As in North Adams, so in Adams, the manufacturing interests have expanded. The small cotton mill of fifty years ago has given way to the mammoth establishment of the Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company. This company, under the able management of W. B. and C. T. Plunkett, sons of the late General W. C. Plunkett, one of the old-time manufacturers, is now erecting mill No. 4, which will have within its walls nine acres of floor space. With its hundreds of looms, thousands of spindles and an army of operatives, the plant of the Berkshire Cotton Company is second in size to no other in America.

Berkshire has always been famous for the good quality of its water for paper making, and in the heart of the village are located the well-known mills of the L. L. Brown Paper Company under the successful management of Mr. Arthur B. Daniels. The products of this mill are ledger papers known the world over; and the company also is almost the only one still turning out hand-made paper. Farther up the valley at Maple Grove is the busy factory of the Adams Brothers Company, employing nearly two hundred hands, making cotton yarns, under the management of George B. Adams. Down the valley towards North Adams is another of the industries that sprung into existence through the enterprise of Mr. Levi L. Brown, who has been a leading captain of industry in Berkshire for many years. It is the Renfrew Manufacturing Company, located in the part of Adams called Renfrew. The concern has one thousand four hundred looms and one thousand employees, making shirtings and tablecloths. Mr. James Renfrew, the agent of the company, is a man prominent in Berkshire and a successful manufacturer. Mr. James Chalmers, the treasurer, is a public-spirited man and a town official, who has its best interests at heart.

And so the story of thrift and prosperity up and down the Hoosac Valley might be continued. The mountains are the same, the river flows as peacefully, and the summit of old Greylock is bathed in sunshine or hidden, by rain clouds the same as in the summers of one hundred years ago; but in the place of the straggling streets, the log houses and the rude mills of East Hoosuck are found to-day two cities, with the comforts and conveniences of modern life. The trolley cars speed between them and extend their journeys even to West Hoosuck, the Williamstown of to-day. The churches, the schools, the libraries, the mills and the homes all show the signs of thrift. The people of the two places, although cosmopolitan, are united and harmonious. Every race and every creed meets with due respect. The valley is a better and happier dwelling place to-day than ever before; and all because the early pioneers at the foot of Greylock laid the foundations deep and well.