Sanitary survey of the town of Lawrence / by the chairman of the commissioners appointed under a resolve of the legislature of Massachusetts, relating to a sanitary survey of the state.

Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sanitary survey of the town of Lawrence / by the chairman of the commissioners appointed under a resolve of the legislature of Massachusetts, relating to a sanitary survey of the state. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    SANITARY SURVEY OF LAWRENCE. 1. Natural and Atmospheric Condition of the Town. Lawrence was projected as a manufacturing town, in 1844, and in- corporated April 17, 1847. It is 26 miles from Boston, 20 from Sa- lem, 24 from Newburyport, and 29 from Manchester, N. H. Its latitude is 42° 42' 57.67, and its longitude 71° 09' 05.84, west of Greenwich. It contains 4,374 square acres, 344 of which is covered with water. 1,980 acres of the land on the south side of the Merri- mack River was taken from Andover, and 2,050, on the north side, from Methuen. The general character of the soil is a dry, sandy alluvial, resting on a rocky base, at a greater or less depth from the surface. Clay gravel prevails in the northerly parts of the town. On the south side of the river it is generally level, and also in the central parts on the north side. The top of the dam across the Merrimack is 45 feet above tide water. In the populous part of the town, the foot of Lawrence street is the lowest elevation, being 4 feet above the crest of the dam, and 37 feet below the highest elevation of the streets. Two hills, one on the easterly and the other on the westerly borders of the town, rise to the height of about 140 feet above the dam. O There are three streams of water—the Merrimack, near the centre ; the Spicket, on the north ; and the Shawsheen, forming, in its sluggish course, the easterly boundary of the town, on the south side of the Mer- rimack. The first two are rapid, but neither is subject to overflow its banks. The Merrimack, in its natural passage through the town, has a rapid here, known as Bodwcll’s Falls, which in sorqp places falls 4 or more feet in a 300 feet passage. In a medium current, about 5,000 cubic feet of water passes per second, and it sometimes rises to 60,000 per second, thus affording a water power here nearly or quite equal to that of Lowell. Lake Winnepisiogee, in New Hampshire, containing about 120 square miles, the principal source of the Merrimack River, has been purchased by the owners of the water power in this and the other manufacturing towns above, to make the flow of water at all seasons equal to the general average. The Spicket falls 40 feet over a succession of dams, and discharges about 100 cubic feet per second. The Shawsheen has very little perceptible fall in this town. The town seems to be free from natural sources of malaria; though meteorological and other similar observations have not been made for a sufficient time, nor with sufficient accuracy, to determine, with much exactness, the true natural character of the locality, nor to ascertain whether any atmospheric peculiarity or sanitary impurity exists. 2. Artificial and Local Condition of the Toion. The lands now comprised within the township, previous to 1844, were used principally for agricultural purposes, and contained, in- cluding the Methuen pauper establishment, less than 100 inhabitants. In that year an association was formed, consisting of Messrs. Samuel Lawrence, John Nesmith, Thomas Hopkinson, Josiah G. Abbott, of