And did those feet in ancient times
walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
on England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?
(from Jerusalem, by William Blake)
I've been wanting to do a "mills" cache ever since I moved to
Manchester. At one time, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company was the
largest textile manufacturer in the world, and there were thirty
mill buildings in Manchester.
This cache will take you on a tour of the mills. You can do it
in a car if you're in a hurry, but if you can take the time,
walking the route will give you a tremendous appreciation for the
hopes and dreams, the sweat and the incredible hard work that went
into the textile mills of Manchester.
1) The Overlook: We'll start at the beginning: the water
and the First Nations who lived here. The first Europeans came to
settle the Amoskeag in the 1720s; but almost exactly a century
before, European explorers had brought with them an epidemic that
killed over 90% of the natives in the area. A few Abenaki (of the
Algonquin language group) remained. We're starting the cache at the
Amoskeag Falls, a rich fishing-grounds for the Abenaki and the
major reason Manchester was to become an industrial giant –
the power of the water.
Note: The starting waypoint is closed from dusk until 7:30AM.
It is also closed when PSNH feels like closing it. The view is
tremendous and certainly worth waiting for.
This waypoint is at 43 00.072N, 71 28.151W. Enjoy the view, and
answer the following question:
On the plaque, the words that follow the title (Overlook)
are:
- the gathering place (E = 449 )
- the place of many fish (E = 362)
- the place of two canals (E = 507)
- Neville Point (E = 410)
In case the gate is locked and you don't want to come back, when
was the nearby substation built?:
- 1939 (E = 449 )
- 1940 (E = 362)
- 1941 (E = 507)
- 1942 (E = 410)
2) The Jefferson Mill: This is the first of several mills
you'll see on this tour, and the most elegantly renovated. If you
are doing this tour during the day, take a few minutes to step
inside: there is a wealth of pictures and artifacts on display in
the lobby and corridors that rival the nearby Millyard Museum. If
you enter through the clocktower entrance, go past the elevator and
continue exploring to your right: you'll have the opportunity to
get a sense of just how large this building really is.
The waypoint is at 42 59.838N, 71 28.093W. Imagine the hundreds
of people working this mill (in summer, windows had to be closed to
prevent contamination of the cloth – just imagine how hot it
was!) and answer the following question:
How many white circular caution signs are on the building facing
Commercial Street?
- 6 (F = 15)
- 5 (F = 222)
- 8 (F = 110)
- 16 (F = 28)
3) The Mill Girl: This famous statue commemorates the women
who worked the mills. This was the first opportunity for many women
to get out of the house and earn money on their own, and the
opportunity proved irresistible to many. Women became supervisors
and one of them, Margaret Knight, became an inventor after
witnessing a fatal accident involving a spindle; she went on to
create and patent a number of inventions in the textile industry.
The waypoint is at 42 59.499N, 71 28.041W. Imagine all the girls
from Québec and Ireland flocking to Manchester in order to earn a
living working the mills, and answer the following question:
What entrance is to the right of the plaque?
- North (G = 50)
- South (G = 56)
- Service (G = 64)
- Main (G = 139)
4) The Last Undeveloped Mill: In contrast to the beauty of
the present-day Jefferson Mill, this mill building – the last
to be in use manufacturing textiles – has suffered a number
of setbacks, not least of which a fire in 2005 that gutted the
unoccupied building. Now, it is in the process of being
revitalized. Gone is the forest that once grew on the roof of this
mill. We'll see what progress will bring us.
The waypoint is at 42 59.234N, 71 28.106W. What year was this
mill constructed?
- 1847 (H = 14)
- 1850 (H = 17)
- 1851 (H = 20)
- 1855 (H = 23)
5) Worker Housing: Until 1920, Manchester was a "strikeless
city;" the workers identified with the corporation, and the latter
provided them with amenities that kept unions away. These amenities
included healthcare, children's recreation, home ownership
opportunities, a textile club, a library, and classes. Much of the
housing offered by the AMC, conveniently located near the mills, is
still in use, some renovated better than others.
The waypoint is at 42 59.365N, 71 27.920W. You're now on West
Merrimack Street. When heading down West Merrimack from Elm Street
toward Canal Street, note the first building on your right after
the second parking lot on your right. It is number:
- 97 (J = 91)
- 62 (J = 310)
- 88 (J = 124)
- 153 (J = 33)
6) Millyard Museum: If you are doing this cache during the
day, by all means visit the Millyard Museum and learn more about
the city's history. (Free passes to the museum are available to
Manchester residents at the Manchester City Library). Here you'll
learn about the canals and the hydro-power that made the mills
possible; the great flywheel disaster; the ambiance of a "company
city" (all shops were open late on Thursday nights, for example
– since Thursday was payday at the AMC). You'll also see how
the company's amenities finally ceased to be enough when between
1841 and 1845 mill workers' workloads were increased, but pay was
cut twice, actions seen by the workers as a betrayal of trust. The
strikes began and the mills never recovered; the AMC mills shut
down for good on Christmas Eve, 1935.
The waypoint is at 42 59.382N, 71 28.058W. There is a large
number on the clock tower here. That number is:
- 26 (K = 0)
- 6 (K = 45)
- 13 (K = 92)
- 3 (K = 18 )
7) The Final: le petit Canada: Congratulations! Now you can
relax and enjoy the view of the river that made the local
industrial revolution possible. Here too you're facing the area
where a whole community of workers from Québec established "le
petit Canada" and where to this day you can still go and eat
poutine! (Note: you cannot actually see the restaurant where
you can eat poutine, or indeed le petit Canada from this site;
you're not in that part of town: you're merely looking in
that direction and using your imagination!)
The cache is located at:
42 59.L (where L = E + F + G)
71 28.M (where M = H + J + K)
The cache is a logbook only cache so bring your own pencil,
ballpoint pen or sharpie. It may be wet but the logbook is made of
waterproof paper.
Additional Reading
There is much more to learn about the mills and both the amazing
technical advances made as well as some of the poignant stories of
child labor, long labor, and xenophobia. If you'd like to learn
more, the Images of America series has a great book called
"Manchester: The Mills and the Immigrant Experience," by Gary
Samson; the Postcard History Series gives great images of the city
(and its many floods!) in "Manchester" by Robert Perrault; and hit
either the library, amazon.com, or the giftshop at the Millyard
Museum for the most in-depth look at the mills: "Amoskeag: Life and
Work in an American Factory-City," by Tamara Hareven and Randolph
Langenbach.