The river furnishes valuable waterpower, which is utilized by the city's manufactories (value of product in 1900, third in rank in the state, $8,103,484, of which only $3,693,792 was "factory" product; in 1905 the "factory" product was valued at $4,774,818), including cotton mills - in 1905 Danville ranked first among the cities of the state in the value of cotton goods produced - a number of tobacco factories, furniture and overall factories, and flour and knitting mills.
There are very numerous sawmills, using waterpower, steam and electricity; they are situated chiefly in the coast districts of the Gulf of Bothnia, from Gefle northwards, especially in the neighbourhood of Sundsvall and along the Angerman River, and in the neighbourhood of all the ports as far north as Lulea and Haparanda.
Because of the cold climate, the large areas in which there is little or no good arable land, the growing demand for timber land, and the large and constant supply of waterpower afforded by the principal rivers, agriculture in Maine, as in all the other New England states except Vermont, is a smaller industry than manufacturing; in 1900 there were 87,932 people engaged in manufacturing and only 76,932 engaged in agriculture.
Materials for the new railroad were brought in on the River on Thames barges ironically utilizing waterpower for the new railroad.
Closely connected with the manufacture of lumber is the making of paper and wood pulp, centralized at Bellows Falls, with waterpower on the Connecticut river and with the raw materials near; the product was valued in 1905 at $3,831,448.