Editing Middlesex Canal (section)

===Operation===
By 1808 the completed canal had reached [[Merrimack, New Hampshire]], from the Charles (the downstream terminus) and was carrying two-thirds of the down freight and one-third of the up freight to Western New Hampshire and Eastern Vermont.<ref name=ROBCh-IX-2>Roberts, pp. 125-126</ref> The other direction, the canal ran from'' 'Middlesex Village' ''or [[Chelmsford, MA|East Chelmsford, Massachusetts]] (The Town of Chelmsford was later divided and East Chelmsford was renamed [[Lowell, Massachusetts]], now the fourth most populous city in Massachusetts, primarily because of the Lowell textile industry spawned by the transportation infrastructure and water power along the Middlesex Canal and the Nashua and Merrimack Rivers), through several sparser settled [[Middlesex County, Massachusetts|Middlesex County]] outlier suburbs such as [[Billerica, MA|Billerica]], and [[Tewksbury, MA|Tewksbury]], then closer-in suburban towns with the lower course running towards Boston generally along water courses nearly paralleling the routes of [[MA 38]] from [[Wilmington, MA|Wilmington]], thence in [[Woburn, MA|Woburn]] along the [[Aberjona River]] from [[Horn Pond]] through [[Winchester, MA|Winchester]] (or ''Waterfield'') into the [[Mystic Lakes (Boston)|Mystic Lakes]] and down the Mystic River between [[Arlington, MA|Arlington]] and [[Somerville, MA|Somerville]] on the west bank and [[Medford, MA|Medford]] along the east (left) bank, until the river and canal ran into the Boston Harbor tidewater in the Charlestown basin.

At first, it terminated in [[Medford, Massachusetts|Medford]], but was later extended to [[Charlestown, Massachusetts]], with a branch near Medford Center to the Mystic River.<ref name="mhs" /> Over time, the canal was connected to by a series of other canal companies, and many of those were owned in part by the canal proprietors,<ref name=ROBCh-IX/> which constructed spurs up through New Hampshire upstream along the [[Nashua River|Nashua]] and [[Merrimack River]]s, enabling freight to be transported as far inland as [[Concord, New Hampshire]]. Within two years of commencing operations, regular boat traffic operated by independent companies was reaching upriver over {{convert|50|mi}}.<ref name=ROBCh-IX/> Three main companies operated on the canal system. The water source for the canal was the [[Concord River]] at [[North Billerica, Massachusetts|North Billerica]]. This was also the highest point of the canal and is the present location of the Middlesex Canal Association's museum.

Freight boats required 18 hours from Boston up to Lowell, and 12 hours down, thus averaging 2.5 miles per hour; passenger boats were faster, at 12 and 8 hours, respectively (4 miles per hour).  As seen on later American canals, use was not restricted to freight and transit: people from the city would ride passenger boats on daylong tourism excursions to the countryside and take vacations in luxuriously fitted out canal boats, whole families spending a week or two lazing along the waterways in the heat of summer.

Freight statistics compiled for twenty years cited in the Harvard Economic study by Roberts<ref name=RobCh-X>Roberts, Chapter X - Boats and Freights in Inland Trade, p. 141 cite as a 20-year average, nine days for the round trip Concord-Boston.</ref> indicate the downriver trips from Concord to Boston took four days, and the reverse trip upriver took on average five days.<ref name=RobCh-X/> A round trip between Boston and Concord, New Hampshire, usually took 7–10 days.<ref name=RobCh-X/> These speed limits were set and maintained by the board of proprietors to prevent [[Wake (physics)|wake]]s from damaging the canal sides. Roberts noted they were unlikely to be enforced, and generation of a shore damaging wake would require sails or animals to drive a canal boat in excess of {{convert|7|mph}}, which would require dangerously stiff breezes in the correct direction.

The canal was one of the main thoroughfares in eastern [[New England]] until a few decades after the advent of the [[railroad]]. The [[Boston and Lowell Railroad]] (now a part of the [[MBTA Commuter Rail]] system) was built using the plans from the original surveys for the canal. Portions of the line follow the canal route closely, and the canal was used to transport construction materials and also an engine for the railroad.

[[File:1852 Middlesex Canal (Massachusetts) map.jpg|thumb|Map of the lower stretch of Middlesex Canal (1852)]]

The canal was no longer economically viable after the introduction of railroad competition, and the company collected its last tolls in 1851. The [[Middlesex Turnpike (Massachusetts)|Middlesex Turnpike]], incorporated in 1805, also contributed to its downfall. Investors who held their shares in the company lost money: shareholders invested a total of $740 per share but only reaped $559.50 in dividends. Those who sold their shares at an appropriate time made money: shares valued at $25 in 1794 reached a value of $500 in 1804 and were worth $300 in 1816.<ref>Clarke, pp. 123-124</ref>

Before the corporation was dissolved, the proprietors proposed to convert the canal into an aqueduct to bring [[drinking water]] to Boston, but this effort was unsuccessful.  After the canal ceased operation its infrastructure quickly fell into disrepair.  In 1852 the company ordered dilapidated bridges over the canal torn down and the canal underneath filled in.  Permission was given for the company to liquidate and pay the proceeds to the stockholders, and its 1793 charter was revoked in 1860.  The company's records were given over to the state for preservation.<ref>Clarke, pp. 127-130</ref> The canal corporation's land and dam in North Billerica, as well as the water rights on the Concord River, were sold to Charles and [[Thomas Talbot (Massachusetts politician)|Thomas Talbot]], who erected the Talbot Mills complex that now stands in the [[Billerica Mills Historic District]].

Parts of the canal bed were covered by roads in the 20th century, including parts of the [[Mystic Valley Parkway]] in Medford and [[Winchester, Massachusetts|Winchester]], and parts of Boston Avenue in Somerville and Medford. Boston Avenue crosses the Mystic River where the canal did. Parts of the canal in eastern Somerville were filled in by leveling Ploughed Hill in the late 19th century.  Ploughed Hill was the site of [[Ursuline Convent riots|notorious anti-Catholic riots]] in 1832 and had subsequently been abandoned.