TALES OF TAFT
I would like to take the time, and this isn't out of vanity, to read to you something that I wrote. I think because we have stressed the influence of the Little Quinsigamond River and what it meant ultimately to the town of Grafton, that this writing should be among your memoirs. A copy of it is with the manuscript found in the Grafton Public Library. Now, I wrote this some years ago after a lot of painstaking investigation. So, for what it is worth, here it is:
Lake Quinsigamond and Lake Ripple Our town was first known to the settlers of New England as Hassanamesit, meaning a place of small stones." It was here in 1660 that the Reverend John Eliot extended his missionary zeal and established a third church for praying Indians in the Crown Province of Massachusetts Bay. (We have to remember now that we're under King George.) While Eliot prayed and preached, his frequent traveling companion, Major General Gookin, administered discipline. It was an unbeatable combination to have a Bible under one hand and a blunderbuss in the other. Who would challenge it? Not the Indians. The wilderness, thus penetrated by prayer and force was ready for exploitation. In the early 1700's, a group of speculators began negotiations with the authorities of the province for the purchase of Hassanamesit. In 1726, a committee was appointed to explore the local water ways and report on a site suitable for a mill. Now, this committee was appointed by interested people we later knew as proprietors or the owners of the town. They were going to explore the local waterways and report on a site suitable for the mill. The committee, after critical examination of several sites, recommended a spot on a stream near a river known as the Blackstone. This stream we now call the Quinsigamond River. The exact site recommended for the mill is easily identified by an excellent description given in a report of the committee. (Reference "Record of the Proprietors, Pierce's History of Grafton," dated July 9, 1728, Page 23.) The application to purchase Hassanamesit was finally granted and the terms agreed upon. The proposed mill site made earlier was approved and certain prerogatives granted to those who would construct and operate a water pond mill for the benefit of the community. Thus, by agreement, the first dam was built forming the first pond and creating Grafton. It became known as Goddard's Pond, now Lake Ripple. The area around the bridge and dam was called Centerville. There was a road along the present high school side of the lake called Goddard Road that had several tenement buildings along it at one time. In I 735, the proprietors of Hassanamesit were granted a charter of incorporation for this new town and the royal province. Governor Belcher signed the charter and currying favor, named the town Grafton as a compliment to the illegitimate son of King Charles 1. The Duke of Grafton had on occasion shown a degree of friendship toward the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The first dam across the Little Quinsigamond River was undoubtedly low in height and crude in structure. It was apparently suitable for its purpose. In that period, there were three types of water driven wheels in common use. They were: the overshot, the breast wheel and the undershot. The overshot wheel with its paddles would bring water in on the top, fill the paddles, and start it revolving. And as it revolved they would dump at the bottom. The breast wheel was one that had the water come in Just above the excess level and shoot against the wheel. It was a lot less powerful. The undershot wheel would turn in reverse. The water would come in at the bottom, catch the paddles and as it pushed up, the next one would fill and so forth and so on. So we have the overshot, the breast wheel, and the undershot wheel. Those are the only three in combination that we used for all practical purposes. The turbine came much later. As the designation suggests, the type of wheel selected was determined by the height of the water available behind it. Now, if there was a big head and a large volume of water in back of a dam, it would determine how the wheel would be placed and whether it was overshot; whether to bring the water in midway; or whether it was more practical to use every bit of water in the reservoir to run the undershot wheel which would turn counter-clockwise, you see. There were several adaptations and modifications of this principle. The student of hydrology will find this a profitable subject for research and analysis. Thus, the Quinsigamond River flow generated the first water park in Grafton, and boy did that mill grind the flour and saw the logs. The native logs became the lumber from which some of the first homes in this community were built. The river, obstructed by the barriers of the dam, created the first pond in our town. Grafton had no natural ponds, only streams, rivers, and waterways. It's hard to believe now that there were no natural ponds here. Even Lake Quinsigamond which is now part of South Quinsigamond and partly in Grafton was not a natural lake. Even that is impounded by a dam. The original site was obviously well chosen, for it continued to be used for mills throughout the following hundred years. Modifications and or adaptations of the water wheels were made in accordance with the demand for power. |
