History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

54 UlSTORY OF MIJJJJLESFX COUNTY.
of the falls in Merrimack River. Previous to the
building of the canal around Pawtucket Falls, the
lumber and wood that came down the Merrimack
had to be teamed around the falls and then made
up into rafts.
The canal was opened in 1796. Its length is
about one and one half miles, and it has four sets
of locks. Its direction is nearly east. It cost
% 50,000, and the stock was divided into five hun-
dred shares. The yearly dividend on these shares
varied from two to ten per cent. As it plays an
important part in the history of Lowell proper, it
will call for further notice.
At the opening, the directors, and other gentlemen
who were invited, occupied a boat that was
to make the first trip through the locks. Hundreds
stood around to witness the passage, — men,
women, and children. " Scarcely had they entered
the first lock," says Allen, "when the sides sud-
denly 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, ^dves 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 without any material in-
jury."
During the year 179:J Parker Varnum of Dra-
cut and otiiers, incorporated as The Proprietors
of the Middlesex Merrimack River Bridge, built
the first bridge across the Merrimack at Pawtucket
Falls. It was built of wood. Previous to this,
the conveyance across the river had been by a toll
ferry-boat. The average width of the river in
Chelmsford is about four hundred yards.
In May, 1792, a number of gentlemen held a
meeting to consider the project of "opening a
canal from tiie waters of the Merrimack, by Concord
River, or in some other way, through the waters
of Mystic River, to the town of Boston." There
were present at this meeting the Hon. James Sulli-
van, Benjamin Hall, Willis Hall, Ebenezer Hall,
Jonatiian Porter, Loammi Baldwin, Ebenezer Hall,
Jr., Andrew Hall, and Samuel Swan, Esq. Sulli-
van, Baldwin, and Ebenezer Hall were cliosen a
committee to obtain an act of incorporation. Tliey
presented a petition to the General Court, and tiieir
])etition was granted in an act of incorporation
dated June 22, 1793, and on the same day it was
signed by John Hancock, governor of the cum-
mouweallh. Hon. James Sullivan was chost'ii
president, Loammi Baldwin, Esq., and Hon. John
Brooks, vice-presidents.
The survey was completed August 2, 1794.
The work on the canal was prosecuted with great
caution from the commencement to the year 1803,
at which time it was so far completed as to be
navigable from the Merrimack to Charles River.
This canal was thirty-one miles long, thirty feet
wide, and three feet deep. It was fed by Concord
River, had seven aqueducts over rivers and brooks,
and twenty locks. The company had the privilege
of converting Concord River into a canal for twen-
ty-three miles of its extent, through the towns of
Billerica, Bedford, Carlisle, Concord, and Sudbury.
The improvements in the navigation of the
Merrimack in connection with the canal were : the
locks built at Wickasee Falls, round Tyng's Island,
which were afterwards rendered useless on account
of the back flowage when Pawtucket Dam was
built ; the locks at Moor's Falls, at Little Cohoes,
at Short's Falls, at Moor's Big Falls, at Amoskeag
(now Manchester), at Hooksett Falls, Craven's
Falls, and Turkey Falls, a little below Concord.
Going up, those locks had to be used ; but, coming
down, the boats, in an ordinary state of water, ran
the falls.
In 1851 the proprietors surrendered their char-
ter, and in 1852 sold the property in sections, and
the owners of land on its borders were, in most
cases, the purchasers. On the 3d of October,
1859, says Cowley, the proprietors were declared,
by a decree of the Supreme Judicial Court, to have
forfeited all their francliises and privileges by rea-
son of non-feasance, non-user, misfeasance, and
neglect.
BEGINNING OF MANUFACTURES.
" In 1801 Moses Hale set up a carding-machine
in his mill on River Meadow Brook." This fact
is stated by Allen in his history of Chelmsford,
and is corroborated by Mr. Bernice S. Hale, one of
his (Moses Hale's) descendants, in a paper read
before tlie Old Residents' Historical Association,
November 10, 1876.
In 1807 sundry Masonic brethren from the
towns of Ciielmsford, Dracut,and Tewksbury peti-
tioned the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for leave
to erect a lodge in Chelmsford at Pawtucket Falls.
The petition was granted, and a lodge organized
under the superintendence of Captain Isaac Coburn,
Master. It was consecrated in due form October 12,
ISO!), and called Pawtucket Lodge in Ciiclnislord.