The Upper Roberts Dam yesterday
The Pond behind it
About 5:30 pm, it was clear that the hurricane had jilted us and left us in the lurch. Then we heard the astounding news that the Mill River was at, or close to flood stage. About five-thirty or a little later, the field staff for Kirbyontheloose went out the door, camera in hand. At Baker dam it was a real mini-Niagara, thunderous and impresssive, and the show had drawn a crowd of us rubber-neckers. Upstream at the bridge below Musante beach, the water had carved out more of the bank, at the swimming area there was no swimming, and further up in the meadows the brook lapped the road, but didn't close it. The object of my trip was the Upper Roberts dam, to see how this much-maligned dam was doing. Yes, the DPW has done its best over the years to demolish it. Today I saw Ed Shanahan on the street, and he remembers that in the seventies or eighties they had brought out a wrecking ball and tried to knock it down. That didn't work. Then last year, they went after federal money to demolish it with heavier equipment. But here it was,holding fast, doing its job. The pond behind it was a foot or two higher than I remembered it being last fall. That foot or two of water times the expanded area of the pond was all water that wasn't pounding at the footings of the bridge downstream, creeping up on Water Street, going over the Baker Dam, and pouring into the boat house down at Paradise Pond. For more background, see this older post from December of last year
No swimming at Musante Beach
I find it amusing that you refer to the other people (who were doing the same thing as you - being curious) as rubberneckers.
ReplyDeleteJust fixed it. First draft was the truth, the second draft put on airs. Thanks.
ReplyDelete