It’s as endless as anything on earth. Gravity pulls water downhill. In certain places, where the supply of water is year-round and the slant or drop hurries the stream or river to its mouth, the power is constant.
Early settlers in the United States were familiar with water wheels to power gristmills and perform other mechanical tasks. Lean back and imagine you are an ambitious young man (or woman) arriving on the shores of a new nation called the United States.
Here, not very far from a harbor on a wide river sheltered from the worst of Atlantic storms, runs a river. Runs is the key word here. Within a few miles the water rushes and tumbles downhill in a series of rapids.
Enterprising citizens built factories here. Others, arriving at different points along the coast sought and found other rivers and large streams in a hurry to join the great rivers. You could have advertised in the newspaper — “Free Power” Build Here”
This dam shows off the hurry of the river to join the Delaware.
