Rural Economy in New England 281 



the population were the cities of New Bedford, Providence, New 

 London and New Haven. Of these Providence was by far the 

 most important. It was not only the seat of an extensive coasting 

 trade and port of entry for large quantities of foreign commodities, 

 but was also the chief manufacturing town of New England. We 

 have seen what rapid strides the cotton industry made in its vicinity, 

 especially in the years 1807-1810.^ President Dwight was informed 

 that at this time five-eighths of the population of this city (10,071 in 

 1810), were directly or indirectly employed in this manufacture.^ 

 The same writer considered the woolen mills here the most extensive 

 in the country. They were remarkable for the use of power from a 

 30 horse-power steam engine. The output was about 200 yards of 

 broadcloth per diem.^ Other industries carried on here were rum- 

 distiUing, shipbuilding, sugar-refining and the refining of whale 

 oil. The activities of the little adjacent town of North Providence 

 (16 square miles, 1,758 population) should be included in any de- 

 scription of the larger community. A fall in the Pawtucket River at 

 this point furnished excellent water power. Dwight says: "Of 

 this advantage the inhabitants have availed themselves. There is 

 probably no spot in New England, of the same extent, in which the 

 same quantity or variety of manufacturing business is carried on. "'* 

 Among the industries which he enumerates are an iron furnace, a 

 slitting-mill, a machine for cutting screws, three anchor forges, a 

 cotton manufactory and three snuff-mills. The cotton manufacture 

 had arisen also in a number of towns on the shores of Narragansett 

 Bay near Providence. Of these Warwick and Smithfield were the 

 most important. Both of these towns had about 3,800 inhabitants, 

 who, besides farming, engaged in the coasting trade along the Sound.*^ 

 This combined manufacturing and commercial interest, centering 

 in Providence, had a plainly noticeable effect on the density of settle- 

 ment along the shores of the bay. The country immediately sur- 

 rounding the city was so "lean" that it could scarcely support its 

 own inhabitants; consequently a wider area than would be usual 

 was affected. Attleborough and Rehoboth in Massachusetts, dis- 

 tant some ten to twelve miles by land, grew rapidly in population and 



^ Supra, pp. 274-275. 



» Travels, IV. 477^79. Among those "indirectly interested" he includes the 

 workmen of all sorts whose labor was necessary for the erection of factories, etc. 

 3 Ibid., p. 480. 

 ^ Op. cit., II. 18. 

 » Morse, Gazetteer, 1810; KendaU, Travels, I. 330. 



