4 PREFACE.

nothing further than to have employed his best exertions, under some
peculiar advantages, for the successful accomplishment of his object.

The most competent and able assistance has been freely employed,
in the preparation and revision of the materials embodied in the work.
Many of the papers on particular subjects, such as those on the higher
educational institutions, the banks, the currency, the population, &c.,
have been prepared by gentlemen distinguished for their acquaintance
with the several departments of learning to which they pertain; and a
large number of the most elaborate articles in the descriptive portions
of the work were written by persons familiar with the places and
the scenes described. To these, and to other individuals, who have
been steadily employed upon the undertaking, for a longer or shorter
time, the author is happy to acknowledge himself indebted for a large
amount of what is valuable in the subject matter, and much that is
attractive in the literary execution of the work. He would specially
acknowledge his obligations to the public officers of the several states
and of the United States, to whom he has been indebted for many
valuable documents; to the Rev. William Jenks, D. D., for his articles on
the New England States; to Jesse Chickering, M. D., for his assist¬
ance in the population tables; to Caleb Stetson, Esq., for his valu¬
able article on banks; and especially to the Rev. Samuel H. Riddel,
late secretary of the American Education Society, for his assistance
in the preparation of the entire work.

The standard authorities which have been consulted are, the general
and local gazetteers of former dates, numerous county and town his¬
tories, that valuable series of volumes known as Historical Collections
of several of the states, the American Almanac, congressional and
state documents, reports of corporations, topical and coast surveys,
journals of the most intelligent tourists, guide books, maps, and other
works, geographical, geological, and statistical, from which appropriate
information could be derived. The substance of all which may be
considered as of real value, in reference to the legitimate purpose of
a gazetteer of the country, has been made to contribute to the com¬
pleteness of the present work; to the exclusion, however, of a large
class of unimportant details, with which the pages of works of this
kind have frequently been encumbered. Statistics which are compar¬
atively trifling and unessential in themselves, or such as must cease to
be of any value after the changes of one or two years, have been
usually omitted; and the space they would have occupied has been
redeemed for matter of more general interest, and for such material
facts as are wanted to satisfy the intelligent inquiries of persons inter¬
ested in obtaining a knowledge of any portion of the country, for ends
important to themselves.

The interest and convenience of the reader have also been consulted,