The Mighty Blackstone River

The Mighty Blackstone River: Is there any part of modern living today that does not reap the benefits of industrialization? It was so keen how rivers (Nature's highways) had flooded the lands so they could be made fertile, and yet today, man seeks to control the river with his intricate methods of irrigation. But what about the process of industrialization? Why did man betray the river? Rivers used to make lands naturally arable. Now, man makes the river work for him by harnessing its great powers for industrial gains like electricity. Where is the divine justice for Nature? Could it be held in the dreaded flood? Or the bitter yet subtle existence of erosion? Floods and erosion never used to be seen as a problem. That's because property was never considered valuable if it was located on a river's flood plain. When did value get assigned to property that exists on risqué grounds - like those multi-million dollar mansions that sit on canyon cliffs in Malibu, California? Aside from floods and erosion, it was the sheer force of a river's current that drove the early mill wheels of American industry. And ultimately, Americans can trace their collective industrial heritage back to the mighty Blackstone River and the factory-infested path that it carved through the rocky ledge of Southern New England.