Pure Gold.
Extracting, Cleansing, &c., attended to.
CHARGES ACCORDING TO CIRCUMSTANCES.
DENTISTS wishing Fancy Work to exhibit at Fairs, supplied at short notice.
To avoid all mistakes in the person or locality, remember JOHN STREET, No. 11, opposite Samuel Kidder's Apothecary Store.
8
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
sung ;- it is not the fairy-life of Atlantis, Utopia and the Isles of the Blest.
Who shall say, that, when some centuries shall have rolled by, this valley will not fill a place in history, similar to that of the Nile, the Euphrates, the Rhine, or the River-God Ganges ? Who shall say, that, some centuries later still, some traveler,- moved by the curiosity which led Layard to Ninevah, and Park to Ethiopia,-shall not brood over the ruins of these temples of industry, when our mechanical civilization, like the martial civili- zation of the ancients, has forever passed away ?
The admiring genius of Whittier has attuned his lyre to the praise of our Merrimac :-
-I have stood
Where Hudson rolled his lordly flood ;
Looked down the Appallachian peak On Juniata's silver streak ;
Have seen along his valley gleam
The Mohawk's softly winding stream ;
The level light of sunset shine
Through broad Potomac's hem of pine ; And autumn's rainbow-tinted banner Hang lightly o'er the Susquehanna ; Yet wheresoe'er his step might be,
Thy wandering child looks back to THEE."
Topography and Natural Scenery.
THE city is situated at the confluence, and on both sides, of the Merrimac and Concord rivers. Its bounds, as extended by repeated annexations of circumjacent territory, include about six square miles. The Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimac, and the Wamesit Falls on the Concord, are both embraced within its precincts. It is twenty-five miles north-west from Boston.
The natural scenery of the place is marked by the same pic- turesqueness which characterizes the whole valley of the Merrimac. It has neither the grandeur of the Alleghanies, which
" Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps,"-
nor the limitless expanse of the western prairies, rolling in un- broken billows towards the regions of sunset. But it presents a
9
HAND-BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS.
country for
certainty the effect of the medicine he administers, is of the utmost importance to'himself and the patient. To meet the necessity so generally felt in the
IT is undoubtedly a desideratum to the medical
That the physician should be able to calculate with that they can purchase pure and reliable medicines. d profession and community at large, to be certain
COOL
SODA
WATER
PURE AND UNADULTERATED MEDICINES,
I have spared no pains in procuring those in which the peculiar characteris- tics and active properties are unaltered ;- thus guaranteeing to the buyer or consumer, the genuineness of every article sold by me.
I would therefore beg leave respectfully to call the attention of all interested, to my stock of
DRUGS AND MEDICINES, assuring them that they have been bought with the greatest care, and are offered at the
Same Prices Charged for Inferior Qualities !
Having recently enlarged and improved my store, I am now prepared, with greatly increased facilities, for my business, and accommodation for my patrons, to wait upon those who may call, and trust, by strict attention to business, and a courteous and gentlemanly deportment towards all, to merit a liberal share of the public patronage.
Physicians and Dealers from the Country are invited to call and examine a large and well selected stock of
DRUGS, CHEMICALS, DYE STUFFS, &c.
which will be sold as low as at any establishment in the country.
I have also on hand
A General Assortment of Fancy Goods, Perfumery, Toilet Articles, &c., &c., For Ladies' and Gentlemen's use.
Medicines carefully dispensed at all hours of the day or night.
To lovers of that delightful beverage, SODA, I would say that I sell a supe- rior article, manufactured by myself, and drawn from an IMPROVED FOUNTAIN which is iced to the very mouth of the pipe, thereby preserving a coolness which cannot fail to be refreshing.
CHOICE SYRUPS OF EVERY VARIETY. by the gallon or barrel.
EDW'D BUSH,
Corner of Merrimack and Central Streets, under the Methodist Episcopal Church, Lowell, Mass.
10
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
beautiful combination of hill and valley, of river and water-fall, which neither mountain nor prairie alone can give. Whittier pronounces the scenery about the Falls at Pawtucket, as inter- esting as any landscape beneath " the sunny skies of Italy." The whole arcana of Nature discloses few scenes more lovely than the panorama spread out before the beholder from Christian Hill, in Dracutt.
The great extent of this natural amphitheatre,-the well de- fined outline of the horizon,-the intersecting rivers, and the bridges which span them,-the noble blue mountain of Wauchu- sett in the distance,-Fort-Hill, the red man's " last abode," -- the coalition of art and nature,-the close proximity and agreeable contrast between town and country,-the monumental chimneys, -the mill belfries-the rows of factories-the steeples and crosses of the churches pointing heavenward-the unnumbered gable- spires of a populous city-the glorious dissolving view of the White Mountains, those " Alps of America," whose crests of eternal granite seem lost in the distant upper sky,-the azure canopy of heaven, that overhangs this wide spread landscape, reflecting every lineament of beauty,-all these constitute a scene upon which the beholder that hath "music in his soul," may gaze forever without satiety.
Indian Antiquities.
WHEN the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, in 1620, all New England was inhabited by five great tribes, or confederacies, of Indians. The Massachusetts occupied the territory about Massa- chusetts Bay ; the Narragansetts, that about Narragansett Bay ; the Pokonokets peopled the south-easterly part of Massachusetts ; the Pequots, the valley of the Connecticut ; and the Pawtuckets, the whole valley of the Merrimac, including what now consti- tutes the State of New Hampshire. The aggregate population of these five nations did not exceed twenty-five thousand souls.
11
HAND-BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS.
PATTERN AND MODEL MANUFACTORY. No. 20 Middle St., Lowell, Mass.
JOHN E. CRANE, PROPRIETOR.
Patterns for machinery, of every description, made at short notice, and in the best possible manner.
Particular attention given to the manufacture of GEARS of EVERY SIZE and KIND. CARVED AND ORNAMENTAL PATTERNS Executed with skill and taste unsurpassed.
a
Of Suitable Size for the Patent Office,
Or for representation, (however complicated or simple,) will be made, to the entire satisfaction of parties interested in the same.
REFERENCE :
JUDGE THE TREEBY . THE FRUIT IT BEARS.
12
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
It had formerly been very much greater; but the ravages of pestilence and war had made awful havoc among these tribes.
Each of these confederacies comprehended numerous lesser tribes. Each had a territory, with villages, customs, laws, and an independent chief of its own. Each village contained from two to three hundred people. The sachems of the smaller tribes were tributary to the grand sachem. The Pennacooks, the Aga- wams, the Naamkeeks, with various other Indian communities, acknowledged the sovereignty of the Pawtuckets, who, when the whites first came, numbered three or four thousand in all. The two names, Pawtucket and Wamesit, are frequently confounded together by the earlier writers, when treating of these Indian tribes.
The capital of the Pawtuckets was at the junction of the Mer- rimac and Concord, and at Pawtucket Falls, where Lowell now stands. Why this place was selected for their chief settlement, may be easily perceived. These lands possessed great fertility ; the hunting-grounds were good; and the rivers swarmed with the most delicious fish. Sturgeon, salmon, shad, eels, alewives, and other varieties of fish, were here taken by the canoe-load. Moreover, the location was eminently central. The Concord and the upper Merrimae communicated, by canoe navigation, with a vast region in the interior ; while the lower Merrimac afforded a safe and easy channel to the sea-board. The wild and picturesque scenery of this place must also have addressed itself strongly to the warm imaginations of these lords of the forest.
It is believed that as many as twelve thousand Indians some- times assembled here in the spring. Such a concourse of that peculiar people must have furnished scenes worthy of the poet's fervent page, or the painter's luminous canvas. The display of so many grotesque braves and beauteous Indian maidens, habited in their gala costume,-darting wildly down the rapids in their light canoes,-catching their silvery fish by the thousand,-en- gaged in the animated competition of the chase,-gravely delibe- rating around their council fires,-bathing in the clear stream before sunrise,-climbing the adjacent hill-tops in the mellow light of sunset,-presents all the elements for a master-piece of art.
13
HAND - BOOK OF ITS BUSINESS.
DR.
ARD 9
(Late of Portland and Bangor, Maine.)
THE ORIGINAL VEGETABLE PHYSICIAN
Has permanently located at
No. 248 Merrimack Street, Lowell, Mass.,
Where he may be consulted, free of charge, upon all long standing com- plaints, such as Piles, Humors of all kinds, Disfigured and Blotched Faces, Pin Worms, Dizziness, Rushing of Blood to the Head, Palpitation of the Heart, Canker, Cough and Consumptive Complaints, Female Dificulties, originating from an impure state of the Blood, Salt Rheum, and all other Cutaneous Diseases.
Dr. Pollard does not profess to cure all diseases, as many have done, but having been for more than twenty years, previous to 1841, one of the greatest sufferers in the world from many of the above complaints, and particularly with the Piles, he has suffered beyond description, which enables him to treat such cases with much success.
The following Medicines, all of which Dr. Pollard is the original inventor and sole proprietor, may be found at the Medical depot of Drs. POLLARD & RICKER.
Dr. Pollard's Hemorrhoidal Pills. Scorbufic and Jaundice Biffers. Hegefable Pile Electyary. Female Strengthening Syrup. Liber Syrup. Rheumatic Mixture. Hegefable Hemorrhoidal Salbe. Bile Correcfor. Hemorrhoidal Specific.
Canker Syrup. Kidney and Grabel Remedy . Cough Syrup.
Together with a large variety of other Medicines.
The above Medicines are put up exclusively by Dr. Pollard, who is the Original Proprietor. These Medicines have been used in his practice for the past fifteen years, with complete success, and may be obtained by the single package ; or when Dr. P. is consulted a regular course may be prescribed. All orders for Medicine, directed to DRS. POLLARD & RICKER'S MEDI- CAL DEPOT, No. 248 Merrimack Street, Lowell, will be promptly answered. Medicines sent by Express to any part of the country. When Dr. Pollard is absent patients will find Dr. Ricker competent to prescribe for them.
A. W. POLLARD, Original Vegetable Physician.
14
HISTORY OF LOWELL:
The golden age of the Pawtucket nation was probably about the commencement of the seventeenth century. Belknap informs us that a war broke out, early in that century, between the Paw- tuckets and the Tarrantines,-a small but brave tribe contiguous to them,-in which the Pawtuckets encountered tremendous los- ses ; and their grand sachem was slain. The subordinate sachems quarrelled among themselves for the succession ; and the horrors of internal feuds were superadded to those of the conflict with the Tarrantines.
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