Flowing through rich agricultural land, the Rock River provided needed water power for local Wisconsin industries. Among the earliest in the 1840s were flour and lumber mills, followed in the 1850s by woolen and paper mills and later cotton mills. Industry along the river also supported efficient farming through the manufacture of plows, reapers, twine binders, windmills, and platform and wagon scales for weighing grain. Other early products included farm wagons, carriages, sleighs and cutters, furniture, processed meats, churns, and other dairy equipment for the farm. By the turn of the century, familiar products of the valley included the early gasoline engine, motorized vehicles, machine tools, precision instruments, the electric brake, and the clutch. In more recent times, Rock River industrial products such as fountain pens, diesel engines, automobiles, and paper-making machinery have found worldwide markets.