The Androscoggin River's great power played a tremendous role in the development of the Lewiston-Auburn communities. The river drops more than 1,500 feet along its journey from the Rangeley Lakes, one of the steepest gradients of any Maine river. In the 1850s, Boston investors such as Benjamin Bates funded construction of canals by Iris and French Canadian laborers. Water from the canals traveled through wheels to power machinery in local mills. In later years, turbines generated electricity. Dams such as Deer Rips Dam (1905) and the Gulf Island Dam (1927) upriver from the falls were constructed to retain water and release it during the dry seasons. Electricity continues to be generated in the brick structure on the east side of the falls.