The Merrimack Canal is a

power canal A power canal is a canal used for hydraulic power generation, rather than for transport of watercraft. The power canal was a major factor in the Industrial Revolution in New England in the 19th century. Most early power canals were mill races ...

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, United States. Alongside Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, it is one of two traditional county seat, seats of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in ...

. The canal, dug in the 1820s, begins at the Pawtucket Canal just above Swamp Locks, and empties into 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 M ...

near the Boott Cotton Mills. The Merrimack Canal was the first major canal to be dug at Lowell exclusively for power purposes, and delivered of

hydraulic head Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a measurement related to liquid pressure (normalized by specific weight) and the liquid elevation above a vertical datum., 410 pages. See pp. 43–44., 650 pages. See p. 22, eq.3.2a. It is usually meas ...

to the mills of the

Merrimack Manufacturing Company The Merrimack Manufacturing Company (also known as Merrimack Mills) was the first of the major textile manufacturing concerns to open in Lowell, Massachusetts, beginning operations in 1823. History After the death of Francis Cabot Lowell ...

.ASME Landmark report
The Merrimack Manufacturing Company was the first of the major

textile mill Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful good ...

s constructed in Lowell. It was demolished around 1960. The canal, which runs along the southeast side of Dutton Street and then between the two halves of Lowell High School, is unique in the Lowell Canal System as it delivers the full drop of the Merrimack at once, instead of operating on a and a two-level system.

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* * * {{coord, 42, 38, 40.1, N, 71, 18, 49.1, W, display=title Canals in Massachusetts Canals in Lowell, Massachusetts Historic American Engineering Record in Massachusetts

See also

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