Excerpt from Introduction of the Power Loom: And Origin of Lowell

It has often occurred to us that there are many facts connected with the history of the City of Lowell, which either are not known to the present generation, or rest upon uncertain and fast perishing tradition; but which may be gathered up and preserved by persons yet living, who bore an important part in laying its foundations; and are personally acquainted with the most, even of the minute details, of those interesting transactions.

That history, so honorable to its founders, is worthy of preser vation. It must speak, not merely of the setting up there of factories and Spindles, but of the wise and prudent foresight, so characteristic of the New England character; which in the beginning made pro vision for religious worship, schools, a hospital for the sick, and established a system of management, well calculated to preserve the morals of the people there to be gathered; a large portion of them the young of both sexes, temporarily brought from their homes in the country, and taken from the immediate care and oversight of their parents and friends, as Operatives in the mills, under circum stances peculiarly requiring great care and prudence on the part of their employers, to preserve and maintain the high character of the rural population. How liberally these requirements were met, how generous a provision was from the beginning made by those who laid those foundations, no one knows better than yourself.

You, Sir, were engaged from the first, with the gentlemen who turned their attention to the Pawtucket Falls on Merrimack River, as a power eminently fit for large manufacturing operations and to the present site of Lowell as a proper locality for the use of that power; and for the building of a city, as consequent upon the placing there of those large establishments, which form the principal source of its growth and support. And you acted so prominent a part, in the formation and conduct of the Companies that purchased the land and water-power there, and have continued to the present time, not only your pecuniary interest, but a personal participation in the management of the principal establishments, that you have it in your power to furnish information upon the subject we have mentioned, of great value, not only at the present time, but which will increase with the lapse of years.

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