Water power in many of the States is abundant and contributes largely to their prosperity. Its proper development calls for the services of the civil engineer, and as it is the branch of the profession with which I am most familiar, I propose to offer a few remarks on the subject.
The earliest applications were to grist and saw mills; carding and fulling mills soon followed; these were essential to the comfort of the early settlers who relied on home industries for shelter, food, and clothing, but with the progress of the country came other requirements.
The earliest application of water power to general manufacturing purposes appears to have been at Paterson, New Jersey, where "The Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures" was formed in the year 1791. The Passaic River at this point furnishes, when at a minimum, about eleven hundred horse power continuously night and day.
The water power at Lowell, Massachusetts, was begun to be improved for general manufacturing purposes in 1822. The Merrimack River at this point has a fall of thirty-five feet, and furnishes, at a minimum, about ten thousand horse power during the usual working hours.

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