RG 044. Blackstone Canal Commission

The Blackstone Canal Commission formed for purposes of fixing and establishing monuments on the ponds, brooks and streams of water in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which would constitute some of the sources of the Blackstone River. The commissioners appointed were James Rhodes, Peleg Wilbur, and Nathan Brown. They were required to make a report to the office of the secretary of state of which the report would include the description of the monuments. The commission expenses would be paid by the Blackstone Canal Company (incorporated June 1823) whose purpose was to locate, construct, and fully complete a navigable canal, with locks, tow-paths, basin, dams, wharves, embankments, toll-houses, and other necessary appendages, commencing or beginning on the dividing line between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The company would construct a canal from the town of Worcester, down the valley of the Blackstone River and running into tidewater in the town of Providence. The company had further authority to use and employ as reservoirs and feeders for the purpose of supplying with water to said canal. The corporation had twenty years to complete the canal after which, if it had not been completed, the act of incorporation would become null and void.