The “Quoddy” Tidal Hydro-Electric Power Project of 1920-1945

By Mark C. Borton

By capturing the tides in the 110-square mile Passamaquoddy Bay—which has some of the highest tides in the world—you could produce enough electricity to power much of Maine. Construction of such a tidal power plant would create thousands of desperately needed jobs, and cheap electrical power would bring new industries and prosperity to the state.

That idea crystallized in the mind of Dexter Cooper in 1920 as he recuperated from surgery at his mother-in-law’s summer house overlooking the Bay. Cooper was a civil engineer who helped to design several other dams and hydro-electric power plants. The “Passamaquoddy Project” would require not just one dam, but seven—to hold back a flow of water a dozen times larger than the Mississippi River. Another challenge Cooper faced was that some of Passamaquoddy Bay lay in the United States—but most of it is in Canada.

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Souther Mill Hosts Open House

The Friends of the Souther Tide Mill in Quincy, Massachusetts, hosted an open house at the mill Saturday, October 20, 2018. This is first time the mill has been open for visits for many years. Curious visitors included mill enthusiasts, families with children and history stakeholders.

The Friends have great plans for the interpretation of the mill. Their special problem is that the mill is owned by the City of Quincy, and all decisions on work to be done must be approved by city officials. They have prepared an application for a National Register listing, but they have been waiting for city officials to sign off before submitting it. They hope the recognition the mill will receive by being listed on the National Register will spur further donations. They hope to install electric service in the near future.

More about Souther Mill

Annual Tide Mill Conference – Nov 10, Beverly, MA

Creating Tide Mills – Then & Now
November 10 at Beverly’s Cummings Center

Join educators, historians, environmentalists, archeologists and anyone else interested in tidal power and its history on Saturday, November 10, 2018, for the Tide Mill Institute’s 14th annual conference.

Time: 8:30 am – 4:00 pm
Location: Cummings Center, Beverly, MA
Registration fee (includes lunch): $50 per person for non members, $40 for members

Conference topics focus on how man once extracted power from the tides and how he seeks to use this power again. Come to learn and participate in the discussions.

Here are a few topics in the program:

  • Medieval vertical and horizontal millwheels
  • A tide mill at the heart of the 1775 Battle of Brooklyn
  • Structure of tide mill dams
  • How tides in New York’s East River supply power to the grid
  • A possible tidal energy canal for Boston

Save your space and help us with planning by pre-registering now.

Program and registration details

New Institute Website: More Frequent Contact

The Tide Mill Institute has improved its website to allow more frequent communication with tide mill enthusiasts and the general public.

The new site retains the extensive tide mill information on its original site, but it now also provides frequent news and tide mill information updates on its front page. Visitors to the site can comment on articles or provide more information about a topic if they wish.

Anyone can subscribe for free to receive email notifications whenever a new item is added to the site’s news page.

The institute has traditionally issued Tide Mill Times, a multi-page newsletter, two to four times each year, as an email attachment to subscribers. The new site will replace these periodic newsletters with a “blog,” or individual articles published online more frequently and as-needed to keep the tide mill community informed.