Lowell Power Canal System and Pawtucket Gatehouse
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The Lowell Power Canal System is the largest power canal system in the United States, at 5.6 miles in length. It is operating through six major canals on two levels, controlled by numerous gates. The system was begun in the 1790s, beginning its life as a transportation canal called the Pawtucket Canal, which was constructed to get logs from New Hampshire down the Merrimack River to shipbuilding centers at Newburyport, Massachusetts, bypassing the 30-plus-foot drop of the Pawtucket Falls.
Pawtucket Gatehouse, from the above the falls side. Barge lock chamber to the right of the gatehouse.
Pawtucket Gatehouse, from across the river, during a minor spring flood
James B. Francis
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James Bicheno Francis was a British-American civil engineer, who invented the Francis turbine.
The Great Gate, also known as Francis' Folly
A Francis turbine runner, rated at nearly one million hp (750 MW), being installed at the Grand Coulee Dam, United States