The
Connecticut River
General Information:
The Connecticut River was formed about 11,000 years ago, when the
last glacier melted.
Dutch explorers, headed up the Connecticut River in 1614, and
were the first Europeans to explore this area. Fur trading posts
were established into Massachusetts by the 1630s. Springfield was
founded in 1636. The next town heading north was Northampton,
founded in 1654, then Hadley in 1659.
The Connecticut River is the largest river in New England, at 407
miles long. It begins in Northern New Hampshire, forms the boundary
between New Hampshire and Vermont, goes through Western
Massachusetts and central Connecticut, and finally empties at Long
Island Sound at Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
The river is rated Class B, safe for fishing and swimming. Before
the Water Quality Act of 1965, it was rated Class D. By 1980, 80% of
the River was suitable for swimming.
The Connecticut River watershed area in the four states (Vermont,
New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut) is 7.2
million acres. The Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge
was established in 1997 to help conserve this watershed.
The Connecticut River was designated an American Heritage River
in 1997.
Hadley:
The Connecticut River forms the western border of the town, and a
windy border it is. As the river has altered its course, so has
Hadley’s boundary been changed over the years.
The river at the southern end of town, showing Mitch's Island
The river at the Coolidge Bridge
The river around the Great Meadows
The river near Hadley Elementary
The river towards North Hadley
The river at North Hadley center
The river has always had a significant influence on Hadley.
Hatfield broke off from Hadley in 1670, mostly due to the difficulty
of crossing the river to get to worship. "In nine Sabbaths, from
Dec. 15 to Feb. 16, 1667 - 8, they were hindered from going over by
the danger of the river. There was danger from the Indians. One of
their houses was burnt on the Sabbath some time ago, and they saw
the beginning, but could render no relief." (Judd pg 89).
North Lane had to be relaid in 1737 because it had been worn away by
the river. In 1840, the river broke through a narrow neck of land to
form the Oxbow. Much Hadley farmland was lost to Northampton when
that happened, though the journey down the river was greatly
shortened.
The "Oxbow" by Thomas Cole, 1836.
If you go to the "Virtual Hadley" button on this website, select
zoom to "Hadley", then zoom out a little more, you can see the
town’s Connecticut River boundary, plus get a sense of how the river
has altered its course over time.
Hadley is protected from flooding by dams up river, and by a dike
system. The dike was worked on in the 1880s, the 1930s and this past
year. The failure of the dike during the 1936 and 1938 floods had
devastating consequences.
The beginnings of a dike at North Lane, around 1880s
Dike work in 1888
The dike today, at the end of West Street
Flooding:
The first recording of heavy flooding of the Connecticut was in
1692. Many floods have occurred since, with two of the most damaging
in 1936 and 1938. Some of the recorded floods were in: the
disastrous flood of 1801, the great flood of 1843, 1854 (a few
inches higher than the 1801 flood), 1862, 1866, 1869, 1909, 1913,
1927, the disastrous floods of 1936 and 1938, 1984.
Log Drives:
The earliest logs sent down the river were white pine logs
suitable for masts for the British navy in 1732. Later, others
sent logs down river. Conflicts arose from thefts of the logs along
the way. A mention is made on Oct. 25, 1765 of "A mob in Hadley on
account of logs", without further explanation (Judd pg 305) The logs
were so thick at times it seemed as if one could walk across the
river on them. During the "Jefferson Flood" in 1801, heaping
piles of logs were left on the Fort Meadow, as the flood happened
during the log drive. There were huge log drives down the river,
originating near the Canadian border, starting in 1871. The 50 to 60
million board feet of timber floated downstream to the pulp mill at
Mt. Tom. This continued until 1915, when the conflicts with pleasure
boaters were too great.
Log jam
Bridges:
In 1808, the first bridge was built across the river into
Northampton. It was made of wood. It collapsed in 1817 during the
spring floods. “It was built on
arches resting on the abutments. The planking of the floor followed
the bridge arches so that a crossing was a series of rises and
descents. The cost was $13,000 and the bridge was in use for nine
years.” (Calvin Coolidge Memorial Bridge official souvenir memorial
book, 1939)
The second bridge was built in 1817, it was designed by the
famous Northampton bridge builder, Captain Isaac Damon. It was
destroyed by flood waters in 1824.
In 1826, a covered bridge was built over the Connecticut River
from Hadley to Northampton, at a cost of $33,000. The bridge
was 1080 feet long, 26 feet wide and the floor was 31 feet above the
low water mark. It was wrecked by a cyclone in 1876. The
cyclone lifted the bridge off its foundation with sixteen people and
eleven teams inside of it. The people had sought shelter from the
storm in the bridge. One person was killed and three injured, the
rest made it to the shore safely.
Next an iron bridge was built in 1877, at a cost of $20,000.
It was 1218 feet long, with a road width of 17 feet 7 inches.
A 5ft 10 inch sidewalk was added in 1915.
The railroad came through in 1887, with a bridge over the river.
The Northampton Street Railway trolley bridge was built over the river in 1900. The trolley
service had started the year before, and at first, people were taken
across the river by barge. With this bridge, there were now three
bridges over the river, one for horses and wagons, one for the
trolley and one for the railroad.
The Coolidge Bridge was built in 1937 to 1939, replacing the previous
bridge damaged in the 1936 and 1938 floods.
It was built at a cost of
$1,193,230.95, with half paid by the federal government, and half by
the commonwealth. The county paid $30,000 for land damages and
rights of way to twenty-seven abutters. T. Stuart & Son Company of
Watertown, Mass built the bridge, commencing on November 10, 1937.
The county also had to buy the old Northampton Street Railway
trolley bridge, which had been abandoned. It paid $3,500 for the
bridge, and sold the scrap iron for $4,000. The Calvin Coolidge
Bridge was open to traffic on January 21, 1939. The bridge was 1223
feet long, made of steel with two concrete abutments and four
concrete river piers. The road was forty feet wide, with an eight
foot sidewalk on the north side. The center of the bridge was 167
feet above sea level.
Coolidge Bridge 1939
Coolidge Bridge 1939
The railroad bridge was reopened in 1993 as part of the
Norwottuck Rail Trail
The river during part of the winter served as a road when frozen.
Some farmers today remember crossing the river in wagons over the ice in
the earlier part of the 1900s - it shortened the trip to the
Northampton market for many a Hockanum farmer. The river no
longer freezes enough, in part due to heated water from industry being
discharged into it.
River Reflections
Recreation:
Hadley has two marinas, The Sportsman Marina and Mitch’s Marina.
The river is busy on summer weekends with motor boats, and jet skis.
Canoes, kayaks and fishermen are common sights on the river, as are college
crew teams and the Northampton Youth and Community Crew teams.
The Connecticut River Greenway State Park is fairly new, and
connects areas along the river as it passes through the state. There
are 12 miles of protected shoreline along the river in the state,
with goals for more.
The 11 mile stretch of river from Northampton to the Holyoke Dam
has the busiest river traffic north of Essex, Connecticut.
A nice walk along the river is at the Alexandra Dawson Recreation
Area along the dike, at the north end of West Street.
Experimental Balloons over the river, May, 2009
Mitch’s Island:
This island was just a submerged sandbar in the 1930's, now it
has mature trees on it, and continues to grow. Mitch Drozdal
claimed to have started the island by planting willow saplings on
the sandbar, and he used the island in conjunction with his marina. A
local land trust bought the island several years ago, and it is
still used for recreation.
The southern tip of Mitch's Island
