Montague, MA

Thank you to local historian Ed Gregory for reaching out to me to clarify and correct the following items in the Connecticut River Valley Flood of 1936:

​• Pg. 86-Lines 16-18. “When finished in 1798, the Montague Canal was two and a half-miles long, twenty feet wide and had a series of locks providing a fifteen-foot vertical lift around the falls.” 
Correction: A plumb-line from the falls to the southern source of the “barge” canal at Montague City shows a grade drop of 60-feet.  

• Pg. 87-Lines 11-12. “The canal operated for about thirty years and was under consideration to be a site . . .” 
Correction: The “Barge” canal began operations in 1798 and the last boat passed through it in 1856 . . . a total of 59 years.  

• Pg. 88-Lines 2-3. “. . . repurpose the canal from a means of travel to a power canal by building a series of dams turn wheels and belts along the way for paper mills . . .” 
Correction: No series of dams, turn wheels and belts were built along the canal. The canal was a canal . . . nothing more. Its walls did have openings for water to be let into the manufactories to turn their waterwheels.  

• Pg. 88-Line 16 “Station No.1 was operational by 1906 . . .” 
Correction: The No.1 Power Station was operational in 1905.  

• Pg. 88-Image caption. “The International Paper Mills along the flooded Millers River in Turners Falls Massachusetts. 
Correction: The river is the Connecticut River. The mill to the left of the photograph is the International Paper Mill. Those that follow are the John Russell Cutlery and the Keith and Esleeck Paper Mills.  

• Pg. 89-Line 2 “Spanning the Connecticut River 150 feet across, . . .” 
Correction: The dam in total length is 1000-feet. TF end 650ft. ± Gill end 350 ft. ±.

The ​Montague City Bridge during the 1936 Flood