"From the air you can look down the valley. To the east the
broad, blue Narragansett Bay. To the west the land rising gently
upwards through lively villages and towns to the ridges of green
woodland that meet the sky. And across the land, glittering here
and there in the warm summer sun stretches the winding Pawtuxet, named
by the Narragansetts "river of little falls". The twin forks of the stream rise and fall,
and all the way clasp the valley between shallow arms."
-Mathias HarpinPatterns on the RiverIndustry came early to the Pawtuxet Valley. Gristmills and sawmills were built along the Pawtuxet River to supply lumber and flour to the early settlers and their growing families. In the mid 1700's Nathanael Greene, Sr. and his brothers opened a forge at what is now Quidnick, turning out of Bog iron ore. In 1786 at the river at Hope, the celebrated Brown brothers founded Furnace Hope where they turned out cannon for the Revolutionary War.
In 1790 Samuel Slater started a mill at Pawtucket and the Industrial Revolution was under way in America. Four years later Job Greene organized a company to take over his combination sawmill and gristmill along the Pawtuxet River at Centreville and converted it to cotton spinning.
Soon others came and bought up existing sawmills and gristmills and converted them into factories. The Pawtuxet River, with its natural falls and the dams constructed by mill owners, supplied all the energy needed to activate millions of spindles and looms. For many years the mill became the center of the village which grew up around it and provided steady employment for thousands of people.
In quick succession came other textile mills in villages of Crompton, Natick, Phenix, Centreville, Anthony, Arkwright, Fiskville, Coventry Center, Lippitt, Washington, Quidnick and Riverpoint. By 1815 there were, within a circle of 30 miles from Providence, 140 factories in operation. Rhode Island was on its way to beoming the most heavily industrialized state in America.
With the design of our tote bag, we have attempted to recognize some of the products that were made possible by harnessing the mighty power of the Pawtuxet River: cannon from the Furnace Hope; velevet and corduroy from the Crompton Mill; soap 9which is stillbeing manufactured) from the Original Bradford Soap Works in the historic Valley Queen Mill; lace from Valley Lace; and books which were bound at the Arkwright Interlaken Mills.
The manufacturing of textiles is represented by the shuttle, spool, quill and thread that were so familiar to those who earned their livelihood in the industry.
Most of the mills are silent now, some the victims of fire, demolition or neglect, some diverted to other use. The cavernous interiors no longer the bells calling the villagers to their labors...no longer the voices shouting over the deafening clacking of the looms reverberating against the stone walls.
The few that remian no longer depend on the energy of the River but still it patiently waits, invisible to many, flowing silently by, until it spills, gurgling over its many "little falls", longing to be of use once more to the villages and towns.
Frances L. Duffy designed the tote bag exclusively for the Pawtuxet Valley Preservation & Historical Society.
Background photo was taken by Gerard Heroux at one of the numerous falls along the Pawtuxet River, this one located on the south branch at South Main Street in Coventry.
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