Page 104
Text
CHAPTER VIII
THE UTILIZATION OF THE WATER POWER
The water power at the falls induced Joseph Jenks, Jr., to set up his forge at Pawtucket. It also attracted Oziel Wilkinson to the place, prompted Moses Brown to remove the experimental spinning machinery to the falls, and its abundance satisfied Samuel Slater that he would have all the force necessary to drive his machinery. What a striking coincidence it is that the first cotton machinery in the Ezekiel Carpenter clothier building was operated by a water wheel located at or near the spot where the first settler originally harnessed the water power? The early settlers, living on their scattered farms, and obtaining their livelihood from the fields, the woods and the waters, by farming, hunting and fishing, saw little advantage to themselves in the falls at Pawtucket. Of course they perceived the water power was of use to the Jenks family, and incidentally to the community to whom they ministered as hewers of wood and makers of tools; but this advantage was, in the minds of the majority, more than counterbalanced by the fact that the falls prevented the ascent of the river by fish, on whose abundance the inland farmers partly depended for their food supply. Both Rehoboth and Providence legislated* for the preservation of the public fisheries at the falls previous to 1700. The Rhode Island Assembly passed general laws** in 1719 and 1744, authorizing the towns to take action to preserve and improve fishing in the rivers, and between these dates and afterwards a number of special acts were also passed with the same end in view. The object of this legislation was to prevent any diminution of the great supply of fish that originally existed, and the means sought in each instance was the removal or prohibition of obstructions that prevented the passage of fish up the rivers. To accomplish this object on the Pawtucket River a canal was dug in the year 1714 around the falls on the west side, “beginning at the river a few rods above the lower dam, and running around the west end thereof until it emptied into the river about ten rods below the same dam.” The theory has been broached that this canal followed the channel of an old natural water course, which originally furnished an overflow outlet for the river when in flood. The canal became known as “Sargeant’s trench,” but utterly failed in its purpose, as the fish could find no use for it. Evidently, however, the farmers and fishermen were not reconciled to this result, for the General Assembly, in October, 1761, on the petition of john Dexter, of Cumberland, and others,
*Chapter 1, p. 19; Chapter 4, p. 51, **R. I. Col. Rec., vol. 4, pp. 263, 51].
Page 104
Text
CHAPTER VIII
THE UTILIZATION OF THE WATER POWER
The water power at the falls induced Joseph Jenks, Jr., to set up his forge at Pawtucket. It also attracted Oziel Wilkinson to the place, prompted Moses Brown to remove the experimental spinning machinery to the falls, and its abundance satisfied Samuel Slater that he would have all the force necessary to drive his machinery. What a striking coincidence it is that the first cotton machinery in the Ezekiel Carpenter clothier building was operated by a water wheel located at or near the spot where the first settler originally harnessed the water power? The early settlers, living on their scattered farms, and obtaining their livelihood from the fields, the woods and the waters, by farming, hunting and fishing, saw little advantage to themselves in the falls at Pawtucket. Of course they perceived the water power was of use to the Jenks family, and incidentally to the community to whom they ministered as hewers of wood and makers of tools; but this advantage was, in the minds of the majority, more than counterbalanced by the fact that the falls prevented the ascent of the river by fish, on whose abundance the inland farmers partly depended for their food supply. Both Rehoboth and Providence legislated* for the preservation of the public fisheries at the falls previous to 1700. The Rhode Island Assembly passed general laws** in 1719 and 1744, authorizing the towns to take action to preserve and improve fishing in the rivers, and between these dates and afterwards a number of special acts were also passed with the same end in view. The object of this legislation was to prevent any diminution of the great supply of fish that originally existed, and the means sought in each instance was the removal or prohibition of obstructions that prevented the passage of fish up the rivers. To accomplish this object on the Pawtucket River a canal was dug in the year 1714 around the falls on the west side, “beginning at the river a few rods above the lower dam, and running around the west end thereof until it emptied into the river about ten rods below the same dam.” The theory has been broached that this canal followed the channel of an old natural water course, which originally furnished an overflow outlet for the river when in flood. The canal became known as “Sargeant’s trench,” but utterly failed in its purpose, as the fish could find no use for it. Evidently, however, the farmers and fishermen were not reconciled to this result, for the General Assembly, in October, 1761, on the petition of john Dexter, of Cumberland, and others,
*Chapter 1, p. 19; Chapter 4, p. 51, **R. I. Col. Rec., vol. 4, pp. 263, 51].