Ludlow; A Century and a Centennial, Comprising a Sketch of the History of the Town of Ludlow, Hampden County, Massachusetts, Together with an Account of the Celebration by the Town of Its Centennial Anniversary June 17th, 1874 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1875 edition. Excerpt: ...the way around. On the sixth of April the trenching for the pipes was begun and work resumed upon the dam. On the ninth of October the gangs going towards and from Springfield met, thus practically finishing the work of laying the " big main." Of this largest piping about a half mile of cast iron tube was laid from the southern dam to Higher Brook, while cement-lined sheet iron tubes extend from that point to the city. The number of acres in the bed of the reservoir is four hundred and forty-five, to which must be added a marginal area of three hundred and sixty acres. Of this entire territory two hundred and eighty acres were woodland. Six and three-eighths acres of swamp have been covered with 13,924 cubic yards of sand, and a little over one-half as much has been sanded between the south dam and the filter. The land was purchased of Benjamin Sikes and Sons, Beuben Sikes, S. Billings, A. L. Bennett, C. S. Bennett, J. L. Banister, Mrs. Margaret Sikes, M. King and C. W. Alden. A ditch of a mile in length turns Higher Brook into the reservoir, and one longer and larger taps Broad Brook just north of the town line. The work is nearly completed. No pains have been spared to put the bed of the reservoir into proper condition. "In excavating for the trench to take the water from the general level of the flats above the Cherry Valley dam, the material thrown, out, which consisted for the most part of coarse gravel, was used to cover the peaty bottom. The area thus trenched and covered was about ten acres. That portion between the Ludlow dam and the filter, an area of three and three-fourths acres, has been covered with about two feet in depth of good clean sand. From the Ludlow dam, extending in the valley north-easterly on the low...