New Britain herald., 1922-07-29
tBy James shepard).

Ihsn tnat which comes directly from
 Heaven, This statement was made
 to emphasize the fact that New Brit
 lain has no stream Of any considerab|
 lvolume which arises in another town
 Tn fact there are four principal
 Istreams flowing out from New Britain
 lthree of which have one or more
 |branches which arise elsewhere while
 the fourth arises wholly with New
 Britain, both as to its main and each
 lof It's tributaries. Along these four
 Istreams there are some 24 mill sites ltwhere water power was formerly em- 'Iployed for various manufacturing
 purposes. At six of these Sites the Ilwheel was in use as late as 1869 when there were three wheels run
 |ning on Gilbert river and one wheel
 on each of the other three streams.
 Not one Of these four streams now
 drive a water wheel. We will sepa-
 Fately follow each stream down from
 fhe upper end and state as best we
 fan what 1t has done for onr indus
 kries
 The Pond River.
 
 piac, arises in the town of Farming
 fon and enters New Britain near the Junction of the southeast corner of l IFarmington with the northeast corner pf Plainville. From thence t passes
 eoutherly across West Main street hnd turns westerly through White pak pond, town of Plainvile, finally feaching the sound at New Haven. II On the west side of Pond river, a little below where it enters New Britain. is the site of an old fulling mill. It is referred to in the Farm fngton land records as "On the Ivy
 Banks east from Pinnacle mouritain," hnd :Upon the west part of Horse Plains so called" The act of incor- poration of the ecclesiastical society Pf New Britain in 1754, is published pn pages 54 and 55 of Andrews His tory of the First Church. In part the boundary of the society is de- hned therein as follows: West on the north side of said Hart's lot to the Eest end of that tier of lots. from thence to run southerly to the old lFulling mill so called on Pond river" The said act of incorporation is the | frst record we have of this old mill hnd in fact is all the early history Ibf 1t now known. I have examined Puius Gays pamphlet on Farming ton industries and found no mention | bf it. I have also examined Gays abstract of the Pennington land rec brds and all the references found Ehere in to this mill are of a date Bubsequent to 1754. H. A. Castle, Hho has compiled a history of Plain Fille, informs me that he has been Unable to find any earlier record of .his mill The mill must have been ! built in the early part of the 18th | century in order to have been known | as the "old fuling mll' in 1754. | tmpliedly the mill was standing at hat time, but when it was built, who | owned and run it, where they lived ! and when its use was discontinued i hre questions of long standing that still remain unanswered. T
 Through the courtesy of City En- | yineer Williams l am informed by | one of his assistants, Mir. Stiles, that there is stone monument now standing in the midst of the ruins of i the old mill and that the dilapidated walls of the head and tail races are how readily traced. There is also D drill hole in ledge ock which may have been drilled to mark the bohn- 1ary line of the town.
 Captain Leadwick Hotchkiss and his son, Lemuel, jointly built and run a saw mill on Pond river, near [he old fulling mill about 17o9. It %as subsequently, owned by various parties.
 Lemuel Hotchkiss about 1760 erect Id blacksmith shop near the saw hill of which he was part owner. In connection with this shop he had l'iron works" in which he smelted iron Ire that he obtained from Bristol, and made therefrom wrought nails Ind other articles of hardware,
 Lower down on this river, Hezekiah Andrews erected saw mil in 1757. It stood on the north side of West Main street. Upon the death Of hezekiah Andrews in 1796, this mill property passed to his son, Ezkiel, lnd was in use for many years there After. The use of water power on Bmall streams is now thing of the past, as is shown by the fact that here were formerly ten water power plants on this river above Plantsville, each of which has been abandoned. The old shop of the Peck, Stow X Wilcox Co. at Plantsville is now the lppermost water power in use upon his stream.
 The Gilbert River.
 The main branch of the Gilbert 'iver is known as Willow Brook. Its lead originally was at Panther rom that swamp has been diverted rom Willow brook. through canal nto Shuttle Meadow lake. Willow ( ,rook now flows from the mountain g ast of Panther swamp northerly I through Berlin to the Lincoln street ( ,ridge, a littel north of Shuttle Mead c w avenue, where it unites with T outh bound brook. the main arm of I which comes from below the dam at a ,huttle Meadow lake. These united s treams may be called the head of the I Hilbert river or upper branch of the n dattebesett. It flows easterly from D lincoln street. turning southerly into he Mattebesett, which joins the Con- t. ecticut river at Middletown. s Upon the east side of the mountains I ear Panther swamp there still re- p 1ains in good condition the walls up n n which Kellogg Warren erected aw mill about 1s4o. This mill was in a SC for only short time.
 Chester Hart, about 1921, had his