SKU: 72268561606

In the Shadow of the Dam: The Aftermath of the Mill River Flood of 1874

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In the Shadow of the Dam: The Aftermath of the Mill River Flood of 1874Early one May morning in 1874, in the hills above Williamsburg, Massachusetts, a reservoir dam suddenly burst, sending an avalanche of water down a narrow river valley lined with factories and farms. In just thirty minutes, the Mill River flood left 139 people dead and 740 homeless and a nation wondering how this terrible calamity had happened. In this compelling tale of a man made disaster peopled with everyday heroes and arrogant scoundrels,

Early one May morning in 1874, in the hills above Williamsburg, Massachusetts, a reservoir dam suddenly burst, sending an avalanche of water down a narrow river valley lined with factories and farms. In just thirty minutes, the Mill River flood left 139 people dead and 740 homeless -- and a nation wondering how this terrible calamity had happened.

In this compelling tale of a man-made disaster peopled with everyday heroes and arrogant scoundrels, Elizabeth Sharpe opens a rare window into industry and village life in nineteenth-century New England, a time when dam failures and other industrial accidents were widespread and laws favored factory owners rather than factory workers. In the Mill Valley, the townsfolk depended upon generally benevolent patriarchs who assured them that the dam was safe, when most people could see that it was not.

The story of the Mill River flood is the story of those townsfolk: of George Cheney, the dam keeper whose repeated warnings about leaks in the dam had been ignored by the mill owners; of his wife, Elizabeth, who watched in disbelief as the dam burst open from the bottom; of Isabell Hayden, the mother who saw her young son swept away in the river's torrent; and of Fred Howard, a box maker who spent the days after the flood searching for bodies, burying friends, and waiting to see if the button factory he relied upon for his livelihood would be rebuilt. It is also the story of the well-meaning but overconfident businessmen who built the dam: of Onslow Spelman, the manufacturer who dismissed the dam keeper's flood warning, irrationally insisting that the dam could not break; of Lucius Fenn and Joel Bassett, the engineer and contractor whose roles in the construction of the dam would be questioned during the public inquest into the causes of the flood; of William Skinner, the factory owner who struggled to decide whether or not to rebuild his silk factory in the village that bore his name; and of many others.

The flood highlighted class divisions between worker and owner, as well as the disorganized state of professional engineering, then still in its infancy. As the flood exposed the dangers of allowing mill owners -- who were not trained engineers -- to design their own dam, legislation to regulate the building of reservoir dams in Massachusetts was enacted for the first time. Engineers, politicians, and business owners battled over control of the reform measures to prevent similar tragedies, yet saw them continually repeated.

In the Shadow of the Dam is the story of an event that reshaped a society. Told through the eyes of villagers like Collins Graves, lauded as a hero for his desperate ride through the valley to warn people of the impending flood, and industrialists like Joel Hayden Jr., entrusted with the responsibility of disaster relief despite his culpability in failing to maintain the leaking dam, In the Shadow of the Dam is a history of our uneasy relationship with industrial progress and a riveting narrative of a tragic disaster in small-town Massachusetts.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Free Press
Published: 08/10/2007
ISBN: 9781416572640
Pages: 304
Weight: 0.99lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.68d
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SKU: 72268561606

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Tj
Whiting, US
★★★★★ 4
Slippery when wet!!!
Color: Pink & Beige, Size: Medium/Large(fits size 8 to 11)
“These moisturizing slippers are actually really comfortable and feel great on the feet. They’re soft, cozy, and do help moisturize while you wear them. I also think they’re a good value for the money. The only downside is that once your feet get moisturized, they can get slippery inside the slippers, so I wouldn’t recommend walking around too much in them. Better for relaxing and letting your feet soak up the moisture than for being up and moving around.”
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Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2026
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J. Randle
Carnegie, US
★★★★★ 5
Love them
Color: Pink & Beige, Size: Medium/Large(fits size 8 to 11)
I wear a size 11.5 in ladies shoe and these just barely fit. Butttt after I put lotion on my feet and slipped these on and left them on for about 30 mins. It left my feet really soft! They work great as intended. Would buy again
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Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2026
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Vonda Kioultzopoulos
Bozeman, US
★★★★★ 3
Effective but may be uncomfortable
Color: Pink & Beige, Size: Medium/Large(fits size 8 to 11)
I have eczema on my feet and use a prescription cream that I leave on overnight. I often have a problem sleeping in socks but the silicone feels cool on my feet. The only drawback I have is the opening of the socks feel very tight around my ankles making them uncomfortable on me. I wish the opening was a bit more flexible.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2025
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Tessy
Fort Morgan, US
★★★★★ 1
Burned my already sensitive feet, too big
Color: Pink & Beige, Size: Medium/Large(fits size 8 to 11)
Feels icky, and the heat gets trapped and literally felt like my feet were being burned by these. The bottoms of these feel prickly and they are way too big. You have to sit still and cannot walk in them.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2026
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Ms. Mac
Pawtucket, US
★★★★★ 5
Just as good as paraffin wax
Color: Pink & Beige, Size: Medium/Large(fits size 8 to 11)
I might prefer these socks over paraffin wax. They are comfy and very moisturizing. I use these socks once a week to keep the heels and soles of my feet moisturized between pedicures. I rinse with warm, soapy water then hang to dry. They are hard to walk in, but there's a saying printed in the socks that's says something to the effect of "take a break, stay off your feet" lol I love that as a reminder to put my feet up and relax
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Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2026

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