Man About Canton: Dams in Canton

Did you know …

There are over 3,000 dams holding back a lot of water in Massachusetts, and most of them are not only privately owned but are also in poor condition and need extensive repairs, which will cost, according to the state, an estimated $40 million. In Canton, we have more than 10 dams, and it might behoove us to take another look at those dams so we can be reassured that all is well.

Canton has had several dams that were constructed many years ago to control the waters that flow through the town in order to provide power for industries that are now long gone, and most of the ponds in Canton are actually man-made, which resulted from the construction of those dams. There are several dams that most newcomers probably don’t know about, such as the Mansfield Pond dam, which controls the water that flows into the town-owned Shepard’s Pond. The dam at Shepard’s Pond next to the small Uliano Park on Washington Street is an earthen dam and in recent years has had to be reinforced with large boulders by the Canton DPW. The dam is again in the process of being reinforced as it became evident that dangerous structural problems were beginning to develop. The state has contributed $1 million in grants and loans toward the structural and hydraulic repairs needed to bring the dam up to state standards. It is estimated that the final cost will top $3 million. The water from the Shepard dam flows to Third Pond, also known as Silk Mill Pond, next to Messinger Street, which is controlled by a concrete dam.

The former Russell Pond on Bailey Street has a stone dam that feeds off Third Pond. Cline’s Pond on Pleasant Street has a board-controlled dam, and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) controls the dam boards at one of Canton’s largest ponds, Ponkapoag Pond, which is located in both Canton and Randolph. The former Plymouth Rubber Company became owner of Reservoir Pond and its dams when it purchased them many years ago from the Revere Copper Company. The dam was originally built around 1827, and it may surprise you to learn that there are actually two dams there — the larger stone and concrete dam on which Pleasant Street travels, and the other, smaller dam, which controls the water outflow through a spillway that passes under Pleasant Street on its way to Forge Pond. The Napleton Company, which purchased the Plymouth Rubber property, recently relinquished its rights to Reservoir Pond and the two dams, donating them to the town of Canton.

Bolivar Pond also flows into Forge Pond, but from a different direction. It is now owned by the town of Canton, and it also has two separate dams. The larger portion is an old earthen dam that serves as the Bolivar Street roadway. It was originally constructed to provide water power for the former Ames Shovel Shop, which was once situated on the town’s DPW yard. A large portion of the dam’s concrete retaining wall collapsed a few years ago and the town repaired it. The second Bolivar Pond dam is smaller, concrete, and controlled by boards to regulate the flow of water down the spillway under Bolivar Street and into Forge Pond.

The Napleton Company still owns Forge Pond, and it maintains the downtown dam where the pond’s outflow, called the east branch of the Neponset River, passes under Washington Street on its way through the old Plymouth Rubber property and ultimately the Neponset River. There has been a dam at this site since 1700, and at one time or another the outflow provided power for Kinsley Iron Works, the Revere Copper Company, and the Neponset Cotton Factory. There is also a dam controlling the water within the former Plymouth Rubber Company property, and the water exits over a dam at the Neponset Street spillway, which flows under the viaduct on its way to the Neponset River.

MAC concludes this week’s lecture and primer of trivial and superfluous information on Canton dams, and he is sure that he missed a few, which probably means nothing to most who read this, but until the next time we’re in danger of getting flooded out, or heaven forbid, one of our dams deteriorates to a point where it may fail, remember that bad is never good until the worst happens.

This is all for now folks. See you next week.

Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=27158

Posted by Joe DeFelice on Oct 9 2014. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.