"High Place for Fish"

Many, many years ago, before the two deadly products of the White Man--fire-arms and fire-water--had dispossessed the Indian from his native soil, the Red Men, in what is now New Hampshire, frequently visited the Place of the Swift Waters, and particularly one portion of those waters known as the High Place for Fish. In the Indian language, Place of the Swift Waters was Merru-asquam-ack, and High Place for Fish was Namos-kee-et. The Whites translated the former into Merrimac and the latter into Amoskeag. So when, along in 1831, a big cotton mill was built in the High Place for Fish along the Place of the Swift Waters, the cotton mill was named Amoskeag Manufacturing Co., and was located on the Merrimac River. Famed among U. S. textile plants became Amoskeag; countless were the cotton bales it turned into cotton cloth. A 1927 textile survey rated Amoskeag as world's largest cotton maker. Its cottons, its wools and its rayons kept busy 800,000 spindles, 25,000 looms. Wherever textiles were mentioned, New England mills and Amoskeag were among the first to be named. But the Waters have not been so Swift lately, and the Place for Fish has not stood so high. Amoskeag's 1928 report was last week read by Amoskeag Treasurer Frederic Christopher Dumaine. Outstanding feature of the report was Treasurer Du-maine's promise to "keep the mills running here as long as I can." Ominous was this remark, yet apparently not unjustified. The report showed a loss from operations of $960,698. Among expenses were some $860,000 interest on bonds, $700,000 local taxes, $1,000,000 repairs, $337,000 for new machinery, $95,000 for moving machinery from Fitchburg to Manchester. Other items were bad debts and outlay for printing new securities. "Making up the income account in the way prescribed by the government," said the report, "the result of the year's operations is a net loss before depreciation of $583,000, and, in addition, there is a charge of $1,139,412 for depreciation. Local taxes . . . were a great handicap in such difficult times."