create a new manufacturing center based on local river power. Over the next 10 years it would build the area's dam and canal system, lay out industrial, commercial, and residential areas on its 1100 acre of land, and construct and operate two cotton mills and a factory making textile machinery.

thumbIn 1848 the first timber crib dam, about 1000 ft in length, was constructed across the Connecticut River to divert water into the canals.