QuabbinVoices - Friends of Quabbin

Quabbin Voices
The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter
Boat Fishing on Quabbin
in the Early History
by Steve Rideout
Spring 2009
Vol.22 No.1
We must hear and listen
to all of Quabbin’s many
Voices. Voices of the Past,
as well as Voices of the
Present and of the Future.
Voices of the Trees, the
Sky, the Rain that falls,
and all the Wild Things;
Voices of the People who
depend on this valuable
resource for their daily
needs of clean water, and
Voices of those who draw
upon it for deeper needs
of the Soul.
I’m a lifetime member of the American
Fisheries Society and continue to receive their
monthly magazine Fisheries. It covers 2-3 technical topics in addition to news items about the
Society and its members. As an organization
over 130 years old, many issues provide an
obituary column of some of the noteworthy
members in the Society’s history. A few years
ago one, in particular, caught my attention. It
was Dick Stroud’s. Richard H. Stroud, 88, had
passed away early September, 2006 in Virginia
where he had resided since 1953. But just
prior to joining the Sport Fishing Institute in
Washington, D. C., he had been the Chief
Aquatic Biologist for the Massachusetts Division
of Fish and Game and lead the effort to establish boat fishing at Quabbin. Here’s his story.
It’s December, 1951 and Robert L. Jones,
Superintendent of the Division of Wildlife
Research and Management within the
Department of Conservation is developing a
briefing memo to Tony Pompeo, Secretary to
Governor Dever. From the suggested wording
to include in the Governor’s message, it’s clear
the Governor has been receiving pressure from
sportsmen to open Quabbin to boat fishing
and, in fact, is supportive of the idea.
The language proposed to the Governor for his
annual message to the General Court stated,
“I request that the Metropolitan District
Commission, the Department of Public Health
and the Department of Fish and Game investigate the possibility of developing the boat fishing potential and other recreational aspects of
the Quabbin Reservoir area. In the past ten
years I note that fishing license sales have
almost doubled while available fishing waters
have remained the same. Throughout the country, large water supply reservoirs are being
developed for multiple recreational use under
proper control to the advantage of all citizens.
If developed, Quabbin may be used as a guide
Continued page 3
CONTENTS
Early Boat Fishing
. . . .1
President’s Message . . .2
Interpretive Services . . . 4
Gull Study Update . . . . .6
Feeding Wildlife . . . . . . .8
Member’s Corner . . . . . .9
View of a beaver pond from the Prescott Peninsula
2 | The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009
President’s
Message
On a gray drizzling Sunday in midMarch, I decided to take a walk in the
woods. I parked my truck near the
new bridge on Route 9 at the fly
fishing parking area. There is a trail
Mark F. Thompson
that runs along the Swift River that
emerges beneath the old power station
at the base of Winsor dam. This walk is nearly level and offers
spectacular views of the swiftly flowing river; it is secluded,
and so very quiet. After a few hundred yards the waterfall at
the spillway (which is flowing at full capacity and is something
that all should witness) can be heard as it thunders onto the
rocks below in an avalanche of mist and foam. Soon, a perfect
straight-on view is seen with the tower in the background. A
bit further is the new footbridge that allows easy access to the
fields below the dam and a short walk to the base of the falls,
where the noise of the falling waters blanks out all other
sounds. It is a refreshing and vigorous experience.
On my way back across the footbridge I met a young couple
from China who asked me if I knew how to get to Quabbin
reservoir. My pronunciation of his name would be much worse
than their pronunciation of Quabbin. Her name was Mai.
At this point I thought that this would be a fine time to be
an ambassador of good will and give them a brief tour of the
reservation. We walked back to the cars and I took them to
see the spillway up close and personal. By the smiles on their
faces and the number of photos they took, I could see that
they were as impressed as I was. A brief walk on the dam was
followed by a short ride up to the Enfield lookout. It was here
that I gave a bit of a history lesson on how about 2,500 people
and four towns and many villages were sacrificed in order to
create a permanent fresh water supply for the growing city of
Boston. We talked of politics and the impact of change on the
few for the benefit of the many. The fogs and mists obscured
Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire, but the view was impressive nevertheless. He was an engineering student interested in
discovering where his drinking water in Boston came from.
(A question more Bostonians should ponder!) He also had an
interest in the fact that the water to Boston was not “pumped”
but was fed through gravity. She was a History major. It was at
this point that she told me a story that will be with me as long
as I live. Sometimes it is good to carry a notebook.
I knew some of the facts of the event but her personal story
hit home. Her family came from a region along the Yangtze
River in China. Over that past number of years the government of China has built a dam across the river known as “The
Three Gorges Dam.” It is 610 feet high and a mile and a half
wide. It has created a lake 360 miles long (1/2 the length of
California!), as compared with the 18 mile lake we know as
Quabbin Reservoir! It will produce the same amount of power
as 15 nuclear power plants. The downside of this new “Great
Wall” is disturbing, to say the least. Thirteen cities, 140 towns,
and 1300 villages will be submerged. Thirteen hundred known
archeological sites will be lost forever when the project is
completed. Sixteen hundred factories along with numerous
industrial mining operations and smelting facilities will be
inundated, all of which has caused great concern among
Chinese environmentalists. Even more alarming is the fact that
265 million gallons of raw sewage per day are dumped into
the river and is carried away to the sea. Now it will gather in
the lake. Mai then went on to explain to me how even sadder
is the fact that her family, along with 1.5 million other people
near the city of Chongquing, will be displaced after more than
1500 years from their homeland! To me this sounded like a
story that Stephen King could have created.
As we parted and I drove away, I found great pride in the fact
that we, as a state and citizens of Massachusetts, have had the
foresight and wisdom to not only recognize the sacrifices of
our citizens in the creation of Quabbin, but also have had the
reverence to remain vigilant in our preservation of the natural
pristine wonder that we all love, Quabbin Reservoir. As stewards, it is our duty not to forget this as our mission. Until next
time, I’ll see you in the woods.
Memorial Day
Services at
Quabbin Park
Cemetery
Sunday, May 24, 2009
10 AM – Refreshments
11 AM – Parade Step-Off
Services at Town Monuments
Co-sponsored by:
Belchertown Veterans Council,
Department of Conservation and Recreation,
and Friends of Quabbin, Inc.
The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009| 3
Boat Fishing on Quabbin p.1
for the multiple use development of other water areas.” Robert
ultimately proposed dropping the last sentence, concerned that
it might be “a bridge too far” and engender opposition that was
not surrounding the Quabbin proposal. Within the week, Robert
Jones updated his boss, Director Robert Johnson on the meetings with the Governor’s Secretary, the Department of Public
Health, and Dick Stroud indicating that all signs were positive
that the Governor would push for opening boat fishing at
Quabbin.
Dick Stroud’s contribution to the meetings and discussions centered around
his six-page memo outlining a proposal
for both the physical development of
boat liveries at strategically suited
locations around the reservoir and
suggested fees for their operation. He
detailed the type of dock, parking area
and staffing for a minimal (one site)
operation and projected potential revenue. The proposal was also predicated
Richard H. (Dick) Stroud, on development of a large fishery
Chief Aquatic Biologist,
based on lake trout and walleye. The
Massachusetts Division
rationale for these two species was not
of Fish and Game,
1948-1953, the scientist only the large size they could attain,
but that they could sustain themselves
behind the opening of
Quabbin to boat fishing through natural reproduction and
would not require maintenance stocking from a hatchery. Additionally, it was well known that these
species as well as many existing in the reservoir could only be
effectively harvested by boat fishing.
In addition to fees for boat and motor rentals, other potential
sources of income were suggested. Specifically, Dick included a
proposal to charge for ice fishing, and secondly, to operate concessions at the boat launch areas. The concessions were aimed
at selling bait and tackle but the concept of a “lunch counter”
was also mentioned. Dick completed his memo with the full
proposal on November 28, 1951, less than two weeks before his
conference with the others in Mr. Pompeo’s office. An earlier
draft, with the same date handwritten at the bottom, had
included an additional potential source of income, charging a
fee for duck hunting! The copy in Division files, of this memo,
shows the entire paragraph crossed out. Either Dick had second
thoughts on this idea or someone else, maybe Robert Jones,
again concluded it wasn’t going to fly.
The Dingle-Johnson Federal Aid to Sport Fish Restoration Act
had passed Congress in 1950 and new federal funds were
going to become available to assist the States. Dick was aware
of this and equally aware, as the Chief Aquatic Biologist, of the
Massachusetts sportsmen’s desire to have increased fishing
opportunities. Many of them were already traveling to northern
New England where big fish resources such as lake trout
and walleye were available. If there was one place that
Massachusetts could compete with that kind of fishing
experience, it was Quabbin.
Additional historical documents would show that the Governor
had been receiving numerous requests from fishermen to open
Quabbin, and had directed MDC and Fish and Game to study
the issue. This led to Dick Stroud’s proposal, the subsequent
meetings with Public Health and MDC, the conference in
Pompeo’s office on December 11, 1951, and presumably, the
Governor’s mention in his January 1952 address to the General
Court. In early April the Governor announced in Worcester that
Quabbin would be opened to fishing. On April 24, 1952 the
Metropolitan District Commission distributed a news release
saying that Quabbin would be open to boat fishing within
two weeks. Dick Stroud’s homework was successful. In future
articles we’ll explore some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of
the opening and Quabbin’s early years.
You are cordially invited to attend
The Friends of Quabbin Annual Meeting
Sunday, April 26, 2009, 2:00 to 4:00 PM
Belchertown Senior Center, 60 State Street (off Route 202), Belchertown, MA
Pre-Quabbin photographs by Les Campbell will be shown with comments by Bob Wilder.
Refreshments will be served.
Please call the Quabbin Visitor Center for information at 413-323-7221.
4 | The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009
Interpretive
Services Report
Spring
By Clif Read
After a “real” winter with cold temperatures and respectable
snowfall amounts, the reservoir is transitioning to spring mode
as the ice covering melts and the watershed land rapidly loses
its snow cover. This year the entire surface of the reservoir
froze completely in contrast to the past few winters when
portions of the reservoir remained open throughout the winter.
In order for the reservoir to freeze completely, the proper
combination of factors must be in place. Water temperature
in the reservoir must drop to approximately 38 degrees F (as
measured at the Winsor Dam Intake, at a depth of 60 feet)
and there must be some ice cover on the reservoir. This must
be followed by a cold, calm night when temperatures reach
the single digits or sub-zero level. Due to Quabbin’s large surface area, depth and volume, it takes a long time to sufficiently
cool it to the required minimum temperature. Smaller, more
protected water bodies freeze quite readily, but it is not
uncommon for Quabbin to have open water late into January.
On January 15th this year the criteria were properly aligned.
However, despite temperatures dropping below zero overnight,
there were open portions of the reservoir in front of the
Administration Building. These large pockets were still steaming profusely at sunrise that day, as the reservoir continued to
dissipate some of its remaining heat. As the sun rays fell on
the water, it began to freeze and by mid morning the remaining portions of water had frozen with a clear, smooth surface.
It was a phenomenon which was remarkable to witness.
Once the ice establishes a cover and sub-freezing temperatures
remain, the thickness of ice will build up quickly. In midFebruary, four weeks after the final freeze-up, the Quabbin
Environmental Quality staff was conducting a water column
profile study at the sampling site several hundred yards north
of the Winsor Dam Intake Building. They measured 8.5” of ice
cover at the site. They also collected some interesting water
quality data, including water temperature which ranged from
0.90 °C at 1 meter depth to 3.31 °C at a depth of 43 meters.
The pH of the water also exhibited a difference from a value
of 8.18 at the 1 meter depth to 6.92 at the 43 meter depth.
Similar trends were also noted for conductivity and dissolved
oxygen levels.
The level of observed wildlife activity increased markedly once
the reservoir froze. Coyote, eagle, raven and crow became
common sightings, feeding on deer carcasses on the ice. Deer
are frequently pursued by coyotes on the ice where they are
more vulnerable to predation as a result of the slippery surface
which often makes them lose their footing. Although it is bad
for the deer, it does provide an important source of food for
the coyotes and birds which feed on it.
The Mid-Winter Bald Eagle Survey tallied 26 birds (9 adults and
17 immatures) this year, slightly higher than the previous year.
Throughout the winter, a pair of adults has been observed quite
regularly around Winsor Dam, raising the question of whether
they will be nesting nearby. DCR and Mass. Wildlife staff are
encouraged by last year’s banner year at Quabbin which saw
8 pairs of bald eagles raise a total 12 chicks.
The Winsor Dam Spillway has been discharging water since late
last fall.
On January 1st, for the third time in history, Quabbin Reservoir
was above capacity and spilling water. 2009 joins 1997 and
2006 in this select group. Usually the reservoir is at its low
point in late December/early January, recovering from the higher water use and withdrawal rates over the summer and early
fall. However a number of factors have resulted in higher reservoir levels in recent years. Overall water usage figures for the
water system during the past year have dropped to 196 million
gallons per day (mgd) from a high of approximately 330 mgd
in the mid-1970s. Boston, the largest population and consumer
of water for the system, for example, has reduced its overall
consumption rate to an average of 69 mgd from a peak of 156
mgd in the 70’s. Across the board there has been a significant
reduction of water use due to water conservation efforts, leak
The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009 | 5
An Invitation
You are reading this because you care about the Quabbin. The Friends of the Quabbin would love to have you share our
goals of increasing public awareness and appreciation of the natural and historical resources of the Quabbin Reservation.
We prepare a newsletter to inform about current issues as well as to teach about the rich past. Currently, we need
volunteers to help with the mailing of the newsletter. Collating and attaching labels can be a fun and rewarding task when
you are sitting across from one of the most spectacular views in the United States and are working with people who
share your enjoyment of the beauty of the Quabbin and the history of the Swift River Valley.
If you felt your heart flutter when you read that, then you might further like to get involved with such things as the Oral
History Project. We have many histories on CD which now need to be coded. Coding entails listening to the history and
making notes on what people, towns, and topics are mentioned so they can be referenced easily.
We are always trying to locate former residents and their families so that we can interview them. Many families passed
down their stories and those memories are a valuable resource.
If you own an artifact from the Valley and would not mind telling its history, we could photograph it and use the image
to help commemorate the lives of those who once called Swift River Valley their home.
Perhaps you have other ideas which you would like to share. Please join us.
The Friends of Quabbin meet at the Visitors Center on the first floor of the Administration Building in Quabbin Park,
485 Ware Road, Belchertown, MA 01007, 413-323-7221, E-mail: [email protected]. It is handicap
accessible. Also, if you have not already done so, please visit The Swift River Valley Historical Society, 40 Elm Street,
New Salem, MA 01355, 978-544-6882 to see artifacts and to hear the history of the Valley.
detection and repair programs, more stringent plumbing
codes, and an increase in water rates. Those factors, coupled
with unique precipitation patterns which rought higher than
average rainfall during certain times of the year, have resulted
in the unique situations in 1997, 2006 and 2009.
The DCR Division of Water Supply
Protection (DCR-DWSP) is currently
updating its Ware River Public Access
Plan and welcomes public input as
part of the process. Although it is
not as well known as Quabbin or
Wachusett, the Ware River Watershed
is the third part of the active water
supply watershed system that provides
clean drinking water to 40% of the
Commonwealth’s residents. The
23,000 acres of land under the care
and control of the DCR-DWSP is a
valued resource for water supply, but
also represents an important area for
wildlife habitat, open space and lowimpact recreational activities. During
the spring and summer, the DCRDWSP will be developing and distributing a public survey to solicit public
input and perspective. Paper copies will be available at
different locations and the agency is also developing an
online version for those wishing to fill it out electronically.
More details will be posted on the DCR website this spring
at www.mass.gov/dcr/waterSupply.htm.
One of the local turkeys feeds on crabapples in front of the Quabbin Administration Building.
6 | The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009
DCR Gull Study Update –
March 2009
By Dan Clark, Director of Natural Resources
DCR – Division of Water Supply Protection
You may recall that the Friends of Quabbin, Inc. provided support to the DCR Natural Resources Section’s Gull Study Project
in November of 2007. FOQ funding helped the DCR initiate the
project last winter, described in an article by Dan Clark in the
Spring 2008 edition of Quabbin Voices. The following is an
update and summary of activities and data collected in the
intervening year.
Trapping
To date, 461 gulls have been captured and marked. A total of
439 were leg banded and wing-tagged, and 22 were either fitted
with satellite transmitters or were not tagged (Table 1).
Table 1. Total gull captures by species and general capture location.
Ring-billed
Herring
Black-back
Total
Wachusett
219
61
17
297
Quabbin
135
6
1
142
Total
354
67
18
439
A variety of trapping methods have been used since the project
began in 2008. Walk-in traps, a Steele’s net, a rocket net and a
net launcher have all been used to capture gulls. However, the
rocket net and net launchers
have been the most efficient
Table 2. Total captures by method.
capture methods (Table 2).
Total
Walk-in trap
7
Steele’s net
43
Satellite
Telemetry
During the fall
of 2008, the
Division captured
and deployed
18 satellite
transmitters. Nine
transmitters were
deployed on
Gull sighted in Maryland
9 ring-billed gulls
(5 Wachusett/4 Quabbin). Unfortunately, 2 birds were lost soon
after deployment, and the transmitters could not be recovered.
The remaining 7 ring-billed gulls have been transmitting since
late 2008. Five herring gulls were captured and fitted with
transmitters during Jan.-March 2008. Three of these birds
died soon after and 2 of the transmitters were recovered.
The remaining 2 herring gulls have been transmitting for the
last 12+ months. In the fall of 2008, an additional 7 herring
gulls (4 Wachusett/3 Quabbin) were captured and fitted with
transmitters. To date, all birds are still alive and transmitting for
a total of 9 herring gulls “on-the-air.” One great black-back gull
was captured during late winter of 2008 and fitted with a
transmitter. It still survives and has been transmitting steadily
for 12+ months.
Sightings
Since trapping and wingtagging began in the winter
Rocket net
57
of 2008, close to 700 sightings of tagged gulls have
347
Net Launcher
been recorded. A majority
of these sightings have
come from the public, either through avid birders or casual
observers. Sightings have covered an extensive geographic area
and ranged from Canada to Georgia (Table 3, Figure 1). Not
surprisingly, a vast majority of these sightings were of tagged
ring-billed gulls. However, close to 30 herring and 20 great
black-back gulls have been sighted. In addition, several gulls
have been sighted that have been tagged for 12+ months.
Net Launcher
The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009 | 7
Table 3. Locations of wing-tagged birds
sighted.
STATE/PROVINCE
# BIRDS SEEN
MA
517
CT
69
RI
20
NY
16
NJ
12
PA
11
MD
9
NH
8
NEWFOUNDLAND
6
VA
4
ME
4
QUEBEC
3
PEI
3
NC
3
LABRADOR
2
NOVA SCOTIA
1
MANITOBA
1
GA
1
DE
1
Figure 1. Locations of wing-tagged gulls
Massachusetts and over longer distances.
An example is presented below.
Ring-billed gull 87426: Captured
11-5-2008 at the Upper Blackstone Water
Abatement Plant, Worcester, MA
The gull stayed in this area from late
November 2008 until January 2009,
when it moved further south to the
Virginia and North Carolina area.
In late November, the gull then moved
south to New Jersey/New York.
The satellite tagged gulls have provided
an enormous amount of information.
Some transmitters are equipped with
GPS units and provide highly accurate
locations. All transmitters provide 5-6
locations per day for each bird. Most
data still need to be analyzed; however
preliminary results suggest a tremendous amount of movement within
During January and February 2009, the
gull moved back north into New Jersey.
In March 2009, the gull made a large
movement and returned to Massachusetts.
8 | The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009
DON’T FEED ANYTHING TO WILDLIFE!
It is bad for animals and it is bad for people!
In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in people
feeding deer in Quabbin Park. While it provides an opportunity
to view deer up close, it has many detrimental impacts on deer
and the environment. In an effort to reduce this harmful activity
which is in direct opposition to the DCR’s Rules and Regulations,
the Quabbin Section has stepped up its enforcement and public
education efforts around this issue. Please help us truly protect
wildlife by considering the following information.
Supplemental feeding of wildlife concentrates animals and interferes with their natural movement in search for food. These
abnormally high wildlife concentrations can cause increases in:
DISEASE. Supplemental feeding can cause crowding so infectious
disease can spread quickly between animals. It also can concentrate parasites (such as ticks) that can spread directly to people
and to our water supply.
DIET/STARVATION. Wildlife are adapted to eat wild food. Deer,
for example, have very specialized digestion for the food they
naturally eat (woody browse) and do not have the microbes to
digest foreign foods. Deer fed an unnatural diet can literally
die with a full stomach because they are unable to digest
unnatural food; “livestock or people food.”
STRESS. Crowding can cause stress because more aggressive
animals often fight with the younger (e.g., fawns) and weaker
animals for food.
PREDATION. Attracting animals to a feeding area may
increase vulnerability to predation by crowding animals into
a smaller area.
SAFETY. Wildlife become focused on feeding locations and
can loose their natural wariness of people. Feeding sites may
increase wildlife/vehicle collisions and animals may get aggressive towards people if they expect people to be a food source.
HABITAT LOSS. Large concentrations of wildlife can severely
damage the habitat for a whole host of wildlife, plants, and
people. For example, high densities of deer can have negative
impacts on forest regeneration and potential long-term impacts
on water quality.
Please help keep our wildlife wild. Don’t feed wildlife and please
report illegal activity to the DCR Rangers at 413-323-0191.
The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009 | 9
Member’s Corner
Italy, the Ukraine, New Jersey and the Quabbin
Travellers along Route 9 in Ware Center pass the stone and
clapboard building which is now the Grange. On the east side
of the old Meeting House, is Greenwich Plains Road. In 1923
when Annina Francesca DeSantis and her family arrived in the
United States from Italy, they knew the stone and clapboard
building as their two-room school house and Greenwich Plains
Road as their five-mile journey to and from school.
That distance was far for the four children of Giuseppe DeSantis
and the five children of his brother Giovanni to travel to their
home in Enfield in what is now a watershed area for the
Quabbin Reservoir. They needed a horse and wagon to bring
them to school each day, but not all horses were cooperative.
One horse, Black Beauty, was eager to run. He would turn over
the wagon and run back to his feed in the barn. The children
would return home and miss school on those days. Black
Beauty was replaced by a gentle old mare. She was so slow
that the children often got out and walked part of the way,
arriving at school before the horse and carriage. Miss Mende,
their teacher, would send them out to meet and stable their
horse for the day. At midday, the children went to the stable to
feed and attend to their horse and eat their own lunches.
Home was a farm bought by the DeSantis brothers. The house
was divided for the two families. The brothers had come to
the United States to work; and the work they did was to build
roads. Anne will tell you that her father worked from Boston to
New Salem and that is how he found Enfield on his 13th trip
to America. Their farm was directly across the road from the
granite marker which bears the first letters of the three sister
towns of Enfield, Ware and Hardwick.
Further down that road, Anne’s mother Giulia would wash the
family’s clothes in the stream. One summer day a quick moving storm frightened her. She scurried the children back to the
house, leaving the clothes and linens hand woven in Italy, by
the stream. When they returned after the storm, many pieces,
were gone, washed away by the water. Those that they recovered remained stained with minerals after repeated washing
and bleaching.
In Italy Giulia did not have a baking oven, so she mixed her
bread at home and brought it to the communal oven in the
center of their medieval village to bake. There was no oven for
baking bread in her new home in Enfield, so Mr. Trela, the
baker from Ware, would deliver bread once a week. The road
was so bad that he would stop a good distance from the farm
and yell “Bread!”. One of the children would run to meet him
and bring the bread home.
Mr. Newcomb lived on the road to the Ware Center School. He
had a cider mill, but Anne did not like cider after she saw how
it was made with apples that were scavenged from beneath
the trees. She sometimes stopped at Mr. and Mrs. Bloom’s
house on her way home. Mrs. Bloom had the loveliest flowers
and often shared seeds and young plants with Anne. One winter Anne planted beans on the window sill and it reminded
her of a story she read about a boy named Jack and a magic
beanstalk.
There was another beautiful house on that road that must
have belonged to a wealthy family. They had their own family
cemetery!
Beyond Anne’s home, on the way to King’s Corner, was the
LaGrant home. They had a sawmill. People were busy with
farm work and did not visit much, but Mr. LaGrant came to
visit Giuseppe.
On the road to Greenwich there was Camp Cook, owned by
Chief Buckley, the Chief of Police in Ware, and the McDonald's’
house. The McDonald's had four beautiful little girls. Mr.
Uracious lived on that road, too. Anne remembers him as a
kind, intelligent man. He was the Master of the Grange in
Ware Center. Anne remembers that on the road towards
Enfield was the Tyler farm. If anyone needed a doctor, the
family made the trip to Enfield to see Dr. Segur.
Giuseppe made several land purchases. One purchase was the
blacksmith shop in Ware Center. He fixed it up for the Rohans
from Enfield who asked to rent it and run it as a gas station.
Blacksmith shops often were the first garages because the
smithy could fabricate or repair damaged car parts. It was at
that gas station that Anne met her future husband Andrew.
Andrew Bullock came from the Ukraine at the age of 5 on
the ship the Berengeria. He and his family settled in Great
Meadows, New Jersey, where he worked on the peat fields.
After his father died, he moved about to earn better money to
help support his mother and siblings. Andrew travelled as far
west as Michigan and then back East to Massachusetts to work
on a water reservoir project called the Quabbin. He was
intensely proud of the engineering of the Quabbin and until
the day he died, he enjoyed walking the land and fishing the
Swift River for native brook trout. Other fishermen sought his
advice and even helped him tie his flies to his tippet when his
hands stiffened and did not cooperate.
Anne and Andrew opened a restaurant and a gas station on
Route 9 in Ware. Andrew knew people would come to see the
Quabbin and enjoy its beauty, so he built cabins to rent to
travellers. Out-of-town guests were entertained with visits to
the Quabbin, stories of the Swift River Valley, and the building
of the Quabbin Reservoir.
Andrew died in 1984. His picture is in one of the photograph
albums at the Visitor’s Center which show images of the construction of the reservoir. Anne is now 95, still lives on Route 9
and entertains us with stories of Italy, the Swift River Valley,
and life in the old days.
—Julie Bullock
10 | The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009
Friends of Quabbin
2008-2009 Officers and Board of Directors
Steve Rideout
457 Wendell Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
413-259-9123
William Elliot, Treasurer
999 Shutesbury Road
Amherst, MA 01002
413-259-1456
Paul Godfrey
47 Harkness Road
Pelham, MA 01002
413-253-5686
413-545-2842 (office)
Eileen Simonson
25 Hitching Post Road
Amherst, MA 01002
[email protected]
J.R. Greene, Chairman
26 Bearsden Road
Athol, MA 01331
978-249-0156
[email protected]
Marty Howe
98 Lower Beverly Hills
West Springfield, MA 01089
[email protected]
John Zebb
261 The Meadows
Enfield, CT 06082
860-253-0357
Bob Bousquet, Clerk
5 Pine Crest Circle
Ware, MA 01082
413-967-6970
[email protected]
Call for Member Submissions
This is your newsletter. We invite members to
submit stories, articles, or reminiscences about
the human or natural history of the Swift River
Valley and Quabbin Reservoir.
Please send e-mail to Bill O’Neil at
[email protected], or mail items to:
The Friends of Quabbin
485 Ware Road, Belchertown, MA 01007
Quabbin Voices is the periodic newsletter of
the Friends of Quabbin, Inc.
Quabbin Voices
The views and opinions expressed in this
newsletter do not necessarily reflect the
views of Friends of Quabbin, Inc.
Editors: Bill O’Neil, Clif Read
Design: Eileen Klockars
Illustrations: Russ Buzzell
Friends of Quabbin, Inc.
Robert Creed
5 Kinder Lane
Shutesbury, MA 01072
[email protected]
Bill O’Neil
24 Old Wales Rd.
Monson, MA 01057
413-374-7731
[email protected]
Quabbin Reservation Administration Building
485 Ware Road
Belchertown, Massachusetts 01007
Ruth Jazab, Vice President
27 Szetala Drive
Chicopee, MA 01013
413-594-2474
Julie Bullock
150 West Main Street
Ware, MA 01082
413-967-4528
413-323-7221
www.friendsofquabbin.org
Mark Thompson, President
124 Fisher Dick Road
Ware, MA 01082
413-949-0799
[email protected]