The dam of 1844 and the two races

1842–1868

The system that powered the century was built by two companies, and the sources divide the credit differently: In December 1842 the South Bend Manufacturing Company was incorporated to develop the power on one side of the river, and the South Bend Hydraulic Company came to hold the other. The 1880 county history — written within living memory of the work — gives the Manufacturing Company's first election of officers in February 1843 as Thomas W. Bray, president; George W. Matthews, secretary; and Abraham R. Harper, treasurer, and says that in the spring of 1843 the company began construction of a dam across the river and of a race upon the east side, both completed the following year, 1844. The National Register documentation, following Howard's 1907 history, names the officers authorized to complete the dam as A. R. Harper, W. H. Patteson and L. M. Taylor, and says the company owned one half of the water power — the east half going to Samuel L. Cottrell and afterward to the South Bend Hydraulic Company — and that the Hydraulic Company built the East Race in 1842, so that by 1845 both races were operating.

Howard's line, carried in the Story of South Bend section of this record, is that by 1845 both races were in operation, and the two accounts cannot both be wholly right about the east side: Chapman's near-contemporary history has the Manufacturing Company itself digging the east race in 1843–44, and has the Cottrell property — the other power — only completed and let to manufacturers in the spring of 1868, when the South Bend Hydraulic Company, organized in 1867 with a capital of $100,000, finished and improved its race and began letting the power. The Story of South Bend section also carries, from its own sources, the Hydraulic Company's purchase of the East Race rights in 1867 for $100; Chapman prints no price, only the company's $100,000 capital, and the two figures are different kinds of fact from different records, left here as they stand.

What no source disputes is the shape of the finished system, because the city still walks on it: a dam across the St. Joseph at the bend — the dam whose line, rebuilt in concrete and timber crib, still stands between Seitz and Island parks — heading two races, one down each bank, each race a level canal of river water from which a mill could draw its fall through a flume or wheel pit at any lot along the course. Power was let by the companies to whoever built on the race, and the races, not the riverbank at large, became the addresses of industry: the east side through the new village of Lowell and the west side below the town's first streets.

Sources:

1. Chapman, History of St. Joseph County, Indiana (1880), "Utilizing the Water-Power," pp. 871–872 — the December 1842 charter, the February 1843 officers as Chapman prints them, the dam and east-side race of 1843–44, and the Hydraulic Company's 1867 organization, $100,000 capital and spring 1868 letting of the power.
2. National Register of Historic Places, East Bank Multiple Property Documentation Form (1997/1999) — the Harper, Patteson and Taylor officers; the halved water power; the east half to Cottrell and then the Hydraulic Company; the East Race built in 1842 and both races operating by 1845; the dam completed 1844.
3. This build's Spine section — the Hydraulic Company's 1867 purchase of the East Race rights for $100, carried here as a stated conflict, not reconciled.
4. Water Power Magazine, November 2022 — the present hydro project relies on the existing concrete and timber crib dam originally constructed in 1844.