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308 and John W. Boott, visited the canal, which they now controlled, perambulated the ground, and planned for the

future. February 5, 1822, these gentlemen and others were incorporated as the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, with Warren Dutton as president. The first business of the new company was to erect a dam across the Merrimack at Pawtucket Falls, widen and repair Pawtucket Canal, renew the locks, and open a lateral canal from the main canal to the river, on the margin of which their mills were to stand. Five hundred men were employed in digging and blasting, and six thousand pounds of powder were used. The canal, as reconstructed, is sixty feet wide and eight feet deep. The first mile of the company was completed and started September 1, 1823. The first treasurer and agent was Kirk Boott, a man of great influence, who left his mark on the growing village.

Paul Moody settled in the village in 1823, and took charge of the company's machine-shop, which was completed in 1826. Ezra Worthen was the first superintendent. The founders of the Merrimack Company comtemplated from the first the introduction of calico-printing. In this they were successful, in 1826, when John D. Prince, from Manchester, England, took charge of the Merrimack print-works. Mr. Prince was assisted by the chemist. Dr. Samuel L. Dana; and together they made the products of the mills famous in all parts of the globe.

In 1825, the old Locks and Canals Company of 1792 was re-established as a separate corporation, with the added right to purchase, hold, sell, or lease land and water-power, and the affairs of the