Pawtucket Falls - Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 41° 52.601 W 071° 23.001
19T E 302229 N 4638831
Marker giving brief history of the Pawtucket Falls and the role it played in the industrial development of Pawtucket. The marker is located near the Main Street Bridge across the Blackstone River.
Waymark Code: WMCQMF
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 10/03/2011
Views: 20
Text of marker:
Pawtucket Falls
Pawtucket means "place of rushing waters" in the Algonkian language. Both American Indians and colonial settlers harvested migrating fish at these falls. Since 1671, when Joseph Jenckes built his forge nearby, Pawtucket Falls has been a valuable source of water power. Below the falls the Blackstone River drops to ocean level, just four navigatable miles upriver from the busy port of Providence. Pawtucket, with its abundant waterpower, craftsmen to build machinery, and the capital and labor force of nearby Providence was the ideal site for the Slater Mill.
The river drops 25 feet between the bottom of the upper dam and the bottom of the falls. In 1718 a dam of gravel and stone was built at the natural falls to harness the waterpower. By 1823, forges, mills and craftsmen's shops were clustered on the banks of Sargeant's Trench--a small canal alongside the river that powered Pawtucket's early industry and rejoined the river below the falls. Today the trench runs underground through pipes.