Sugden Reservoir Dam

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Sugden Reservoir Dam
Sugden Reservoir Dam at Spencer
Official name	Sugden Reservoir Dam
Impounds	Shaw Brook
Creates	Sugden Reservoir
Locale	Spencer
Maintained by	Spencer, Massachusetts
Length	85 ft (25.9 m)
Height	22 ft (6.7 m)
Opening date	1882
Geographical Data
Coordinates	42°16′22″N, 71°58′21″W

The Sugden Reservoir Dam in Spencer, Massachusetts impounds the waters of Shaw Brook, a tributary to Turkey Hill Creek and the Seven Mile River, creating the Sugden Reservoir. It is 85 ft (25.9 m) in length, and 22 ft (6.7 m) high. It is a gravity dam of earthen (gravel) construction and contains a spillway constructed of pebble-stone and concrete. This dam is part of the Chicopee River Watershed.

[edit] History

Created near the top of Turkey Hill, the Sugden Reservoir impounds the waters of Shaw Brook and Turkey Hill Creek for waterpower. This waterpower supplied industry in both the Upper and Lower Wire Village, sections of North Spencer, Massachusetts. ^[1]. The first wire-making industry in the country used this watershed for waterpower. Owned first by the Prouty Brothers (a famous Spencer Family), a wire mill that became Wickwire-Spencer, was purchased by Richard Sugden who improved the mills by creating the Sugden Reservoir in 1882. At one time, Spencer had eleven factories and twenty-six buildings for wire drawing along Turkey Hill Creek and the Seven Mile River^[2]. Never used for potable water, this reservoir provided only industrial waterpower storage. The energy storage was considerable because of the high elevation of this reservoir relative to the mouth of Turkey Creek where it enters the Seven Mile River.

[edit] Notability

Massachusetts lists this dam as a High Hazard dam. This does not mean that there is anything wrong with the dam. Instead, it means that, if it failed, there would likely be a loss of life. . This dam impounds reservoir waters near the top of a hill. The residential valley below would suffer considerably should this dam fail, which is the primary reason for this classification.

[edit] References