Looking towards the southwest the pond's proximity to Mount Wachusett could be seen...
...while a beaver's homeward path served as a reminder that not all of the pond is open...
The map was included as a fold-out in Peter Whitney's 1793 book The History of the County of Worcester in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I stumbled upon the map at Barry Lawrence Rudderman Antique Maps Inc. Whitney's book in which the map was included can be found at Evans Early American Imprint Collection.
I needed to establish a center point in order to divide the map into quadrants similar to a surveyor's compass. The concept of quadrants was fairly new to me having come across it in Peirce's earlier surveying work for the Arnold Expedition. On that expedition he was tasked with plotting portage routes and posting them. In Peirce's journal which appears in Kenneth Robert's book March to Quebec, is this example of one such posting: "1st Carring(sic) Place "W 23 degrees N. 9 perches on the Left hand the river. Please let this Paper Stand that all may Know the Course and Distance and you'll oblige Gentlemen Yours to Serve." ( a perch = 16.5') In determining headings he was most likely using a surveyor's compass that would've looked something like this...
...rather than today's usual 360 degree graduations. (Read above as N 28 degrees E)
It looked like 'Opening Day' for these turtles of Paradise...
Paradise Pond is fed by Keyes Brook and the brook flows southeastward to the Stillwater River and eventually into Wachusett Reservoir as a branch of the Nashua River.
Following my taste of Paradise it was back to Rt 31 and more driving towards the center of Central Mass. My reason for seeking the center resulted from coming across this old (1793) map of Worcester County...
...which I stumbled upon while looking for more information on Captain John Peirce who'd served as a surveyor on Benedict Arnold's Expedition to Quebec City in 1775. On this map he is credited as a co-cartographer with Charles Baker, and I was intrigued by the prominence the two men gave the many rivers, streams, and ponds. At the same time I found the map a bit disorienting by not having north at the top of the page. After turning the map 90 degrees I was struck by how many of the waterways seemed to be reaching their tributaries towards Mount Wachusett...
The map was included as a fold-out in Peter Whitney's 1793 book The History of the County of Worcester in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I stumbled upon the map at Barry Lawrence Rudderman Antique Maps Inc. Whitney's book in which the map was included can be found at Evans Early American Imprint Collection.
Hoping the cartographers, Baker and Peirce, wouldn't mind my messing with their creation I took the liberty of modifying it more to my liking (with north at the top)...
I needed to establish a center point in order to divide the map into quadrants similar to a surveyor's compass. The concept of quadrants was fairly new to me having come across it in Peirce's earlier surveying work for the Arnold Expedition. On that expedition he was tasked with plotting portage routes and posting them. In Peirce's journal which appears in Kenneth Robert's book March to Quebec, is this example of one such posting: "1st Carring(sic) Place "W 23 degrees N. 9 perches on the Left hand the river. Please let this Paper Stand that all may Know the Course and Distance and you'll oblige Gentlemen Yours to Serve." ( a perch = 16.5') In determining headings he was most likely using a surveyor's compass that would've looked something like this...
It took me a while to understand why the quadrants are shown in reverse. The surveyor would sight a line towards his direction of travel causing the only moving part of the compass, the needle, to point to magnetic north. He would then read the number of degrees and quadrant he was heading towards at the tip of the needle. Very simple. As a math challenged individual I found this basic instrument strangely intuitive...so much so that I recently purchased a compass equipped with such quadrant graduations.
So, for the center point of my surveyor's compass I selected a location known as Summit Siding on the appropriately-named Central Massachusetts Railroad in the town of Rutland. The Town of Rutland has long been known as the geographical center of Massachusetts and even has a "Central Tree" which I looked for but couldn't find.
Moving westward from Summit Siding one enters the Ware River watershed...
On Wednesday, I drove to a waterway lying to the southwest of my center point, the Quaboag River in Brookfield. My intention was to paddle up to Quaboag Pond and explore two of the longest tentacles reaching for Mount Wachusett as shown on the Baker/Peirce map. The Five Mile River reaches up to Dean Pond in Oakham and the Seven Mile River reaches up to Turkey Hill Pond in Paxton/Rutland. This 1665 map shows the confluence of the two rivers (on the right side) in relationship to Quaboag Pond. Lake Lashaway didn't exist at that time...
I tried reaching this confluence five years ago but the river was too low at that time.
Wednesday started out cloudy and warm with lingering fog...perfect for seeing my first red-winged blackbird of 2021...
Some multi-unit beaver housing in what must be their idea of paradise...
Nearing the confluence I approached what would have made an ideal island stronghold...
After landing on the island's north side I climbed the steep bank to a plateau where this crude shack stood...
Speaking of treasure, just upstream of the island and peeking out from the river bank was this old blob top J. L. Mulcahy and Co. soda or beer bottle hailing from the very town where it was found...
Around the next bend was the confluence with Seven Mile to the right and Five Mile to the left...
The Five Mile River (these days known as the East Brookfield River) continues with very shallow conditions past the Boston and Albany Railroad Bridge towards Lake Lashaway...
The Seven Mile River got shallow a short way above the confluence, with some of the water seen cresting a beaver dam having come from as far off as Turkey Hill Pond...
These waters will ultimately enter the Connecticut River via the Quaboag and Chicopee rivers.
Then the sun began to break through with temperatures reaching the seventies. It felt almost like summer as I returned across Quaboag Pond...
...and past this sentry...
Trash gathered up along the way:
Most of it from the boat launch.
Trash from Paradise Pond on Monday...
Most of it from along the Rt. 31 shore.
As I headed homeward on Rt 62 in Lancaster preparing to leave Worcester County, this CSX freight train was heading northeastward to a location about 6 miles east of Paradise Pond and Mount Wachusett...
No comments:
Post a Comment