The Upper Raceway was the highest major level of Paterson’s historic raceway system and one of the most important components of the waterpower network created around the Great Falls of the Passaic River.
Located above the Middle and Lower Raceways, the Upper Raceway occupied the highest practical industrial elevation and therefore provided the greatest available hydraulic head within the raceway system. From this elevated channel, water could be directed to factories and then continue downward through the industrial district.
The Upper Raceway was consequently the starting point for much of the waterpower that ultimately drove Paterson’s factories.
From River to Raceway
The fundamental challenge facing the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (S.U.M.) was how to control the tremendous energy of the Great Falls.
The Passaic River naturally flowed toward the Falls and then plunged approximately 77 feet.
Instead of allowing the water to fall uncontrolled, engineers diverted a portion of the river into a controlled channel above the Falls.
That channel eventually became the Upper Raceway.
The basic concept was:
Passaic River
↓
Dam / Diversion
↓
Upper Raceway
↓
Mill Headgates
↓
Waterwheel or Turbine
↓
Factory Machinery
↓
Tailrace
↓
Lower Raceway / Passaic River
This system converted the natural elevation of the river into usable mechanical energy.
The Highest Level of the System
The Upper Raceway was particularly important because elevation determines the potential energy available from water.
The greater the difference between the level of the water entering a mill and the level at which it left the mill, the greater the potential energy available to operate machinery.
The Upper Raceway therefore provided an important advantage.
Water could enter the industrial system at a high elevation, power machinery, and then descend toward lower levels where it could potentially be used again.
This principle became the foundation of Paterson’s multi-level raceway system.
Development of the Upper Raceway
The first raceway system developed during the 1790s was relatively simple.
As Paterson’s industrial economy expanded, however, the S.U.M. repeatedly enlarged and modified the system.
By the nineteenth century, the Upper Raceway had become a more sophisticated channel incorporating gates, spillways and other water-control structures.
An important development occurred in 1828, when a two-tier upper raceway arrangement with spillways toward the Middle Raceway was added above Spruce Street. This improved the ability of the system to regulate and distribute water to the growing industrial district.
The raceway was therefore not a static structure.
It was continually adapted to meet the needs of Paterson’s manufacturers.
The 1838 Improvements
One of the major changes to the waterpower system occurred around 1838.
The original reservoir used to supply the raceway system had experienced leakage problems and was eventually abandoned.
A new arrangement involving a dam and channel was developed to provide water to the Upper Raceway.
This represented an important improvement in the reliability of Paterson’s industrial water supply.
By this period, Paterson was becoming one of America’s major manufacturing centers, and dependable waterpower was increasingly important.
The Upper Raceway and the Mills
The Upper Raceway served numerous industrial properties.
A manufacturer seeking to establish a mill needed more than a convenient location.
The factory had to be positioned where water could be brought into the building at a useful elevation.
The S.U.M. controlled much of this infrastructure and could provide manufacturers with access to waterpower.
A typical arrangement involved a headgate controlling the water entering the mill.
The water then flowed toward a wheel pit or turbine.
The resulting mechanical power was transmitted throughout the factory.
After passing through the machinery, the water was discharged through a tailrace.
The raceway therefore became an integral part of the architecture of Paterson’s mills.
Waterpower and Factory Design
The Upper Raceway influenced the physical shape of the industrial district.
Factories were constructed along the raceways because they needed access to water.
Wheelhouses and power rooms were positioned adjacent to the channels.
Water entered one side of the power system and left through another.
The relationship between the raceway and the factory was therefore comparable to the relationship between a modern electrical utility and a factory.
The raceway supplied the energy.
The factory consumed it.
Cascading Waterpower
One of the most ingenious features of Paterson’s system was the ability to use water at different elevations.
Water entering the Upper Raceway could first provide power to factories at the upper level.
Instead of immediately returning all of the water to the river, portions of it could continue downward.
The Middle Raceway could then provide power at a lower elevation.
The Lower Raceway provided another opportunity to utilize the descending water.
Thus:
Upper Raceway
⬇
Middle Raceway
⬇
Lower Raceway
⬇
Passaic River
This cascading arrangement allowed Paterson’s engineers to obtain considerable industrial value from the Falls.
The Upper Raceway and Paterson’s Industries
Over the nineteenth century, the raceway system supported an extraordinary variety of industries.
Paterson became known for manufacturing:
- cotton textiles
- silk
- locomotives
- firearms
- machinery
- wire
- paper
- textile machinery
- other metal products
The Upper Raceway formed part of the infrastructure that made this industrial concentration possible.
The city’s later reputation as the “Silk City” was built upon an industrial landscape whose origins went back to the waterpower system established around the Great Falls.
The Coming of Steam
The Upper Raceway’s importance gradually declined as alternative energy sources became available.
Steam engines allowed factories to operate without depending entirely upon water conditions.
Steam also permitted manufacturers to establish factories in locations where raceway power was unavailable.
For a period, Paterson factories frequently combined waterpower and steam power.
Eventually, electricity transformed the industrial landscape even more dramatically.
Electric motors could operate individual machines without requiring a factory to be physically connected to a raceway.
From Industrial Utility to Historic Resource
As Paterson’s manufacturing economy declined during the twentieth century, the Upper Raceway lost its original industrial function.
Sections were altered, covered, filled or incorporated into later development.
Other sections survived.
What had once been essential industrial infrastructure gradually became an important historic resource.
Today, surviving sections of the Upper Raceway help visitors understand the relationship between the Great Falls and the factories that surrounded it.
The Upper Raceway Today
The Upper Raceway should not be viewed as an isolated ditch or canal.
It is part of a larger historic engineering landscape that includes:
- the Great Falls
- the Passaic River
- dams
- water-control gates
- raceways
- wheelhouses
- mill buildings
- tailraces
- factory ruins
Together, these features demonstrate how Paterson’s early engineers converted a natural waterfall into an industrial power system.
The National Park Service recognizes the raceways as among the significant historic resources associated with Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park.
Preserving the Upper Raceway
Preservation of the Upper Raceway is important because much of its historical meaning comes from its relationship with the rest of the system.
A preserved section of raceway tells only part of the story.
When viewed together with the Middle and Lower Raceways, however, the surviving channels reveal the extraordinary scale of Paterson’s nineteenth-century waterpower network.
They demonstrate how water moved through the city and how its energy was successively converted into mechanical power.
The Upper Raceway’s Legacy
The Upper Raceway represents the highest level of Paterson’s historic industrial power system.
It was the point where diverted water entered the manufacturing district and began its controlled descent through the city.
For generations, the water moving through the Upper Raceway helped turn wheels, drive machinery and power factories.
Its importance can be summarized simply:
The Great Falls provided the power.
The Upper Raceway captured and distributed that power.
The Middle and Lower Raceways extended its usefulness.
And Paterson’s factories transformed the water’s energy into American industry.
The Upper Raceway was therefore not merely part of Paterson’s industrial landscape.
It was one of the principal arteries of the system that powered the city.