My mid-October paddling week included visits to the Assabet River in Stow, MA...
...the Charles River in Waltham, MA...
Monday's paddle on the Assabet brought me from Magazu's Landing upriver to Gleasondale where the Route 62 Bridge project is wrapping up with two-way vehicle traffic now restored...
Along the way a side trip was made up Fort Meadow Brook (after a short portage) to the ruins of the Central Mass Railroad trestle where a 115,000 volt underground transmission line is being installed...
The crane doing the heavy lifting as seen from a distance...
Back in September 2011 the trestle was intact and rails and crossties were still in place...
Also on the Assabet a bald eagle and a hawk came eye to eye...
...with the hawk deciding to relocate, leaving the often seen dark-eyed eagle to reign supreme...
Back at the takeout a blue heron obtained liftoff...
Wednesday's paddle on the Charles River took me from Woerd Ave (boat launch) down to the dam at Moody Street and Cronin's Landing...
Wildlife on the Charles surprised me with this immature eagle perched at water's edge by Mount Feake Cemetery...
It's the first time I've seen an eagle in Waltham except, of course, for the one created by a local artist and standing at the tip of a peninsula...
Near Norumbega was this long-tailed hawk...
A pair of river otters swam by some fallen trees...
Bringing the wildlife restoration kind of full circle was seeing this beaver lodge diagonally across from the Waltham Watch Factory...
Also encountered this pipe-driving operation on the Charles near where Routes 90 and 95 converge overhead...
Closed out the week Friday morning on the Concord River with a paddle down to Brewster's Woods and October Farm which are connected by hiking trails...
At the riverfront portion of October Farm I stopped and paid an envious visit to William Brewster's canoe house built into the hillside...
According to the October Farm Riverfront Trail Guide William Brewster was the first president of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. One of his best friends was Daniel Chester French, the man who sculpted the Concord Minuteman and the Lincoln Monument.
Once clean the faded label could still be read:
Trash from the Assabet on Monday...
Trash from the Charles on Wednesday...
Trash from the Concord on Friday...
The week's most interesting find was this one-quart milk bottle found floating upside down...
Fred R. Jones
"Your Milk Man"
Old Acres Farm
-Concord, Mass-
Based on information found online I believe the bottle dates to the 1940s when folks routinely received their milk in re-usable bottles. According to an advertisement in the April/May 1956 Future Farmer magazine "Fred Jones is the owner of two farms near Concord - "Old Acres" farm which has 110 acres and "Old Acres Sudbury" consisting of 90 acres. Mr. Jones has full dairy facilities at "Old Acres" and processes and bottles 1400 quarts of milk every day - serving customers in both Concord and Acton, Massachusetts." The Mattison Field Trail Guide informs that "Old Acres" farm was located where Mattison Field is today along the Road to Nine Acre Corner in Concord.
2 comments:
Nice job Trashpaddler! Very cool find with the milk bottle. Love reading your stuff. Keep up the good work.
Thanks DS. It's strange to find a fairly heavy milk bottle floating. I'd expect it to be full of mud and laying on the bottom. Al
Post a Comment