The History of the Canals

The Lowell Canals in Massachusetts were begun in 1792 when a group of Irish laborers from Charlestown made their way up country to a town on the Merrimack River called Chelmsford. A new town was planned here on the banks of the Merrimack, the first planned factory town in America which the intrepid entrepreneurs, along with Governor John Hancock, later called Lowell.

It sits on a bend of the River, which has a steep drop of 32 feet and rapids within the confines of the city. To allow the barges to navigate the water, which began in upstate New Hampshire and ended in the Atlantic Ocean at the town of Newburyport, this one stretch of the river was going to have to be bypassed.

The Proprietors of Locks and Canals, the oldest corporation in the United States, was formed to dig the Pawtucket Transportation Canal. This corporation still exists, though it is a subsidiary of Enel, Italy, as is Boott Hydropower which is using the flow to create electromechanical energy with 18 turbines located under the mill buildings. It is a tribute to the early engineers that the water power system they designed is still in use today, almost 200 years later.

That first Canal, finished in 1796, was strictly a transportation Canal designed for the purpose of allowing mariners to avoid the rapids. There were three locks along its one and a half mile length: The Guard Locks near where it took in the waters of the Merrimack River; the Swamp Locks about the mid-point in the Canals’ length, and finally the Lower Locks where the Pawtucket emptied out into the Concord River, itself to disappear into the Merrimack’s waters.

Unfortunately, the Pawtucket was rendered obsolete by the construction about two miles upriver of the Middlesex Canal which wound from the Merrimack on down to the environs of the port of Boston. Now farmers, businessmen, trappers, settlers, and their cargos could go straight to the port of Boston.

The Pawtucket sat empty of traffic for a couple of years when businessmen and entrepreneurs saw in the Canal not a way of travel, but something much more: Water Power. They only had to use the Pawtucket’s water and build Power Canals off it. The long, steep drop would propel the water into the races and waterwheels (later turbines) in the mill factories which the entrepreneurs' were going to set up. A free, limitless power source to run the mills’ machines, every factory owners dream!

The Power Canals with names like the Hamilton; Lawrence; Merrimack; Eastern; and Western were dug to channel the water’s flow into mechanical power in the first half of the nineteenth century with the final Canal, the Northern, completed in 1848. Lowell could now boast ten mills and thousands of machines, all operating from the 5.7 miles of Canals that criss-crossed Lowell.

Early poets, dramatists, and authors, from Samuel Clemens to John Greenleaf Whittier, all remarked on the Canals and extolled everything from their beauty to their marvelous engineering.

Lowell grew from a site that was originally home to Native Americans; into an agrarian site; a small village; and finally, brick by brick, to the city we see today. All the mill companies are gone now, but many of their brick factories stand, a tribute to the engineering and workmanship of the day. Today, those brick walls are still in use, housing condos; apartments; small businesses; and museums. The area of Lowell called ‘The Acre’ was originally the acre set aside by the mill owners as the home of those Irish laborers and their families who built the first Canals many years ago.

Most of the Canals still flow with water from the Merrimack. Only one, the Lawrence, which was a tributary to the main Power Canals, has been covered and lost to history. And they are still Power Canals, running the turbines that are housed under the factories, and generating electromechanical power.

The Physical Canals

The Canals don’t have any physical features that link them to one another. They were dug and modified over many years, and so don’t share any commonalities. Each one is unique.

From the Pawtucket, built to follow the features of the surrounding land so that it twists and turns, to the Northern, the deepest and widest Canal, perfectly straight, carrying the largest volume of water of them all.

The depth ranges from about 6 feet to 20 feet; the width of them approximately 20 feet to 100 feet. They have side walls are made up of indigenous materials ranging from earth to granite; some walls gently sloping while others have sheer vertical drops. The bottoms are for the most part wood, now mixed with the sediment which coats the bottom of the Canals.

The Canals’ Today

The Canals had a city sprout up on their banks. Lowell today is a home for Immigrants as well as lifelong residents, living in everything from public housing to stately old mansions. The city has a story to tell, and so the National Historic Parks made its way into Lowell in the early 1980s, spelling a moment of rebirth for the city. In fact, the Lowell National Historical Park and the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission were formed by an Act of Congress on June 6, 1978.

Unfortunately, whenever you get a mass of people you also get litter and Lowell is no different than any place else. And that litter is blown around the cities’ streets, only to fall into a Canal. There, according to physical laws, it stays, either by gravity as it soaks up water or because of the banks furnishing a wind break.

Then the current takes over and deposits this trash in the eddies, dams, corners, and locks. I formed the Lowell Canalwaters Cleaners last year in an effort to dig the trash out of the canals.

We have now about 190 Volunteers, and we meet regularly at these sites, with our home-made tools on telescoping poles and lines, and remove the garbage. The LCCO has many partners, from the city to Keep Lowell Beautiful, the National Historical Park Service, and more.

Our goals are: To hit the canal’s regularly so the trash doesn’t build up; Educate the people about the environment to cut down on the nonpoint sources of pollution; And build up the profile of this valuable asset.

Our one problem (next to the money to keep operating), is the canal’s owner Boott Hydropower/Proprietors of Locks and Canals/Enel, Italy. They’ve fought us to the point where I'm waiting to get a cease and desist order which they've taken out. Of course, if they were taking care of their property, we wouldn’t need to blow our Saturdays hauling up the litter!

Despite the hours of work, back breaking labor, and lack of a salary, I’ve know that I've got it good, because I look at those Canals, and think that my ancestors’ saw the same view as I have now (only the locks having been rehabbed), and I think ‘Boy, I’m sure lucky.’

A Timeline of Lowell's Canals

1776 The United States is born.

1783 Revolution ends with the Treaty of Paris.

1788 George Washington is elected our first President.

1790 The Constitution becomes law when it's passed by the 13 States. U.S. population: 4M.

1792 The Proprietors of Locks and Canals is formed to dig the 9000 foot Pawtucket Transportation Canal.

1793 Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin to separate the seeds from the cotton.

1796 The mile and a half Pawtucket Canal opens to skirt the rapids on the Merrimack River, providing safe transportation to the coast at Newburyport.

1803 The Middlesex Canal, dug upstream from the Pawtucket Canal, opens with a direct route for barges to travel from the Merrimack River to Boston's environs, rendering the Pawtucket Canal obsolete.
The Louisiana Purchase effectively doubles the size of the United States.

1804 Lewis and Clark begin their expedition to view the lands of the Louisiana Purchase.

1807 Invented by Robert Fulton, the "Clarmont" is the first successful steamship.

1812 The war with Britain begins.

1814 The "Star Spangled Banner" is composed.

1819 Spain relinquishes her claims on Florida.

1822 The Merrimack Power Canal is begun, marking the first Power Canal in Lowell.

1823 The Merrimack Canal is completed, providing power to the mills.

1825 The Erie Canal in New York is opened to barge traffic.

1830 The railroad steam engine is invented and perfected by Peter Cooper.

1832 The Western Power Canal in Lowell is dug.

1836 The Hamilton; Eastern; and Lawrence Power Canals are all completed in Lowell.
The Alamo battle is fought.

1841 The Lower Locks on the Pawtucket Canal is narrowed to 12 feet to save water pressure in the canal.

1846 The Pawtucket Gatehouse, the largest in the canal system, is begun. This controlled the flow of water into the Northern Canal. Still a working Gatehouse, Boott Hydropower owns it.
The Mexican War begins.

1848 The Northern Canal, the final section of the Lowell Canals, is completed, along with the underground Moody Street Feeder.
A treaty is signed ending the Mexican War.
The Gold Rush to California begins.

1861 The Civil War begins.

1862 The Monitor and the Merrimack become the first two ironclads to fight each other.

1863 The battle of Gettysburg is fought.

1865 The Civil War ends.

1869 The railroads linking east coast with west coast are joined together at Promontory Summit, Utah.

1881 The Indian Wars out on the plains ended with the establishment of the Reservations.

1914 World War I starts with the "European War".

1915 The Lusitania is torpedoed.

1917 The Russian Revolution takes place, with the Tsar and his family shot and the victorious Communist government of Lenin installed.

1918 World War I ended.

1927 Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis flew the Atlantic successfully.

1929 The Great Depression begins. Construction begins on the Empire State Building.

1930 Pluto is discovered as the ninth planet, completing our solar system.

1931 The Star Spangled Banner is adopted as America's official national anthem.

1937 The Hindenburg goes down in flames at Lakehurst NJ, signaling an end to the dirigible as a mode of transportation, and leaving the skies to the victor, the airplane.

1941 Pearl Harbor, and our entry into World War II.

1945 World War II ends.

1957 The Russian Sputnik is the first successful artificial satellite in orbit, starting the Space Race.

1983 Market Mills restored. The National Historic Park of Lowell is dedicated, begun because of the historical significance of the Canals.

1986 Lower Locks; Guard Locks (Francis Park); and the Northern Canal are restored.

1990 Boott Mills Canalway reconstruction completed.

1992 The Inner Loop of the Canalway, running downtown, was made fully accessible.

1997 Northern Canal and Swamp Locks walkways completed.

1998 Western Canal Arena Reach is completed.

2000 Restoration of the Swamp Locks is completed.

2004 Lowell Canalwaters Cleaners founded.

2006 The floating debris is removed from the Canals.