SAUGUS — The Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site is one of the most scenic parts of town, and one of the things visitors will immediately notice is the giant water wheels that sit stationary at the site.
Richard Saulnier, a carpenter with the National Parks Service, explained that one wheel was recently completed by a contractor and that the group was now working on the next one.
“We just assembled one and the contractor did that. Now, they’re over there working on the other wheel, which is a different type of wheel. It’s a pitchback wheel, and we’re (National Parks Service) going to assemble the last one, the paddle wheel,” Saulnier said.
He explained that there wasn’t enough in the budget for the contractor to do the paddle wheel.
Saulnier said there’s a step-by-step process that they’ve gone through to get to this point. “We replaced all the boxes that you can see holding the water. They’re called sluiceways. There was a period of eight years where we replaced those and the wheels were kind of in the way to do that. So, now we’re in the second half of replacing all the wheels,” he said.
Saulnier confirmed the wheels will be spinning again once all the work is completed.
When asked if he was excited to see the project complete he said, “It is pretty exciting, because this will be the first time in a long time we’ve had six operational water wheels. There are seven here on site, but one is very old and in disrepair. Having six water wheels and the hammer is something to see,” he said.
The hammer he mentioned is a 600 pond trip hammer which was used in the process of shaping iron.
“It’s very dangerous. This is industrial machinery from the 17th century so all of it’s dangerous. Even throughout the whole tour … It’s guiding people and instructing them where to stand and to be aware,” Saulnier said.
