Mill Dams Research Articles

Island‐formation and channel‐filling on the upper Wabash River

About 70 years ago, intensive settlement and cultivation began in the upper Wabash River Drainage‐Area in Indiana. Along with this settlement came a number of developments of great significance to the inhabitants of the upper Wabash Valley. As the hillsides were cleared of their forest‐cover and put to cultivation, more and more sediment was contributed to the river. The river‐banks also were cleared, and as a consequence the river began to erode its banks and widen its channel. Many mill dams and water‐supply dams were built along the river. In other places fills, dumps, and bridges came into existence and encroached upon the normal channel cross‐section. As a result of some or all of these factors, islands and other channel‐fill deposits grew at an alarming rate. Residents of certain parts of the valley began to suffer from more frequent and more severe floods.

A Contribution to the Ecology of the Musk‐rat (Ondatra zibethica) in the British Isles

Summary.An investigation has been made of Musk‐rats Ondatra zibethica zibethica L. in Britain from 1933‐35. British specimens are similar in size and weight to those from North America and Europe. The main infestations were in the Severn Valley around Shrewsbury in Shropshire and in the valleys of the Rivers Earn and Allan in Stirlingshire and Perthshire. In Shropshire, a favourable locality, Musk‐rats were exterminated from pools and ditches earlier than in the main river; generally speaking the reverse has been true in Scotland. The relatively small infestations 111 West Sussex, Surrey, and Ireland, were soon brought within control. Musk‐rat activity is at a peak during the mating season in March, when males may wander long distances, and again less abruptly in November. During the summer activity is a t its minimum, especially amongst the females. Adult Musk‐rats weigh between lo00 and 1400 gm. The autumn migration is caused by activity amongst Musk‐rats born the same year, weighing on the average 800–1000 gm. They do not breed the year of birth. The first mating is in mid‐February and March, and the first litter is born in April. There are two or rarely three litters of (on the average) seven in the year. The young weigh 21 gm. at birth and are soon independent of their parents, they are more terrestrial in habits than the adults. The sex ratio of 1330 Musk‐rats is 56.9±0.92 males per cent. The greater activity of the males in March is reflected in a rise in the sex ratio of those caught at this time. Burrows usually open under the water and those left exposed by a fall in water‐level are plugged with vegetation as are also air holes. Canals are made as in North America. Houses are built from early September and onwards through the autumn: they are built of any vegetation near at hand. “Eating houses” are also built. Stomach examinations show that the Musk‐rat is largely vegetarian, though some Gastropods and Anodonta were found. Ranunculus fluitans is the main food in Shropshire. Defsecation usually takes place in the water. Most Musk‐rats examined were healthy, but one in Shropshire was found dead from lung disease in August 1934, and another caught soon after had an early stage of apparently the same epidemic disease, which was caused by a hemolytic streptococcus. In Scotland in November 1934 a Musk‐rat caught had a disease of the spleen, probably a form of tuberculosis. In severe floods Musk‐rats may use rabbit burrows; their unused holes may be used by brown rats and water voles. Large numbers of Musk‐rats were caught in Shropshire and Scotland, and the graph of monthly catches in the former place resembles similar graphs of Central European data. After 1933 the worst of the infestation in Britain had been dealt with. Catches at Farnham, Pulborough, and Ireland show an almost continuous drop from the commencement. Foxes and stoats are enemies of Musk‐rats in Britain. Bitten‐off vegetation, houses, bubbles under the ice, and turbid water help in detection, while the probing bar is used to find burrows. Steel traps of various types with plain jaws are used for catching Musk‐rats in Britain. Floating trap “sets” and cage traps are also used. Traps are mainly set in burrows. Damage has been done to river banks, mill dams, and drainage ditches in Shropshire and to an artificial pond embankment in Scotland. All the British Musk‐rat campaigns have been discontinued and the Musk‐rat is now (1939) considered extinct in the British Isles. No modification of their North American habits seem to have taken place in Britain.

The Old Farms out of Which the City of Newport News Was Erected, with Some Account of the Families Which Dwelt Thereon

Salters Creek was originally known as Saltford's Creek, named after Robert Saltford, who came to Virginia in 1611, patented land on Saltford's Creek in 1620, and resided near its mouth with his wife Jane and his son John. We find the name spelled Saltford's or Salford's Creek as late as 1850. Salters Creek is formed by three smaller streams or forks. The western enters into the creek about where Eighteenth Street would cross it. It was known as Caseys Creek. The other two forks unite near the Car Line at Greenlawn Cemetery. The upper reaches of the middle fork were called Dixon Run or Mill Run, and the lower reaches, Mill Marsh. This fork is now usually known as Salters Creek. As late as the Civil War, however, the easternmost fork was known as Salters Creek. When the writer speaks of Salters Creek (north of the Car Line) he means the easternmost fork. In earlier days there were four landings on Salters Creek. On Walnut Avenue about 100 feet back of Blair, was the landing which for a century was used by the Wilsons and the Carys. Another landing, the Wharf, was about where Twenty-second Street would cross the creek. As early as 1684, we find reference to White's Landing at the mouth of Casey's Creek. Within the memory of men still living, schooners ascended the creek as far as the Cemetery, where they loaded cordwood for New York. On July 1, 1742, the County Court of Elizabeth City County granted to William Tucker an acre of land on Saltfords Creek, together with the privilege of erecting a water grist-mill thereon. By deed dated November 11, 1742, William Tucker and Susanna, his wife, conveyed and granted this land and privilege to John Jones. This acre of land was on the northeast side of the easternmost fork. In the same deed, an acre of land on the opposite side of this fork was conveyed to John Jones. Here a mill and mill dam were built, whether by Tucker or by Jones, we do not know. We do know, however, that the mill was for years known as Jones mill. (See: d. b. 1736-1753, p. 145.) There was also a mill-pond and mill on Dixon Run. This mill and mill-pond were just a little above where Twenty-eighth Street would cross Dixon Run. From earliest times, the name Salters Creek has been used, not only to designate the creek itself, but also the territory surrounding it, especially that between Newport News Creek and Salters Creek.

Two Oregon Warblers

D URING the warm days of May when the mystery of life seems suddenly unveiled in a miraculous manner, I often frequent a woody retreat above the old mill dam on Fulton creek. A clump of firs and maples overhang where the limpid water whirls gurgling among the gray rocks. Star flowers gleam from the darker places of shade, white anemones are scattered among grass blades and ferns, and Linna~an bells overhang the moss-covered logs. This is the haunt of the black-throated gray warbler. a Just below the brow of the hill half a mile above the creek, a little spring bubbles out of an alder copse. Instead of trickling down the hillside like an ordinary streamlet, the water scatters and seeps into the spongy soil. This forms a wet place an acre or so in extent over which has grown a rich growth of swamp grass. This is the yellow-throat'sb home. I call it the Witch's Garden. I have a great admiration for the little feathered individual dressed in gray because his extreme shyness is a good indication of his finer nature. But there is a fascination about lying in the shade of the tall fir and listening to the fanciful call of yellow-throat. You may hear him and his mate almost any time of the day calling Witch-et-y! Witch-et-y ! Yes, you may hear him but seldom see him.