Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-01-24
THE FACE OF ASTATE.
RESERVOIR TO WIPE OUT 5000
ACRES OF MASSACHUSETTS.
TOWNS TO DISAPPEAR
Cemetery and Railroad to be Moved
State Pays Damages to Mill
Hands for Loss of Work-A Vast
Enterprise in That Section of the
Country.

The site selected for Bostons new
reservoir is in one OF the prettiest
counties of central Massachusetts,. 1t
is about thirty-f1ve miles northwest
of Boston and about seven miles north
east of Worcester. The contour of the
valley, broad here and there, and mar
rowing to almost gulch near Clinton,
seems fitted by nature for just such
usage. The scenery is diversified, con-
sisting of hills, wales and woods. Near
by toward the north stands Mount Wa
cnusett like a guardian sentinel. The
climate is that of New England, some
what drear in winter, but hospitable
kindly and open. On account of the
rocky nature of the soil very little op-
portunity is afforded for agricultural
pursuits, and the population is there
fore small, being only sixty-nine to the
square mile. This point, it will be
easily understood, had considerable
bearing on the selection of the site.
ITO secure a supply of pure water
for multitude of people it was neces-
sary to collect that water from a shed
unpolluted by the living or by the
dead. A population of sixty-nine to
the square mile was not dense enough
to afford even suspicion Of danger.
"a proof Of the broad spirit shown
by the commissioners and their grasp
of engineering feats is given in their
treatment of the mechanical problems
presented in planning the reservoir.
The flooding of valley even sparseIy
settled meant the humiliation of
homes, the wiping out of small towns,
the destruction of farms and the
changing of the course of public roads
and railways. These problems were
looked upon as mere details of this
daring board.
when it was estimated that total
OF 5,163 acres were to be taken from
the different towns in the valley, to
wit: Clinton, 1925 acres; Boylston.
2,761 acres; West Boylston, $40 acres,
and Sterling, 407 acres, and that the
lands required for the reservoir con-
tanned six large mills, eight school
houses, four churches, $50 dwelling
houses, large Catholic cemetery, and
a railroad, all of which it was neces-
sary to remove, the board simply made
plans for the work as a farmer would
make plans for Kidding newly &C
CURED strip of land of obstructing
stumps and rocks.
Three principal features in connec-
ton with the construction of the
reservoir are the removal of six and a
half miles of the Central Massachus-
etts Railroad and its relocation upon
ton or removal, partial or complete, of
the towns already mentioned, and the
building of the great dam at Clinton
Of these three possibly the question of
changing the railway bed is the least
important, although it is an event
worthy of note.
"The work presenting the greatest
picturesque feature in the construc-
ton of the Wachusett Reservoir is the
demolition of West Boylston and Oak
dale. Both these places were thriving
towns with important woolen-mill in
terests. They had existed for num-
Der of years, and were growing slowly
but with the steadiness of New Eng
land towns. They We're model COM
munities in their way, their citizens
Cod fparipU and l1Driohf
when the news came to the good
people of Oakdale and West Boylston
that the City, as they call Boston, was
about to reach out like an octopus of
the deep, and devour their little COM
munities, they were loath to believe it,
And when it was understood that their
homes, their hearth-stones and the
graves of their fathers were to be
covered forever by the waters of a
great reservoir, they rebelled.
The fact that the state fully in.
tended to make adequate financial res
titution offered no balm. No amount
Of money could offset the heart-break
at leaving the spot where a family had
been rooted for century. 1t was some
time before the people of West Boyl-
ston and of Oakdale became reconcile6
to their impending eviction, as it might
be called. 1t must be said that the
state was perfectly fair in awarding
damages. Average prices were al
lowed for every piece of property
taken, but wherever a tendency was
shown by a land proprietor to 'gouge
the board, he was fought relentlessly
in one case where a certain Italian de
manded an eXorbitant amount for q
wooden shanty, the board needing only
half the space occupied by the struc
ture, calmly cut it in two, and paid the
man only one-half of the assessed val
uation.
I'm awarding damages caused by the
! building of the great reservoir, the
state of Massachusetts has established
an important precedent. When a towr
like West Boylston is practically wiped
out it is understood that the owners
of property must be compensated fol-
the losses sustained by them, and also
it is necessary to pay for damages sus
tanned by stoTekepers and manufactur
ers. All this the state did, and the1
went a step further. 1t passed a Law
awarding damages to ordinary work
men, mill hands and the like, who sui
| fered loss through the stoppage O.
| their work."-H. H. Lewis in AinsIe Is
English as She Is Spoke
They are still telling in a certain
/ Il e