 There was no enthusiasm to pay rates from the smaller mills, with even less to spend large amounts of money on new works, and so the Commissioners of the Kendal Reservoirs became the Commissioners of the Kentmere Reservoir.There was a steady decline in the number of mills using water power.James Cropper & Company became the largest user when they opened a paper mill at Bowston in 1880, as they then owned a total fall of .