The Fourth Falls, also known as Upper Falls or Gooch's Falls'','' are the fourth of four

waterfalls A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

Yarmouth, Maine Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland. When originally settled in 1636, as North Yarmouth, it was part of Massachusetts, and remained as such for 213 years. In 1849, ...

, United States. They are located on the

Royal River Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

, approximately upstream of the Third Falls. The river appealed to settlers because its 45-foot rise in close proximity to

navigable A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Such a navigable water is called a ''waterway'', and is preferably with few obstructions against dir ...

water each provided potential

waterpower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a wa ...

sites. As such, the four falls were used to power 57 mills between 1674 and the mid-20th century. Gooch Island stands to the east of the falls.

Industries

An iron refinery, the Forest Forge, occupied a spot nearby as early as 1753. After its demise, a large double sawmill was built on the dam by a company composed of Gooches, Pratts, Sargents, Cutters and Bakers, which was a prosperous establishment for many years.''Ancient North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, Maine 1636-1936: A History'',

William Hutchinson Rowe William Hutchinson Rowe (March 6, 1882''Maine Biographies'', Harrie B. Coe (before 1937), p. 135 – 1955) was an American author and historian who lived in Yarmouth, Maine. The town's elementary school, built the year he died, is now named for ...

(1937) At the northern end of the

Royal River Park Royal River Park is an urban park in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It is located to the northwest of the town center, between East Elm Street to the west and Bridge Street to the east. U.S. Route 1 runs through the park via an overpass. The ...

once stood Charles H. Weston's

machine shop A machine shop or engineering workshop (UK) is a room, building, or company where machining, a form of subtractive manufacturing, is done. In a machine shop, machinists use machine tools and cutting tools to make parts, usually of metal or plast ...

and

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

, which, from 1876 to 1892, manufactured equipment for cotton and woolen mills, turbine water wheels,

steam engines A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

and a wide variety of machinery for customers all over the world. In 1887, Weston was one of the incorporators of Pumgustuk Water Company. This became Yarmouth Water Company in 1895, and Yarmouth Water District in 1923."A Brief History of Public Water in Yarmouth, Maine"
- Yarmouth Water District The stone wall inside the History Center is original to the Water District building. A

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

with a tank capacity of a quarter of a million gallons was erected off West Elm Street. Its functionality was replaced in 1964 with a million-gallon standpipe. Later, a large building housed, in turn, a

tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

, three shoe-manufacturing companies and a

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, a ...

-processing plant. These business took advantage of the Fourth Falls' water supply directly behind the building to provide power. The Yarmouth History Center, run by Yarmouth Historical Society, is located beside the railway

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

above the falls, having moved from the third floor of the Merrill Memorial Library in 2013. Also in 1892, a small steamer named the ''Hoyt'' ferried guests from the calm water above the falls to a mineral springs hotel in

North Yarmouth North Yarmouth, officially the Town of North Yarmouth, is a town in Cumberland County, Maine. The population was 4,072 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...

that was owned by Giles Loring.''Images of America: Yarmouth'', Alan M. Hall (Arcadia, 2002), p.101

References

{{reflist Landforms of Yarmouth, Maine Waterfalls of Maine