Excerpt from The Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 57 of 87: Devoted to Science and the Mechanic Arts; January June, 1869 Beacon hill and Fort hill were country residences. The former was encroached upon for city use about the beginning of this cen tury, and the summit, some twenty feet in height, removed; and later, about forty years since, extensive excavations graded the eastern slope. It is yet about sixty to eighty feet elevation at the State House. Fort Hill was also covered with dwelling houses thirty to fifty years since, which have in course of time been iso lated from the other dwelling house parts of the city by the increase of warehouses, and have degenerated into tenements for the poorer of the laboring population, mostly Irish. Now, a cut, eighty feet wide by six hundred feet long, and sixty feet in greatest depth, has ruthlessly opened the narrow lanes and winding ways, and encroached on the aristocratic seclusion of Washington Square, with its circular green (the old Fort), which once gave the most beautiful prospect of the country and harbor. A few years more, and this landmark will disappear. But to return to our subject. Amongst the improvements of Boston of fifty years ago was a mill dam, about one and a fourth miles long, enclosing some two square miles of tidal basin, or rather two basins, as a cross dam of three-fourths of a mile in length separated the two. One of these basins was intended for high water and the other for low water, and as a constant difference of about six feet could be maintained in the water level of these two basins, it was supposed a very valuable water power would be established. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.