Miscellaneous

 I just came from putting a letter in my mailbox and it's very "fallish" today. The sun comes and goes, and the humidity isn't bad, but there is a cool tinge to the wind and just a whiff of decaying leaves even after a bit of rain dampened everything late yesterday. I measured .18 in. in my rain gauge - only a fraction of the amount we need at this point - but better than nothing.

My friend, Amanda, just dropped off a batch of photos and some notes that were given to her years ago, I think after we had finished writing the Cabot oral history book, therefore, the information never made it to print. Now we're trying to decide what to do with it to preserve it. There are familiar names - Dee, Boomhower, and Morse - it will take some time to research and figure out who is who. 

Some photos taken when the Mollys Falls Dam was being built around 1925-6 have been donated to the Cabot Historical Society, and I picked those up yesterday. Now I need to find someone associated with Green Mountain Power who can tell possibly tell me what we are looking at in those photos. None of them have any information with them. Sad - but perhaps we can piece together at least basic information to understand the process. There was a community there called Petersville. Several farms, a sawmill, and a school were originally part of that section of Cabot. The properties were purchased, the buildings either moved or burned, and the area cleared so it could be flooded as the water from Molly's Brook and other streams filled behind the massive dam. 

Water flowing through a large penstock to the power plant located on Route 215, about on the Cabot/Marshfield town line, had just begun producing electricity the spring  of 1927, only months before the the big rain began on November 3. The pond area had not completely filled, but several days of heavy rain quickly raised the water level to a point that town and power company officials worried the new dam might not hold. They had a difficult decision to make - releasing water would likely flood some homes below the dam and in Marshfield; but if the whole dam let go, they expected water would take out everything in the path and would demolish much of Marshfield village.

A pair of horses was stationed at the dam, ready to release water when given the signal. In the meantime, the power plant where Archie Bullard was on duty, was the only one still operating for miles around and was providing power for hospitals and other needed services in Barre and Montpelier, but telephone lines were down and water was cascading around the building so Mr. Bullard couldn't leave and had no idea how serious the situation around him was. He remained at his station for 154 continuous, dangerous hours. The dam held, the signal never came for the team to pull open the spillway. 

Molly's Falls Reservoir is now part of the park system of the State of Vermont, and the power plant on Route 215, still produces electricity, but is now fully automated.  

I will be interested in searching through the dozens of snapshots of the process of building the dam and relocating what is now U. S. Route 2. The West Danville History book published in 2021 has a chapter dealing with some of that history, and I have written about it before, so these photos are particularly interesting and will eventually be on display at the Cabot Historical Society, hopefully with some narrative.

Back to present day stuff! 

When we had a brief shower, I think Saturday, it didn't amount to much except Liz Randall caught a brief rainbow as it moved quickly down the valley and Joe's Pond. 

I want to remind everyone that these "special edition" stickers will be available at the Joe's Pond Association meeting on Saturday. They are $30 each, and all proceeds will go to benefit the Eurasian Watermilfoil (EWM) management team. I'm taking advantage of the special pricing - 3 for $100! See you at the meeting.