History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 2

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 2

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Other old residents of ninety or one hundred years ago, might be named, but we must not go too far away into the neighborhood of our city, or make our narration tedious by repeating too many names.

There is perhaps a popular impression that the proper history of Lowell began in 1822, when the first great manufacturing company, The Merrimack, was organized and began its operations in the village of East Chelmsford ; but surely a thriving town or city does not first begin to exist when it gets a new name, or when some great event or enterprise gives it a new and powerful impetus and brings it prominently be- fore the public mind. Let us glance at a few of the enterprises of this village of a date many years ear- lier than 1822.

MIDDLESEX CANAL .-- The Merrimack River, instead of keeping, like other eastern rivers, its continuous southern course to the ocean and having its moutlı at the harbor of the city of Lynn, abruptly turns towards the northeast, a short distance above Paw- tucket Falls, and reaches the oceau at the city of Newburyport. Indeed, there are geological indications that the river did once pursue its southerly course to the ocean, passing along the west side instead of the east side of Fort Hill. Mr. Cowley says : "The exca- vations made for the Middlesex and the Pawtucket

Canals disclose unmistakable proofs that the channel of the Merrimack, in this vicinity, was once a consid- erable distance south and west. of its present situa- tion." Some great convulsion of nature had changed the bed of the stream.

The rocky bed of the Merrimack and its dangerous falls were a great obstruction to the transportation of the timber and other products of the country to the cities on the Atlantic coast. It was this obstruction which suggested the construction of a canal from the bend in the river above referred to to the city of Bos- ton, thus securing a far shorter and safer means of transportation than had before existed.

The proprietors of the Middlesex Canal were in- corporated in 1793. Col. Loammi Baldwin, of Wo- burn, the animating soul of the enterprise, a man of indefatigable industry and unyielding perseverance, of sound judgment and fertile genius, was appointed as engineer. The first turf was removed by Col. Baldwin on Sept. 10, 1794. "The progress of con- struction was slow, and there were many embarrass- ments. The purchase of land for the canal from more than a hundred owners demanded skillful diplo- macy." The canal was opened to public navigation in 1803. It was "30 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep, with twenty locks, seven aqueducts, and crossed by fifty bridges. It was supplied with water by the Concord River at Billerica, which at that place is 107 feet above the tide in Boston Harbor, and 20 feet above the Merrimack. It cost about $500,000." It has been wittily remarked that, "like an accusing ghost, it never strays far from the Boston and Lowell Railroad, to which it owes its untimely end." In its early days the success of the enterprise seemed secure. Its tolls, rents, etc., steadily increased. In 1812 they were $12,600, and in 1816 they were $32,600. In the opin- ion of Daniel Webster the value of timber had been increased $5,000,000 by the canal. Vast quantities of lumber and wood were transported upon it. Passen- gers also were conveyed in a neat boat, which occu- pied almost an entire day in reaching the city of Boston. But by degrees the enterprise lost the confi- dence of the public, and even of most of the proprie- tors themselves. To keep in repair the aqueducts and locks, the banks and the bridges, demanded constant and very heavy outlays of money. The death of its engineer, Col. Baldwin, in 1808, was an irreparable loss. The aid grauted by the Legislature proved of little avail. Dividends were not declared. Assessment after assessment, one hundred in all, was extorted from the loug-suffering stockholders. But in 1819 the greatest difficulties seem to have been sur- mounted, and the first dividend was paid. From 1819 to 1836 were the palmy days of the enterprise. But in 1835 the Boston and Lowell Railroad began a disastrous competition. The tonnage dues on the ca- nal, which in 1835 amounted to nearly $12,000, sunk to a little over $6000 in 1836. The opening of the Nashua and Lowell Railroad to traffie in 1840 was

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another fearful blow to the prosperity of the canal. The warfare with the railroads was pluckily waged, till the expenditures of the canal outran its income. It was vain to prolong the struggle further. The ca- nal's vocation was gone, and its property was sold for $130,000. On October 3, 1859, the Supreme Court issned a decree declaring that the proprietors had " forfeited all their franchises and privileges, by rea- son of non-feasance, non-user, misfeasance and ue- glect."

Col. Baldwin, the distinguished engineer of this en- terprise, deserves a brief notice. Having enlisted in the army of the Revolution in April, 1775, he rapidly rose to the position of colonel. With Washington he crossed the Delaware in December, 1776, and partici- pated in the gallant fight at Trenton. On retiring from the army on account of ill health he returned to the town of Woburn, where he passed a long and use- ful life. He was the first high sheriff of Middlesex County after its organization under the government of the United States. He often served his town in public offices, and to him the country is indebted for the propagation of the celebrated Baldwin apple.

PAWTUCKET CANAL .- This canal around Paw- tucket Falls, as it lies entirely within the limits of' the city of Lowell, demands of us a more specific notice.

The precipitous falls, the violent current and the dangerous rocks afforded an almost impassable ob- struction to the transportation of lumber and other produce of the country to the cities on the coast. From the head of the falls to the mouth of the Con- cord River below is a descent of more than thirty feet. Lumber and wood coming down the Merri- mack had to be conveyed around the falls in teams and formed into rafts in the river below. To obviate this difficulty the plan was formed of constructing a canal around the falls. For this purpose a company, known as " The Locks and Canals Company," was formed, to whom a charter was granted June 25, 1792. The president of this company was Hon. Jonathan Jackson. Mr. T. B. Lawson tells us that after many preliminary meetings, and the consumption of many good dinners, it was resolved that a "canal be cut at Pawtucket Falls, on the side of Chelmsford, begin- ning near the great landing-place, thence running to 'Lily Pond,' from thence by 'Speen's Brook ' to Con- cord River." A contract was made with Joseph Tyler to complete the proposed eanal for £4344, lawful currency. Tyler failing to fulfill the contract, Thomas M. Clark, of Newburyport, was appointed superintendent of the operation in January, 1796, with the pay of $3.33 for every day of actual employ- ment in the work of construction, together with his board and traveling expenses. By the energy and fidelity of Mr. Clark the canal was opened on Oct. 18, 1796, about four years from its inception. The day of the opening was celebrated. Men, women and children crowded around the banks to witness

the scene. The boat which was to make the first trip through the locks was filled with the directors of the company and invited guests. At this point a eircum- stance occurred which is thus narrated by Allen, the historian of Chelmsford : "Scarcely had they en- tered the first lock when the sides suddenly gave way. The water, bursting upon the spectators with great violence, carried many down the stream. Infants were separated from their mothers, children from their parents, wives from their husbands, young ladies from their gallants, and men, women, timber, broken boards and planks were seen promiscuously floating in the water. All came safely to land, with- out material injury."

The canal cost about $50,000, and proved a practical success, although the dividends to its stockholders were small, averaging, it is supposed less than four per cent. annually.

But the future had other uses for the waters of this canal than, that of transportation of produce; for in 1821, twenty-five years after its construction, it began to be relied upon to furnish the water-power for the great manufacturing enterprises which were then springing up in our city. For this latter purpose it is still employed. The property of the original com- pany, once mainly owned in Newburyport, fell into the hands of Boston capitalists engaged in the new manufacturing enterprises, new directors were ap- pointed and large purchases of land were made; but the original name remains, and "The Proprietors of Locks and Canals " still, as a company, hold a very large and valuable amount of the property of the city, and exercise a controlling power in its great manufacturing enterprises.

BRIDGES .- For nearly 150 years after the settlement of the town the people of Chelmsford crossed the Merrimack in ferry-boats. But on February 4, 1792, the General Court of Massachusetts granted an act of incorporation to certain persons as proprietors of Mid- dlesex Merrimack River Bridge, subsequently known as the Pawtucket Bridge. This bridge crossed the Merrimack at the head of Pawtucket Falls. It was completed at a cost of about $8000, and opened on November 5th of the same year. Its abutments and piers werc of wood, and it seems to have been cheaply built, for thirteen years subsequently a new bridge with stone abutments was constructed at the cost of $14,500. The work of the construction of the first bridge is interesting to the reader of the present day as incidentally showing the change in the methods of doing business within the last 100 years. This change will be well illustrated by the following extracts from the records of the company, as found by Mr. James S. Russell among the papers of the late Dr. J. O. Green.

" May 23, 1792. Meeting adjourned till to-morrow morning at 5 o'clock!"

" June 11, 1792. Col. Loammi Baldwin appointed to procure one ton of iron & two barrels of New England rum."

"June 27, 1792. Each man to be allowed half-pint of rum per day when master workman calls for it."

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

"Ang. 27, 1792. Voted that Col. Baldwin be desired to procure one barrel of New England rum and half a barrel of West India rum for the proprietors! "

"Oct. 24, 1792. Voted that all persons that shall come on Nov. 5, to see the bridge [opened], be treated with flip & toddy at the expense of the proprietors."

This was a toll-bridge, but free passage was voted to all persons to any public meeting at the west meet- ing-house in Dracut.

The tolls, until 1796, were designated in English money, and for foot passengers were " from two-thirds of a penny to one cent & five mills."

The enterprise proved a profitable one to the stock- holders, netting for one period of thirty years an av- erage income of more than twenty-four per cent. on the cost. But the days of prosperity ere long had passed away. The corporation had lived its three- score years and ten. The days of toll-taking were passing away and men were demanding a free passage over every stream. The proposal in 1822 to build a new bridge near Hunt's Falls, where now stands the Central Bridge, threatened a dangerous rivalry. The monopoly could not be sustained, and at length, in 1861, the bridge was sold for $12,000 and made a free bridge. Of this price the county of Middlesex paid $6000, the city of Lowell $4000 and the town of Dracut $2000.

" The freedom of the bridge," Mr. Gilman tells us, "was received with great rejoicing. McFarlin's horses drew the toll-gate across the bridge, preceded by a band of music, and a gathering at Huntington Hall, in which were represented Dracut & neighbor- 'ing towns, took due notice of the affair."

It would be tedious to repeat the various recon- structions of this bridge from 1805 to the construction by the city of Lowell of the present substantial iron structure, of which due mention will be made in the proper place, in connection with the Central Bridge.

Allen informs us that the first bridge over the Con- cord, near the cemetery, was built in 1658. This bridge was removed higher up the river in 1662, and again removed in 1699. '

The first bridge at the mouth of the Concord (at East Merrimack Street) was erected in 1774, and was blown down by a gale before it was finished, and a second bridge was erected. In 1819 a third bridge was built at the joint expense of Tewksbury and Chelms- ford.

MANUFACTURES .- In 1801 the first power-card- ing machine in Middlesex County was set up in Lowell by Moses Hale. Mr. Hale had a fulling-mill on River Meadow Brook, not many rods from the site of the Butler School-house, and in this mill he placed the new carding-machine on which in 1803 he carded more than 10,000 pounds of wool. Such was the humble beginning.

In 1818 Mr. Thomas Hurd purchased a building 60 feet long, 50 fcet wide and 40 feet high, which in 1813 had been erected by Phineas Whiting and Col. Josiah Fletcher for manufacturing purposes, and

fitted it up for the manufacture of woolen goods. This building was situated on or near the site of the pres- ent Middlesex Mills. Herc Mr. Hurd had sixteen looms, employed twenty hands, and made 120 yards of satinet per day. In addition to this building, which was of wood, he erected a larger building of brick for his manufacturing operations. The latter build- ing was destroyed by fire in June, 1825, and it was rebuilt in 1826. This fire was the largest and most destructive in those early days. Mr. Hurd be- came bankrupt in the financial reaction of 1828, and in 1830 his mills became the property of the Middle- sex Manufacturing Company.

Window-Glass .- In 1802, on the banks of the Mid- dlesex Canal, a few rods from the Merrimack River, was erected a large building, 124 feet by 62 feet, for the manufacture of window-glass. This enterprise employed about 100 persons, and made annually about 330,000 feet of glass, the value of which was $43,000.

Powder .- In 1818 powder-mills with forty pestles were started on the Concord River by Moses Hale. After various changes in the proprietorship of these mills, O. M. Whipple became the sole proprietor in 1827. This manufacture was at its zenith in the Mexican War, when in one year nearly a million pounds of powder were produced. It was discon- tinued in 1855. Mr. Whipple was a man of great energy, and though he commenced with a small cap- ital and in a humble way, he amassed a handsome fortune, and became one of the foremost citizens of Lowell.

FISHERIES .- Not only the Indians, but the Eng- lish settlers found in the waters of the Merrimack and Concord an abundant supply of fish. The rivers teemed with salmon, shad and alewives. Instead of the rude devices employed by the Indians, the fish in great numbers were taken in nets and seines. Capt. Silas Tyler, as quoted by Mr. Gilman, gives an inter- csting account of fishing in his days : " The best baul of fish I ever knew was eleven hundred shad and eight or ten thousand alewives. This was in the Concord, just below the Middlesex Mills. My uncle, Joe Tyler, once got so many alewives that he did not kuow what to do with them. The law allowed us to fish two days per week iu the Concord and three in the Merrimac. This law was enforced about as well as the 'prohibitory law' of the present day, and just about as much attention was paid to it. The Dracut folks fished in the pond at the foot of Pawtucket Falls. They would set their nets there on forbidden days. On onc occasion the fish wardens from Bil- lerica came and took and earricd off their nets. The wardens, when they returned to Billerica, spread the nets on the grass to dry. The next night the fisher- men, iu a wagon with a span of horses, drove to Bil- lerica, gathered up the nets, brought them back and reset them in the pond.

"People would come 15 or 20 miles on fishing days

LOWELL.

to procure these fish. Shad were worth five dollars per hundred and salmon ten cents per pound."

But the palmy days of the fisherman have passed away. The dams and numerous other obstructions have almost entirely prevented the fish from ascend- ing the streams. It is still a problem whether the recent attempts to re-stock the rivers with fish, by building fish-ways to facilitate their ascent over the falls, by hatching in the rivers spawn taken from other places, and by protecting the fish by more strin- gent laws, will ever prove successful.

Having defined and described the territory of our city, and given a brief outline of its history in those early days when it was the gathering-place of the Paw- tucket Indians, and when, subsequently, it was known as a quiet New England village, we come to a new era, when suddenly the uneventful life of the farm gives place to the din and clatter of machinery and to tbe bustle and activity of a great manufacturing es- tablishment.

But before describing the beginnings of the great enterprise, let us briefly recall some of the remoter causes which led to its inauguration.

It is poor generalship to allow the enemy to hold possession of the springs which supply the garrison with water. It is poor statesmanship to allow another nation to control the production and supply of the necessaries of life to the people of our own. Depend- ence is the badge of slavery. Dependence upon Eng- land was the galling yoke upon the necks of our fathers. That immortal proclamation of their eman- cipation was not denominated " The Declaration of Rights," but " The Declaration of Independence." But when political independence was gained, commercial dependence remained. For the very clothing that kept us warm we were dependent upon English capi- tal and English skill. The scanty earnings of the enfranchised American farmer found their way into the coffers of the English manufacturer. This de- pendence weighed heavily upon the minds of patriotic men.

The following extract from the Rev. Mr. Miles' " Lowell As It Was, and As It Is," exhibits in clear light our dependence upon other countries, in the first part of the present century, for our supply of cotton goods :

" In 1807 and 1808 there were imported from Calcutta 53,000,000 of yarde principally of coarse cotton goods, and worth, as prices then were, over $12,000,000. In 1810 there were made in all the factories of the United States, as appears by returns made by order of Mr. Gallatin, then secretary of the treasury, only 856,645 yards of cotton cloth. This is uot so many yards as four of the establishments of Lowell can now (1845, tarn ont in one week. In 1807 the country received nearly all ite cotton goods from Great Britain and the East Indias."

This dependence weighed like a galling yoke upon a free people. It began to be seen that if a country is to be truly free, it must have within itself all the means of supplying the people with every necessary and comfort of life. It must be able to live and to pros- per, though every other nation should be blotted out.

It was this sentiment that inspired many a far-see- ing and patriotic American at the beginning of the present century. It was not the spirit of enterprise and the desire of gain alone that moved the noble men who, nearly seventy years ago, laid the foundations of the great manufactories of our city. The spirit of patriotism also ennobled their great undertaking. As we read the history of the inauguration of their great work we are compelled to admire their generous and benevolent regard for the general welfare of our city, and the moral purity of its inhabitants.

But before describing the work of these noble men, let us briefly glance at their personal histories,-let us know who and what they were.

Five of their number must receive especial notice : Francis Cabot Lowell, because he was, in the gener- ous language of his colleague, Honorable Nathan Appleton, " the informing soul which gave direction and form to the whole proceeding ;" Patrick T. Jack- son and Nathan Appleton, because, while the great enterprise was still a doubtful experiment, they nobly embarked in it their fortunes and their honor ; and Kirk Boott and Paul Moody, because by their great executive talents and their inventive genius they made the experiment an assured and triumphant success.

Francis Cabot Lowell may, in classic phrase, be styled the eponymous hero of our city, for from him Lowell received her name. He is said to have been a descendant of one of two brothers, Richard and Percival Lowle, who came to Newbury, Massachu- setts, from Bristol, England, in 1639. His grand- father was Rev. John Lowell, who, in the first half of the last century, was for forty-two years pastor of the First Church in Newburyport. His father was John Lowell, LL.D., judge of the United States District Court of Massachusetts.

FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL was born in Newbury- port, April 7, 1775. He graduated at Harvard College in 1793, when only eighteen years of age. He became a merchant, but was driven from his business by the embargo, the non-intercourse act and the war. He went to Europe for his health in 1810, returning in 1813. Of his sojourn of three years in Europe, so pregnant with results of the highest importance to the future manufacturing interests of our country, I shall hereafter speak. He died August 10, 1817, in the prime of early manhood, at the age of forty-two ycars. It was his son, John Lowell, who gave $240,- 000 to found the Lowell Institute in Boston.

PATRICK TRACY JACKSON was born at Newbury- port, August 14, 1780, and was the youngest son of Hon. Jonathan Jackson, who was a member of the Continental Congress and treasurer of Harvard Col- lege and of the State of Massachusetts. Having completed his education in Dummer Academy, when about fifteen years of age, he entered the store of Wm. Bartlett, of Newburyport, a wealthy merchant, who is widely known as the munificent patron of the

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass. He proved to be a young man of such remarkable energy, abil- ity and fidelity, that before he was twenty years of age Mr. Bartlett put him in charge of a cargo of mer- chandise for St. Thomas, giving him authority above that of the captain of the vessel. Subsequently he made three voyages as captain of merchantmen. He then engaged in commercial business in Boston, es- pecially in the India and Havana trades.

In 1813 his brother-in-law, Francis Cabot Lowell, returned from his long sojourn in Europe, with his mind filled with the idea of establishing in our own country the manufacture of cotton goods. Mr. Jack- son became convinced of the feasibility of Mr. Lowell's plans and entered heartily into his views. From this time a new life opens before him. Hehad been driven from his mercantile business by the war, and now he becomes a manufacturer, a railroad builder, a man of intense energy and wonderful ac- tivity in the inauguration and management of great undertakings. Of his connection with the early history of the cotton manufacturing enterprises of our country, I shall speak hereafter. He died in Beverly Septem- ber 12, 1847, at the age of sixty-seven years.

NATHAN APPLETON was born in New Ipswich, N. H., October 6, 1779. When less than fifteen years of age he entered Dartmouth College. He, however, soon left the college to engage in mercantile busi- ness in Boston with his brother Samuel. When of age he became the partner of his brother, the title of the firm being S. & N. Appleton. His brother Sam- uel became distinguished both as a man of great wealth and of almost unexampled benevolence. Of Nathan Appleton's connection with Lowell & Jack- son in establishing cotton manufactories, I shall speak in the proper place.

Mr. Appleton was elected to Congress in 1830, and again in 1842. He acquired great wealth. He died in Boston, July 14, 1861, at the age of eighty-two years.

KIRK BOOTT was the central figure in that group of distinguished men who laid the foundations of the city of Lowell. As, in the introduction of the man- ufacture of cotton in America, Francis Cabot Lowell was the " informing soul," so in its introduction in Lowell, Mr. Boott was the controlling will. He was the leader without a guide. He solved problems be- fore unsolved, and trod a path before untrodden.

Mr. Boott was born in Boston, Oct. 20, 1790, and was of English extraction. His father, Kirk Boott, came to Boston in 1783, and became a merchant in the wholesale traffic in dry goods. He was the builder of the Revere House, which, with the family, he occupied until the close of his life. The son re- ceived his early education in Boston. Subsequently he studied at the Rugby School in England and entered the class of 1809 in Harvard College. It was probably due to Mr. Boott's taste for military life that he left the college before completing the course of

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 2

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226