The Lowell Power Canal System is the largest power canal system in the United States, at 5.6 miles in length. It is operating through six major canals on two levels, controlled by numerous gates. The system was begun in the 1790s, beginning its life as a transportation canal called the

Pawtucket Canal Completed in 1796, the Pawtucket Canal was originally built as a transportation canal to circumvent the Pawtucket Falls of the Merrimack River in East Chelmsford, Massachusetts. In the early 1820s it became a major component of the Lowell ...

, which was constructed to get logs from

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

down the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Mas ...

to shipbuilding centers at

Newburyport, Massachusetts Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...

, bypassing the 30-plus-foot drop of the Pawtucket Falls. In the early 1820s, Associates of the recently deceased Francis Cabot Lowell bought up the old Pawtucket Canal in what was then East Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Within a few years, the new industrial center that became Lowell was using canals feeding off of a widened and deepened Pawtucket Canal as a direct power source for their textile mills. The first of these canals was the

Merrimack Canal The Merrimack Canal is a power canal in Lowell, Massachusetts. The canal, dug in the 1820s, begins at the Pawtucket Canal just above Swamp Locks, and empties into the Merrimack River near the Boott Cotton Mills. The Merrimack Canal was the f ...

, which powered the Merrimack Manufacturing Company. The repurposing of the

Proprietors of Locks and Canals The Proprietors of Locks and Canals on Merrimack River is a limited liability corporation founded on June 27, 1792, making it one of the oldest corporations in the United States. Its named incorporators were Dudley Atkins Tyng, William Coombs, Jose ...

allowed the Associates to sell water power to other companies, starting with the Hamilton Canal, leading to the explosive growth of the town, and then shortly thereafter, city, of Lowell. By the late 1840s, Lowell's canal system was producing as much power as possible. However, the Chief Engineer of Locks and Canals, an Englishman by the name of

James B. Francis James Bicheno Francis (May 18, 1815 – September 18, 1892) was a British-American civil engineer, who invented the Francis turbine. Early years James Francis was born in South Leigh, near Witney, Oxfordshire, in England, United Kingdom. ...

devised the Northern Canal and the Moody Street Feeder, to increase the capacity of, and availability of water to various parts of, the whole system. The Pawtucket Gatehouse was constructed to control flow from behind the Pawtucket Dam into the Northern Canal. The dam itself, which was built twenty years earlier, was lengthened at that time, diverting the entire Merrimack (during periods of lower flow) into the two canal system entrances above it. It is a stone dam topped with wooden flashboards – a system still used on this dam today. The level of the water is regulated by the flashboards and the metal pins that hold them back. When there is too much water going over the top of the dam, the pins bend backwards, releasing the boards, and the outflow of the dam is increased. The Gatehouse contains ten wooden gates that control the flow of the Merrimack into the canal. Originally, they were opened by a

Francis Turbine The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today, and can achieve over 95% efficiency. The proc ...

, also an invention of James B. Francis. Today, the Gatehouse is controlled electrically and remotely by Boott Hydroelectric, who is partially a continuation of the Proprietors of Locks and Canals, and who operates a 24-megawatt

hydroplant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

on the Northern Canal. The Canal System and the Gatehouse were designated a

Historic Civil Engineering Landmark __NOTOC__ The following is a list of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks as designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers since it began the program in 1964. The designation is granted to projects, structures, and sites in the United State ...

by the ASCE in 1984 and a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the ASME in 1985 and are part of

Lowell National Historical Park Lowell National Historical Park is a National Historical Park of the United States located in Lowell, Massachusetts. Established in 1978 a few years after Lowell Heritage State Park, it is operated by the National Park Service and comprises ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1976, and declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

the next year.NPS NHL Listing info

Timeline of canals

* 1796:

* 1822:

* 1825: Hamilton Canal * 1828: Lowell Canal * 1831: Lawrence Canal, Western Canal * 1835: Eastern Canal * 1847: Northern Canal, Moody Street Feeder, and Pawtucket Gatehouse

References

External links

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

documentation, filed under Lowell, Middlesex County, MA: ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** {{Massachusetts canals and reservoirs Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Canals in Lowell, Massachusetts Infrastructure completed in 1821 National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Lowell, Massachusetts Locks on the National Register of Historic Places Historic American Engineering Record in Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Canals on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Water transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places Gatehouses (waterworks)

Timeline of canals

See also

References

External links