River Basin Terminus

The discovery of a navigable river at a site that also offered timber and flowing water for power made the location attractive to company investors and planners in an era when improved roads to this remote area did not exist. Transportation was crucial because Hammersmith consumed tons of bog ore and gabbro with each firing of the blast furnace. Three company-owned boats carried iron rods, nailrod, merchant bars, and cast iron products ten miles to Boston and other coastal areas, then returned with supplies and recently recruited skilled English iron workers. Iron products made for sale and shipment were stored in warehouses next to the pier. Over the past three hundred years, the construction and destruction of dams by various industries have silted this once busy tidal terminus, and the Saugus River at Hammersmith is no longer navigable with access to ocean water.

Saugus, Massachusetts · United States