We must hear and listen

to all of Quabbin’s many

Voices. Voices of the Past,

as well as Voices of the

Present and of the Future.

Voices of the Trees, the

Sky, the Rain that falls,

and all the Wild Things;

Voices of the People who

depend on this valuable

resource for their daily

needs of clean water, and

Voices of those who draw

upon it for deeper needs

of the Soul.

CONTENTS

Early Boat Fishing . . . .1

President’s Message . . .2

Interpretive Services . . . 4

Gull Study Update . . . . .6

Feeding Wildlife . . . . . . .8

Member’s Corner . . . . . .9

by Steve Rideout

I’m a lifetime member of the AmericanFisheries Society and continue to receive theirmonthly magazine Fisheries. It covers 2-3 tech-nical topics in addition to news items about theSociety and its members. As an organizationover 130 years old, many issues provide anobituary column of some of the noteworthymembers in the Society’s history. A few yearsago one, in particular, caught my attention. Itwas Dick Stroud’s. Richard H. Stroud, 88, hadpassed away early September, 2006 in Virginiawhere he had resided since 1953. But just prior to joining the Sport Fishing Institute inWashington, D. C., he had been the ChiefAquatic Biologist for the Massachusetts Divisionof Fish and Game and lead the effort to estab-lish boat fishing at Quabbin. Here’s his story.

It’s December, 1951 and Robert L. Jones,Superintendent of the Division of WildlifeResearch and Management within the

Department of Conservation is developing abriefing memo to Tony Pompeo, Secretary toGovernor Dever. From the suggested wordingto include in the Governor’s message, it’s clearthe Governor has been receiving pressure fromsportsmen to open Quabbin to boat fishingand, in fact, is supportive of the idea.

The language proposed to the Governor for hisannual message to the General Court stated, “I request that the Metropolitan DistrictCommission, the Department of Public Healthand the Department of Fish and Game investi-gate the possibility of developing the boat fish-ing potential and other recreational aspects ofthe Quabbin Reservoir area. In the past tenyears I note that fishing license sales havealmost doubled while available fishing watershave remained the same. Throughout the coun-try, large water supply reservoirs are beingdeveloped for multiple recreational use underproper control to the advantage of all citizens.If developed, Quabbin may be used as a guide

Spring 2009 Vol.22 No.1

Boat Fishing on Quabbin in the Early History

The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter

QuabbinVoices

Continued page 3

View of a beaver pond from the Prescott Peninsula

2 | The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009

President’sMessage

On a gray drizzling Sunday in mid-March, I decided to take a walk in thewoods. I parked my truck near thenew bridge on Route 9 at the fly fishing parking area. There is a trailthat runs along the Swift River thatemerges beneath the old power station

at the base of Winsor dam. This walk is nearly level and offersspectacular views of the swiftly flowing river; it is secluded,and so very quiet. After a few hundred yards the waterfall atthe spillway (which is flowing at full capacity and is somethingthat all should witness) can be heard as it thunders onto therocks below in an avalanche of mist and foam. Soon, a perfectstraight-on view is seen with the tower in the background. Abit further is the new footbridge that allows easy access to thefields below the dam and a short walk to the base of the falls,where the noise of the falling waters blanks out all othersounds. It is a refreshing and vigorous experience.

On my way back across the footbridge I met a young couplefrom China who asked me if I knew how to get to Quabbinreservoir. My pronunciation of his name would be much worsethan their pronunciation of Quabbin. Her name was Mai. At this point I thought that this would be a fine time to be an ambassador of good will and give them a brief tour of thereservation. We walked back to the cars and I took them tosee the spillway up close and personal. By the smiles on theirfaces and the number of photos they took, I could see thatthey were as impressed as I was. A brief walk on the dam wasfollowed by a short ride up to the Enfield lookout. It was herethat I gave a bit of a history lesson on how about 2,500 peopleand four towns and many villages were sacrificed in order tocreate a permanent fresh water supply for the growing city ofBoston. We talked of politics and the impact of change on thefew for the benefit of the many. The fogs and mists obscured

Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire, but the view was impres-sive nevertheless. He was an engineering student interested indiscovering where his drinking water in Boston came from. (A question more Bostonians should ponder!) He also had aninterest in the fact that the water to Boston was not “pumped”but was fed through gravity. She was a History major. It was atthis point that she told me a story that will be with me as longas I live. Sometimes it is good to carry a notebook.

I knew some of the facts of the event but her personal storyhit home. Her family came from a region along the YangtzeRiver in China. Over that past number of years the govern-ment of China has built a dam across the river known as “TheThree Gorges Dam.” It is 610 feet high and a mile and a halfwide. It has created a lake 360 miles long (1/2 the length ofCalifornia!), as compared with the 18 mile lake we know asQuabbin Reservoir! It will produce the same amount of poweras 15 nuclear power plants. The downside of this new “GreatWall” is disturbing, to say the least. Thirteen cities, 140 towns,and 1300 villages will be submerged. Thirteen hundred knownarcheological sites will be lost forever when the project is completed. Sixteen hundred factories along with numerousindustrial mining operations and smelting facilities will beinundated, all of which has caused great concern amongChinese environmentalists. Even more alarming is the fact that265 million gallons of raw sewage per day are dumped intothe river and is carried away to the sea. Now it will gather inthe lake. Mai then went on to explain to me how even sadderis the fact that her family, along with 1.5 million other peoplenear the city of Chongquing, will be displaced after more than1500 years from their homeland! To me this sounded like astory that Stephen King could have created.

As we parted and I drove away, I found great pride in the factthat we, as a state and citizens of Massachusetts, have had theforesight and wisdom to not only recognize the sacrifices ofour citizens in the creation of Quabbin, but also have had thereverence to remain vigilant in our preservation of the naturalpristine wonder that we all love, Quabbin Reservoir. As stew-ards, it is our duty not to forget this as our mission. Until nexttime, I’ll see you in the woods.

Mark F. Thompson

Memorial DayServices atQuabbin ParkCemetery

Sunday, May 24, 2009

10 AM – Refreshments

11 AM – Parade Step-Off

Services at Town Monuments

Co-sponsored by:

Belchertown Veterans Council, Department of Conservation and Recreation, and Friends of Quabbin, Inc.

for the multiple use development of other water areas.” Robertultimately proposed dropping the last sentence, concerned thatit might be “a bridge too far” and engender opposition that wasnot surrounding the Quabbin proposal. Within the week, RobertJones updated his boss, Director Robert Johnson on the meet-ings with the Governor’s Secretary, the Department of PublicHealth, and Dick Stroud indicating that all signs were positivethat the Governor would push for opening boat fishing atQuabbin.

Dick Stroud’s contribution to the meet-ings and discussions centered aroundhis six-page memo outlining a proposalfor both the physical development ofboat liveries at strategically suitedlocations around the reservoir andsuggested fees for their operation. Hedetailed the type of dock, parking areaand staffing for a minimal (one site)operation and projected potential rev-enue. The proposal was also predicatedon development of a large fisherybased on lake trout and walleye. Therationale for these two species was notonly the large size they could attain,but that they could sustain themselvesthrough natural reproduction andwould not require maintenance stock-

ing from a hatchery. Additionally, it was well known that thesespecies as well as many existing in the reservoir could only beeffectively harvested by boat fishing.

In addition to fees for boat and motor rentals, other potentialsources of income were suggested. Specifically, Dick included aproposal to charge for ice fishing, and secondly, to operate con-cessions at the boat launch areas. The concessions were aimed

at selling bait and tackle but the concept of a “lunch counter”was also mentioned. Dick completed his memo with the fullproposal on November 28, 1951, less than two weeks before hisconference with the others in Mr. Pompeo’s office. An earlierdraft, with the same date handwritten at the bottom, hadincluded an additional potential source of income, charging afee for duck hunting! The copy in Division files, of this memo,shows the entire paragraph crossed out. Either Dick had secondthoughts on this idea or someone else, maybe Robert Jones,again concluded it wasn’t going to fly.

The Dingle-Johnson Federal Aid to Sport Fish Restoration Acthad passed Congress in 1950 and new federal funds were going to become available to assist the States. Dick was aware of this and equally aware, as the Chief Aquatic Biologist, of theMassachusetts sportsmen’s desire to have increased fishingopportunities. Many of them were already traveling to northernNew England where big fish resources such as lake trout and walleye were available. If there was one place thatMassachusetts could compete with that kind of fishing experience, it was Quabbin.

Additional historical documents would show that the Governorhad been receiving numerous requests from fishermen to openQuabbin, and had directed MDC and Fish and Game to studythe issue. This led to Dick Stroud’s proposal, the subsequentmeetings with Public Health and MDC, the conference inPompeo’s office on December 11, 1951, and presumably, theGovernor’s mention in his January 1952 address to the GeneralCourt. In early April the Governor announced in Worcester thatQuabbin would be opened to fishing. On April 24, 1952 theMetropolitan District Commission distributed a news releasesaying that Quabbin would be open to boat fishing within two weeks. Dick Stroud’s homework was successful. In futurearticles we’ll explore some of the behind-the-scenes aspects ofthe opening and Quabbin’s early years.

The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009| 3

Boat Fishing on Quabbin p.1

Richard H. (Dick) Stroud, Chief Aquatic Biologist,Massachusetts Division of Fish and Game, 1948-1953, the scientistbehind the opening ofQuabbin to boat fishing

You are cordially invited to attend

The Friends of Quabbin Annual MeetingSunday, April 26, 2009, 2:00 to 4:00 PM

Belchertown Senior Center, 60 State Street (off Route 202), Belchertown, MA

Pre-Quabbin photographs by Les Campbell will be shown with comments by Bob Wilder.Refreshments will be served.

Please call the Quabbin Visitor Center for information at 413-323-7221.

InterpretiveServices ReportSpringBy Clif Read

After a “real” winter with cold temperatures and respectablesnowfall amounts, the reservoir is transitioning to spring modeas the ice covering melts and the watershed land rapidly losesits snow cover. This year the entire surface of the reservoirfroze completely in contrast to the past few winters when portions of the reservoir remained open throughout the winter.In order for the reservoir to freeze completely, the proper combination of factors must be in place. Water temperature in the reservoir must drop to approximately 38 degrees F (asmeasured at the Winsor Dam Intake, at a depth of 60 feet)and there must be some ice cover on the reservoir. This mustbe followed by a cold, calm night when temperatures reachthe single digits or sub-zero level. Due to Quabbin’s large sur-face area, depth and volume, it takes a long time to sufficientlycool it to the required minimum temperature. Smaller, moreprotected water bodies freeze quite readily, but it is notuncommon for Quabbin to have open water late into January.

On January 15th this year the criteria were properly aligned.However, despite temperatures dropping below zero overnight,there were open portions of the reservoir in front of theAdministration Building. These large pockets were still steam-ing profusely at sunrise that day, as the reservoir continued todissipate some of its remaining heat. As the sun rays fell onthe water, it began to freeze and by mid morning the remain-ing portions of water had frozen with a clear, smooth surface.It was a phenomenon which was remarkable to witness.

Once the ice establishes a cover and sub-freezing temperaturesremain, the thickness of ice will build up quickly. In mid-February, four weeks after the final freeze-up, the QuabbinEnvironmental Quality staff was conducting a water columnprofile study at the sampling site several hundred yards northof the Winsor Dam Intake Building. They measured 8.5” of icecover at the site. They also collected some interesting waterquality data, including water temperature which ranged from0.90 °C at 1 meter depth to 3.31 °C at a depth of 43 meters.The pH of the water also exhibited a difference from a value of 8.18 at the 1 meter depth to 6.92 at the 43 meter depth.Similar trends were also noted for conductivity and dissolvedoxygen levels.

The level of observed wildlife activity increased markedly oncethe reservoir froze. Coyote, eagle, raven and crow becamecommon sightings, feeding on deer carcasses on the ice. Deerare frequently pursued by coyotes on the ice where they aremore vulnerable to predation as a result of the slippery surfacewhich often makes them lose their footing. Although it is badfor the deer, it does provide an important source of food forthe coyotes and birds which feed on it.

The Mid-Winter Bald Eagle Survey tallied 26 birds (9 adults and17 immatures) this year, slightly higher than the previous year.Throughout the winter, a pair of adults has been observed quiteregularly around Winsor Dam, raising the question of whetherthey will be nesting nearby. DCR and Mass. Wildlife staff areencouraged by last year’s banner year at Quabbin which saw 8 pairs of bald eagles raise a total 12 chicks.

On January 1st, for the third time in history, Quabbin Reservoirwas above capacity and spilling water. 2009 joins 1997 and2006 in this select group. Usually the reservoir is at its lowpoint in late December/early January, recovering from the high-er water use and withdrawal rates over the summer and earlyfall. However a number of factors have resulted in higher reser-voir levels in recent years. Overall water usage figures for thewater system during the past year have dropped to 196 milliongallons per day (mgd) from a high of approximately 330 mgdin the mid-1970s. Boston, the largest population and consumerof water for the system, for example, has reduced its overallconsumption rate to an average of 69 mgd from a peak of 156mgd in the 70’s. Across the board there has been a significantreduction of water use due to water conservation efforts, leak

4 | The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009

The Winsor Dam Spillway has been discharging water since late last fall.

The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009 | 5

An InvitationYou are reading this because you care about the Quabbin. The Friends of the Quabbin would love to have you share ourgoals of increasing public awareness and appreciation of the natural and historical resources of the Quabbin Reservation.

We prepare a newsletter to inform about current issues as well as to teach about the rich past. Currently, we need volunteers to help with the mailing of the newsletter. Collating and attaching labels can be a fun and rewarding task whenyou are sitting across from one of the most spectacular views in the United States and are working with people whoshare your enjoyment of the beauty of the Quabbin and the history of the Swift River Valley.

If you felt your heart flutter when you read that, then you might further like to get involved with such things as the OralHistory Project. We have many histories on CD which now need to be coded. Coding entails listening to the history andmaking notes on what people, towns, and topics are mentioned so they can be referenced easily.

We are always trying to locate former residents and their families so that we can interview them. Many families passeddown their stories and those memories are a valuable resource.

If you own an artifact from the Valley and would not mind telling its history, we could photograph it and use the image to help commemorate the lives of those who once called Swift River Valley their home.

Perhaps you have other ideas which you would like to share. Please join us.

The Friends of Quabbin meet at the Visitors Center on the first floor of the Administration Building in Quabbin Park,485 Ware Road, Belchertown, MA 01007, 413-323-7221, E-mail: admin@friendsofquabbin.org. It is handicap accessible. Also, if you have not already done so, please visit The Swift River Valley Historical Society, 40 Elm Street, New Salem, MA 01355, 978-544-6882 to see artifacts and to hear the history of the Valley.

detection and repair programs, more stringent plumbingcodes, and an increase in water rates. Those factors, coupledwith unique precipitation patterns which rought higher thanaverage rainfall during certain times of the year, have resultedin the unique situations in 1997, 2006 and 2009.

The DCR Division of Water SupplyProtection (DCR-DWSP) is currentlyupdating its Ware River Public AccessPlan and welcomes public input aspart of the process. Although it is not as well known as Quabbin orWachusett, the Ware River Watershedis the third part of the active watersupply watershed system that providesclean drinking water to 40% of theCommonwealth’s residents. The23,000 acres of land under the careand control of the DCR-DWSP is a valued resource for water supply, butalso represents an important area forwildlife habitat, open space and low-impact recreational activities. Duringthe spring and summer, the DCR-DWSP will be developing and distribut-ing a public survey to solicit public

input and perspective. Paper copies will be available at different locations and the agency is also developing an online version for those wishing to fill it out electronically.More details will be posted on the DCR website this spring at www.mass.gov/dcr/waterSupply.htm.

One of the local turkeys feeds on crabapples in front of the Quabbin Administration Building.

You may recall that the Friends of Quabbin, Inc. provided sup-port to the DCR Natural Resources Section’s Gull Study Projectin November of 2007. FOQ funding helped the DCR initiate theproject last winter, described in an article by Dan Clark in theSpring 2008 edition of Quabbin Voices. The following is anupdate and summary of activities and data collected in theintervening year.

Trapping

To date, 461 gulls have been captured and marked. A total of439 were leg banded and wing-tagged, and 22 were either fittedwith satellite transmitters or were not tagged (Table 1).

A variety of trapping methods have been used since the projectbegan in 2008. Walk-in traps, a Steele’s net, a rocket net and anet launcher have all been used to capture gulls. However, the

rocket net and net launchershave been the most efficientcapture methods (Table 2).

Sightings

Since trapping and wing-tagging began in the winterof 2008, close to 700 sight-ings of tagged gulls havebeen recorded. A majorityof these sightings have

come from the public, either through avid birders or casualobservers. Sightings have covered an extensive geographic areaand ranged from Canada to Georgia (Table 3, Figure 1). Not surprisingly, a vast majority of these sightings were of taggedring-billed gulls. However, close to 30 herring and 20 greatblack-back gulls have been sighted. In addition, several gullshave been sighted that have been tagged for 12+ months.

SatelliteTelemetry

During the fallof 2008, theDivision capturedand deployed 18 satellite transmitters. Ninetransmitters weredeployed on 9 ring-billed gulls

(5 Wachusett/4 Quabbin). Unfortunately, 2 birds were lost soonafter deployment, and the transmitters could not be recovered.The remaining 7 ring-billed gulls have been transmitting sincelate 2008. Five herring gulls were captured and fitted withtransmitters during Jan.-March 2008. Three of these birds died soon after and 2 of the transmitters were recovered. The remaining 2 herring gulls have been transmitting for the last 12+ months. In the fall of 2008, an additional 7 herringgulls (4 Wachusett/3 Quabbin) were captured and fitted withtransmitters. To date, all birds are still alive and transmitting fora total of 9 herring gulls “on-the-air.” One great black-back gullwas captured during late winter of 2008 and fitted with a transmitter. It still survives and has been transmitting steadilyfor 12+ months.

6 | The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009

DCR Gull Study Update – March 2009

By Dan Clark, Director of Natural Resources DCR – Division of Water Supply Protection

Table 2. Total captures by method.

Total

Walk-in trap 7

Steele’s net 43

Rocket net 57

Net Launcher 347

Table 1. Total gull captures by species and general capture location.

Ring-billed Herring Black-back Total

Wachusett 219 61 17 297

Quabbin 135 6 1 142

Total 354 67 18 439

Net Launcher

Gull sighted in Maryland

The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009 | 7

The satellite tagged gulls have provided an enormous amount of information.Some transmitters are equipped with GPS units and provide highly accuratelocations. All transmitters provide 5-6locations per day for each bird. Mostdata still need to be analyzed; howeverpreliminary results suggest a tremen-dous amount of movement within

Massachusetts and over longer distances.An example is presented below.

Ring-billed gull 87426: Captured 11-5-2008 at the Upper Blackstone WaterAbatement Plant, Worcester, MA

In late November, the gull then movedsouth to New Jersey/New York.

The gull stayed in this area from lateNovember 2008 until January 2009,when it moved further south to theVirginia and North Carolina area.

During January and February 2009, thegull moved back north into New Jersey. In March 2009, the gull made a largemovement and returned to Massachusetts.

Figure 1. Locations of wing-tagged gulls

Table 3. Locations of wing-tagged birdssighted.

STATE/PROVINCE # BIRDS SEEN

MA 517

CT 69

RI 20

NY 16

NJ 12

PA 11

MD 9

NH 8

NEWFOUNDLAND 6

VA 4

ME 4

QUEBEC 3

PEI 3

NC 3

LABRADOR 2

NOVA SCOTIA 1

MANITOBA 1

GA 1

DE 1

8 | The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009

It is bad for animals and it is bad for people!

In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in peoplefeeding deer in Quabbin Park. While it provides an opportunityto view deer up close, it has many detrimental impacts on deerand the environment. In an effort to reduce this harmful activitywhich is in direct opposition to the DCR’s Rules and Regulations,the Quabbin Section has stepped up its enforcement and publiceducation efforts around this issue. Please help us truly protectwildlife by considering the following information.

Supplemental feeding of wildlife concentrates animals and inter-feres with their natural movement in search for food. Theseabnormally high wildlife concentrations can cause increases in:

DISEASE. Supplemental feeding can cause crowding so infectiousdisease can spread quickly between animals. It also can concen-trate parasites (such as ticks) that can spread directly to peopleand to our water supply.

DIET/STARVATION. Wildlife are adapted to eat wild food. Deer,for example, have very specialized digestion for the food theynaturally eat (woody browse) and do not have the microbes to

digest foreign foods. Deer fed an unnatural diet can literallydie with a full stomach because they are unable to digest unnatural food; “livestock or people food.”

STRESS. Crowding can cause stress because more aggressive animals often fight with the younger (e.g., fawns) and weakeranimals for food.

PREDATION. Attracting animals to a feeding area may increase vulnerability to predation by crowding animals into a smaller area.

SAFETY. Wildlife become focused on feeding locations and can loose their natural wariness of people. Feeding sites mayincrease wildlife/vehicle collisions and animals may get aggres-sive towards people if they expect people to be a food source.

HABITAT LOSS. Large concentrations of wildlife can severelydamage the habitat for a whole host of wildlife, plants, and people. For example, high densities of deer can have negativeimpacts on forest regeneration and potential long-term impactson water quality.

Please help keep our wildlife wild. Don’t feed wildlife and pleasereport illegal activity to the DCR Rangers at 413-323-0191.

DON’T FEED ANYTHING TO WILDLIFE!

The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009 | 9

Member’s Corner

Travellers along Route 9 in Ware Center pass the stone andclapboard building which is now the Grange. On the east sideof the old Meeting House, is Greenwich Plains Road. In 1923when Annina Francesca DeSantis and her family arrived in theUnited States from Italy, they knew the stone and clapboardbuilding as their two-room school house and Greenwich PlainsRoad as their five-mile journey to and from school.

That distance was far for the four children of Giuseppe DeSantisand the five children of his brother Giovanni to travel to theirhome in Enfield in what is now a watershed area for theQuabbin Reservoir. They needed a horse and wagon to bringthem to school each day, but not all horses were cooperative.

One horse, Black Beauty, was eager to run. He would turn overthe wagon and run back to his feed in the barn. The childrenwould return home and miss school on those days. BlackBeauty was replaced by a gentle old mare. She was so slowthat the children often got out and walked part of the way,arriving at school before the horse and carriage. Miss Mende,their teacher, would send them out to meet and stable theirhorse for the day. At midday, the children went to the stable tofeed and attend to their horse and eat their own lunches.

Home was a farm bought by the DeSantis brothers. The housewas divided for the two families. The brothers had come tothe United States to work; and the work they did was to buildroads. Anne will tell you that her father worked from Boston toNew Salem and that is how he found Enfield on his 13th tripto America. Their farm was directly across the road from thegranite marker which bears the first letters of the three sistertowns of Enfield, Ware and Hardwick.

Further down that road, Anne’s mother Giulia would wash thefamily’s clothes in the stream. One summer day a quick mov-ing storm frightened her. She scurried the children back to thehouse, leaving the clothes and linens hand woven in Italy, bythe stream. When they returned after the storm, many pieces,were gone, washed away by the water. Those that they recov-ered remained stained with minerals after repeated washingand bleaching.

In Italy Giulia did not have a baking oven, so she mixed herbread at home and brought it to the communal oven in thecenter of their medieval village to bake. There was no oven forbaking bread in her new home in Enfield, so Mr. Trela, thebaker from Ware, would deliver bread once a week. The roadwas so bad that he would stop a good distance from the farmand yell “Bread!”. One of the children would run to meet himand bring the bread home.

Mr. Newcomb lived on the road to the Ware Center School. Hehad a cider mill, but Anne did not like cider after she saw howit was made with apples that were scavenged from beneaththe trees. She sometimes stopped at Mr. and Mrs. Bloom’shouse on her way home. Mrs. Bloom had the loveliest flowers

and often shared seeds and young plants with Anne. One win-ter Anne planted beans on the window sill and it remindedher of a story she read about a boy named Jack and a magicbeanstalk.

There was another beautiful house on that road that musthave belonged to a wealthy family. They had their own familycemetery!

Beyond Anne’s home, on the way to King’s Corner, was theLaGrant home. They had a sawmill. People were busy withfarm work and did not visit much, but Mr. LaGrant came tovisit Giuseppe.

On the road to Greenwich there was Camp Cook, owned byChief Buckley, the Chief of Police in Ware, and the McDonald's’house. The McDonald's had four beautiful little girls. Mr.Uracious lived on that road, too. Anne remembers him as akind, intelligent man. He was the Master of the Grange inWare Center. Anne remembers that on the road towardsEnfield was the Tyler farm. If anyone needed a doctor, thefamily made the trip to Enfield to see Dr. Segur.

Giuseppe made several land purchases. One purchase was theblacksmith shop in Ware Center. He fixed it up for the Rohansfrom Enfield who asked to rent it and run it as a gas station.Blacksmith shops often were the first garages because thesmithy could fabricate or repair damaged car parts. It was atthat gas station that Anne met her future husband Andrew.

Andrew Bullock came from the Ukraine at the age of 5 on the ship the Berengeria. He and his family settled in GreatMeadows, New Jersey, where he worked on the peat fields.After his father died, he moved about to earn better money tohelp support his mother and siblings. Andrew travelled as farwest as Michigan and then back East to Massachusetts to workon a water reservoir project called the Quabbin. He wasintensely proud of the engineering of the Quabbin and untilthe day he died, he enjoyed walking the land and fishing theSwift River for native brook trout. Other fishermen sought hisadvice and even helped him tie his flies to his tippet when hishands stiffened and did not cooperate.

Anne and Andrew opened a restaurant and a gas station onRoute 9 in Ware. Andrew knew people would come to see theQuabbin and enjoy its beauty, so he built cabins to rent totravellers. Out-of-town guests were entertained with visits tothe Quabbin, stories of the Swift River Valley, and the buildingof the Quabbin Reservoir.

Andrew died in 1984. His picture is in one of the photographalbums at the Visitor’s Center which show images of the con-struction of the reservoir. Anne is now 95, still lives on Route 9and entertains us with stories of Italy, the Swift River Valley,and life in the old days.

—Julie Bullock

Italy, the Ukraine, New Jersey and the Quabbin

Friends of Quabbin2008-2009 Officers and Board of Directors

Friends of Quabbin, Inc.Quabbin Reservation Administration Building485 Ware RoadBelchertown, Massachusetts 01007

413-323-7221www.friendsofquabbin.org

Mark Thompson, President 124 Fisher Dick RoadWare, MA 01082413-949-0799mrvesto@comcast.net

Ruth Jazab, Vice President27 Szetala DriveChicopee, MA 01013413-594-2474

William Elliot, Treasurer999 Shutesbury RoadAmherst, MA 01002413-259-1456

J.R. Greene, Chairman26 Bearsden RoadAthol, MA 01331978-249-0156jrg01331@webtv.net

Bob Bousquet, Clerk5 Pine Crest CircleWare, MA 01082413-967-6970bousquet5@comcast.net

Julie Bullock150 West Main StreetWare, MA 01082413-967-4528

Robert Creed5 Kinder LaneShutesbury, MA 01072creed@englishumass.edu

Paul Godfrey47 Harkness RoadPelham, MA 01002413-253-5686413-545-2842 (office)

Marty Howe98 Lower Beverly HillsWest Springfield, MA 01089mfhowe79@yahoo.com

Bill O’Neil24 Old Wales Rd.Monson, MA 01057413-374-7731billoneil1957@yahoo.com

Steve Rideout457 Wendell RoadShutesbury, MA 01072413-259-9123

Eileen Simonson25 Hitching Post RoadAmherst, MA 01002erswater@yahoo.com

John Zebb261 The MeadowsEnfield, CT 06082860-253-0357

Call for Member SubmissionsThis is your newsletter. We invite members tosubmit stories, articles, or reminiscences aboutthe human or natural history of the Swift RiverValley and Quabbin Reservoir.

Please send e-mail to Bill O’Neil at billoneil1957@yahoo.com, or mail items to: The Friends of Quabbin 485 Ware Road, Belchertown, MA 01007

10 | The Friends of Quabbin Newsletter–Spring 2009

Quabbin Voices is the periodic newsletter of the Friends of Quabbin, Inc.

The views and opinions expressed in thisnewsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends of Quabbin, Inc.

Editors: Bill O’Neil, Clif ReadDesign: Eileen KlockarsIllustrations: Russ Buzzell

QuabbinVoices