i    --

388    MERRIMACK.

1872, was $ 5,228,812—true valuation, $ 7,843,218. The total
State, county, town, and school tax assessed, was $123,679.22, or
twenty-three mills to the dollar—the true per cent, sixteen mills.

Churches. Number of churches in the county, 46 ; seating capac-
ity, 10,830, (or 63 per cent, of the inhabitants of the county.)
Churches valued at $ 65,500.

Schools. Whole number of schools, 187 ; number of male schol-
ars—2,476, female, 1,925; average attendance, 3,113, or 71 percent;
average length of schools, for the year, seventeen weeks ; number
of graded schools, four ; amount of money annually appropriated for
school purposes, $ 20,342.56, or $ 4.60 to each scholar in the county.

Railroads. Great Falls and Conway, from Middleton to North
Conway; Portland and Ogdensburg from Maine State line to
Conway, through to Upper Bartlett; Wolfeborough Railroad,
from the shore of Lake Winnipiseogee in Wolfeborough, to Wake-
field, on the Great Falls and Conway Railroad. The total length
of railroads, in the county, is about fifty three miles.

Miscellaneous. Population of the county, 17,333—males, 8,758,
females 8,575; foreign, 176, colored, 13. Number of deaths in the
year, 1870—142 males, and 159 females. Number died at eighty
years and over, 36, or nearly 12 per cent; died with lung disease,
70, or 23 per cent.

MERRIMACK.

Concord is the shire town of the county, and capital of the State.
With the exception of Belknap, this is the only county in the State
a portion of the border of which does not touch some other State.
Its surface is broken by mountains, hills, and valleys, dotted with
lakes and ponds, and lined with numerous rivers and streams.
The soil on the rivers and streams, is very productive, while the
hills and mountain sides, are good for grazing.

Laltes and Rivers. A portion of Sunapee Lake lies within its bor-
ders, and it andWebsterLake,in Franklin, are the principal bodies
of water. Merrimack, Pemigewasset, Winnipiseogee, Contoocook,
Soucook, Suncook, Warner and Blackwater rivers are the princi-
pal streams. The total improved horse water power is 8,740.

Elevations. Kearsarge, Ragged, Rattlesnake and Fort moun-
tains, are the principal elevations.

Boundaries. North by Grafton and Belknap counties, east by
Rockingham County, south by Hillsborough County, and west by