Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1890-02-11
GREAT AND LITTLE BROOKS.
Timely Advice Given BY An Observ-
ing Young Lady.

Timely Advice Given BY An Observ-
ing Young Lady.
The following composition upon
Great and Little Brooks was written
BY young lady resident of this
city. 1t failed to receive the prize
offered by the DEMOCRAT, but is, never
theless, very creditable article, upon .
subject of peculiar interest to Water
bury:
One of the serious problems which this
will have to contend with
before very long is-What shall be done
with the waters of those two streams,
which have for a long time been known
as Great and Little brooks?
Great brook, as we all know, comes |
down off from Bucks hill into the new |
pond and thence furnishing water and |
water power for large number of
manufacturing and other plants as it |
the city. Little brook rises at or near
the upper end of Cooke street, and
passes down likewise almost through
the center of the city, until it joins with
Great brook a little north of Scovill
street.
The waters Of these brooks, when
nothing disturbs them, are indeed of I'M
this community, for manufacturing and
for other purposes to which they may
be devoted. These waters, however,
are the outlet, or in other words are the
drain into which flows all of the rain
and melted snow from thousands of
acres of land. situated on the hill-sides
above us. and as these hillsides shall be-
| come more and more densely populated,
and as the roadways shall become better
cared for, there will be a necessity for
more room in these little waterways.
The water will not percolate into the
ground, but will be collected and con-
Quoted into these water ways in greater
quantities and much more rapidly than
in the past; but instead of these brooks
being open as before, now in the more
thickly settled part of the city they have
been covered and their banks walled in
so that when an unusual rain storm
comes upon us there is not sufficient
carrying capacity for either of these
streams. 1t is of Importance, therefore,
that the local authorities should begin
to look about them to see what can be
done.
We have already had two or three
warnings in recent years. One or two
have heard of before 1875, but the first
one | remember was the memorable
freshet that took place in August of that
year. A cloud burst it seems upon the
hillSides in the northern portion of the
town, and when the great quantity OF
swiftly rushing waters came down
Little brook, to its junction with North
Main street, had three or four time:
more than the water way could carry
so it surged and foamed and fumed unit
it broke its banks and tore on madly
down North Main street, cutting swatt
= eighteen or twenty inches deep nearly the
! whole width of the highway down to the
present Methodist church. The side
: walks and front yards were, in many
= cases, swept away even to the founda
ton walls of the houses. Our beautiful
. little green, which has always been the
pride of our city, was covered to the
!, cellar of every building along North
= East and South Main streets, for quite
distance from Exchange place, was filled
p with these rushing waters and mud anC
: sand. The expense to the city govern
= ment alone, for repairs on the streets
8 was nearly half of the annual appropria
, ton for that purpose.
- Again recently there was anothe
= little flood which was productive O
Thanksgiving time. Only four niche
4 of rain fell, yet on account o
- some temporary obstruction at tn
E mouth of Little brook, it cverf1owed it
= banks and thousands OF dollars worth o
- damage was thus done.
, Great DfOOk mas not been tie cause o
" so much destruction as Little brook, bu
: it's banks are being confined and mar
rOwed in much the same way as tn
. other brook referred to- and time ma
: come when we will wish that we ha
% greater foresight.
Now if the overflow from these tw
% brooks could be conducted into tn
% public sewers at different places alon
>, their ine-as it seems to me could easil
- be done and at little expense--it woul
~ serve the twofold purpose of flushing tn
=. sewers and enlarging the waterway
:. which, as 1 have already said, are to
-, narrow and confined already. At til
:, corner of Pearl and Bronson streets
} again at the junction of Little broo
~ with Grove street and still again g
~ North Main and Cooke streets, an ove1
~ flow or waterway into the sewers migl
be constructed at u merely nomin,
expense, which would be the means {
=, saving thousands and thousands of do
lars to our merchants and citizens 81
o uated below on this stream. A simils
" plan could be adopted with Great broo
:. where it covers the public streets.
il This suggestion seems to me to
IS worthy of the serious attention of OF
n municipal authorities. At some NJ
S. very distant day l nope we may see tn
defect remedied in our beautiful lit
home in the valley. CANDUs.