The Shawsheen Aqueduct was built to carry the waters of the Middlesex Canal above and across those of the Shawsheen River. Originally designed to be much longer than the remains of today, the aqueduct was rebuilt twice prior to 1842. With each reconstruction the earthen embankments were extended, shortening the aqueduct to a span of approximately forty feet. When operations on the canal ceased the wooden trough and platform were either removed or rotted away but the stone center pier and abutments were not so fragile and remain as a tribute to the engineering master piece they created.
Copied from an article by Alec Ingraham in the Winter/Spring 1996 issue of the Yankee Doodle Times