By Janet M. Conner

PART I

Antiquated water-powered gristmills, sawmills, and fulling mills were the forerunners to early manufactories using hydromechanical power, and later, hydroelectric power. The principles for generating power are similar. Both require a source of water, damming to control flow, channeling the water from a power canal into a headrace, which turned water wheels and turbines to create energy, and then expended water was expelled via a tailrace. A prime example of this is frozen in time in the remains of the old Collins Company, in Collinsville, Connecticut. Long defunct, there are still enough extant physical remains of its water power, as well as the historical record, to tell the story of its transition from a rudimentary gristmill (c.1805) and sawmill (c.1815), to an exemplary example of an early manufactory village generating hydroelectric power. What is truly impressive is the scope and scale of this undertaking, for its time.

The story begins when Samuel W. Collins purchased the gristmill and sawmill works in 1826 from Frederick G. Humphrey, located on the east bank of the Farmington River, in then Canton. The purchase price was $2,800 for the works, along with water privileges [of high importance], and several adjoining acres from Elias Woodford. Along with his brother David Collins, and cousin William Wells, they began a partnership to design and fabricate a finished-edge axe tool. The original dam, from previous owners’ endeavors, was constructed of logs and wood plank that Humphrey replaced with stone and concrete. Water was channeled from the river into those mills to turn grindstones for grain and most likely, pulleys for vertical saws, for wood boards. The design and construction of the earthen and stone structures of the dams and power canals, and the powerhouses that supplied the energy for the Collin’s shops, is noteworthy. Sam Collins entered into this venture with a grand idea. He had worked for his uncle David Watkinson at his forge in Hartford, where he learned metal working. In addition, he became aware of a man named Morgan, who was producing finished edge axes using hydropower, rather than hand grinding. These two components were Collins impetus.

The company began producing a finished-edge axe tool with early output being 8 axes per day. Collins hired Elisha K. Root, a brilliant mechanically-inclined man, who in 1832, designed water powered trip hammers that could punch a hole in the head of the axe, so it could be attached to the wooden handle. This was ground breaking. A 1913 article in the Hartford Courant detailed the design and construction of the Collins Company dams, power canal, powerhouses, and hardware [i.e., lift gates], that would run the machinery. The description evokes a visualization of the massive undertaking this was both in its design conception, and implementation. The upper dam was constructed in 1867 by Collins Company. They engaged the firm of Hollis French and Allen Hubbard of Boston, as consulting engineers on the hydraulic design. The excavation of the dam forebay and the 50 foot wide power canal, required an estimated 80,000 cu. yards of soil to be removed. The dam is 400 feet wide including wing dams. The dam is made of local granite gneiss that is 32 feet at its highest point, with a 9 foot wide rollway. There are three waste gates for flood control of the retention pond forebay. On the north side of Route 179, passing over the Farmington River, a.k.a. Bridge Street, it is still possible to see the lift gate machinery and the stanchions of the former railroad bridge.

In Samuel Collins’ memorandum on the history of his company, he noted that two Black men by the names of Quincy made a channel to set the dam into the bedrock, and then Irishmen laid the stone blocks. The efforts of this early immigrant labor in constructing the very foundation stones of the United States’ success are only now in modern times being given its long-deserved recognition. To supplement the manual labor, there were two derricks, one in the river and one on the west bank used for digging and dredging. It took three locomotives, sourced in Long Island City, New York, to haul their giant 70 ton shovels. The locos were moved in stages with the tracks being laid before them, and then after them, to get them into position. The power canal walls were made of concrete and stone. The sand for this massive undertaking was sourced in Wallingford, Connecticut. It was moved wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow to the mixers by hundreds of men. In addition, there was a stone retaining wall built to hold the earth back to allow for railroad to access to the Collins Company site. The construction of this first dam, and supporting structures, was a herculean undertaking.

The erection of the first power plant in the late 1860s, was conceptualized by the late president of Collins Company, Edward H. Sears. The plan was to have giant turbine water wheels that would generate 500 hp and be connected to electric generators. This would create 1,300 volts of electricity being converted to 220 volts by three transformers. The electric was then transferred by cable to the workshops. The power plant was located in a separate building, and power was supplied by a 12 foot water drop; 14 foot if flashboards were used. This was an improvement over the former water wheels already operating at capacity to run coal-fired steam boilers. The transition from hydromechanical power to hydroelectric power would increase production at the Collins Company remarkably eventually producing thousands of tools and plow shares per day.