Description
Today's canal system is 4.5 miles (7.2 km) in length on three levels. The canals are now used for electrical power generation as the water descends level by level to the river.
The First Level Canal contains 12 large gates regulating water coming into the system, each 15 feet (5 m) long by 9 feet (3 m) wide, and weighing more than four tons, and 2 smaller gates at 11 feet (3 m) by 4.5 feet (1.4 m), all powered by a water-wheel. At its origin the canal is 140 feet (43 m) wide with 22 feet (6.7 m) of water depth. It extends eastward about a thousand feet and then sweeps south for more than one mile (1.6 km) to supply the upper tier of mills.
The Second Level Canal runs parallel to the First but about 400 feet (120 m) east. It begins at its south end, and runs north for over a mile. For its first 2,000 feet (600 m), it is 140 feet (43 m) wide, then gradually narrows to 100 feet (30 m). Its average water depth is 15 feet (5 m).
The Third Level Canal begins at the south end of the Second Level, but some 12 feet (4 m) lower, and extends 3,550 feet (1,082 m). It is about 100 feet (30 m) wide and 10 feet (3 m) deep, with an average height above the river varying between 23 to 28 feet (9 m).
Read more about this topic: Holyoke Canal System
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“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)