This site is incredible!!! The South River dam’s power house was located deep in a ravine 200 feet below the dam. The isolated power house was manned in his youth by Malcolm Laidley, later a long-time B&M Railroad employee, a son of Conway Electric Street Railway entrepreneur and busy local doctor John B. Laidley. Dr. Laidley was a “mainspring” behind the Street Railway and dam enterpris es. Electricity generated by the dam’s water power was supplied to the Electric Street Railway line (established in 1894 and constructed 1894-1895, with an 1897 extension across the Deer field River), and, by November, 1900, the power house began supplying electricity to homes in town for the first time, in the evening and again at dawn for several hours a day.

Part 2 South River State Forest….Flash Hike Saturday at Conway State Forest. Paulette showed us the trails here, grab the guide from www.townofconway.com to visit the landmarks.

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