Book excerpt: Cohoes Revisited continues the pictorial history begun in Cohoes, the Spindle City Historic Society's first book. It offers a second view of the city and its residents from the 19th century forward, honoring the rich heritage of this place near the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, which was transformed from a farming village to a center of commerce by the construction of the Erie Canal. The Cohoes Falls, the largest cataract east of Niagara, made Cohoes an industrial hub. Massive mill buildings, including one of the largest cotton mills in the world, were erected by the riverfront and along a network of power canals. To the mills came thousands of workers, a diverse group of immigrants who have given Cohoes its distinctive character.