diff --git a/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/datasource.rs b/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/data_source.rs
similarity index 100%
rename from crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/datasource.rs
rename to crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/data_source.rs
diff --git a/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/flashbots_db.rs b/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/flashbots_db.rs
index 4a6a6373..0f0df655 100644
--- a/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/flashbots_db.rs
+++ b/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/flashbots_db.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 use crate::{
     backtest::{
-        fetch::datasource::{BlockRef, DataSource},
+        fetch::data_source::{BlockRef, DataSource},
         OrdersWithTimestamp,
     },
     primitives::{
diff --git a/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/mempool.rs b/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/mempool.rs
index 39258e11..7ed39214 100644
--- a/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/mempool.rs
+++ b/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/mempool.rs
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 //! It downloads all the needed parquet files and keeps them cached for future use.
 use crate::{
     backtest::{
-        fetch::datasource::{BlockRef, DataSource},
+        fetch::data_source::{BlockRef, DataSource},
         OrdersWithTimestamp,
     },
     primitives::{
@@ -14,7 +14,10 @@ use async_trait::async_trait;
 use eyre::WrapErr;
 use mempool_dumpster::TransactionRangeError;
 use sqlx::types::chrono::DateTime;
-use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::{
+    fs::create_dir_all,
+    path::{Path, PathBuf},
+};
 use time::{Duration, OffsetDateTime};
 use tracing::{error, trace};
 
@@ -134,8 +137,14 @@ impl DataSource for MempoolDumpsterDatasource {
 }
 
 impl MempoolDumpsterDatasource {
-    pub fn new(path: impl Into<PathBuf>) -> Self {
-        Self { path: path.into() }
+    pub fn new(path: impl Into<PathBuf>) -> Result<Self, std::io::Error> {
+        let path: PathBuf = path.into();
+
+        // create the directory if it doesn't exist
+        create_dir_all(&path)?;
+        create_dir_all(path.join("transactions"))?;
+
+        Ok(Self { path })
     }
 }
 
@@ -146,17 +155,17 @@ mod test {
     use time::macros::datetime;
 
     #[ignore_if_env_not_set("MEMPOOL_DATADIR")]
-    #[test]
-    fn test_get_mempool_transactions() {
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_get_mempool_transactions() {
         let data_dir = std::env::var("MEMPOOL_DATADIR").expect("MEMPOOL_DATADIR not set");
 
-        let from = datetime!(2023-09-04 23:59:00 UTC);
-        let to = datetime!(2023-09-05 00:01:00 UTC);
+        let source = MempoolDumpsterDatasource::new(data_dir).unwrap();
+        let block = BlockRef {
+            block_number: 18048817,
+            block_timestamp: datetime!(2023-09-04 23:59:00 UTC).unix_timestamp() as u64,
+        };
 
-        let txs = get_mempool_transactions(data_dir.as_ref(), from, to).unwrap();
-        assert_eq!(txs.len(), 1938);
-        dbg!(txs.len());
-        dbg!(&txs[0]);
-        dbg!(&txs[txs.len() - 1]);
+        let txs = source.get_orders(block).await.unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(txs.len(), 1732);
     }
 }
diff --git a/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/mod.rs b/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/mod.rs
index 061c50f7..c72ddd0f 100644
--- a/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/rbuilder/src/backtest/fetch/mod.rs
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
-pub mod datasource;
+pub mod data_source;
 pub mod flashbots_db;
 pub mod mempool;
 pub mod mev_boost;
 
 use crate::{
     backtest::{
-        fetch::datasource::{BlockRef, DataSource},
+        fetch::data_source::{BlockRef, DataSource},
         BlockData,
     },
     mev_boost::BuilderBlockReceived,
@@ -52,21 +52,21 @@ impl HistoricalDataFetcher {
         eth_rpc_parallel: usize,
         mempool_datadir: PathBuf,
         flashbots_db: Option<PgPool>,
-    ) -> Self {
+    ) -> eyre::Result<Self> {
         let mut data_sources: Vec<Box<dyn DataSource>> = vec![Box::new(
-            mempool::MempoolDumpsterDatasource::new(mempool_datadir),
+            mempool::MempoolDumpsterDatasource::new(mempool_datadir)?,
         )];
 
         if let Some(db_pool) = flashbots_db {
             data_sources.push(Box::new(RelayDB::new(db_pool)));
         }
 
-        Self {
+        Ok(Self {
             eth_provider,
             eth_rpc_parallel,
             data_sources,
             payload_delivered_fetcher: PayloadDeliveredFetcher::default(),
-        }
+        })
     }
 
     pub fn add_datasource(&mut self, datasource: Box<dyn DataSource>) {
diff --git a/crates/rbuilder/src/bin/backtest-fetch.rs b/crates/rbuilder/src/bin/backtest-fetch.rs
index 40421c19..e7077e14 100644
--- a/crates/rbuilder/src/bin/backtest-fetch.rs
+++ b/crates/rbuilder/src/bin/backtest-fetch.rs
@@ -61,11 +61,6 @@ async fn main() -> eyre::Result<()> {
             // create paths for backtest_fetch_mempool_data_dir (i.e "~/.rbuilder/mempool-data" and ".../transactions")
             let backtest_fetch_mempool_data_dir =
                 config.base_config().backtest_fetch_mempool_data_dir()?;
-            fs::create_dir_all(&backtest_fetch_mempool_data_dir)?;
-            let mut backtest_fetch_mempool_data_dir_txs =
-                config.base_config().backtest_fetch_mempool_data_dir()?;
-            backtest_fetch_mempool_data_dir_txs.push("transactions");
-            fs::create_dir_all(&backtest_fetch_mempool_data_dir_txs)?;
 
             let db = config.base_config().flashbots_db().await?;
             let provider = config.base_config().eth_rpc_provider()?;
@@ -74,7 +69,7 @@ async fn main() -> eyre::Result<()> {
                 config.base_config().backtest_fetch_eth_rpc_parallel,
                 backtest_fetch_mempool_data_dir,
                 db,
-            );
+            )?;
 
             let blocks_to_fetch: Box<dyn Iterator<Item = u64>> = if cli.range {
                 let from_block = cli.blocks.first().copied().unwrap_or(0);