Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 8.djvu/353

 Tiltoji, New Hampshire.

��319

��TILTON.

��The first village of importance north of Concord, on the line of the White- Mountains division of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, is Tilton. On the west bank of the Winnipiseogee River, about eighteen miles from the capital, it occu- pies about the geographical centre of the State of New Hampshire. The

��separation of Northfield is remembered only on town-meeting days, or when the tax-collector is on the war-path.

As one steps from the train, and glances about, it is hard to realize that the village is modern, the growth of the present century; yet but a little over a hundred }ears have passed since the

���BOSTON AND LOWELL RAILROAD DEPOT AT TILTON,

��river, the outlet of the great lake res- ervoirs, takes four great leaps in passing the village on its way to the ocean, and separates the town of Tilton from Northfield, and Belknap County from INIerrimack County.

The village, however, which we are about to visit, is not bounded by the river, but is divided by it ; its two sections being connected by highway bridges, railroad bridges, and foot bridges. The Tilton side has the start in the race for manufacturing and mer- cantile advantage ; and the political

��primeval forest and the unfettered cataract were where now is the hum of industry and the home of skilled labor. A depot of graceful proportions is the entrepot of the town. In front of it is a granite drinking-fountain for man and beast, surmounted by a marble arch inscribed with the name of Tilton. From the depot the wide main street leads, parallel with the river, straight towards the old Sanbornton Bridge, the business centre of the village ; and, ar- riving there, it opens into a generous square.

�� �