n Staff and other
subordinate officers have to say in exoneration of your course.

Yours Truly,

U.S. GRANT, GENERAL.
To MAJOR GENERAL L. WALLACE,
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Indiana.

* * * * *

FITCHBURG IN 1885.

BY ATHERTON P. MASON, M.D.

In the January number of this magazine appeared an excellent and
comprehensive historical sketch of Fitchburg. It is proposed in this
article to portray as briefly as possible, and by the aid of engravings,
the present condition and resources of our city.

Old Rollstone and its opposite neighbor, Pearl Hill, have witnessed the
transformation of a rude, inhospitable wilderness into a beautiful and
busy city. We of the present day, proud of our heritage, are striving to
improve it by all means within our power.

Fitchburg owes her growth and prosperity pre-eminently to those
energetic and plucky men who founded and fostered the great industries
which now constitute her life and soul. Alvah Crocker, Salmon W. Putnam,
Eugene T. Miles, and Walter Heywood, have left behind them great and
lasting proofs of their toil and perseverance. Of Rodney Wallace, who is
now in the midst of a useful and benevolent life among us, another will
speak more fully and fittingly in other pages of this magazine; nor
would we neglect to give due credit to the energetic men who are now
either carrying on business established by their predecessors, or
founding new industries which enhance the resources and good name of
Fitchburg.

[Illustration: UNION PASSENGER DEPOT]

The little river (the north branch of the Nashua) which runs through the
township, and which is formed by the confluence of several large brooks
in the westerly part of the town, first invited the manufacturer to
locate on its banks. Its water-power is still used, but steam is now the
chief motor that propels the machinery, looms and spindles that daily
pour forth products which go to the markets, not of this country alone,
but of the world.

Perhaps no place of its size can boast of a greater diversity of
industries than Fitchburg. In such an article as this attention must
necessarily be confined to the chief among them, and but few words
devoted to the description of separate establishments.

[Illustration: PUTNAM MACHINE COMPANY'S WORKS.]

Machinery takes the first rank among the manufactures of Fitchburg. The
pioneers in this business here were two brothers, Salmon W. and John
Putn