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At a town meeting held in Salem, Mass., on Dec. 28, 1789, “George Williams, Esq., General Fisk, and Joseph Sprague, Esq., were chosen a Committee to estimate the expense of clearing out the Channels in the North and South rivers; and to prefer a petition to the General Court for the grant of a Lottery to aid the town in so beneficial an undertaking.”  We believe this project was never carried through; but we are of opinion that some residents of Salem would now welcome even a raffle, if in that way their North River could be purified, as at present no other method seems so likely to succeed, judging from the controversy which has been going on in that city for several years without effecting any result.

The “Massachusetts Centinel,” May 22, 1790, notifies the “Friends of Science” that “a few ...  Williamstown Free-school Lottery Tickets ... may be had of the Printer.”

MARBLEHEAD, APRIL 3.  The highest Prize in the State Lottery was drawn by a number of Females:  About thirty were joint possessors of that fortunate number and five others:  The highest share in them did not exceed one dollar, and the lowest was nine pence, expressive of the different abilities of the concerned; by which circumstance, the property of the prize is most agreeably divided:  It has excited a smile in the cheek of poverty, nor diminished the pleasure of those in easy circumstances.

Massachusetts Gazette, 1786.

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Providence Street-Lottery.

CLASS 3d.

THE Managers present the public with the following SCHEME of a LOTTERY, granted by the Hon. General Assembly of this State, at their January Session, A.D. 1795, for raising a Sum of Money to defray the Expences of Finishing, in a durable Manner, a Street at the North End of this Town.

This being the great Continental Thoroughfare and Post Road, and much frequented at all Seasons by Persons on Foot and Horse-Back, and by Teams and Carriages, merits the greatest Attention to its Improvement from Town and Country.

    The old Road was crooked and inconvenient, the new Street is
    Streight, and secured in such a Manner as to be passed in
    Carriages at all Times with Ease and Safety.

The Utility and Necessity of this work, so obvious to every one, and the great Chance to Adventurers, there being only about Two Blanks to a Prize, induce the Managers to rely on the Patronage of the Public, for a rapid Sale of the Tickets.

    5340 Tickets, at TWO DOLLARS each, are 10,680 Dollars, to be
    paid in the following Prizes, subject to no Deduction.