by Deane Rykerson
TMI President
“Merchant and Millwright, the Water Powered Mills of the Piscataqua” by Richard Candee is a fascinating article about the economy of early New England published in 1970. Although rarely differentiating between stream and tidal mills, the text explains how the resources of timber and water power were integral to the earliest European settlements.
From the first mill (1633-1634) contracted by John Mason on the Little Newichwannok River (presently South Berwick), sawing lumber was a primary activity. Several English maps included show the number of water powered mills before 1700 in the region. Although it is commonly believed that New England wood resources were mostly for ships’ masts, Candee shows that sawn lumber was also an important export.
One interesting detail is the colonists’ economic freedom to develop water power. In England, there was political influence by hand sawyers inhibiting the growth of wind and water power. Readers will probably find other interesting revelations in the article. For example, Candee’s research of old wills demonstrates that mill owners “died with an estate in the upper five percent of their colony’s wealthiest men.” So mills were not only essential to early New England’s economy; they also made their owners wealthy.
The Candee article was originally published in Old Time New England and is now available online via the Historic New England website. Read “Merchant and Millwright, the Water Powered Mills of the Piscataqua.”
The transfer of water and wind mill technology from Europe to North America is an important but difficult to research subject. An article published in 2014 in TIMS E-News from The International Molinological Society dealing with this topic can be found at this link.
The title is “Sawmills and Deals” and my motivation for preparing it was a TMI conference.