When the Hadley Falls Company began to plan the New City, as for a few years it was called, negotiations were opened with the farmers living along the river-bend and occupying the lands which

the new company wished to own. Mr. Geo. C. Ewing was the company's agent, and one after another the land-owners were persuaded to sell their acres. Samuel Ely was an exception. He held fast to his land property, but some twenty years later, when the sandy acres had become a valuable possession, Samuel Ely sold his farm-lands to Messrs. Bowers and Mosher who surveyed and sold it as building lots and it is now known as Depot Hill. Mr. Ely retained through life the old farmhouse where he was born and reared and where he died in 1879.

In the Summer of 1848, a dam was constructed across the Connecticut river by the Hadley Falls Company. It was finished on the morning of Nov. 16, 1848. A great crowd of ten thousand people collected on the riverbank to witness the filling of the pond and closing of the gates. At ten o'clock the gates were let down and the pond began to fill. The massive foundation stones of the bulk-head at the west end began to move under the great pressure. The water had risen to within two feet of the top of the dam when the break began at about one hundred feet from the east end and the

structure tipped over and gave way. A massive wall of water and moving timbers rose high in air, (a sight terrific to remember by those who saw it), and with a mighty roar and sweep the great structure went down the stream in ruins.

THE HOLYOKE DAM.

Great as this disaster was to the Company, there was no yielding to discouragement. The work of reconstruction was begun at once and a second dam of improved pattern was built upon the site and so strongly constructed that it remains a part of the present dam. Eighteen years later it was improved and strengthened by building a front extension, in such a manner that the dam now has a sloping front, giving it the form of a roof, both the old and the

new structure being made
absolutely solid. The or-
iginal cost of the structure
in 1849 was $150,000.
The cost of the extension
in 1870, was

finished
$350,000. By that time
the town of Holyoke and
its water-power were rap-
idly realizing the antici-
pations of its projectors.

The water of the river is distributed through a series of three canals aggregating three and a half miles in length, the power being repeatedly utilized, as after leaving the first level canal, the water flows from the wheels into the canal cf the second level, from the second level into the third level, and thence to the river, which completes its perfect curve to the south of the city.

Among the first colonists of the New City were an army of laborers who came to dig and wall the canals. These settled in shanties and cabins near the river-bank. When the great factories were built, a corps of operatives came to As in Lowell, Manchester and other manufacturing towns, work in the mills. many of the factory-girls came from New England homes, and were distinguished for their independence and thrift. A little later, ship-loads of expert weavers A ship were brought from England and Scotland to work in the cotton-mills. called the "North America" brought a load of 130 young Scotch people who shipped from Broomielaw Quay, in April, 1854. They were induced to come by the superior inducements offered here, and some of the best weavers ever employed in the mills came from Scotland. Later there was a large immigration from the Canadas, and from Ireland.

March 14th of that year the town was incorporated, bearing the name of Holyoke, Governor Briggs approving the bill.

The entire population by the census of 1850 was 3,715.

The name selected was historical, from Mt. Holyoke, christened some two hundred years before, but its origin was from Elizur Holyoke, one of the early residents of this section.

The town of Holyoke was formerly a portion of Springfield of which Elizur Holyoke was among the early settlers, coming from England when a youth; and his name is identified with its early records. In 1640 he married Mary Pynchon, the tradition of whose grace and loveliness comes down with the musty records

of the past, and lingers like a bright, sweet touch of romance among the historical pages of the grim colonial days.

A notable man of his time was Elizur Holyoke, and he was of a committee chosen to explore and ascertain the precise extent of Springfield, which then extended to Northampton and Hadley. A pretty legend of the valley is Dr. J. G. Holland's story, told in most musical verse of the Mountain Christening.

"On a beautiful morning in June, they say,

Two hundred and twenty years ago,"

Captain Holyoke and Captain Thomas with a little company of stanch followers. started out on a survey of the country.

"Holyoke, the gentle and daring, stood

On the Eastern bank, with his trusty four,
And Rowland Thomas, the gallant and good,
Headed the band on the other shore.

The women ran weeping to bid them good-bye,

And sweet Mary Pynchon was there (I guess)
With a sigh in her throat, and a tear in her eye
As Holyoke marched into the wilderness."

The melodious rhyme goes on to describe the journey up the valley and the night camp, where :

The great falls roared in their ears all night,

And the sturgeon splashed, and the wild-cat screamed,

And they did not wake till the morning light

Red through the willowy branches streamed."

The story of the naming of Mt. Holyoke is told as follows:
"The morning dawned on the double group,

Facing each other on opposite shores,

Where years ago with a mighty swoop

The waters parted the mountain doors."

"Let us christen the mountains!" said Holyoke in glee,

"Let us christen the mountains!" said Thomas again,

"This mountain for you, and that mountain for me,"

And their trusty fellows responded "Amen!"

Then Holyoke buried his palm in the stream,

And tossed the pure spray toward the mountain brow
And said, while it shone in the sun's fierce beam,
"Fair mountain, thou art Mt. Holyoke now!"

How much of this rhythmic legend is true and how much imaginary is uncertain; but it is quite probable that in the course of this survey Holyoke's name was given to the mountain, of which Holyoke city is a namesake.

The town so originated and named grew gradually until the breaking out of the civil war, but its most rapid growth has been since 1865. In 1857 the water-power and property were purchased by a company which organized

as the Holyoke Water Power Company, and which has fostered and developed the natural advantages of the place as a manufacturing centre to a wonderful degree.