Millers River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Millers River | |
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| Origin | Lake Watatic, Ashburnham, Massachusetts |
| Mouth | Connecticut River at Millers Falls, Massachusetts |
| Length | 61 mi (98 km) |
| Source elevation | 1124 ft (342.59 m) at Lake Watatic |
| Mouth elevation | 175 ft (53.3 m) |
| Avg. discharge | 1000 ft³/sec (28.32 m³/sec) |
| Basin area | 390 mi² (1010 km²) |
The Millers River is a river in New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts, originating in Ashburnham, Massachusetts[1] and Rindge, New Hampshire[2], joining the Connecticut River just downstream from Millers Falls, Massachusetts.
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[edit] Topography
Millers River drains a total area of about 390 square miles, about 313 square miles of which are in Massachusetts. About 78 percent of the basin is forested, 11 percent is open land, 8 percent is wetland, and 3 percent contains urban areas. The watershed is made up of all or part of 17 municipalities, with a population of approximately 87,000 people. Population centers are concentrated around Gardner, Athol, and Orange[3].
Many wetlands in the basin indicate areas of former shallow lakes and ponds that have gradually been filled. There are a total of 107 lakes and ponds in the basin, 72 of which have an area of 10 acres or more. Only one lake, Lake Monomonac in Winchendon (592 acres), is larger than 500 acres[3].
[edit] Origin
Millers River formed at the end of the last glacial period when several glacial lakes joined and, eventually, drained into the Connecticut River. The river's headwaters are in Mountain Pond, at the western foot of the Wapack Range in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, for the North Branch Millers River, and in Ashburnham and Winchendon, Massachusetts for the main stem[3].
[edit] Information
The North Branch and the main stem of the river join in Winchendon, and the river flows westward to the Connecticut River. Major tributaries of Millers River are the Otter River, which enters the Millers River in Winchendon, and the Tully River, which enters the Millers River in Athol. Both tributaries flow mainly through wetlands. Overall, Millers River has a moderate gradient, averaging about 18 feet/mile from the headwaters area to the USGS streamflow-gaging station at Erving, a distance of about 43 river miles.
However, a 5-mile reach of Millers River through a wooded area between South Royalston and Athol (the "Bear's Den") has an average gradient of about 43 feet/mile, which is about five times the average for rivers in Massachusetts, and some of the most rugged and steep terrain of the state's central upland. The gradient of the tributary Otter River averages about 18 feet/mile for a distance of about 11.5 river miles, and that of the East Branch Tully River, the major tributary of the Tully River, averages about 52 feet/mile over a distance of about 13 river miles[3].
[edit] Flood control
The Birch Hill Dam is a flood control dam located on the Millers River in South Royalston, Massachusetts. It is a part of a network of flood control dams on tributaries of the Connecticut River. Completed in 1941 at a cost of US$4 million, Birch Hill Dam was one of the first dams the Army Corps of Engineers built in New England to prevent floods like those that devastated Athol and Orange in 1936 and 1938. It has a storage capacity of 16.3 billion gallons[4].
The Reservoir Regulation Team (RRT) is the "nerve center" for the New England flood control dams such as Birch Hill Dam. Using radio and satellite communications, RRT constantly monitors river levels and weather conditions that influence flood control decisions[4]. Corps personnel, in conjunction with RRT, regulate the amount of water released downstream by raising or lowering the four 6 ft by 12 ft gates located in the gatehouse at the dam. In a time of high water, the gates are lowered in order to hold back the water, only to be released when downstream river conditions begin to recede. In April 1987, two storms dropped over 6 inches of rain, raising the water level to over 33 feet at the dam, utilizing 80% of the storage capacity. It is estimated that Birch Hill Dam prevented over $9 million in damages to downstream property from this one storm[4].
