The Deerfield River rises in Vermont, flows south and east, and then, influenced by the glacier, turns north at Deerfield, Massachusetts, where it empties into the Connecticut River. Before dams were constructed to control the flow and provide waterpower for industry and later for electricity, the river was an important natural resource for providing food. Native peoples and later European settlers fished for salmon and shad at Salmon Falls (present-day Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts), and each spring the river flooded its banks, fertilizing adjoining farm land and assuring local farmers guaranteed prosperity from agriculture.