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This is looking east across the gorge over the ledge that formed the base of the wing wall at the Livermore Falls dam. Waterpower had been harnessed at this location as early as 1773. The latest effort was the J.E.Henry groundwood pulp mill, built in 1899. The multistory mill used two water turbines, each driving two groundwood wheels. Each groundwood granite wheel had three slots each where 2foot peeled bolts of softwood were inserted, covers shut and steam cylinders pressed the bolts against the spinning granite with plenty of water, forming a groundwood slurry which was pumped up to a dewatering machine where sheets of wood pulp were made. The sheets of pulp were them shipped to Lincoln, NH to be made into paper. Each groundwood wheel assembly looked for all the world like a 3 cylinder air compressor. There was also a boiler that sat on top of the dam which made process steam for the mill. There was also a tiny water turbine that made electricity for just the mill. The dam head was 37ft. There were plans to increase to 50ft in 1929 but the stock market crash terminated that. The mill ran until the early 1950's. An effort was made to harness hydroelectric power using the original turbines in the late 1980's which was thwarted by attempts at unsuccessful Wild & Scenic river designation.

Posted by Steven Hall on 2016-07-22 15:29:14

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