INTRODUCTION

Rhode Island was the home of one of the shortest railroads in the United States. The two mile long Moshassuck Valley Railroad Company commenced operations in 1877 and ran from a main line interchange in Woodlawn, Pawtucket to Saylesville in Lincoln. It was built to serve the textile finishing mills of the Sayles brothers but it was also a common carrier with a profitable freight business and for many years frequent passenger service. After more than a hundred years of independence the road was purchased by the Providence & Worcester railroad but it became little more than an infrequently used siding.

MVRR NUMBER 8 AT THE SWITCHING YARD JUNE 1981 photo by Edward J. Ozog

The River and Canal

The Moshassuck River is a small stream which originates at a pond at Lime Rock in Lincoln, Rhode Island and flows ten miles into Providence where it joins the Woonasquatucket River. Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, settled on its east bank and was told by the Narragansett Indians that the name means place where the moose watered. Although the river eventually became polluted and textile dyes frequently changed its color, the water in Lincoln where the Sayles mills were located was pure and ideal for bleaching and finishing textiles.

The Moshassuck Valley Railroad was located along a section of the river which was once a part of the Blackstone Canal between Providence and Worcester. The canal opened in 1828 but it was cheaply built and had many faults which limited its usefulness. Canal travel was slow since locks were spaced less than a mile apart to overcome the relatively steep descent of the Blackstone River which the canal entered sixteen times. The fastest recorded trip over the forty-five mile canal was fifteen hours. At times travel was impossible because of low water or ice. The last toll was collected in 1848, a year after the Providence & Worcester railroad opened along the same route. Much of the canal disappeared as the granite used for locks was taken for other purposes but a stop on the MVRR named Lock Bridge was a reminder of what had been.

The Sayles Mills

In 1847, twenty-three year old William F. Sayles purchased at auction Primbly Print Works, a group of wooden buildings on the Moshassuck River in Lincoln near the junction of the Blackstone Canal and Scott's Pond. New England at the time had numerous mills spinning and weaving but few bleacheries to prepare woven goods for market. Sayles converted the mill into a bleachery and in 1854 built a large brick building after fire destroyed the wooden mills. In that year he was joined by his younger brother Frederick C. Sayles.

When Frederick became a partner in 1864, the firm was renamed W.F.& F.C. Sayles. Over time the mills have been known as the Moshassuck Bleachery, Sayles Bleachery, or Sayles Finishing Plants. In less than fifty years the mill grew into what was reputed to be the largest bleachery in the world with about thirty acres of floor space and a three mile perimeter. The firm only bleached and finished goods made by other mills. However, in 1881 the brothers formed the Lorraine Manufacturing Company to weave woolens and worsteds along their railroad in Pawtucket. The brothers also owned Crefeld Mill, adjoining their first mill, which was converted from manufacturing cotton to woolen goods. Moshassuck village, the location of the first mills, was named Saylesville when a post office was located there.