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The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling [1]) is a 117-mile-long (188 km) river [2] in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, [3] flows southward into Massachusetts, and then flows northeast until it empties into the Gulf of Maine at Newburyport.
The location was chosen because of the water-power potential of the Merrimack River and the already-existing Pawtucket Canal, linking the Merrimack with the Concord River. [5] At Lowell, the Merrimack drops 9 metres (30 ft) over a distance of 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), thereby suitable to provide 7,460 kilowatts (10,000 hp).
The Middlesex Canal was a 27-mile (44-kilometer) barge canal connecting the Merrimack River with the port of Boston.When operational it was 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, and 3 feet (0.9 m) deep, with 20 locks, each 80 feet (24 m) long and between 10 and 11 feet (3.0 and 3.4 m) wide.
See the History of Lowell, Massachusetts article for a detailed history of the city. First settled by Europeans in the 17th century, East Chelmsford (later renamed Lowell in honor of the founders' deceased business partner) became an important manufacturing center along the Merrimack River in the early 1820s.
Swimming in the Merrimack is prohibited from within Maudslay State Park. Seasonal floods often sweep away the docks, damage the bridges, flood the homes and wash out low-lying roads on the riverbank. Despite these dangers the lower river is home to a substantial industry of facilities for docking, storing and repairing recreational boats.
Sagamore Bridge: Circumferential Highway: Nashua and Hudson: 1973 (twinned in 2000) WN&R / B&M RR Bridge: 1847 WN&R Railroad - Abutments remain: Taylor Falls Bridge
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The Merrimack Canal was the first major canal to be dug at Lowell exclusively for power purposes, and delivered 32 feet (9.8 m) of hydraulic head to the mills of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company. [1] The Merrimack Manufacturing Company was the first of the major textile mills constructed in Lowell. It was demolished around 1960.