It Happened Here-- "Big Water"

 

Any discussion of the development of industrial power technologies in the United States often seems to have the adjective “Big” attached to it. Thus, our gasoline/ diesel fueled segments of our economy are dominated by “Big Oil” while much of the power for our electric grid is the product of “Big Hydro-Electric” and throughout most of the later 19^th and 20^th centuries the steam engines that propelled our transportation and industrial sectors were fueled by “Big Coal.”  I believe there are two aspects to this.The first, which we are more accustomed to thinking of, is the political/ economic dimension whereby the production of power becomes concentrated in the hands of a few big producers (think Standard Oil's role in the creation of “Big Oil”.) But the more fundamental second, is the technological dimension, whereby the utility of the power source blossoms with all sorts of new uses for it, inspiring ways to produce and distribute the power more efficiently. (Imagine Standard Oil's fate, without the advent of the internal combustion engine—had petroleum remained just a lubricant and a fuel for oil lamps!) 

 

Before steam power, fueled by coal, became dominant, I believe we can look to an era when waterpower became “Big,” in the second sense– was engineered in ways that greatly increased its power, utilized in many more ways to achieve much greater potential, and even distributed to greatly extend its reach. Evidence of this development is manifest here across New York State and is documented in its NYSHMs.

Main St., near Allen St., Catskill

   Waterpower, harnessed through waterwheels is an ancient technology used for millennia to drain mines, grind grain and saw wood. Watermills were often among the first structures built in the settlement of America, to handle the laborious chores of turning a millstone, or dragging a saw, via a crankshaft, back and forth over a log to render it into planks or squared timbers.
 

Montcalm St., Ticonderoga

(Before Lotbiniere built his fort, he first constructed a sawmill to provide lumber for barracks and other support structures to be located within and near the fort.)                

But with the first stirrings of the industrial revolution in America, the power of waterwheels began to be used in more diverse, creative ways. By the use of belts, pulleys and shafts the motive power of the turning waterwheel was conducted around factories to power all sorts of machinery*. Turning pawls pumped bellows in refineries and trip hammers worked pig iron into wrought iron and steel, while other machines bent and shaped pieces, boring and cutting them. 

Rte 156, Berne

Machines in carding and fulling mills worked and combed wool while water-powered spinning and weaving looms turned cotton, flax and wool into fabrics, and sewing machines enabled workers to turn them into clothing.

Rte 4, Schuylerville, at the Bridge

And water power turned lathes, band saws and jigsaws to make furniture, wagons and intricate architectural pieces for early Victorian homes.

Valleys with a good flow of water filled with mills, and entrepreneurs sought ways to extract the most power from the downward flow. 

 

Rte. 5, Elbridge

Turnpike Rd. (10B), Throop

In 1851 Henry Burden built the world's most powerful waterwheel in Troy.  Sixty two feet in diameter, it was twenty two feet wide and could produced 500 horsepower.

Cor. Mill St., Burden Ave, Troy

           

 

Others filled or surrounded

their mills with combinations

of waterwheels.

Reservoir Hill Rd., Hammondsport

In 1837 Peter Harmony built his first textile mill at the Cohoes falls and twenty-nine years later his sucessors built Harmony Mill #3, the worlds largest cotton mill, with state of the art technology-- five water-powered Boyden turbines, beneath the mill, each delivering to all five floors motive power via belts and shafts to power some 2,700 looms.

Mill #3, Mohawk Ave, Cohoes

*It is easy to forget that until the last decades of the 19^th century (and well into the 20^th) motive power in factories was centralized, whether it was supplied by a turning waterwheel or a central steam engine. Belts, pulleys and shafts transferred power around the factory to individual machines, making factories noisy, dangerous places to work. It would not be until factories were electrified and small AC motors were connected to individual machines that the motive power in factories was decentralized.

 

 Marker of the Week -- Well, it finally happened.  For over two years now, my wife has been accusing me of dragging her all over "Hell's half acre" to chase down and photograph NYSHMs. This summer on a vacation trip to the western Finger Lakes and the Genesee Valley we finally, actually, got there.

Rte 5 & 20, cor. of Half Acre Rd., west of Auburn

A Final Note-- I'm baaack! From the last half of September, until now I have been unable to publish any new posts. I returned from two weeks vacation with a bug that layed me low for two weeks. I think I was finally able to get rid of it by giving it to my wife for another week.

After getting things back together I'm looking forward to resuming my more-or-less-weekly posts. Over the summer I was able to photograph a great number of signs and I look forward to returning to regular postings.