History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

strength, threw his hand round and knocked the
Indian into the stream. Captain Silas Tyler locates
the mill just b.iiw the bridge, at Pawtucket Falls.
In 1819 thr nKid I n.iii Pawtucket Falls to the
head of the Midtlliscx ( 'anal was built.
Before the progress of the waters of the Merrimack
to the sea had been cliecked and restrained by
dams, they bore in their bosom a bountiful source
of supply for the sustenance of not only the Indians,
but also the first English settlers. Within the
memory of the oldest inhabitant now living, the
Merrimack teemed with salmon, shad, alewives, and
eels. Occasionally a sturgeon was seen leaping,
in sportive activity, high in the air. This is what
one of the oldest inhabitants ^ says : " The best haul
of fish I ever knew was eleven hundred shad and
eight or tea thousand alewives. This was in the
Concord Eiver, just below the Middlesex Mills.
Formerly there was what was called an island on
the Belvidere side of the bridge, near the mouth
of the Concord. Occasionally the water from Con-
cord River found a course down by the Owen house
and the old yellow Tavern House. There were four
fishing places, two above and two below the Concord-River
bridge. Joe Tyler, my uncle, owned
those above, and Josiah Fletcher those below the
bridge. The first owner of the yellow Tavern
House was Brown. The house stood where St.
John's Hospital now stands. Brown sold to Coding
(Gedney ?) of Boston ; Gedney sold to Wood-
ward, niid WoDilward sold to Major Whittemore^ of
West Cnmliridn'r ; Whittemore sold to Livermore,
and LiveniKirc sold to John and Thomas Nesmith.
" My uncle got so many alewives at one time
that he did not know what to do with them. He
made a box that we enlled a 'shot,' and filled it
full of alewives. This lie attempted to run over
the falls; but it struck a rock and sjnlled the
whole. The law allowed us to fish two days each
week in the Concord, and three in the Merrimack.
This law was enforced about the same as the pro-
hibitory law of the present day ; aiul just about as
much attention was paid to it. Tiic fish wardens
were the state police.
"The Dracut folks fished in the pond at the loot
of Pawtucket Falls. They would set their nets
tiicre on the forbidden days. On one occasion .the
fish wardens from Billerica came, took and carried
ofi' their nets. The wardens, when they returned
to Billerica, spread the nets on the grass to dry.
1 f'nptain Silas Tyler.
- Till- iiivc-nlor nf tlir iiiachmrs for mnkiii- iMnK.
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
The next night the fishermen, in a wagon with a
span of horses, drove to Billerica, gathered up the
nets, brought them back, and reset them in the
pond.
"People would come 15 or 20 miles on fishing
days to procure these fish. Shad were worth five
dollars per hundred, salmon ten cents per pound."
In concluding the early history of Lowell, we
must note that the abundant water-power of the
Merrimack River had been made available only for
the purpose of propelling the wheel of an insignifi-
cant saw-mill near the Pawtucket Falls ; and this
was done, not by a regularly constructed dam and
canal, but by the current of an offshoot from the
falls themselves.
During the period over which we have taken the
reader, from 1810 to 1820, the calculation, fore-
sight, and enterprise of one man had gradually
been so shaping the material interests of the state,
that he is now considered the author and father of
its system of manufactures. It is true that others,
with a laudable ambition, were engaged in the
same work ; but it is to his systematic efforts and
thorough appreciation of the people, their capa-
bilities and wants, and the natural facilities they
possessed, that he was enabled to win success under
difficulties. Perhaps " he budded better than he
knew," having only the strong desire and hope of
making a fortune. The credit for results that redound
to his honor cannot be denied.
Francis Cabot Lowell was born in Newburyport,
Aprd 7, 1775. His father moved to Boston in
1776, and it was there that the son acquired his
education. The Lowells, it is said, were descended
from two brothers, Richard and Percival Lowle,
who came from Bristol, England, in 1639 and set-
tled at Newbury. The Rev. John Lowell, probably
a descendant of one of these, was pastor of the
first church in Newburyport for forty-two years.
He died in 17C7, leaving one son, John Lowell,
LL. D., who was born in Newbury, June 17, 1743
(O. S.), and graduated at Harvard College in
1760. He was appointed Judge of the United
States District Court for Massachusetts by Washington,
and was distinguished for his learning and
eloquence.
Francis Cabot Lowell, second son of Judge
Lowell, graduated at Harvard College in 17'.t;5, at
the age of eighteen. One of his classmates was
Charles Jackson, afterwards judge, a brother of Pat-
rick Tracy Jackson, whose sister Lowell married.
Very little is known of his enrlv life: it is not