Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimack River records
Scope and Contents
Includes an extensive bound series of incoming letters and papers, a series of letter books, general accounting records, and payrolls. There are records for construction of canals, for collection of tolls, for kyanizing of lumber, and for a grist mill. There are papers of James B. Francis, engineer and agent, Uriah A. Boyden, hydraulic engineer, Col. James Francis, William Badger, Hiram F. Mills, Patrick T. Jackson, Kirk Boott, and George W. Whistler. Companies represented by material include Merrimack Manufacturing Company, Bigelow-Hartford Manufacturing Company, Ipswich Mills, Middlesex Company, Nashua Manufacturing Company, Saco-Lowell Shops, Pepperell Manufacturing Company, and Tremont and Suffolk Mills.
Scope and content: Volume EB-3 contains accounts of shares and dividends of the Proprietors of the Locks and Canals, maintained by treasurer Joseph Cutler, dated 1798-1818. Receipt of the dividends were acknowledged by the signature by the shareholder or an intermediary. Names include Jonathan Jackson, Moses Brown, Dudley Tyng, Jonathan Gage, Oliver Wendell, Loammi Baldwin, Christopher Gore, and Jonathan Mason. There is a printed rate of toll pasted on the volume’s endpapers.
Volume EB-4 is a ledger dated 1792-1825, which includes an account of the assessment and interest accrued on 500 company shares from 1792 to 1795; an account of charges related to the sale of shares at auction, cash received at the auction, and the use of proceeds to clear the Merrimack River below Pawtucket; toll accounts with collectors such as James Varnum and Joseph Warren; and accounts with the treasurer.
Dates
- Creation: 1792-1947
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Materials stored onsite. Contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu for more information.
Extent
40 linear feet (294 volumes, 29 boxes)Biographical / Historical
The Locks and Canals company was chartered in 1792 by a group of merchants and shipowners from Newburyport, Mass. interested in improving the navigability of the Merrimack River and thereby boosting commerce at Newburyport. They constructed the Pawtucket Canal around the rapids at East Chelmsford. By 1803, however, construction of the Middlesex Canal linking the Merrimack with Boston had diverted shipping to Boston rather than to Newburyport. The Locks and Canals company was revived with the establishment of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company at East Chelmsford in 1821. Many of the persons involved in the new textile enterprise also had interest in the older Locks and Canals company. In 1825 the charter of the company was amended to allow it to own real estate, water rights, and mill privileges. Consequently the Locks and Canals company became the prime instrument in the development of Lowell, as the new community was named in 1826. It built new mills, canals, and machinery, and owned the land and water rights which made Lowell a premier textile manufacturing center.
Physical Location
MANU
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Proprietors, 1960.
- Author
- Baker Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- bak01073
Repository Details
Part of the Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School Repository
Baker Library Special Collections and Archives holds unique resources that focus on the evolution of business and industry, as well as the records of the Harvard Business School, documenting the institution's development over the last century. These rich and varied collections support research in a diverse range of fields such as business, economic, social and cultural history as well as the history of science and technology.
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