falls of the Cocheco, where the present city now stands. This enterprising man possessed great courage and administrative ability. He held several offices of distinction; amongst others, those of commander of the New Hampshire forces, acting president of the province, chief justice, representative and speaker of the general court of Massachusetts, before the dissolution, in 1679, of the union of New Hampshire with that State. Ilis house was for fifty years a frontier trading post. In 1648, the tax-paying males in Dover numbered only fifty-four, but in 1668, they had increased to 155. The business of the town rapidly developed, a direct exporting trade was opened with the West Indies, and the small fishing settlement grew to a flourishing town. But reverse came. The breaking out of the French and Indian war in 1675, found Dover a frontier town, bordered by virgin forests which stretched away to Canada; possessing a scattered population, vexed by petty quarrels and local differences which had chiefly grown out of trading operations. Forgetting minor disquietudes in the common peril, the inhabitants made some attempts to secure themselves by fortifications, but for thirteen years the town was exposed to a series of attacks, in which houses were burned, and the inhabitants way laid and shot, or carried captive to Canada. But the severest blow the little colony ever received from the Indian war, was in a memorable and destructive assault on the morning of the 28th of June, 1689, when four garrison-houses were destroyed, five other houses burned, twenty-three persons killed, and twentynine carried away into degrading, hopeless bondage. Major Walderne, who had rendered himself obnoxious to the Indians, was put to death by cruel tortures, each one of the savages cutting him with a knife across the breast, at every blow exclaiming, "I cross out my account." Several other attacks were made upon the town at different periods, but the savages were generally repulsed with more or less loss to the colonists. From the close of this struggle to the time of the Revolution, Dover continued to prosper. Its population in 1775 was 1,666 to which, if we add Madbury, Durham, Lee, and Somersworth, suburban thriving towns, which had sprung up in various parts of the territory originally belonging to Dover, we should have a population of 5,476. A regiment of the sons of Dover, commanded by Colonel John Waldron, served with credit during the whole of the revolutionary war. After the peace, the town grew less rapidly, its population in 1800 being 2,062; and in 1820, 2,871. The principal occupations of the inhabitants were farming and ship-building; but in the year 1821, the "Dover Factory Company" erected a small wooden building for the manufacture of cotton fabrics, and the foundation was laid for an entire change in the business of the place.

The great manufacturing interest of the North took the place of its nail mills, fulling mills, and oil mills, and thenceforward cotton was king. The Dover Factory Company were unfortunate, and sold out at a loss to the owners, who, in 1843, built the mills and print works of the Cocheco Manufacturing Company, three miles below the old location. The river at this place has a fall of thirty feet, being ten feet more than at the former site, and the increased power was improved to its utmost capacity. During the dry season, indeed, a cousiderable portion of the works are driven by steam, the company consuming annually 1,687 tons of coal in the cotton mills alone. The capital of this corporation is $1,300,000, being represented by 2,000 shares of the par value of $650 each; 1,175 operatives are employed, running 1,148 looms with 50,000 spindles. The amount of raw

cotton annually used amounts to 2,158,502 pounds, valued at 11.4 c. per pound, from which are manufactured 11,622,779 yards of cloth, which is printed by the same company, and sold for $1,116,153, leaving a gross profit of $151,323 82. The corporation is one of the wealthiest in New England, and their goods are extensively and favorably known. Messrs. Mason, Lawrence & Co. are the selling agents; Samuel W. Sweet, Esq., president of the corporation; Moses Paul, agent of the cotton mills, and George Matthewson of the print works. The monthly payments to operatives amount to $20,000. The affairs of the company are now in a very prosperous condition; on the 1st of July, 1859, a dividend of $30 per share was declared for the past six months, against a dividend of $25 for the previous half-year, and equivalent to over 4 1-2 per cent. The real estate of the company is valued at $1,007,599, and they have in reserve a cash surplus, after paying dividends and meeting a suspense account, of $112,482 87, thus making a total cash capital of $404,583 87. During the past ten years there has been a gross sale of manufactured goods to the amount of nearly $10,000,000, while the losses upon the same have averaged but little over one per cent of the sales. During that time shares which have been valued at $650, have given stockholders a dividend of 6.5 per cent per annum; and at a $500 valuation the average has been 7.84 per cent. About thirteen years ago the business of shoe manufacturing was introduced into Dover, and at present there are twelve manufacturers who make about 75,000 pairs of thick shoes per month, giving employment to hundreds of men and women, who receive in monthly payments about $25,000. All the shoes manufactured here are shipped to the Southern and Western markets. This branch of trade is on the increase, and Dover already turns out more shoes than any town in the State. The facilities for carrying on the business are excellent. The Boston and Maine Railroad furnishes convenient means of transportation for the raw material or the manufactured article. The cost of living is much less here than in the vicinity of the "Metropolis of New England," and consequently labor is cheaper than in the large shoe towns of Massachusetts.

Dover has also an extensive manufactory of painted carpets, erected about ten years since by Messrs. A. & J. B. Folsom, which gives employment to about fifty men, and produces from $75,000 to $100,000 worth of carpets yearly. There are also two or three large carriage factories, a flannel mill, machine shop, and a steam grist mill.

Dover is the shire-town of Stratford County; it received a city charter in 1855, and has now about 9,000 inhabitants. As we have intimated, the Cocheco River is navigable to Dover for vessels of the smaller class, and lines of packets ply between Dover and the ports of Boston and New York. The city is pleasantly situated, and from one or two elevated spots in the vicinity fine views are obtained of the surrounding country, extending into the neighboring State of Maine. Its business streets show a fair degree of activity. The residences of the inhabitants are plain and substantial, with very few architectural embellishments. On the whole, Dover may be pronounced an excellent specimen of a busy, thriving New England city.

The town of EXETER was settled in 1638, by the Rev. John Wheelwright, who had been banished from Massachusetts on account of his religious views. Three years afterwards, Exeter was annexed to Massachusetts, and many of the first settlers, being still under sentence of banishment, removed to Maine. From 1690 to 1712, Exeter suffered by the attacks of Indians

to such an extent that, during the year 1700, there were only twenty voters in the town; the number killed and taken captive being probably from forty to fifty persons. The inhabitants took an active part in the revolutionary war, and contracted heavy debts to furnish supplies for their townsmen in that struggle. This town is famous for being the birth-place of Lewis Cass, the present Secretary of State of the United States, the first eighteen years of whose life were spent here, and the house in which he was born, in 1782, is still shown. A famous institution in Exeter is the Phillips Academy, founded in 1781 by the liberality of John Phillips, LL. D., who, at his death in 1795, donated to it a large part of his estate. This institution has been the Alma Mater of some of the most famous statesmen, orators, and scholars of modern times, foremost among whom were the Hon. Daniel Webster, also Hons. Edward Everett, John G. Palfrey, George Bancroft, and Jared Sparks, the historians, with many others who take a front rank among the statesmen and scholars in the country. Exeter is the shire-town of Rockingham County, and has a fine court-house and townhall built, at an expense of $32,000, and a new jail erected in 1857. The inhabitants are largely engaged in agriculture. The Exeter River at this place is navigable for the smaller class of vessels, and the falls here furnish a valuable water-power, which is improved by the Water Power and Mill Company and the Exeter Manufacturing Company, the former having a capital of $10,000. The last-named company have a capital of $165,000, and are engaged in the manufacture of cotton, employing 150 operatives, running 176 looms with 9,000 spindles, and manufacturing about 5,000 yards of cotton goods daily. This company commenced operations in 1828, and used to make No. 14 cotton. About five years since they commenced making finer work, No. 21 and 22 1-2, and put in new machinery. Their goods bear a high reputation, and their press for carding and packing is said to be superior to any in the country. The river here has a fall of thirteen feet, but during the dry season the mills are run by steam power. The factory is built of brick, 150 feet long by 40 feet wide, five stories high, with a new brick picker, machine-shop, and cloth room. Samuel Bachelder, Esq., is president of the company; Messrs. Johnson, Sewall & Co., of Boston, selling agents; and James R. Norris, resident agent. The New England Steam and Gas Pipe Company, located here, have a capital of $100,000. There are also extensive paper mills, where about $20,000 worth of paper is manufactured annually. The carriage-making business amounts to $75,000 annually, the largest firm getting out $50,000 worth in their large establishment, which is driven by steam-power. Morocco and other kinds of leather are produced to the amount of $25,000. The trade in wool amounts to $200,000 a year. There are two villages in Exeter; one is called the Paper-Mill Village, where, as its name implies, the manufacture of that article is extensively carried on; the other, the principal village, has many handsome residences and fine public buildings. Trains on the Boston and Maine Railroad stop here eight times daily. The population of Exeter is about 3,500.

The town of BRATTLEBORO', to which we propose to devote a portion of this article, is the oldest in Vermont. As early as 1724, the government of Massachusetts, of which State it was then supposed to form a part, com. menced the erection of a block-house or fort at what is now called "Dummers Meadows," in the southeast part of the town. This fort was named Fort Dummer, in compliment to the Governor of the State, and was gar

risoned by a small military force. The people suffered considerably from the attacks of the French and Indians, their exposed situation beyond the borders of civilization seeming to render them an easy prey; but in 1728 the garrison was withdrawn, and the fort converted into a truck house. In 1753, the town received a charter, and was named Brattleboro', in honor of Col. William Brattle, of Boston, who was the principal proprietor. The settlement progressed but slowly, and the inhabitants were annoyed, and many of their energies paralyzed by the drawbacks and discouragements common to the early settlers of our country. In 1780, the town sent its first representative to the Legislature of New Hampshire, difficulties with New York, which prevented the boundary lines being definitely fixed, having probably stood in the way of their being represented earlier. The town was then prosperous, and has since risen steadily to its present flourishing condition. It is now quite a busy place, with some four thousand inhabitants; having a melodeon factory which employs twenty-five hands; three carriage manufactories, making from three to four hundred carriages yearly, and giving employment to fifty men; three machine shops; one iron foundry; a manufactory of sewing machines; a rule factory, employing fourteen persons; and a furniture manufactory, employing ten. A pa per mill, which is in process of erection, will soon commence work. It has been built on the spot where a similar establishment was burned in the great fire of 1857. A woolen factory here gives employment to twenty operatives, and consumes fifteen hundred pounds of raw material weekly. The Brattleboro' Gas-Light Company, which went into operation last year, have a capital of $20,000, and are doing a very good business. There are two banks, having a combined capital of $250,000; and an institution for savings. The two water-cure establishments are capable of accommodating about three hundred patients, and are well patronized, as they give much satisfaction and are cheap, the prices of board varying from seven to ten dollars a week. The Vermont Asylum for the Insane at this place was founded by Mrs. Anna Marsh, who bequeathed to the institution the sum of $10,000, to which the Legislature of Vermont added $26,000. The buildings are of brick, and are very pleasantly situated. The institution is well known for its popularity and good management, and has, at the present time, about five hundred inmates. In the vicinity are two smaller villages, the first of which, West Brattleboro', is quite a resort for city boarders during the warm season, and is admired for its pleasant scenery, and clear, bracing mountain air. The town has two churches, two hotels, a tannery capable of tanning one thousand hides a year, and several smaller places of business of various kinds. The small village of Centerville is situated midway between those of Brattleboro' and West Brattleboro', and is a place of some business; it has an ax factory, a grist mill, a shoe-peg factory which makes from six to eight thousand bushels of shoe- pegs a year, and a large tannery, owned by Messrs. Keen, Reed & Bryant, of Boston, built some four or five years since, and capable of tanning about five thousand hides a year. Brattleboro' is situated on the west bank of the Connecticut River, and is connected with the town of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, on the opposite shore, by a substantial bridge, built in 1804. population of Brattleboro' is 3,816.

Next to Brattleboro', ROCKINGHAM is worthy of notice. It was settled about the year 1753; the early inhabitants devoted most of their time to fishing, and the progress of the settlement was slow, and in 1771 the pop

ulation was only 225. Bellows' Falls are in the Connecticut River, near the southeast corner of the town; the river above the falls is about twenty rods wide. A large rock divides the stream into two channels, and the water passes over the falls with enormous force; there are six or eight different falls within the space of half a mile, the whole descent of the river being about forty-two feet. The first bridge over the Connecticut was built here in 1785; it is 365 feet long, and is supported in the middle by the rock which separates the stream. The town of Rockingham has five pleasant villages, the principal one being that of Bellows' Falls. There are a woolen factory, a paper mill, an iron foundry in the town, and a shoe-peg factory, making seventy five bushels of shoe pegs daily. At Bellows' Falls village the junction of four railroads is formed, viz., the Rutland and Burlington, the Vermont Valley, the Cheshire, and the Sullivan. The bank of discount and deposit has a capital of $100,000, and in the savings bank the deposited fund amounts to $200,000. The village is pleasantly situated and easy of access from all parts of New England. Its fine railroad facilities and great natural advantages undoubtedly destine it, eventually, to take a front rank among the towns of the State.

WINDSOR is quite an old town, having been settled in 1764 by Capt. Steele Smith, who emigrated hither with his family from Farmington, Connecticut. Before the close of the year sixteen other families located themselves here. Six years after its first settlement, the population was 203. The inhabitants took an active part in the boundary difficulties then pending between New York and New Hampshire. These disputes were however, settled, and Vermont was admitted as an independent State, and was admitted as the fourteenth State in the Union, on the 4th of March, 1791. In this town a convention was held in 1777, having for its object the adoption of a State Constitution. The first Legislature was convened here in 1778, and its annual sessions were held here until 1804, when the seat of government was removed to Montpelier, where it has since remained. The population of Windsor is about two thousand, and the soil is well adapted to agricultural purposes. Windsor is beautifully laid out on the elevated ground bordering the Connecticut River, and is one of the handsomest and most flourishing towns in the State. The inhabitants are enterprising, and many of them quite wealthy. A stone dam across Mill Brook, was constructed here in 1835, furnishing a large water power, which is improved to a fair extent. The Vermont State Prison, located here, is a stone edifice, built in 1809. It is eighty-four feet long, thirty-six wide, and three stories high. It has a large workshop, and a building for the keeper and guards; the cost of these was $39,000. A building for solitary confinement was erected in 1832, at a cost of $8,000. It is one hundred and twelve feet long, forty feet wide, and four stories high. Within are imprisoned eighty convicts, all of whom are employed by Messrs. Lawson, Goodenough & Co., of New York city, in the manufacture of scythe snaths, of which they make twenty-five dozen a day. Messrs. L., G. & Co. are also engaged in manufacturing sewing machines, outside of the prison, where they make about ten machines daily. The Union Arms Company manufacture guns and machinery here; there are also manufactories of tin ware, furniture, harnesses, etc., etc. On Main-street a building is in progress, 60 by 80 feet, and three stories high. It is being built by the United States Government, of brick, stone, and iron, in the most substantial manner, and is to be us or the United States Court and Post-office. Underneath are cells for prisoners, and the cost is reported to amount to $77,000.