

Navigation on the river has been continually improved by the federal government since 1867; there is a channel 16 feet (5 metres) deep that extends to Narragansett Bay. Pawtucket town (inc. 1828), east of the river, was originally in Massachusetts and was transferred to Rhode Island and reincorporated in 1862; part of North Providence, west of the river, was annexed to Pawtucket in 1874, and the expanded town was incorporated as a city in 1885. Pop. (19902000) 72,644958; (20002010) 7271,958389.