Up the Blackstone Canal |
It’s the first day of summer, so I had to get out to
paddle. Unfortunately, I had stuff
to do at home, so I couldn’t go far.
Frank and I ended up scouting the trip we will do Tuesday night with the
Blackstone Valley Paddle Club – the Blackstone River from Albion to
Manville.
It was a beautiful morning when I arrived at the bike path
in Albion. Frank was already
there, so we got our gear together and headed up to the put-in above the Albion
Dam.
Below the Manville Dam |
Although you can’t see it from the put-in, the Albion Mill Village is one of the best preserved of the Blackstone River’s original mill
villages. The first mill was built
here in the 1820s, and was expanded several times after. The Valley Falls Company constructed
the main section of the current mill in 1908.
We launched from the put-in above the Albion Dam, and
paddled up a through a washed out section of the 1828 Blackstone Canal before
entering the Blackstone River.
From Albion, it’s a short paddle upstream to the old Manville Mill Village.
Running the last drop |
Manville is one of the oldest industrial
sites on the Blackstone River.
Industrial activity started there in the late 17th century
when the Wilkinson family established a foundry on the site – Unity
Furnace. In 1811, the Unity Manufacturing
Company was established to manufacture cotton cloth. By the 1920s, the Manville
Mill was the largest textile mill in the United States with over 5,000 employees. It was significantly damaged in 1955
during the floods resulting from Hurricane Carol, and completely destroyed in a
fire a few weeks later.
The water was shallow as we approached the Manville Dam (1 foot, 200 cfs on the Woonsocket gage), but
I was able to paddle up the first drop, through the piers, and up to the Manville Hill Road Bridge. From
there, I carried up to the dam to run the easy rapids below the dam. It should be a nice run with the paddle
club on Tuesday.
Albion Mill - c. 1874 and 1909 |
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