Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/84

76 FALL RIVER FALMOUTH Copicut, Globe village, Mechanicsville, Mount Hope village, New Boston, and Steep Brook. The Old Colony and Newport railroad furnishes communication with Boston, and the Provi- dence, Warren, and Bristol line connects the city with Providence; while daily lines of steamers run to Providence, Newport, and New York. The harbor is safe, commodious, easy of access, and deep enough for the largest vessels. The value of the foreign commerce for the year ending June 30, 1873, was $217,- 028 ; 53 vessels of 11,833 tons entered from, and 27 of 4,542 tons cleared for foreign ports ; entered in the coastwise trade, 413 steamers of 870,592 tons, and 47 sailing vessels of 8,208 tons; cleared, 315 steamers of 828,081 tons, and 25 sailing vessels of 6,075 tons ; employed in the cod and mackerel fishery, 37 vessels of 554 tons; belonging to the port, 14 steamers of 2,311 tons, and 127 sailing vessels of 11,411 tons. Fall river, from which the city derives its name, is a small stream emptying into the Taunton near its mouth. It rises in a chain of ponds connected by a narrow channel and cov- ering an area of 5,000 acres, which lie about 2 m. from the bay and receive the outlets of several other sheets of water embracing an are'a of 2,000 acres more. TJie river, having a descent of 130 ft. in less than half a mile, and furnished with an unfailing supply of wa- ter, possesses remarkable advantages as a mill stream, which have been improved by the erection of a dam at the outlet of the ponds. The lower banks are entirely built up with manufactories, which are now, however, most- ly run by steam. The manufacture of cotton goods, which has increased with remarkable rapidity within the last 10 years, is the chief industry, Fall River containing more spindles than any other city in the United States. Print cloths are the principal item of production. The number of corporations is 34, of which 16 have been formed since 1870, having a capital of $14,870,000, and owning 41 mills with 29,521 looms and 1,269,788 spindles; hands employed, 15,145; monthly wages, $492,250; bales of cotton consumed annually, 132,775; production, 331,875,000 yards. The city also contains a woollen mill, two print works, a bleachery, a brass founding and finishing es- tablishment, several iron works and machine shops, producing steam engines, cotton ma- chinery, turbine water wheels, &c., 4 manu- factories of cotton thread, 2 of twine and wick- ing, 2 of files, 6 of carriages, 4 of soap, 1 of soda, 5 of oil, 3 of weavers' reeds and harness a ship-building establishment, and several pla- ning mills. There are seven national banks, with an aggregate capital of $2,250,000, and four savings banks, having in October, 1873, 21,190 depositors and deposits to the amount of $8,891,002 95. The Fall River savings bank incorporated in 1828, had 11,128 depositors and deposits to the amount of $5,274,998 09. Fall River is divided into six wards, and is governed by a mayor, a board of aldermen of one member, and a common council of three members, from each ward. There is a police court, and a police force of about 30 men under the city marshal. In 1872 there were a high school, 29 grammar, 29 primary, and 3 evening schools, having 99 teachers and an average at- tendance of 4,277 pupils. The total expendi- ture for school purposes was $145,477 80, of which $44,412 46 was for teachers' wages. The public library contains 10,678 volumes. Two daily and two weekly newspapers are published. There are 24 churches, viz. : 3 Baptist, 3 Congregational, 2 Christian, 1 Epis- copal, 1 Friends', 5 Methodist, 1 New Jerusa- lem, 1 Presbyterian, 6 Roman Catholic, and 1 Unitarian. Fall River, formerly a part of Freetown, was incorporated as a separate town in 1803. Its name was soon after changed to Troy, but in 1834 the old appellation was re- stored. It received a city charter in 1854, and in 1862 the town of Fall River, Newport co., . R. I., with 3,377 inhabitants, was annexed to it. FALLS, a central county of Texas, intersected by Brazos river; area, 795 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 9,851, of whom 4,681 were colored. Most of the surface is occupied by rolling prairies, the soil of which is a rich black loam. The river bottoms are still more fertile, and produce good crops of Indian corn and cotton, with plenty of oak, pecan, cedar, cottonwood, and other timber. Limestone underlies a large part of the county, and a vast ledge of it cross- ing the bed of Brazos river causes the falls from which the county derives its name. The chief productions in 1870 were 403,094 bushels of Indian corn, 31,424 of sweet potatoes, and 14,126 bales of cotton. There were 5,269 horses, 2,405 milch cows, 17,602 other cattle, and 7,406 swine. Capital, Marlin. FALMOUTH, a parliamentary borough and seaport of Cornwall, England, beautifully sit- uated on the S. W. side of a harbor on the channel, at the mouth of the river Fal, 45 m. S. W. of Plymouth; pop. in 1871, 5,294. It is on a steep acclivity, reaching to the water's edge, and consists mainly of one long narrow street. It has many good stone houses, and a plentiful supply of water in the N. and S. quarters, where the ground is arranged in ter- races. The harbor, one of the finest in Great Britain, is formed by the estuary of the Fal. It is 12 to 18 fathoms deep, and can contain 500 vessels. It is defended on the west by Pen- dennis castle, and on the east by St. Mawes castle, both built by Henry VIII. and im- proved by Elizabeth. Pendennis castle under- went a long siege by Cromwell, traces of whose encampment near by are still visible. It now contains barracks, storehouses, magazines, &c. Sir Walter Raleigh visited the harbor on his return from the coast of Guiana, and first called attention to its great advantages, which had till then been altogether overlooked. The en- trance is about 1 m. wide, and the bay, which runs 6 or 7 m. inland, is a favorite resort of British vessels in time of war. Before the in-