In a short time he was recognized as one of Boston's leading lawyers, and was making twenty thousand dollars a year. Yet he had a spendthrift habit which resulted in his seldom being free from an oppressive burden of debt his life through. He had few rivals in public debate and oratory, and his unusual appearance made him a marked man wherever he appeared.

New Hampshire soil, except in the alluvial valleys, is better adapted to pasturage than culture, and the upland farm towns have only a few hundred inhabitants in each. Between 1850 and 1900 the amount of improved land decreased one half, showing that a very large amount formerly cultivated had gone back to pasturage and woodland. However, the state has its fertile sections, where many fine dairy farms are found. The three largest cities are on the Merrimack. Of these Concord owes its growth in part to being the state capital, but the growth of the other two, Manchester and Nashua, can be credited almost wholly to their manufacturing.

One of the best-known products of Concord is wagons. Here, too, are important granite quarries, but New Hampshire gets its title of the "Granite State," not from the amount of that stone quarried, but from the amount that exists within its boundaries. Some of its mountains, such as Mount Washington, consist almost entirely of granite.

Mica is another product of the state, and in Grafton County are the leading mica mines of the United States.

Cotton goods and shoes each contributes about onefourth of the total value of New Hampshire's manufactured products. At Manchester is the largest cotton

mill in the world. It gets power from the Amoskeag Falls, which have a drop of fifty-five feet. The falls have an Indian name which means fishing-place. This was a great resort of the savages, and the fisheries here were of important value to the early settlers. The shad passing up the falls in the spring are said to have been so numerous that a man could not put his hand into the water without touching some of them.

Many mills have been built on the tributaries of the larger streams, and the railways have either preceded or followed them, for valleys are the natural thoroughfares for the railways. As a consequence the most populous villages are in these valleys. Some of the early mill villages grew up in situations that the railroads could not profitably reach, and in that case both the mills and the villages have usually been

abandoned. Economical transportation is just as necessary for profitable manufacturing as cheap

power.

IN

moved back and forth between Canada and the frontier settlements of New England followed the waterways. These were navigable almost to their sources by the light birch canoes of the Indians; and in winter,

when they were frozen, they still offered the routes of easiest grade for snowshoes and sledges. At night the northern war parties camped with no shelter but the sky and the lofty arches of the forest, and as they travelled they depended for food largely on the fish they could catch, and the deer and other creatures they could shoot.

The route oftenest used was by way of Lake Champlain, and up Otter Creek, then down White River and the Connecticut. This was commonly known as "The Indian Road," and for nearly the whole distance it was on the borders of or in Vermont.

The raids from Canada led to the establishment of Vermont's first settlement, Fort Dummer, in the southern part of what is now Brattleboro. Work was begun on the fort in February, 1724. The task was undertaken by Massachusetts, and the fort was named in honor of its lieutenant-governor. By early summer it was ready for occupancy. It was built of hewn logs laid horizontally to form a square one hundred and eighty feet on a side, and there was an outer defence consisting of a stockade of square timber twelve feet in length set upright in the ground. Habitations for the garrison were built against the walls in the inner enclosure. The fort was furnished with four pieces of light ordnance that, if the need arose, could be charged with old nails or stones. There was also a "Great Gun," used only as a signal. Its sudden thunder