Monday, October 31, 2016

Connecticut River Convergence

The Connecticut River looked dreamlike and inviting yesterday morning as I headed upriver from the Pauchaug Boat Launch in Northfield, Massachusetts.

My goal was to explore the confluence of the Connecticut and Ashuelot rivers and make it to the Vernon Hydro Dam 2 miles beyond the Ashuelot.

Leaving Massachusetts and entering New Hampshire I soon encountered the remains of a Boston and Maine railroad bridge...
 ...which spanned the river between Vermont to the left and New Hampshire to the right.  The bridge's demise was brought about when the pier closest to the Vermont side tilted in that direction.

This red-tailed hawk enjoyed the morning sun on the Vermont side...

About 3 miles upriver I came upon Upper Island...
...where the wake from the first of only 3 other boats I would encounter all day was encountered.  The river got shallower at this point and the current became stronger.  Because of this, I passed by the Ashuelot confluence and continued north to see if I could overcome the current and make it to Vernon Dam.

I pushed past the west side of Stebbins Island and eventually reached a small island just downstream of Vernon Dam...
 ...where this eagle with a banded leg was waiting to greet me...

Perhaps expecting me to go past, he reversed his perch...

Another eagle was about 25 yards away...

Both watched over the river from the island closest to Vermont's Governor Hunt Recreation Area where I enjoyed lunch.

Returning to the river I then glided with the current down to the large Stebbins Island which is surrounded by very shallow conditions...

Staying river left soon brought me to the Ashuelot confluence where I entered its much smaller confines...
The former Boston and Maine RR bridge just up from the confluence serves now as a rail trail...

It was worth the climb to see the view the bridge provided of the confluence and my boat...

Clouds were rapidly filling the sky.

On my return trip to Pauchaug I stopped briefly a little downriver of the old railroad bridge piers and admired the remains of what was once a very majestic tree...
It's not often that I see a tree having this much girth, and I was left to wonder if this tree might be old enough to remember the events of 1675 when during the conflict known as "King Philip's War" a Native American war party sought refuge in these parts.  Following a February raid on the settlement of Lancaster, MA the Native Americans and their captives including Mary Rowlandson spent several weeks heading to the west and north.  Reaching Squakeag (present day Northfield) they crossed the Connecticut River in canoes somewhere near Pauchaug.  Once on the west side of the river, Mary Rowlandson came face to face with Philip himself (the Native American leader most feared and reviled by colonists).  She describes the encounter as follows in her Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson; "he bade me come in and sit down, and asked me whether I would smoke it (a usual compliment nowadays amongst saints and sinners) but this no way suited me.  For though I had formerly used tobacco, yet I had left it ever since I was first taken.  It seems to be the bait the devil lays to make men lose their precious time.  I remember with shame how formerly, when I had taken two or three pipes, I was ready for another, such a bewitching thing it is.  But I thank God, He has given me the power over it; surely there are many who may be better employed than to lie sucking a stinking tobacco-pipe."

Mary's account of her captivity became a best selling novel after it was published in 1682.  Rather than chapters, she uses "Removes".  They arrive at Squakeag in the Seventh Remove and the Connecticut is first crossed in the Eighth Remove.
The second crossing occurs in the Ninth Remove and was "five miles up the river" from the first.  Lancaster historian Henry Nourse published a map in 1903 showing the approximate locations.  The second crossing looks to have been near or at Stebbins Island.  I found the water very shallow there and it would have been even more so before the dam at Turners Falls was built.  Quite possibly they were able to wade across.

My trash haul for the day was modest...
 ...and included a long sheet of bubble wrap which I first mistook for fish eggs.



No comments: