Editing Hamilton, Ohio (section)

====Hamilton Hydraulic====
[[File:Ohio - Hamilton - NARA - 68146809 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Ford Plant in 1927]]
The Hamilton Hydraulic, also called the Hamilton & Rossville Hydraulic, was a system devised to supply water power to shops and mills; it spurred one of Hamilton's greatest periods of industrial and population growth from 1840 to 1860. Specially built canals and natural reservoirs brought water from the Great Miami River north of Hamilton into the town as a source of power for future industries.

The hydraulic began about {{convert|4|mi|spell=in}} north of Hamilton on the river, where a dam was built to divert water into the system. Nearby, two reservoirs stored water for the hydraulic, whose main canal continued south along North Fifth Street to present Market Street. There it took a sharp west turn to the river at the present intersection of Market Street and North Monument Avenue, between the former Hamilton Municipal Building and the present Courtyard by Marriott. The first water passed through the system in January 1845. As the water flowed through the canal, it turned millstones in the hydraulic. The project had been a risky one because there were no shops along its course to use the power when the company was organized in 1842, but the gamble paid off. Several small industries were built on the hydraulic in the 1840s. One was the Beckett Paper Company, established in 1848, the oldest paper mill west of the [[Allegheny Mountains]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gasbarre |first=April D. |title=Beckett Papers |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/beckett-papers |access-date=August 15, 2024 |website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Butler County Historical Society |date=2000 |title=Beckett Paper, Hamilton (Miami Paper Mills) |url=https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~butlercounty/history/beckett.html |access-date=August 15, 2024 |website=RootsWeb Freepages}}</ref>

The hydraulic remained a principal source of power for Hamilton industries through the 1870s when stationary steam engines became practical and affordable. Later, most of the hydraulic canal was covered and/or filled. The hydraulic attracted auto manufacturer [[Henry Ford]] to Hamilton after [[World War I]], when he sought a site for a tractor factory. Ford built a plant—which soon converted to producing auto parts—at the north end of North Fifth Street so it could take advantage of power provided by a branch of the hydraulic.