USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lawrence > Quarter-centennial history of Lawrence, Massachusetts, with portraits and biographical sketches > Part 4
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an approximate certainty, sufficiently accurate at any rate for his satisfaction, and thereupon at once was prefigured clear and distinct beyond question in his mind, all the capabilities and advantages of this mighty source of power and wealth, hidden under the unassum- ing form of a few deceptive rapids. The Genii of the Stream had been evoked from beneath the waters and had been compelled to exhibit himself in all the terrible majesty of his awful power, but not as yet was he subject further to mortal incantation.
From that moment with Mr. Saunders it was only a question of time, only awaiting an opportunity, and the man to demonstrate and develop it ; nor did he hesitate to talk over in the privacy of his family circle, the probabilities of the growth of a great city on the banks of the Merrimack in Methuen and Andover ; whether or no his eyes should ever see it was to him then a matter of doubt, but to the vision of his children, if spared, prophesied, with a certainty that silenced cavil, all that the present has effected in the way of material growth and prosperity in the City of Lawrence.
But the mere discovery of this immense water power, hitherto un- known, unrecognized and unimproved, was only one step, and that a very small one towards its full development.
About two miles above the present location, at the head of Peters Falls, so called, a dam could have been constructed at a much less . expenditure of money than where the present dam now stands, but at the sacrifice of a few feet of fall, and it was by no means clear then nor for sometime after to the mind of our enterprising discoverer which of the two, under all circumstances, was the more desirable spot for his purpose ; but to his mind one thing was clear, definite, determined, and that was that the scheme of founding, in one of the two localities a great manufacturing centre, was far from visionary and that sooner or later, by some person in some way and by some means it would be brought about ; consequently, on his own account, without taking any one outside of his own immediate family into his
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ALBERT WARREN,
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Commission Merchant, 21 Broadway ; residence, 274 Haverhill St. Came to Lawrence in April, 1850. Born at Leicester, Mass., Sept., 1814. Is a card clothing manufacturer by trade, and commenced that business in this city under the firm name of Smith, Walker & Co., which changed to Warren & Bryant, and subsequently to Warren & Robinson. Mr. Warren retired six years since. Is married but has no children. Attends the Lawrence Street Congregational church. Was alderman the first year of the city charter, and was mayor in 1855 and 1856.
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councils, in 1840 he purchased of Frederick Noyes a strip of land about a third of a mile in length, which took in Peters Falls on the south side of the river.
Nothing more was done in this direction until 1843, when he effected a purchase from Joseph Griffin, of Lowell, of an island cov- ered with wood, situate at the head of Peters Falls, which island is now flooded, and is below the level of the flowing river, out of sight be- neath the deep waters. Later in the same year, he bought of Samuel Griffin a strip of land about half a mile in length, containing some eighty acres in the whole, on the north side, and from time to time, as opportunity afforded, quietly effected purchases of several differ- ent parties, until he held in his own right the whole of Peters Falls, and had secured to himself the key to the mighty power of the great river, which under his purchases, by means of the flowage laws of Massachusetts, could neither be wrested from him, nor could his right to utilize the same be hindered, although the other land owners on the river should grudgingly refuse to sell whatever might be necessary for the full enjoyment of his privilege so secured for a reasonable compen- sation ; and so judiciously did he set himself at work, and so quietly was all this effected that no person other than the confidents in his own immediate family circle suspected even the existence of the hid- den giant, much less did they imagine it within the range of probabilities that in their day he would be summoned from out the waters to dem- onstrate before their eyes, in active industrial energy, the capabilities of his terrible presence and matchless power.
Having now proceeded as far as he could well venture singly and alone in an undertaking so vast, and having just at this time disposed of his woolen business, he was now at liberty to give to the enterprise his undivided attention, provided he could enlist in its behalf associ- ated capital, which in no inconsiderable amount would be required in order to carry forward towards its completion the grand project in which he was so heartily enlisted, in which he had such entire faith,
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to which he had given so much thought and study, and for the full development of which, in its entirety, he was now prepared to devote himself, to the exclusion of all other matters of business whatsoever. He accordingly opened the whole matter to his nephew, J. G. Abbott, John Nesmith and Samuel Lawrence, all then residents of Lowell, dis- closing as well what he had done and what he already knew in the premises, as also what in his opinion the future promised and required.
He found the parties readily disposed to give the project their fa- vorable consideration, well knowing that he was a person whose judgment was least likely to be warped by his enthusiasm, and waiting only to satisfy themselves of the actual fall in the Merrimack River below Hunt's Falls in Lowell, in full sympathy with him they entered into his views, and immediately thereupon was formed the Merrimack Water Power Association embracing, together with the first named, Daniel Saunders, Jr., then a law student in Lowell, Thomas Hopkinson and Jonathan Tyler of Lowell, and Nathaniel Stevens of Andover.
Of course it was an object of prime importance to obtain the title to as much of the land as possible adjacent to the location determined upon, as well to secure the advantage of controlling everything relating to the laying out of the future municipality in its early embryo state, as also to reap the advantage of the immediate rise in the value of the real estate in the vicinity of the contemplated improvements. How to do this was one of the first questions that presented itself to the newly formed association.
Prominent members of the association urged the importance of at once purchasing, in as quiet a manner as possible, lands in the imme- - diate vicinity of the projected enterprise at the most advantageous bargains, and to an extent as general as possible.
But to him who had studied the whole matter, even in its minute detail, and who had seemingly provided for almost every conceivable contingency, this appeared not the part of wisdom, and his suggestion on the contrary was, that since the exact location was by no means
JOHN RODMAN ROLLINS, 1.
Accountant at Pacific Mills. Residence, 39 Prospect St. Has been "a resident for over twenty years. Born in Newburyport Feb. 9, 1817. Was a graduate of Dartmouth College, of the Class-of '36, subsequent to which he taught school 12 years. Married Sarah Stearns Patterson Nov. 20, 1844; has two children. Is a regular attendant at the Lawrence Street Congregational Church. Was for thirteen years pay- master of the Essex Company. Was mayor of Lawrence for the years 1857 and 1858. Captain in the Union Army, 1863-4. Since Dec. 1866 Mr. Rollins has been paymaster at the Pacific Mills.
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at the time definitely determined, the superior advantages of the present locality in height of fall being offset by the dimnuition of out- lay required to build a dam at Peters Falls, two miles above, and as the purchase of outlands at both places would necessarily secure a loss on one portion or the other, he advised that the association should at once proclaim their purpose and intention of commencing in one of the two localities hereafter to be determined as the interest of the asso- ciation should be best subserved, the erection of a new manufacturing city, and offering to the land owners about the location fortunate in being selected a joint benefit with the associates in the enterprise by taking from all owning lands in either vicinity bonds for the conveyance of their lands within a certain time at prices much in advance of their value, present or prospective under the present existing state of things.
To the good judgment of the other associates the suggestions of the original projector at once recommended themselves, and he accord- ingly commenced taking bonds from the land owners in and about both localities. It was a somewhat slow and tedious process. Few had any idea at the commencement that the scheme would ever amount to anything, and they had no particular objection for a nomi- nal consideration to bind themselves to sell within a given time their farns for one-half more perhaps than they had ever dreamed of real- izing for them, but parties could not be hurried ; many required repeat- ed visits and alntost endless conferences. Absent parties required hunting up and communicating with, and the thousand causes for de- lay attendant upon an undertaking so vast were, of course, not wanting. The scheme was by the wise ones (and there are many such in every - country village) facetiously designated as Saunders' folly. Timid proprietors, who had probably never made a conveyance of a foot of land in their lifetime, hesitated, through mere dread of putting name to paper ; these had to be encouraged ; the stubborn coaxed ; the cautious satisfied. It was not a community of business men that were to be dealt with, but a community of yoemen who mostly held the
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same land which their fathers had occupied before them, and which, through course of descent, had been somewhat widely distributed. Any other than a most resolute and self-reliant man would have been discouraged at the very outset. But, in the course of time, the sagac- ity of his plan in relation to bonding the land, was apparent.
It was at first intended to secure a bond for a deed, but afterwards it was deemed more desirable to procure a conditional deed to be signed by all parties, thus making a more binding agreement upon all the parties to the contract. The deed was made in warranty form upon receipt of one hundred dollars or such sum as might be agreed upon, provided that Mr. Saunders should pay to the grantor within one year, or such time as agreed upon, the sum of $5000, more or less, as called for in the deed. This sum was not to include the bonus, which in case the enterprise fell threw, was a gratuity to the owners of the land. These bonuses were to come from the sum of $50,000, put up by the association to pave the way for the enterprise, or rather to be expended in the experiment. It was first proposed to call the location "Saunders," but to this proposition Mr. Saunders objected, giving as his reason that there was not in Massachusetts a town called Merrimack, and as this was located on a river of that name, it was eminently fitting and proper that the name given should be " Merrimack," and it was so called up to the time of incorporation. When the act of incorporation was asked of the General Court, it was proposed to give it the name of Lawrence, in honor of the Law- rence family, who were foremost in the manufacturing interest (cot- "ton and woolen) in Massachusetts, and accordingly it was duly incor- porated as Lawrence. Many no doubt will wonder why Mr. Saunders declined to give the thing virtually of his own creating, his name, as by so doing his name would have been carried down to latest times, but there is no cause for wonder. He was not ambitious of a name and fame on paper, and no doubt he felt, did his enterprise succeed, his monument and memory would be found in the noble factories
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DANIEL SAUNDERS,
Attorney-at-Law ; office 246 Essex St. Born in Andover, Mass., Oc- tober 6, 1822, Graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1844 ; admitted to the bar July 1, 1845, and has since continued a leading member of the same in Essex County. He was actively engaged with his father, the late Daniel Saunders, in purchasing lands and as- sisting him in his original enterprise of founding the present city of Lawrence. In 1843 there was formed the Merrimack Water Power Association, having for its object the development of the present wa- ter power of Lawrence. Of this association Mr. Saunders was a member. From this association grew the Essex Company which was chartered in 1845, of which since its inception he has been a stock- holder, and for many years one of its directors. He has been a mem- ber of both branches of the Legislature; was Mayor of the city in 1860, the year of the memorable Pemberton disaster ; is married and has four children, and is a member of Grace Episcopal church.
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that should line the banks of the noble river in the new city yet in embryo.
As soon as all preliminary arrangements were made, Mr. Saunders immediately devoted his entire services to securing all the necessary land under the conditional deeds we have mentioned, and his success was gratifying, when the many difficulties svith which he was forced to contend are taken into consideration, and in eighteen months, he had succeeded in securing all the land upon each side of the river, included in what is now the city of Lawrence, with the following exceptions : On the south side of the river was a lot in the possession of Mr. Sam- uel Poor, of about thirty acres, which was heavily mortgaged to Mr. N. W. Hazen of Andover, in whose possession it afterwards fell. This lot, upon which stands the Webster House, he was unable to secure, as also a lot of twelve acres on the North Andover road, owned by Mr. Foster, and an undivided fourth of one acre at the south end of the Andover Bridge, upon which stands Gage's Block, now occupied by Emerson Woods as a hotel. These were the only lots upon the South Side remaining in the hands of the original possessors. On the north side of the Merrimack was a lot owned by Fairfield White of six acres, east of Amesbury and south of Haverhill streets. The house of Moses Perkins, Esq., stands nearly upon the southeast corner of this lot. At this time Mr. White was working upon the Boston and Lowell railroad, and offered the land and the buildings upon it for $600. Mr Saunders offered to give a bonus of $200, and agree to take the lot at $1200, if the association should find it advisable to go on with the enterprise. Mr. White at once refused to take less than $1200, but would sell at that price, which offer Mr. Saunders refused to consider, and meeting Messrs. Lawrence and Nesmith and laying the matter before them, was at once advised by Mr. Lawrence to pay the amount demanded. Mr. Saunders differed from this proposition, stating that in his opinion it would be a very unwise proceeding, in- asmuch as that should it be known that Mr. White had been paid in
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hand double his price, the next owner approached would demand perhaps $20,000 for his territory, and the next one perhaps $100,000, and thus no more land could be bought, and the enterprise must per force end there, but that in his opinion it would be more advisable to leave Mr. White in possession, as it would be cheaper in the end to pay him $12,000 than $1200 at that stage. This sound advice was accepted, and in the end Mr. White retained one acre, selling the bal- ance, five acres, to the association for $12,000. The only other ex- ception on the north side was about one-half acre on Broadway, then Turnpike, owned by Mr. Smith, and still in possession of his widow and heirs. Thus it will be seen with how much energy and fidelity Mr. Saunders prosecuted his duty as the land agent of the associa- tion, in this, the most delicate and arduous duty connected with the enterprise, and if he was doubly successful in securing this property and at the same time securing a competence for himself, no one should envy or begrudge the success rightfully earned, and to which no shade of chicanery or fraud can attach.
No one can say that his or her property was not bought for far above true value, and when it is taken into consideration that many of the farms were heavily mortgaged, and must soon have fallen into the hands of the creditors, we see that the debtor, instead of being turned out of doors with neither house or farm, received a sum more than sufficient to free him from debt, and still leave him with more property than was in his possesion when the millstone of debt was contracted. Many, no doubt regret to this day that they disposed of their property, "but it should be borne in mind that without this disposition, they and their children would still possess a few barren and unproductive acres, --- and nothing more. The total amount of land thus secured by Mr. Saunders, including lands in Andover and the flowage to Lowell, amounted to between three and four thousand acres.
The price which the land owners were to receive in case the pro- jected enterprise was a success, induced many to give bonds at once,
WILLIAM H. P. WRIGHT, 1
Retired Lawyer. Residence, 55 East Haverhill St. Born at Lowell in 1827. Educated at Cambridge University. Studied law with his father in Lowell, coming to this city in 1847, and continuing study ~ with Daniel Saunders, and also with Wright & Flanders. Commenc- ed practice with his brother Thomas, which partnership continued till 1861, or about the time he was elected mayor, which position he held in 1862-63, two of the most important years of our city's history. Subsequent to this Mr. Wright practiced law until 1876. He repre- sented the city in the legislature in 1867-68, and officiated as judge during the interim between Judge Stevens and Judge Harmon. Has a wife and one son.
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HISTORY OF LAWRENCE, MASS. 49
and as a general thing these were parties who were most conversant with business affairs, whose judgment was generally to be relied upon, and who exerted in the community a certain influence on that ac- count, and they soon became active interested agents in inducing others to do the same; and as it was understood that the ultimate location depended largely upon the unanimity of feeling among the land holders of either locality over the others, in bonding their real estate, there grew up a rivalry between the land owners of the differ- ent places to secure each for themselves the advantage dependent on each ultimate location by enlisting as universally as possible every party in interest into the general movement, yet in a country as sparsely populated as this then was, rapid interchange of news was out of the question. Everything moved, but it moved slow, and the most un- tiring energy and unflagging zeal was constantly required to keep even that movement continuous. Many months of hard, discouraging, con- tinuous labor ensued before the title to the real estate was in this way generally secured. When taken into consideration the fact that in a city two miles square, almost the entire real estate through the efficacy of these bonds came into the hands of the parties in interest, and that two miles further up river a like condition of things existed had the location there been fixed, when you bear in mind that all this was the result of the labors of one man, for in this delicate duty subordinates could not well be employed or trusted, you can form some idea of the patience and policy requisite, the visitations and journeyings necessary, the arguments and inducements required, the objections and scruples _silenced, the doubts removed, the questions answered, the enquiries satisfied and the caution and judgment exercised before any such re- sult could have been brought about. Few are the men who would have undertaken such a task, and fewer yet those who could so satis- factorily have accomplished it. The patience under difficulties, the resolution of purpose, the rugged common sense, the intimate knowl-
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edge of mankind that were marked characteristics of Mr. Saunders, visibly manifest themselves in this achievement.
After seventy-six years of tireless activity, in which few days could be counted as lost, and none as wasted, on the eighth day of October, 1872, he gave o'er his labors, laid aside his cares, disrobed himself of his infirmities and found هـ
"Rest at last, Repose complete, eternal, Love, rest and home."
Near the summit of one of the lofty hills that overlooks the city at whose birth he was so conspicuous in action, he was by loving hands tenderly laid away, where " he rests from his labors, and his works do follow him."
On the twentieth day of March, 1845, the legislature of Massachu- setts granted to Samuel Lawrence, John Nesmith, Daniel Saunders and Edmund Bartlett their associates and successors, the charter of the Essex Company, authorizing among other things the construction of a dam across the Merrimack River, either at Deer Jump Falls or Bod- well's Falls, or at some point in the river between the two falls. From this time Daniel Saunders, although still employed in busily adjusting matters of detail in relation to the various conveyances of real estate, the adjustment of damages for flowage, and matters of that nature for and on account of the Essex Company, steps aside as the principal character upon the theatre of action.
On the sixteenth of the following April, the stock ($1,000,000) hav- ing in the meantime been taken up, the company was organized with Abbott Lawrence, Nathan Appleton, Ingnatus Sargent, William Sturgis and Charles Storrow as directors. Mr. Storrow was elected agent and chief engineer. At the present time he is treasurer of the company. Mr. Storrow at once began work with a corps of assistants, and an ac- curate survey was made, plans executed for a dam, canal, mill sites, streets, lots and public squares in the town, and on the first day of
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ALFRED J. FRENCH, 1.
Homeopathic Physician. Residence and place of business, 44 Law- rence Street. Has been in Lawrence twenty-one years ; practiced in Methuen seven years. Was born in Bedford, N. II. in 1823, and re- ceived an academic education at Hancock (N. H.) Literary Seminary. - Labored on a farm until the age of twenty. Received a medical ed- ucation at the Vermont Medical College, graduating in 1848. Was married in 1852 to Sarah A. Hardy of Antrim, N. H. ; has no children living, having buried an only daughter. Dr. French is a member of the First Baptist church, chairman of its finance committee, and was treasurer for five years. Served as overseer of the poor in 1858 ; rep- resentative to legislature in 1859-60 ; elected mayor for 1864 ; served as president of Lawrence National Bank five years from its organiza- tion, and is a trustee of the Broadway Savings Bank.
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August work was begun, and the first stone laid in the company's dam September 19, and in a little over two years the work was completed. The dam is one of the most remarkable structures in the country. It is of granite, 1,629 feet in length, thirty-five feet thick at the base and 12 I-2 at the top, backed by gravel to within a few feet of the surface. It is bedded into the bed-rock of the river .* The granite blocks from which the dam is built were hammered on the bed and laid in hydrau- lie cement. The dam cost $250,000. The overflow of water is 900 feet wide, and the fall is twenty-six feet. The dam is in some places as high as forty and one-third feet.
The charter provided that the dam should be so built as not to flow Hunt's Falls at Lowell, and made provision for a commission of three competent persons to fix and by permanent monuments determine the point in the river which is the foot of Hunt's Falls.
After the completion of the dam it was found that owing to the fric- tion and consequent obstruction of water by the turns in the river, which was not taken in account, the water flowed back upon Hunt's Falls further than the fixed monument, and consequently some sixteen inches were hammered off from the top of the great stone headers which project over the fall of the dam, thus seriously interferring with the perfect symmetry of the structure, and much impairing its beauty. The charter further required that a suitable and reasonable fishway should be built and maintained in the dam, to be kept open at such seasons as are necessary and usual for the passage of fish, and provid- ed that the county commissioners of Essex county upon application _ should prescribe the mode of constructing the same. Accordingly a place was prepared by the Essex Company, which the county commis- sioners accepted and prescribed as a proper form of fishway to be built. The county commissioners were evidently not first-class fresh water fishermen, however reliable might have been their judgment in the matter of deep sea fishing. They were probably strongly influenced by a perverted agricultural taste, for their fishway was a modified swill
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