Photographer: Calvin J. Hamilton Copyright: © 2005 Calvin J. Hamilton Date: 2005/07/15 Location: Harpers Ferry, Maryland

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Caption

In 1887-1888, on the former site of the Shenandoah Canal's lower locks, Thomas Savery erected this large mill to provide wood pulp for the paper industry.

Ten turbines, arranged in pairs in the mill's five massive sluiceways, powered wood grinders, rolling machines, and other pulpmaking machinery. By the 1920's, Savery's mill had the capacity to produce 15 tons of ground wood pulp daily.

After several unprofitable years, the mill closed in 1935. Within a year the building was destroyed by the record flood of 1936.

Its ruins reveal the last remnant of water powered industry in Harpers Ferry.