Friday, December 31, 2021

Pytheas's Voyages

Did You Know?

Pytheas of Massalia was a Greek mariner who made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe in about 325 BC,  On this voyage, he circumnavigated and visited a considerable part of modern-day Great Britain and Ireland. He was the first known scientific visitor to see and describe the Arctic, polar ice, and the Celtic and Germanic tribes. He is also the first person on record to describe the midnight sun. 


His explorations

Artic Ice

Further Info (Map sources)

Monday, December 6, 2021

The Bridge to Nowhere and its Ghost Town

 In the early 1900s, the Government of Canada felt that a major harbor on Hudson Bay was needed for shipping grain from central Canada. In 1912 Port Nelson was selected as the site to become the terminus of the Hudson Bay Railway, the construction of which had already begun in 1910.

In the winter of 1912-13 the site was surveyed and construction of a wharf began in the spring, followed by buildings and other infrastructure built during the summer. However the whole harbour project was fraught with problems from the start. This most major setback was the necessity to completely redesign the harbor because the fast flowing Nelson River was building up silt on both sides of the wharf. The harbor was changed to a small man-made island farther out in the river. The island was connected to the mainland with a seventeen-span truss bridge.

Due to World War I and the ensuing material and labor shortages, the project was halted and although the project was able to continue a few more years, in 1918 all work stopped and the site was abandoned. 

The Hudson Bay Railway never reached Port Nelson and its tracks lay abandoned until 1927 when Churchill was chosen instead to become the northern shipping hub. Construction on the railway was restarted in 1927 and completed in 1929.

Port Nelson - 1917
The "Bridge to Nowhere"
(the artificial island)
The Hudson Bay Railway
Red line indicates ill-fated Port Nelson route
Fascinating 1887 Map of Proposed Railway

Aerial shots of The Ghost Town of Port Nelson

The photos below came from this fascinating thread - Bootht99, Jan 3, 2021
Vestiges of the streets and buildings
Google Aerial of the site


Further Info and Credits


Videos on YouTube

Documentary Film: The Seaport of the Prairies


Monday, November 15, 2021

Glastonbury Connecticut History

Glastonbury Connecticut has had an interesting history.  This post details a few historical highlights as told thru maps,

Click on any map for enlargement


Indian Trails

The Native Americans of the present-day Glastonbury/Portland area were members of Algonkian-speaking tribes. Known as the Wangonks, they were peaceful and farmed the land. In the summer, they lived along the river in longhouses. In winter, they moved to the hills and lived in south- or west-facing caves.  Trading between other tribes was done not only by water but by a series of well-established trails

Villages

The town of Glastenbury was first settled by white settlers in 1636 and town was officially founded in 1693 . Land was bought from the Native American chief Sowheag for 12 yards of trading cloth. In 1870, the name of the town was changed from Glastenbury to Glastonbury, with a spelling to match Glastonbury, England. Various villages sprung up in the area.
  • Bucks Corner
  • Eagleville >Addison 
  • East Glastonbury
  • South Glastonbury
  • Curtisville > Naubuc
  • Buckingham
  • Wassuc
Addison
The area known as Addison once went by another name: Eagleville. It’s name came from the Eagle Manufacturing Company which produced woolen goods, including uniforms for the Union Army in the Civil War.

Curtisville > Naubuc
The Curtisville area was one of the first parts of Glastonbury to be settled by English colonists, who had been using its riverfront meadows since the 17th century. Salmon Brook was recognized as a source of water power in the colonial period, but its industrial development did not begin until the 1840s, when Oswin Welles began the manufacture of wooden wares and cigars. Brothers Frederick and Joseph Curtis established a major silver plating factory on the south bank of the brook around that time. 

The Curtisville area was developed mainly in the 19th century, it illustrates the coexistence of agricultural and industrial pursuits in a single village area, mixing worker housing, former farm properties, and a small mill complex. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. 


Mills

Water-powered mills were often the backbone of early New England communities

In 1791 there were:
  • three saw mills on Roaring Brook in Buckingham;
  • one saw mill on Hubbard Brook;
  • two saw mills on Hubbard Brook;
  • one saw mill on Roaring Brook in South Glastonbury;
  • two grist mills on Roaring Brook in Buckingham;
  • one grist mill on Roaring Brook in South Glastonbury;
  • a saw mill near Log Landing;
  • three saw mills Roaring Brook in South Glastonbury; and
  • other grist mills on both Salmon Brook and Hubbard Brook
Sourced from Book:
Glastonbury: From Settlement to Suburb: A History of the 300-Year-Old Town
Author: Marjorie G. McNulty
Publisher ‏: ‎ Historical Society of Glastonbury

1884 Historic Map
South Glastonbury
Glastonbury
East Glastonbury
Buckingham


Shipyards

Glastonbury  was once the home of several shipyards, sail lofts, ironworks that forged anchors and other equipment and various shops that sold provisions. The first shipyard was located at the south end of Keeney Cove - it was known as the Naubuc Shipyard. Another shipyard was located at Logs Landing in South Glastonbury. The needs of these shipyards were filled by sawmills, charcoal kilns, and forges that created ship’s anchors.

Several hundred vessels were built in yards in Keeney Cove and along the river bank of South Glastonbury. Those yards have disappeared from view, and some sites are even under water.

The fleet of sailing vessels on the Connecticut peaked about 1865, when it was eclipsed by steamboats. By the end of the century, the steamers had given way to the railroads. The great river was no longer a commercial thoroughfare.

Trolley

Although much to the disappointment of early residents, a railroad never passed near Glastonbury but in 1893, a trolley was built into town. In 1892 the trolley line first reached from East Hartford to Hubbard Brook and in 1893 it was extended to South Glastonbury. Further details: Hartford Area Trolleys >

Feldspar Quarries

The quarrying in Connecticut of pegmatites for feldspar began around 1825. In the South Glastonbury/Portland Area there were numerous quarries in operation in the late 1800s. For centuries pegmatite was chiefly valued for its mineral feldspar. Industry demanded good-quality feldspar for making porcelain pottery, vitrified sanitary ware (sinks and toilets), enamelware, glass, poultry grit (which was fed to chickens to help them process food in their crop), abrasives, and fertilizer.

Feldspar mining peaked in Connecticut in the early 1900s; in 1908 Connecticut, with its four “spar” mills, was the leading producer of this mineral in the United States. Many quarries were operated during World War II for sheet mica and beryl. Further Info: Back to the Abandoned Quarries >

Early Industries

Gunpowder Mill/Factory
In the early 1770s, the Stocking family built a gunpowder mill on the north bank of Roaring Brook in the Cotton Hollow area. This factory/mill was one of four in New England and it supplied gunpowder for George Washington's Continental Army. The factory produced a highly explosive powder used in small amounts to ignite a heavier powder in flintlock firearms. Sadly it exploded in August 1777 but was rebuilt again and continued to supply gunpowder for the Army until the end of the war.
Further Info: Courant article >

Tannery
The tannery on Hubbard Brook beside the New London Turnpike was built in 1854 to process pig and cow hides. The firm ceased operation in the 1870s and was sold in 1886 to German immigrant Herman Roser who then limited his product to pig skins. After World War I, mechanization proceeded more rapidly, with the addition of larger vats, machines for shaving and splitting the hides and a steam engine to drive them. Among the new customers for Roser pigskin leather in the 1920s were the makers of the Pierce-Arrow automobile, which had the firm's leather covering its seats. 

The tannery closed in 1968 and the plant was then occupied by a machine shop run by the Flanagan Brothers Inc. specializing in aerospace assemblies. The former mill complex was converted into luxury apartments and a restaurant in 2017, 

Soap Factory
The J. B. Williams Co. Historic District encompasses a historic 19th-century factory complex and related family housing. The area includes a mid-19th century frame factory as well as later brick buildings, and houses belonging to its owners, members of the Williams family. The soap factory operated by the Williamses was one of town's largest economic forces until its mid-20th century decline. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Further Info: JB Williams - Soap Factory and Park


The Peach King

Growing peaches in New England was a bit of a challenge because of the plant’s affinity for warmer weather, but John Howard Hale of South Glastonbury discovered a few hardy trees on his grandfather’s farm and developed a new type of peach that more capably endured the harsh New England climate and produced large delicious fruit. 

Hale also made use of the latest advances in technology to get his fruit to market. In the 1890s, he used the local trolley line to transport his peaches to Hartford, commissioning three special cars for the purpose. Peaches were notoriously difficult to keep fresh, but Hale discovered that through the use of refrigeration, he actually extended their shelf life. Workers pre-cooled the peaches and then loaded them on to special refrigerator railroad cars containing bunkers filled with ice to keep the fruit cool during transport. By the end of the 19th century, Hale shipped peaches all over the United States, and even to Europe. Further Info: John Howard Hale: Glastonbury’s Peach King

Additional Credits/Sources

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Connecticut Tobacco?

Did you know  Connecticut has region known as "Tobacco Valley"? Tobacco is a major cash crop for the state and was a major economic booster in the mid-19th century...

History

Settlers from Europe learned about tobacco from the Native people of North America who used tobacco in pipes. In the Connecticut Valley, farmers have grown specialized tobacco used for the two outside layers of cigars - the binder and the wrapper, since the early 1800s. This type of tobacco is known as Shade tobacco and has been recognized as the finest cigar wrapper in the world. 

In the mid-19th century, an area which ran from Springfield, Massachusetts, to Hartford, Connecticut, had become a center for cash-crop production and was known as “Tobacco Valley.”  Commercial tobacco production expanded dramatically in the early 1800s thanks to the growing popularity of cigars among men in the U.S. It brought in millions of dollars and provided a source of work for thousands of young people fourteen or more years old. At its height in acreage in 1925, there were 30,000 acres of tobacco in Connecticut alone.


It's still a major cash-crop  for the state

Source

There are a couple of types of tobacco grown in the area.

Broadleaf

and Shade


"Connecticut shade tobacco is a tobacco grown under shade. Around the year 1900, Connecticut tobacco growers were facing increased competition from Ecuador, specifically the Sumatra region. However, when Sumatran seeds were brought to Connecticut to grow, they were getting scorched by the sun and dying. In order to use these seeds, tobacco farmers pioneered a technique called shade-grown tobacco, where a cheesecloth is placed above the tobacco plant while growing to prevent direct sunlight."
"The results were fantastic, and this technique quickly spread to other varietals of tobacco and other growing regions. Not only does this cheesecloth limit the sunlight that can damage fragile leaves, it also increases the temperature and humidity of the air around the tobacco plant increasing yields."  Source
South Glastonbury Tobacco Farms
Crops of broadleaf tobacco can be seen quite frequently in the area. (I believe further north in the Windsor area shade tobacco is more common)
Many barns in the area have a peculiar elongated shape. These are (or were) tobacco barns where the sides would be opened up for drying the leaves
barn on the right is opened for drying

On Hubbard Street in Glastonbury there's an abandoned cigar factory
Close up

Monday, August 23, 2021

USA Climate Change Maps

Recent extreme weather incidents are examples of human-caused climate change supercharging extreme rainfall events which are are likely to become more common as long as the planet continues to get hotter.

"The reason is based on a physics principle known as the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship, which relates temperature, pressure and water vapor. The principle shows that warmer air can hold more water vapor -- about 7% more water vapor per 1 degree Celsius. More water vapor in the atmosphere means more moisture available to fall as rain, which leads to higher rainfall rates."

On average, the planet has already warmed more than 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times, according to a major UN climate change report published earlier this month. Over land areas there has been even more warming, and particularly in the Eastern US, which has led to a noticeable increase in heavy downpours that lead to flash flooding, according to the most recent National Climate Assessment." Source

Every Place Has Its Own Climate Risk. What Is It Where You Live?

Maps Source Below

Stress per Region

Increase in Precipitation

Increase in Droughts

Details



Thursday, July 29, 2021

Smoke gets in your eyes!

 Large and unrelenting wildfires in the western United States and southern Canada are producing so much smoke that even the East Coast is feeling the effect

The animation below demonstrates NOAA’s calculation of near-surface smoke shows fires in the West and in southern Canada that generated large smoke plumes that accumulated over the course of July 2021.  An overlay of wind currents shows how these plumes were carried east.

Source >

Watch July's wildfire smoke travel across the country

Article and interactive animation >

Saturday, May 29, 2021

Native American Names - Glastonbury CT Area

No matter where you may venture to in the U.S. -- it seems you can find tribute/evidence of native American origins if you know where to look...

  • Wangunk (“where the river bends”)
  • Nayaug  ("noisy waters")
  • Naubuc (flat plains to the north”)
  • Neipsic ("water near the hill") or Nipsic

The Native Americans of the present-day Glastonbury/Portland area were members of Algonkian-speaking tribes. They lived in clans of approximately 100 individuals and each group was ruled by a sachem or chief. Clans took names from features of the land where they were centered. Naubucs lived in the plains to the east, the flat area at the north end of town. Nayaugs lived a bit further south near the Noisy Water at the mouth of Roaring Brook (note: they were also known as the Red Hill Indians). Wangonks lived at the bend in the river behind today’s Town Hall, where the Connecticut River turned in the 1600s. The Neipsic springs first attracted Native Americans who came for the water's mystical healing powers. Today, the water still bubbles up from the hillsides in Glastonbury's J.B. Williams Park found on Neipsic Road.

The tribes were peaceful and farmed the land. In the summer, clans lived along the river in longhouses. In winter, they moved to the hills and lived in south- or west-facing caves. 


You can find the following names on the map above as well
  • Knogscut ("place of wild goose') - Knogscut Mountain >
  • Minnechaug ("berrylnd") - Even the golf course, when heading to Manchester, has a a Native American name!

Other Places Nearby

  • Meshomasic (“the great snake” or “land of many snakes”) - State Park >
  • Shenipsit (“at the great pool”) refers to the Shenipsit Lake, which the Shenipsit trail passes by