USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > The record of the town meetings, and abstract of births, marriages, and deaths, in the town of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1887-1896 > Part 44
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The Wigwam Meadows, so called, are included in a great basin formed by rocky ridges on the east and west, and by sand and gravel ridges on the north and south, in the very heart of the town. They are low, flat lands, elevated but little above the ordinary surface of Charles river, usually saturated with water, and during floods a greater part wholly sub- merged.
They are pitted all over with festering pools, and checkered with old. uncared-for ditches, grown up with rank weeds which rot in the stagnant waters they hold, sending off foul odors and creating a malarious atmo- sphere.
This description of land borders the whole length of Dedham Village from the Common to the railroad bridge, and along East street from High to near Elm street, following around near Elm street to the Highlands and thence close about Federal Hill, and along Lowder street to Lowder Brook, including much of the better portion of the town for cultivation and habitation.
The state in which these water soaked lands is in, has been over and again pronounced by our boards of health a nuisance, and as often as any of our citizens may petition for relief, any board elected will declare it a menace to the health of all the surrounding regions of the town. Our
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physicians are fully convinced that much sickness, particularly from Zymotic diseases, Diptheria and the like, is occasioned or greatly aggra- vated by the Malaria emanating therefrom. Besides, a theory prevails that low wet lands engender or at least develop pulmonary diseases.
These reasons are sufficient in themselves to command our attention, and should cause us to apply without delay, needful remedies for the ex- isting evil, but there are also economical considerations which ought to arrest the attention of all who have an interest in the town. The area of wet lands under consideration, is estimated by Mr. Nath. Smith reporting to the Board of Health in IS69, at about 500 acres : there are within their borders larger and smaller tracts of land, islands so called, elevated from two or three to twenty or thirty feet above the "meadows," and much of the land immediately bordering on the meadows is but little above their level, so that altogether there are some seven or eight hundred acres which would be directly benefitted by thorough drainage. This land in its present state. is of little value and much of it is practically worthless.
The existence of this great morass is a bar to progress in the develop- ment of the town : it is, and long has been, the chief if not the sole cause of its slow growth in population and wealth.
Perhaps we who have long seen this region in nearly its present con- dition, though presumably it grows worse as time goes on, have become in a degree blinded to the magnitude of the evil, and are unconsciously impressed with the idea that it is a necessary evil. We do not see these things as do strangers who at sight are struck by the unwholesome appearance of this whole territory, and it is well known that its present condition injuriously affects the value of the neighboring estates, some of which are among the finest in town ; when they have been offered for sale. men of wealth, who would be desirable citizens, after visiting them and finding them in every other regard satisfactory, have refused to purchase because of these meadows, which are a blight upon the town. With proper drainage these wet lands can be fitted for cultivation. for parks or drives, for streets and buildings, and become as salubrious as the neigh- boring hillsides.
By such drainage the general aspect of the town would be greatly im- proved ; an offensive blotch upon our territory would be changed to scenes of beauty and healthfulness.
The duty imposed upon your Committee is to "ascertain the best method of draining these meadows." No authority was given for making surveys. or for the expenditure of money in making the investiga- tion, therefore the results arrived at are necessarily inconclusive.
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A careful view of the territory was made and the topographical features studied in detail, and your committee are unanimously of the opinon that there are no engineering difficulties in the way of draining the whole area to any desirable depth.
Two large ponds, Wigwam and Little Wigwam, fed by springs and small runs are contained in this area. The water of the smaller pond flows into the larger, which has an outlet into Charles River. This outlet is joined a short distance below the great pond by another, Lowder Brook. coming out of the hills above the upper village, bringing about as much water as comes from all other sources into this basin, and is the occasion of a great deal of trouble by flooding Highland street and the flats above.
The surface of the water in these meadow brooks and that in Wigwam Pond is but little above that in the river.
It will thus be seen that no effectual drainage can be had by any outlet into Charles River. The only way, then, to dispose of the surplus water, is to turn it into the Neponset valley.
Lowder Brook, which supplies nearly or quite one-half of the water, and occasions its full share of mischief could, without doubt, be inter- cepted at or near where it crosses Lowder street, and be carried by an artificial conduit, directly into Charles river, a short distance away.
In this way Charles river need not be robbed of more than a moiety of the water, if that is a matter of consideration. The rest of the water, or the whole, if preferable. may be taken through the valley on the north- erly side of High street. into Mother brook, below the upper dam, but judging from the levels taken for the Board of Health in 1869, and for the water works and the town drainage system since, it is doubtful if there is fall enough to drain the lands to the desirable depth.
On East street, near the Hartney place, opposite and not distant from the eastern border of " Little Wigwam " pond, a short stretch across fields elevated a little above the level of the great pond-not more than eighteen feet at the highest point-a ravine opens, carrying a small brook. which falls rapidly, to Green Lodge and the Neponset meadows.
This appears to be a practical route for a canal which, judging from the levels taken in ISog. might be made to reduce the depth of the water in the ponds from six to ten feet.
The ridge extending from East to High street, separates the Wigwam waters from South Brook and the Neponset valley.
This ridge consists of loose material, mostly sand and gravel : the dis- tance across is short, but is somewhat elevated.
Both the old Norfolk County and the New York and New England
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railroads cut through it, one on the west, and the other at the east end of Elm street.
The descent on the southerly slope is rapid. The brook between the railroads, as shown by the levels above referred to, is some fifteen feet below Wigwam pond. A channel from the pond through the ridge to the brook would ensure sufficient drainage.
The expense of excavation necessary to open a cut to a depth sufficient to carry the water might perhaps be shared by the N. Y. & N. E. Rail- road Co., who own a large portion of the ridge. and for their own pur- poses are cutting it down to near water level, so that it might be possible to induce them to work along a line that would be fixed upon for the Canal.
Whatever plan is adopted, the waters of Charles river must be shut out at Washington street on the border of the river meadows. In deciding upon any plan it might be well to consider the practicability of providing catch-water drains for intersecting the water flowing from the surround- ing slopes. In this way some large springs like the one on Mr. Benjamin Weatherbee's place might be most readily cared for.
The reclamation of these lands must necessarily be done by associated effort, for no private individuals would undertake to obtain the needful legislative authority for carrying it on.
The first step to be taken is to obtain surveys and estimates of cost. decide on the best points for the outlet, and ascertain the amount of land that would be benefitted.
Your Committee believe that were the town to take possession of the whole tract at a fair appraisal at present values, and perform the work, the increased value of the lands would more than pay the entire cost.
Authority might be obtained to take the lands on condition that when the improvements shall have been completed and the cost ascertained they shall be reconveyed to the proprietors on the payment of the former appraisal, and their proportion of the cost of improvements.
Your Committee, in closing, would respectfully urge early action in this matter, and recommend that a Committee, with authority and means to procure the necessary surveys and estimates of cost, be appointed to prepare a definite plan and report at a future meeting.
HENRY ONION, ALONZO W. CHEEVER. GEORGE A. SOUTHGATE.
REPORT ON DRAINAGE
OF .
WIGWAM MEADOWS,
DEDHAM, MASS.
DEDHAM, MASS .: TRANSCRIPT STEAM JOB PRINT. 1894.
REPORT: ON DRAINAGE OF WIGWAM MEADOWS, DEDHAM, MASS.
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DR. JOHN W. CHASE, Chairman of Board of Health,
Dedham, Mass.
DEAR SIR :- I have, at your request, made certain sur- veys, investigations and examinations looking towards the better drainage of the Wigwam Meadows, and respectfully present 'to you the results" of my labors in the following
REPORT :
The total area drained by Wigwam or Dwight's Brook and tributaries, above the Washington Street culvert, is as nearly as can be determined by reference to various maps .. and a careful inspection of the territory, 2,880 acres, or four." and one-half square miles .. This territory includes two: small ponds known as Wigwam Pond, with an area of about"; 22175 acres of water surface, and Little Wigwam. Pond with: an area of about 2% acres of water surface, respectively.". Surrounding these ponds and along the connecting streams, Dwight's Brook and tributaries, are about 200 acres of meadow and swamp. land lying at nearly the same level throughout their extent. The most satisfactory and econoni- ical method of permanently lowering the water level over this stretch of low meadow and swamp land is the essential object of this inquiry:
The remaining portion of the watershed or land drain" ing. into this territory consists for the greater part of wood- land, with a considerable portion of the more thickly-settled part of the town embraced within its limits.
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The watershed extends northward as far as High Street, reaching to Connecticut Corner and Haven Street ; it in- cludes a large portion of the territory lying between West- field Street and High Street, and reaching westerly as far as. the Glover farm on Westfield Street, extends to the out -- skirts of West Dedham and the Town farm property, em- braces a portion of Islington and Endicott, and follows Mt .. Vernon Street for a considerable distance as its eastern boundry. The flowage from the above territory empties into- the lower meadow and swamp portion, the drainage of which. in turn is to be provided for in an efficient and satisfactory manner.
The question naturally divides itself into two heads during its consideration. First : The physical features in -- fluencing the drainage in question both natural and artificial. Second : The equally important consideration of cost, re- garding the difficulties imposed by existing rights of mill owners, railroad corporations and land owners, together with- the present means and method of drainage.
Referring to the physical features of the problem,. we have primarily the natural drainage outlet for this territory in Dwight's or Wigwam brook passing into the Charles river just below the Washington Street brook cross- ing. The Charles river at this point is practically an elon- gated mill pond, the dam at Newton Upper Falls affecting- the flow and depth of water. Immediately below the entrance of Dwight's Brook into the river, Mill Creek, or Mother- Brook, leads out to the eastward. Mill Creek is an artificial channel, cut from the Charles River through to the Neponset River, for the purpose of furnishing water power to various- mill privileges along its line. The mill owners upon . Mill Creek have a legal right to a certain portion of the water naturally flowing in Charles River, and for the purpose of regulating and measuring this flow, a certain portion of the- bed of the Creek has been especially prepared. The present- rights of mill owners at Newton, and along Mill Creek, thus-
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depend largely upon the maintenance of present conditions affecting the height of water in Charles River at the point in question. Any attempted change in the height of water in Charles River must be considered with these conditions in view.
The course of Dwight's Brook from the Charles River to Williams street is through meadow lands, with a somewhat tortuous channel. A culvert of ample dimensions is provided at Washington street. At Williams street begins a culvert of composite construction, which extends diagonally across High street and under the railroad bridge. From the last point it runs by an irregular course under the yard and tracks of the N. Y., N. H. & H. Railroad, to the meadow above. The total length of this culvert is about six hundred and eighty feet, and its peculiar construction and present condition warrant a description of it in detail.
This culvert has been a successive growth, extensions and alterations being made from time to time as necessity required. To this fact is undoubtedly due the irregular course and composite nature of its construction. The upper end of the culvert was constructed when the Readville branch track was first brought into Dedham. It provided a covered box stone culvert under the single track, leaving the remain- der of the brook channel across the present railroad yard open. In the process of extensions and additions to the yard, es- pecially with the erection of the new station, the brook channel was gradually covered with a similar box culvert, until the en- tire distance across the railroad yard was filled. The box culvert followed the brook channel, which accounts for its winding and irregular course. The ground along the brook channel was originally a meadow and had a very yielding surface. A depth of twenty feet of mud exists close at hand, and the material forming the brook channel was of this nature.
In order to protect the channel, it has been learned by inquiry that for a portion of the distance rows of piles were
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driven along the sides of the channel, and a plank capping placed on the same at the level of the bottom of the culvert. Upon this foundation side walls of field stone were con- structed, and a line of heavy capping stone set in place for a cover. The culvert thus formed was roughly about five feet in width, and five to seven feet in height. Recent examina- tions of this culvert show dangerous settlements of the side walls. At one point the side wall seems to require but little force to throw a portion into the culvert, some of the wall having already been forced, in. At another point the side walls have settled, one side much more than the other, to such an extent that it is impossible to now pass through this culvert, while a few years ago this passage was comparatively easy.
: This obvious and continued settlement points to but one result, the eventual collapse of the culvert at these points, and the consequent stoppage of flow until the neces- sary repairs are made. Added to these settlements, a large amount of drift wood, consisting of logs, plank and other material has found lodgment at the point of greatest settle- ment where such drift material has become tightly wedged in, thus blocking the culvert considerably. Should a freshet of ordinary volume occur, this accumulation must either be : forcibly dislodged or else form an obstacle which will back up and prevent the free passage of the water at this point.
This box culvert merges at its end near the High Street - Railroad bridge into a double pipe culvert which runs under .the bridge across High Street. At this junction the course of the culvert makes a sharp turn before entering the pipes. This turn, together with the reduced and divided channel formed by the pipes, will effectually prevent most, if not all, .. the drift material coming to this point from further passage, and will form a new barrier and stoppage for the water, should the debris now lodged above be forced along by a freshet.
. The pipes above referred to are two in number, and of
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. cast iron, 48 inches in diameter. At their upper end they are somewhat over a foot higher at the bottom than the cul- vert bed immediately above. They do not follow the same grade together, the westerly one being higher than the east- erly. The easterly has a total fall of three inches in its en- tire length of 122.6 feet. At a point near the centre of this · pipe it rises two inches higher than the upper end of the pipe, and five inches higher than the lower end. The cen- tral elevation in the westerly pipe is even more marked, be- ing about three inches higher in the centre than the easterly pipe. This double pipe culvert running under the High Street bridge is one of the vital points as touching upon the drainage of the meadows above. Its elevation is higher . than any other portion of the culvert leading from above the railroad to below Williams Street. More particular mention of these high elevations will be made later in this report.
Above the railroad, the brook passes immediately through the meadows to Wigwam Pond. The channel is . somewhat irregular, but owing to extensive ditching done sev- eral years ago the channel for the main distance is amply wide and free from obstruction. The meadows immediately above the railroad form a part of the area before designated as the territory to be drained. The Jamaica Poud Ice Company have large ice houses located adjacent to the New York & New England Railroad, and at a point near to Wigwam Pond, from which they take the supply of ice. From the pond to the ice house they have excavated a large ditch about 50 feet in width. The original outlet of Dwight's Brook has been cut off from direct flowage into the ditch running through the meadow below by a series of plank cut- offs or dams. These hold the height of water in Wigwam Pond from four to six inches higher at all times than the water in the ditch in the meadow below. Exception of course must be made when the entire meadows are flooded in times of freshet. The reason for holding the water of Wigwam Pond back in this manner is understood to be a de-
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sire to prevent all flow from the stream coming from the westward immediately by the ice houses from entering the pond. This stream forms a very considerable portion of the flow passing through the brook below, draining the Sandy Valley and Westfield Street portion. This stream last re- ferred to originally received the drainage from the County Jail direct and undiluted, and for this reason it was con- sidered essential to prevent all flow from it into a pond used for a public ice supply. The original conditions have been much improved, the drainage from the Jail being now dis- posed of by a system of subsoil filtration, which has lately been thoroughly overhauled. -
The withholding of the water of Wigwam Pond to the slight increased elevation of four to six inches above men- tioned, is sufficient to allow a very large amount of steepage or soaking through the low-lying meadow land in the vicinity of the outlet. This action produces in the meadow land im- mediately adjacent to the pond, a super-saturated condition in many places, rendering it impossible to pass over on foot.
Wigwam Pond itself, as before stated, has an area of about 2276 acres water surface. Its entire shores and bot- tom are formed of a vast accumulation of vegetable silt or deposit, making an extremely soft mud or ooze. In the bottom of the pond this mud is of such a consistency as to present but little more resistance to pressure than the water itself, while it rises within a few feet of the surface in a · number of points. The pond basin is thus essentially a bed of mud, in many places of considerable depth, the shallow body of water occupying the central portion. The meadow soil and swamp land surrounding the borders of the water surface form, as it were, a crust over this portion of the mud bed.
Above Wigwam Pond a brook from the southerly .enters, being the outlet of the Little Wigwam Pond swamp. This stream, from Wigwam Pond to the New York and New England Railroad, flows through a section of super-saturated
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and thickly overgrown swamp land. The channel is tortu- ous, and in many places the flow is impeded by overgrown vegetation. A somewhat peculiar state of affairs is found upon meeting the railroad. The brook channel ends ab- ruptly near a side ditch running along the railroad track for a considerable distance. It has no connection, by culvert or otherwise, with the swamp or pond on the other side of the track. This point is about six hundred feet easterly from the small telegraph station at Dedham Junction. West- erly from this telegraph station, about fifty feet, is a small culvert leading under the railroad track. The elevation of ' this culvert is such that for a considerable portion of the year no water passes through the same. Below this culvert, in the swamp leading towards Wigwam Pond, there is no. regular channel, the water passing through this culvert must. find its way as best it can through the swamp until it meets the old channel above described leading to Wigwam Pond.
Leading from the culvert above described is a ditch upon the upper or southerly side of the track. This ditch extends easterly to a point nearly opposite the point where the channel abruptly ends on the northerly side. At a point near the culvert this ditch runs through a gravelly ridge, at which point it is extremely narrow and shallow, the bed being elevated above the surrounding swamp land, and being in places not over eighteen inches wide. From this ditch a winding and overgrown channel leads to Little Wigwam Pond. From information which has been gathered, the original outlet passed through the swamp and across the present line of railroad location at a point where the old channel from Wigwam brook meets the railroad bed. Upon the construction of the railroad, the ditch along the south- erly side, and small culvert crossing the tracks above the Junction, were constructed to pass the water.
The elevations of portions of this ditch and culvert, and their limited capacities, form a considerable barrier to the flow of water from Little Wigwam Pond to the swamp below
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the railroad. More particular mention of these precise- elevations will be made later in this report.
Little Wigwam Pond is essentially of the same char- . acter as that of Wigwam Pond. . It is shallow, with soft : mud bottom and sides, and the surrounding territory is a super-saturated cedar swamp. Several small streams make into Little Wigwam Pond and the surrounding swamp.
This somewhat minute description of the territory to be drained, its character and the present methods of drainage, has been deemed essential for a thorough understanding of the question and the remedy proposed.
In order to determine the steps which could be taken and the results obtainable, a survey with carefully taken elevations and levels has been made, and the results shown on the plans and profiles which are herewith submitted. At a number of salient points careful benches or elevation points have been established, from which, from time to time, the elevation of the water level at these points can be taken, and the rise and fall and effect of the various culverts and waterways easily determined.
The elevation of Charles River surface on December 15, 1893, was 78.83 feet above mean tide. This elevation is about one foot higher than the usual river level for eight months of the year; frequently the water level falls much lower than this last elevation. Extreme high water, as ob- served in February, 1886, was about five feet above the first- mentioned elevation. Upon the same day, December 15, the following elevations were observed :-
At the Washington street culvert, the water surface was 79.25, or five inches higher than the water in the riyer at the same time.
At the Williams street culvert, the water surface was 79.34, or six inches higher than the water in the river.
At the entrance to culvert above the railroad yard, the water surface was 79.68, or a little over ten inches higher than the water in Charles river.
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At Eastern avenue, the water surface was 80.47, or twenty inches higher than the water in the river.
At Wigwam Pond, the water surface was 81.57, or thirty- three inches higher than the water in Charles river.
At Little Wigwam Pond the water elevation was 86.4, or seven feet seven inches higher than the water in Charles River.
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