The Blackstone River Explorer Tour the Blackstone River The

The Blackstone River Explorer Tour Blackstone Valley Tourism Council Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc. Preservation Society of Pawtucket The Blackstone River The Blackstone River is 45 miles long and runs from Worcester, MA through Pawtucket on its way to the Narragansett Bay. For the Wampanoag and Narragansett Indians in this area, the river served as a boundary between their tribal lands. This particular location on the river was a good fishing spot and a place where the river could be crossed more easily. Pawtucket gets its name from the Algonquian word for “river fall,” and the river fall, which we now refer to as Pawtucket Falls became the source of power and industry for the iron and textile factories that were built on the river’s edge. Joseph Jenks and his forge Joseph Jenks, Jr. (1632-1717) is considered to be the founder of Pawtucket. In 1671, he left Saugus, MA, came here, and built a house on the west side of the river. The area was the northern boundary of Roger Williams' settlement of Providence. At that time, William Bucklin owned the land on the Massachusetts (east) side of the river. Joseph built a dam over the top edge of the falls and his iron forging shop on the river bank just below the falls. There was an abundant supply of timber and bog iron nearby and Joseph did well. He later built a sawmill, a carpentry shop, an iron furnace, and a foundry. Bog iron was heavily mined in New England and places like Saugus, MA eventually depleted their sources. The blast furnace at Saugus operated between 1646 and 1668 and three years later Joseph Jenks relocated to the shores of the Blackstone. Samuel Slater and his textile mill In the late 18th century, American industrialists, such as Moses Brown had been struggling to build a consistently working spinning machine. Moses, with his son-in-law William Almy and his cousin Smith Brown, had started a mill in Pawtucket and wanted to manufacture cloth for sale, using water-powered spinning wheels, jennies, and frames. They acquired a 32-spindle frame "after the Arkwright pattern," but could not operate it. The Arkwright design was named for its inventor Richard Arkwright who was English, and the English prevented the mill designs from being taken out of their country. Twenty-one year-old Samuel Slater was working with the Arkwright mill design in England, but recognized that if he wanted to become a superstar in the textile industry, he would have to emigrate to America. In 1790 he wrote to Moses Brown offering his services, and Moses accepted. Samuel signed a contract to replicate the British designs. The deal provided Slater with the funds to build the water frames and necessary machinery, with a half share in the profits. In 1793, Slater and Brown opened their first factory in Pawtucket. Slater Mill’s breastshot water wheel Water wheels are dependent on flowing water and Pawtucket Falls was an ideal place for one. Breastshot wheels are less efficient than overshot and backshot wheels but they can handle high flow rates and therefore produce a lot of power. Breastshot wheels were often used in early mills and factories and are now the most common type in the United States. The Industrial Revolution was the time when machines gradually replaced manual labor in manufacturing and production. The spinning frame changed textile making from a cottage industry to a large-scale mechanized production industry. The beginning of this time is often attributed to Samuel Slater’s work, but it was also necessitated by the War of 1812 when British blockades of the American coast created a shortage of cotton cloth in the United States. In 1813 Francis Cabot Lowell established the Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham, MA where all aspects of production - spinning, weaving, dyeing, and cutting were completed in a single plant. The Waltham mill also pioneered the process of mass production, which required large numbers of workers. Many people left their cottage industries to live and work near the factories, which precipitated the growth of cities. Industry in Pawtucket Pawtucket had good access to land and water transportation routes, which were necessary for bringing in raw materials and distributing finished goods. Providence harbor had not been blocked during the Revolutionary War, and that allowed the wealthy merchant class to continue making profits. By 1817 Pawtucket had thirteen textile mills, and several machine shops. An 1829 collapse in the cotton goods market devastated Pawtucket's manufacturing businesses; recovery was slow, but eventually was boosted by the arrival of the Providence and Worcester Railroad in 1847. The Civil War kicked Pawtucket's manufacturing economy into high gear again. The town experienced a boom period until the early 20th century, but stiff competition from Southern cotton mills diminished Pawtucket's dominance of the industry. By 1910, strifes with workers over low wages and poor working conditions, combined with increasing production costs, caused many of Pawtucket’s textile mills to falter after World War I. The decline was exacerbated by the Great Depression. The Division Street Bridge, completed in 1877, is a nine-span stone and brick bridge with a total length of about 450 feet, which makes it the longest stone-arch bridge in the state. It symbolizes the unity of the two villages of Pawtucket, RI and Pawtucket, MA, which were divided by the river and joined together as the Town of Pawtucket in 1874. The granite was sourced from the towns of Sterling, CT and Westerly, RI. Local architect William R. Walker (also designed the Pawtucket Armory) was on the town's committee to build the bridge. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Interstate 95 The concept of a high-speed, multi-lane highway skirting Downtown Pawtucket's central business district was the subject of fierce debate. The business community strongly resisted the plan, fearing the highway would interfere with commercial and manufacturing activity, displace residents, and reduce the amount of taxable property, further damaging the city's fragile economy. These outcomes came to be viewed as the necessary price to pay in order to attract new business investments. In 1954, Mayor Lawrence A. McCarthy convinced the Pawtucket City Council to approve the plan for a new elevated bridge. The Mayor declared, “We are going from an old-fashioned New England city into a modern, up-to-date community, accessible and convenient for business and industry.” Over 1,000 residents were displaced, and over 300 buildings demolished to route I-95 through the city. Bridge Mill Power Plant The Bridge Mill Power Plant was built in 1894 and is now one of the earliest surviving electric power plants in the state. The electricity generated by this new water-powered station was used to augment the production of the Pawtucket Electric Lighting Company’s older, steam-fired plant located a half-mile farther south. The Bridge Mill Power Plant was originally powered by both steam and water, and was a major civic improvement for the City of Pawtucket. Electricity was generated at this plant until a period of inactivity in the 1960s. In the 1970s, new equipment was installed by the Blackstone Valley Electric Company and the plant reactivated. Today, National Grid operates one of their substations from this building. Sargeant’s Trench In 1714 Sargeant’s Trench was cut as a fishway around the rapids of the river to facilitate salmon and shad migrations. However, the fish never used the trench and by the mid-1790s nearby factories were using it to draw power from the water. This started a long battle over water rights and privileges, which was not settled until the 1830s. In the early 20th century, fish ladders were built around New England (there is one at the Gilbert Stuart birthplace in Saunderstown) to help fish pass over dams. In Pawtucket, industrial uses of the river took priority over the needs of fish and through World War II, many of Rhode Island's coastal habitats were destroyed. Since the 1980s, legislation has focused on restoring this damage to the environment. The Main Street Bridge was built in 1858 as the last in a series of five bridges that span the Blackstone River at this location; the first was built in 1713. It is the earliest surviving highway bridge in Rhode Island. It was widened twice in the 20th century and now carries a modern deck and road bed, hiding the original stone structure beneath. The bridge arches are footed by the outcropping of rocks that form the natural waterfall underneath. The Main Street Bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was in 1989 dedicated as the Sri Chinmoy Peace Bridge by Pawtucket Mayor Brian Sarault. Sri Chinmoy was an Indian spiritual teacher and philosopher who dedicated his life to the service of humanity and was known for holding public events on peace and world harmony. Steamboat Travel Newly emerging technologies such as steam power radically changed how Americans traveled. Robert Fulton’s Clermont successfully journeyed up the Hudson River in 1807, starting a new era in transportation. The Fall River Line, which connected Boston and New York, operated between 1847 and 1937, and many of their ships stopped in Pawtucket. The Providence launched in 1866 and was called Narragansett Bay's "floating palace." She carried up to 1,200 passengers and was considered to be one of the finest American-built vessels of the time. For a modest price, an ordinary working person could get a glimpse of the opulent lifestyles of the wealthy just by taking a cruise on such a vessel.

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