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From: "BBFFRRPP" <>
Subject: Musketaquid River ... (H. D. THOREAU)
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 08:08:38 -0400


Hello,

Because I live near the shore of the Concord River, I have looked up a
little bit about its history. And, I'd like to type a section of the
first page of the book, "Concord River," by L. EATON.

"We, in Concord, think of the river as the winding stretch of water, eleven
miles up to Wayland and eleven down to Billerica, all with generally the
same characteristics of a narrow nearly stagnant stream through broad
meadows most of the year, but rising sometimes more than once to cover the
meadows with an expanse of water, in some places nearly a mile wide.
This stream first called Musketaquid, then the Great River, then the
Concord, even up in Hopkinton, was later the Hopkinton above Framingham,
the Sudbury below in Sudbury, and finally a little over a hundred years ago,
the map-makers called the whole south branch the Sudbury; the north branch
the Assabet, and the river below their junction, the Concord.

Whatever its name, it is the river Emerson spoke of in his poems and essays,
Thoreau and Hawthorne in their books, and Brewster in his diary of which
one published volume of selections is entitled 'Concord River'."

On page 2: "Many other writers have described the appearance of the river
in Concord; ...... ..... To broaden your image of the Concord River,
think of it not as the river of Thoreau or the Flood arched by the rude
bridge, but the river which flows from the birthplace of Eli WHITNEY in
Westborough to that of James Abbott McNEILL WHISTLER in Lowell, and has
turned the wheels of over 50 different mills at one time or another
..........."

This above book was published in 1964 and already "warned" readers that the
river was in danger of becoming polluted. (FYI: The Concord River
has been labeled as "UNSWIMMABLE" for a great many years !)

And, a reminder that Thoreau's book, "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack
Rivers," was written during the summer of .. 1839.
I had mentioned in local newspapers a few years back .. that I wondered
whether anyone would want to take the same journey ..now ..
165 years later ! What would you see .. and what would your
"feelings" be as you observed the shores of all the rivers mentioned here.

...The "biographical sketch" in the front of the book says:
"Henry David THOREAU was the last male descendant of a French ancestor who
came to this country from the Isle of Guernsey. ....
He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on the 12th of July, 1817.
He was graduated from Harvard College in 1837. .... After leaving the
University, he joined his brother in teaching a private school, which he
soon renounced. ......... His father was a manufacturer of lead-pencils
......"

.. I haven't looked for it yet, but I think there is a web site which tells
of the original names for the ..rivers.. in New England.

Betty (near Lowell, MA)

http://www.merrimack.org/

http://www.mywatershed.com/all/gom/mer/mer.htm

http://www.nps.gov/lowe/merrimack.htm

http://oz.plymouth.edu/~lts/wilderness/cronontxt.html









"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children;
one is roots, the other is wings."

Hodding Carter, Jr.






"What does Jesus want in his "stocking" on Christmas morning?
Loving kindness, a warm heart, and the stretched out hand of tolerance!"

The Bishop's Wife (1947)




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