This plat created by surveyor Thomas Mann depicts a section of the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and the surrounding properties, buildings, mills, roads, a flume, a bridge, a dam, and other physical features of signficance to the civil lawsuit of Stephen Jenkes v. David Wilkinson et al, which encompassed water rights infringements.
This map comes from a civil suit brought by Stephen Jenkes against David and Daniel Wilkinson, neighboring mill owners, for infringement of Jenkes’ water rights along the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Jenkes claimed that the Wilkinsons wrongfully interfered with the water flow of their mutual flume by destroying the flume’s banks, blocking Jenkes’ water trench with timber and other trash, and erecting buildings over the water, thereby limiting Jenkes’ access to water power, and adversely affecting the production capabilities of his mill and blacksmith shop. The Wilkinsons were found guilty, and damages were assessed at one cent.
