Page:Lowell Hydraulic Experiments, 4th edition.djvu/17

 INTRODUCTION.

northern regions of the United States of North America, probably possess a greater amount of water-power than any other part of the world of equal extent, and the active and inventive genius of the American people, combined with the very high price of labor, has had a powerful influence in bringing this power into use. Nevertheless, the water-power is so vast, compared with the population, that only a small portion of it has, up to this time, been applied to the purposes of man. It was estimated, not long since, that the total useful effect derived from water-power in France, was about 20,000 horse-power. An amount of power far exceeding this, is already derived from the Merrimack River and its branches, in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. What must be the amount of the population and wealth of the Northern States, when the other rivers that water them are equally improved?

One of the earliest and most successful efforts to bring into use, in a systematic manner, one of the larger water-powers, was made at Lowell in Massachusetts; where, in 1821, a number of farms situated near Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack River, were purchased by several capitalists of Boston, who obtained a charter from the State of Massachusetts under the name of The Merrimack Manufacturing Company. In 1826, the property was transferred to the Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimack River, a corporation chartered in 1792 for the purpose of improving the navigation of the Merrimack River. Previously to the transfer, the Merrimack Manufacturing Company had erected a dam of about 950 feet in length, at the head of Pawtucket Falls, and had also enlarged the Pawtucket Canal, which was originally constructed, previously to the year 1800, by the Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimack River, for the purposes