Capturing the Power of Water

Capturing the Power of Water. The Cohoes Company. , Cohoes became a manufacturing center by harnessing the waterpower of the Cohoes Falls to drive the machinery of industry. The Cohoes Company developed the technology that made this possible, guided by the vision and engineering genius of Canvass White and the managerial skill of his brother Hugh., The Cohoes Company was the forerunner of modern utility companies. Canvass White saw the waterpower potential of the Cohoes Falls while working as an engineer during the construction of the Erie Canal. White got financial backing from patron Stephen Van Rensselaer, who held extensive land and water rights along the Mohawk and chaired the state's Canal Commission, and from the firm of Peter Remsen and Company of New York City. With others, they incorporated the Cohoes Company in 1826. The company acquired all rights to the waterpower a half-mile above and below the Cohoes Falls. Through its act of incorporation, the company was granted the right to build a dam across the Mohawk, to construct canals, to erect "houses, factories, warehouses, wharves and other necessary buildings," and, perhaps most importantly, to lease and sell the waterpower as well as the land., [ Top Right Photo: ] The Cohoes Company gatehouse on the Mohawk River, above the Falls. Spindle City Historic Society collection., [ Middle Right Photo: ] Power canal in front of Harmony Mill #2. This site is now Power Canal Park. Mill #3 is on the right in this picture. Spindle City Historic Society collection., The Power Canal System , The power canal system in Cohoes, designed by Canvass White, was the first and greatest in the region. A series of roughly parallel, connected canals were designed to bring water to successive levels, culminating in the return of water to the river. With this system, the same water could be used six different times. Several sections of the original Erie Canal, closed in 1841 when the enlarged Erie Canal went into service the next spring, were converted to use as power canals., [ Bottom Illustration: ] Section of an 1884 Sampson, Davenport and Co, map of Cohoes showing the network of power canals. Spindle City Historic Society collection.