Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Blackstone River flows from central Massachusetts into Rhode Island, running 48 miles before draining into the Seekonk River just north of Providence. Along the way it passes through Worcester, Woonsocket, and Pawtucket.
The Blackstone River is 48 miles long. Its drainage area covers 475 square miles, or 1,229 square kilometers.
The Blackstone River earned its reputation from centuries of industrial discharge, including dyes from textile mills and heavy metals and solvents from metal and woodworking industries. In 1990, the United States Environmental Protection Agency called it the most polluted river in the country because of high concentrations of toxic sediments.
The Blackstone River is named after William Blackstone, originally spelled Blaxton, who arrived in Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1623. He became the first European settler of present-day Boston in 1625 and later built his home on the river in what became Cumberland, Rhode Island.
The Blackstone River flooded severely in August 1955, when a succession of dam breaks sent water from its normal 70-foot width to more than a mile wide. The flood, triggered by rainfall from Hurricane Connie and Hurricane Diane, produced a record water mark of 21.8 feet in Woonsocket.
Slater Mill, opened by Samuel Slater in 1790 at Pawtucket Falls, was the first successful water-powered cotton mill in America, and it ran on power from the Blackstone River. Its success drew many more mills to the river over the following decades.