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91-496: The river's falls in downtown Springfield played a significant role in the area's mill boom during the 19th century and attracted businesses to relocate. Notably, the Jones & Lamson Machine Co. emerged from this era and gained worldwide recognition as a toolmaker. This led to the establishment of Precision Valley, a hub of technological innovation in the early 20th century. November 28, 1894 : The Springfield Electric Railway Company

182-643: A 1635 scouting party commissioned by William Pynchon to found a city on the river's most advantageous site for commerce and agriculture. Pynchon's Massachusetts scouts located the Pocomtuc village of Agawam, where the Bay Path trade route crossed the Connecticut River at two of its major tributaries—the Chicopee River to the east and Westfield River to the west—and just north of Enfield Falls,

273-525: A campaign of water conservation. Demand was reduced to sustainable levels by 1989, reaching approximately a 25% margin of safety by 2009. The Connecticut River is the largest river ecosystem in New England. Its watershed spans Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, small portions of Maine, and the Canadian province of Quebec. The Connecticut River rises from Fourth Connecticut Lake ,

364-576: A center of wildlife and recreation. Starting about 1865, the river was used for massive logging drives from Third Connecticut Lake to initially water powered sawmills near Enfield Falls. Trees cut adjacent to tributary streams including Perry Stream and Indian Stream in Pittsburg, New Hampshire , Halls Stream on the Quebec –New Hampshire border, Simms Stream , the Mohawk River , and

455-782: A dialect of the Mohegan-Pequot language , which became extinct by the early 20th century. Some tribal members are undertaking revival efforts. The Pequot and the Mohegan were formerly a single group, but the Mohegan split off in the 17th century as the Pequot came to control much of Connecticut. Simmering tensions with the New England Colonies led to the Pequot War of 1634–1638, which some historians consider to be

546-885: A diversity of colonial organisms including bryozoa . Freshwater sponges the size of dinner plates have been found by scuba divers at depths of more than 130 feet (40 m), thought to be the deepest location of the river, around the French King Bridge in Erving, Massachusetts. Mussels, eels, and northern pike were also observed there. There are several species of anadromous and catadromous fish, including brook trout , winter flounder , blueback herring , alewife , rainbow trout , large brown trout , American shad ( Alosa sapidissima ), hickory shad , smallmouth bass , Atlantic sturgeon , striped bass ( Morone saxatilis ), American eel , sea lamprey , and endangered shortnose sturgeon and dwarf wedgemussels. Additionally,

637-562: A fully owned subsidiary. March 15, 1951 : The Springfield Electric Railway Company dissolves. June 30, 1983 : Guilford Transportation Industries, Inc. acquires both the Boston and Maine Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary, the Springfield Terminal Railway Company. 1987 : Guilford Transportation Industries, Inc. leases its Maine Central Railroad Company and Portland Terminal Company properties to

728-560: A genocide under modern day terms, which dramatically reduced the population and influence of the Pequot; many members were killed, enslaved, or dispersed. Small numbers of Pequots remain in Connecticut, receiving reservations at Mashantucket in 1666 and at the Pawcatuck River in 1683; others lived in different areas and with other tribes. In the 18th century, some Christian Pequot joined members of several other groups to form

819-471: A reservation called "Lantern Hill." The Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation is recognized by the state of Connecticut . The 800+ Mashantucket Pequot or Western Pequot gained federal recognition in 1983 and have a reservation in Ledyard . The Poospatuck Reservation on Long Island is also home to a few hundred self-identified Pequot descendants. Nearly all individuals who are identified as Pequot live in

910-734: A series of slow-flowing basins from Lake Francis Dam in Pittsburg, New Hampshire, to the Holyoke Dam at South Hadley Falls in Massachusetts. Among the most extensively dammed rivers in the United States, the Connecticut may soon flow at a more natural pace, according to scientists at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who have devised a computer that – "in an effort to balance human and natural needs" – coordinates

1001-565: A small pond 300 yards (270 m) south of the Canada–United States border in the town of Pittsburg, New Hampshire , at an elevation of 2,670 feet (810 m) above sea level. It flows through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis for 14 miles (23 km), all within the town of Pittsburg, and then widens as it delineates 255 miles (410 km) of the border between New Hampshire and Vermont. The river drops more than 2,480 feet (760 m) in elevation as it winds south to

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1092-482: A toll on Connecticut Colony ships entering Boston Harbor . Connecticut was largely dependent on sea trade with Boston and therefore permanently dropped its tax on Springfield, but Springfield allied with Boston nonetheless, drawing the first state border across the Connecticut River. The Fort at Number 4 in Charlestown, New Hampshire , was the northernmost British colonial presence on the Connecticut River until

1183-769: Is an important conduit of many anadromous fish, such as American shad , lamprey , and Atlantic salmon . American eels are also present, as are predators of these migratory fish including striped bass . Shad run as far north as Holyoke, Massachusetts where they are lifted over the Holyoke Dam by a fish elevator. This station publishes annual statistics of the run, and has recorded an occasional salmon. They pass an additional elevator in Turners Falls, Massachusetts , and make it at least as far as Bellows Falls, Vermont . Harbor seals have been recorded traveling upriver as far north as Holyoke in pursuit of migratory fish; it

1274-614: Is established in the State of Vermont. November 1894 : The Springfield Electric Railway Company of New Hampshire leases its assets to the Springfield Electric Railway Company. January 1922 : The Springfield Electric Railway Company undergoes reorganization and becomes the Springfield Terminal Railway Company. 1932 : The Boston and Maine Railroad purchases the entire capital stock of the Springfield Terminal Railway Company between 1922 and 1932, making it

1365-540: Is home to some of the northeastern United States' most productive farmland, as well as the Hartford–Springfield Knowledge Corridor , a metropolitan region of approximately two million people surrounding Springfield, Massachusetts , and Hartford, Connecticut . The word "Connecticut" is a corruption of the Mohegan word quinetucket and Nipmuc word kwinitekw , which mean "beside the long, tidal river". The word came into English usage during

1456-693: Is now inundated by the impoundments of dams built after this time. The Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the American Revolutionary War created a new international border between New Hampshire and the Province of Canada at "northwesternmost headwaters of the Connecticut". Several streams fit this description, and thus a boundary dispute led to the short-lived Indian Stream Republic , which existed from 1832 to 1835. The broad, fertile Connecticut River Valley attracted agricultural settlers and colonial traders to Hartford, Springfield, and

1547-652: Is one of the few major rivers in the United States without a major city at its mouth because of this obstacle. Major cities on the Connecticut River are Hartford and Springfield, which lie 45 and 69 miles (70 and 110 km) upriver respectively. The Nature Conservancy named the Connecticut River's tidelands one of the Western Hemisphere's "40 Last Great Places", while the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands listed its estuary and tidal wetlands as one of 1,759 wetlands of international importance. In 1997,

1638-405: Is possible that they ranged farther upstream before the dam was built. In the southernmost portions in southern Connecticut near Long Island Sound, dolphins are spotted on occasion. There are 12 species of freshwater mussels. Eleven of them occur in the mainstem of the Connecticut; the brook floater is found only in small streams and rivers. Species diversity is higher in the southern part of

1729-486: Is well known for Connecticut shade tobacco . The Connecticut River is influenced by the tides as far north as Enfield Rapids in Windsor Locks, Connecticut , approximately 58 miles (93 km) north of the river's mouth. Two million residents live in the densely populated Hartford-Springfield region, which stretches roughly between the college towns of Amherst, Massachusetts, and Middletown, Connecticut. Hartford,

1820-715: The Brothertown Indians in western New Hampshire . They relocated to western New York in the 19th century, where they were allowed land by the Oneida people of the Iroquois League , and later to Wisconsin, where they were granted a reservation. The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe received federal recognition in 1983 through a settlement of a land claim. In 1986, they founded the Foxwoods Resort Casino on their land. Located in proximity to

1911-617: The CCC , contributed aid and manpower to the effort. Flooding of roads isolated the city for a time. When the water receded, it left behind silt-caused mud which in places was 3 feet (1 m) thick; the recovery effort in Springfield, at the height of the American Great Depression , took approximately a decade. Overall, the flood caused 171 deaths and US$ 500 million (US$ 11,000,000,000 with inflation ) in damages. Across

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2002-664: The Connecticut River Valley can be traced to Rev. William Hubbard, who claimed in 1677 that the Pequot had invaded the region sometime before the establishment of Plymouth Colony , rather than originating in the region. In the aftermath of King Philip's War , Hubbard detailed in his Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England the ferocity with which some of New England 's tribes responded to

2093-903: The Connecticut Trolley Museum in East Windsor, Connecticut . Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for 406 miles (653 km) through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec , Canada , and discharges at Long Island Sound . Its watershed encompasses 11,260 square miles (29,200 km ), covering parts of five U.S. states and one Canadian province, via 148 tributaries, 38 of which are major rivers. It produces 70% of Long Island Sound's fresh water, discharging at 18,400 cubic feet (520 m ) per second. The Connecticut River Valley

2184-614: The Mashantucket Pequot Reservation where many members of the tribe continue to live. The Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation was recognized in 2002. Since the 1930s, both Pequot tribes had serious tension over racial issues, with some people claiming that darker-skinned descendants should not be considered fully Pequot. Two groups of Eastern Pequots filed petitions for recognition with the BIA, and they agreed to unite to achieve recognition. The state immediately challenged

2275-738: The Mohawk , Mahican , and Iroquois tribes. The Pennacook tribe mediated many early disagreements between colonists and other Indian tribes, with a territory stretching roughly from the Massachusetts border with Vermont and New Hampshire, northward to the rise of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The Western Abenaki ( Sokoki ) tribe lived in the Green Mountains region of Vermont but wintered as far south as

2366-531: The Narragansett tribes sided with the colonists. Around 1,500 Pequot warriors were killed in battles or hunted down, and others were captured and distributed as slaves or household servants. A few escaped to join the Mohawk and the Niantic tribes on Long Island . Eventually, some returned to their traditional lands, where family groups of friendly Pequots had stayed. Of those enslaved, most were awarded to

2457-617: The New Netherland colony. In 1623, Dutch traders constructed a fortified trading post at the site of Hartford, Connecticut , called the Fort Huys de Hoop ("Fort House of Hope"). Four separate Puritan -led groups also settled the fertile Connecticut River Valley, and they founded the two large cities that continue to dominate the Valley: Hartford (est. 1635) and Springfield (est. 1636). The first group of pioneers left

2548-678: The New York City metropolitan area , it has become one of the country's most successful Native American casinos . The Pawcatuck River Pequot formed the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation , which is recognized by Connecticut but is not federally recognized. Additionally, Pequot descendants are enrolled in the federally recognized Mohegan Tribe , as well as the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation and Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation of Connecticut, and

2639-531: The Northfield, Massachusetts , area. The ( Sokoki ) tribe migrated to Odanak, Quebec following the epidemics and the wars with the settlers but returned to Vermont. In 1614, Dutch explorer Adriaen Block became the first European to chart the Connecticut River, sailing as far north as Enfield Rapids . He called it the "Fresh River" and claimed it for the Netherlands as the northeastern border of

2730-761: The Nulhegan River basin in Essex County, Vermont , would be flushed into the main river by the release of water impounded behind splash dams . Several log drivers died trying to move logs through Perry Falls in Pittsburg. Teams of men would wait at Canaan, Vermont , to protect the bridges from log jams. Men guided logs through a 400-foot (120 m) drop along the length of Fifteen-Mile Falls (now submerged under Moore and Comerford reservoirs), and through Logan's Rips at Fitzdale, Mulligan's Lower Pitch, and Seven Islands. The White River from Vermont and Ammonoosuc River from New Hampshire brought more logs into

2821-714: The Passumpsic , Ammonoosuc , White , Black , West , Ashuelot , Millers , Deerfield , Chicopee , Westfield , and Farmington rivers. The Swift River , a tributary of the Chicopee, has been dammed and largely replaced by the Quabbin Reservoir which provides water to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority district in eastern Massachusetts, including Boston and its metropolitan area . Along its southern reaches,

Springfield Terminal Railway (Vermont) - Misplaced Pages Continue

2912-732: The Plymouth Colony in 1632 and ultimately founded the village of Matianuck (which became Windsor, Connecticut ) several miles north of the Dutch fort. A group left the Massachusetts Bay Colony from Watertown , seeking a site where they could practice their religion more freely. With this in mind, they founded Wethersfield, Connecticut , in 1633, several miles south of the Dutch fort at Hartford. In 1635, Reverend Thomas Hooker led settlers from Cambridge, Massachusetts , where he had feuded with Reverend John Cotton , to

3003-525: The Six Flags New England amusement park. The Connecticut's largest falls – South Hadley Falls – features a vertical drop of 58 feet (18 m). Lush green forests and agricultural hamlets dot this middle portion of the Connecticut River; however, the region is best known for its numerous college towns , such as Northampton, South Hadley , and Amherst , as well as the river's most populous city, Springfield. The city sits atop bluffs beside

3094-602: The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests , The Nature Conservancy of New Hampshire, and others to raise around $ 42 million. A conservation easement over 146,000 acres (590 km ) of the property prohibits development of the land while allowing public access. The forest is managed by the Lyme Timber Company, and the conservation easement over the land ensures sustainable forest management of

3185-602: The Trust for Public Land purchased 171,000 acres (690 km ) of land in New Hampshire from International Paper , allowing the Connecticut Lakes Headwaters Partnership Task Force to plan the future protection of the land. The property spans the towns of Pittsburg , Clarksville , and Stewartstown, New Hampshire , nearly 3 percent of the land in the state of New Hampshire. The Trust for Public Land worked in partnership with

3276-778: The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has repopulated the river with another species of migratory fish, the Atlantic salmon , which for more than 200 years had been extinct from the river due to damming . Several fish ladders and fish elevators have been built to allow fish to resume their natural migration upriver each spring. Fresh and brackish water residents of the main branch and tributaries include common carp , white catfish , brown bullhead , fallfish , yellow perch , smallmouth bass , largemouth bass , northern pike , chain pickerel , bluegill , pumpkinseed sunfish , golden shiner , and rock bass . Much of

3367-620: The Western Niantics , while maintaining an uneasy stand-off with their rivals the Mohegans . The Mattabesset (Tunxis) tribe takes its name from the place where its sachems ruled at the Connecticut River's Big Bend at Middletown, in a village sandwiched between the territories of the aggressive Pequots to the south and the more peaceable Mohegans to the north. The Mohegans dominated the region due north, where Hartford and its suburbs sit, particularly after allying themselves with

3458-491: The issuance of land grants by New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth beginning in the 1740s. New York protested these grants, and King George III decided in 1764 that the border between the provinces should be the western bank of the Connecticut River. Ethan Allen, the Green Mountain Boys , and other residents of the disputed area resisted attempts by New York to exercise authority there, which resulted in

3549-756: The 1970s and 1980s, especially the Mashantucket Pequot tribe which opened a casino in the same timeframe, and tribal chairman Richard A. Hayward encouraged them to return to their tribal homeland. He worked for Federal recognition and economic development. In 1976, the Pequots filed suit with the assistance of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) and the Indian Rights Association against landowners and residents of North Stonington to get their land, which

3640-445: The 21st century, the Mashantucket Pequot are undertaking aggressive efforts to revive the language. They are conducting careful analysis of historical documents containing Pequot words and comparing them to extant closely related languages. So far, they have reclaimed more than 1,000 words, though that is a small fraction of what would be necessary for a functional language. The Mashantucket Pequots have begun offering language classes with

3731-739: The Bay Path where the Connecticut River meets the western Westfield River and eastern Chicopee River . The Pocomtuc villagers at Agawam helped Puritan explorers settle this site and remained friendly with them for decades, unlike tribes farther north and south along the Connecticut River. The region stretching from Springfield north to the New Hampshire and Vermont state borders fostered many agricultural Pocomtuc and Nipmuc settlements, with its soil enhanced by sedimentary deposits. Occasionally, these villages endured invasions from more aggressive confederated tribes living in New York , such as

Springfield Terminal Railway (Vermont) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3822-475: The Brothertown Indians of Wisconsin, which also have degrees of state recognition. The Poospatuck Reservation on Long Island is home to a few hundred self-identified Pequot descendants. Pequot is an Algonquian word whose meaning is disputed among language specialists. Considerable scholarship on the Pequot claims that the name came from Pequttôog , meaning "the destroyers" or "the men of

3913-627: The Colonists against the Pequots during the Pequot War of 1637. Their culture was similar to the Pequots, as they had split off from them and become their rivals some time prior to European exploration of the area. The agricultural Pocomtuc tribe lived in unfortified villages alongside the Connecticut River north of the Enfield Falls on the fertile stretch of hills and meadows surrounding Springfield, Massachusetts . The Pocomtuc village of Agawam eventually became Springfield, situated on

4004-430: The Connecticut Colony and New Netherland Colony to a point near Greenwich, Connecticut . The treaty allowed the Dutch to maintain their trading post at Fort Huys de Hoop, which they did until the 1664 British takeover of New Netherland. The Connecticut River Valley's central location, fertile soil, and abundant natural resources made it the target of centuries of border disputes, beginning with Springfield's defection from

4095-448: The Connecticut Colony in 1641, which brought the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the river. In 1640, Massachusetts Bay Colony asserted a claim to jurisdiction over lands surrounding the river; however, Springfield remained politically independent until tensions with the Connecticut Colony were exacerbated by a final confrontation later that year. Hartford kept a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook for protection against

4186-702: The Connecticut River has carved a wide, fertile floodplain valley (known in Massachusetts as the Pioneer Valley), depositing rich silt and loam soils known internationally for their agricultural merit. Abundant riparian hardwood species include sycamores, cottonwood , basswood, willows, sassafras, box elder, black elder, osier dogwood and more. The river itself and its many tributaries are home to many typical New England freshwater species. These include dace , crawfish , hellgramites , freshwater mussels , typical frog species, snapping turtles , brook trout , freshwater sturgeon, catfish, walleye, chain pickerel and carp. Introduced species include stocked rainbow trout . The river

4277-435: The Connecticut River was designated one of only 14 American Heritage Rivers , which recognized its "distinctive natural, economic, agricultural, scenic, historic, cultural, and recreational qualities." In May 2012, the Connecticut River was designated America's first National Blueway in recognition of the restoration and preservation efforts on the river. The Connecticut River's flow is slowed by main stem dams, which create

4368-419: The Connecticut's confluence with two major tributaries, the Chicopee River to the east and Westfield River to the west. The region around the Connecticut River is known locally as the Pioneer Valley , and the name adorns many local civic organizations and local businesses. While the southern part of the valley in Massachusetts is heavily urbanized, the northern section is largely rural and the local agriculture

4459-546: The Connecticut. After the first major dam was built near Turners Falls, Massachusetts , thirteen additional dams have ended the Connecticut River's great anadromous fish runs. Salmon restoration efforts began in 1967, and fish ladders at a fish elevator at Hadley Falls have since enabled migrating fish to return to some of their former spawning grounds. In addition to dams, warm water discharges between 1978 and 1992 from Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Vernon, Vermont released water up to 105 °F (41 °C) degrees, with

4550-489: The Connecticut. A log boom was built between Wells River, Vermont , and Woodsville, New Hampshire , to hold the logs briefly and release them gradually to avoid jams in the Ox Bow. Men detailed to this work utilized Woodsville's saloons and red-light district . Some of the logs were destined for mills in Wilder and Bellows Falls, Vermont , while others were sluiced over the Bellows Falls dam. North Walpole, New Hampshire , contained twelve to eighteen saloons, patronized by

4641-399: The Connecticut. This resulted in an unsuccessful lawsuit by the state of Connecticut against the diversion of its riparian waters. Demand for drinking water in eastern Massachusetts passed the sustainable supply from the existing system in 1969. Diverting water from the Connecticut River was considered several times, but in 1986 the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority instead undertook

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4732-482: The English. Hubbard described the Pequot as "foreigners" to the region; not invaders from another shore, but "from the interior of the continent" who "by force seized upon one of the goodliest places near the sea, and became a Terror to all their Neighbors." Much of the archaeological, linguistic, and documentary evidence now available demonstrates that the Pequot were not invaders to the Connecticut River Valley but were indigenous in that area for thousands of years. By

4823-408: The Mashantucket Pequot tribe, enabling them to buy the land covered in the Settlement Act and place it in trust with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for reservation use. In 1986, they opened a bingo operation, followed by the first phase of Foxwoods Resort Casino in 1992. Revenue from the casino has enabled the development and construction of a cultural museum which opened on August 11, 1998, on

4914-413: The Massachusetts Bay Colony. For decades, Springfield remained the Massachusetts Bay Colony's westernmost settlement, on the northern border of the Connecticut Colony. Of these settlements, Hartford and Springfield quickly emerged as powers. By 1654, however, the success of these English settlements rendered the Dutch position untenable on the Connecticut River. A treaty moved the boundary westward between

5005-413: The Native Americans of the eastern coast of New England, but it did not reach the Pequot, Niantic, and Narragansett tribes. In 1633, the Dutch established a trading post called the House of Good Hope at Hartford . They executed the principal Pequot sachem Tatobem because of a violation of an agreement. After the Pequot paid the Dutch a large ransom, they returned Tatobem's body to his people. His successor

5096-480: The Pequot received at the hands of the colonists was remembered almost two centuries later by other Native American tribes such as some groups of Shawnees . It was commonly thought that they had disappeared entirely due to violence against Native Americans provoked by American colonists, although this was not true. The 1910 census numbered the Pequot population at 66, and they reached their lowest number several decades later. Pequot numbers grew significantly during

5187-453: The Pequots claimed had been illegally sold in 1856 by the State of Connecticut, and they settled after seven years. The Connecticut Legislature passed legislation to petition the federal government to grant tribal recognition to the Mashantucket Pequots, and the "Mashantucket Pequot Indian Land Claims Settlement Act" was enacted by Congress and signed by President Ronald Reagan on October 18, 1983. This settlement granted federal recognition to

5278-442: The Pequots, Wampanoags , Mohegans, and the New Netherland Colony. After Springfield broke ties with the Colony, the remaining Connecticut settlements demanded that Springfield's ships pay tolls when passing the mouth of the river. The ships refused to pay this tax without representation at Connecticut's fort, but Hartford refused to grant it. In response, the Massachusetts Bay Colony solidified its friendship with Springfield by levying

5369-403: The Springfield Terminal Railway Company. September 11, 1987 : Guilford Transportation Industries, Inc. leases its Boston and Maine Corporation property to the Springfield Terminal Railway Company. May 1, 2009 : Pan Am Southern, LLC acquires the Boston and Maine Corporation property from points just east of Ayer, Massachusetts to the west, designating the Springfield Terminal Railway Company as

5460-411: The allied tribes, but many were also sold as slaves in Bermuda. The Mohegans treated their Pequot captives so severely that officials of Connecticut Colony eventually removed them. Connecticut established two reservations for the Pequots in 1683: the Eastern Pequot Reservation in North Stonington, Connecticut and the Western Pequots (or Mashantucket Pequot Reservation) in Ledyard . The poor treatment

5551-528: The beginning of the river's course in the town of Pittsburg is occupied by the Connecticut Lakes, which contain lake trout and landlocked salmon . Landlocked salmon make their way into the river during spring spawning runs of bait fish and during their fall spawn. The river has fly-fishing-only regulations on 5 miles (8 km) of river. Most of the river from Lake Francis south is open to lure and bait as well. Two tail-water dams provide cold river water for miles downstream, making for bountiful summer fishing on

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5642-452: The border of Massachusetts where it sits 190 feet (58 m) above sea level. The region along the river upstream and downstream from Lebanon, New Hampshire , and White River Junction, Vermont , is known as the "Upper Valley". The exact definition of the region varies, but it generally is considered to extend south to Windsor, Vermont , and Cornish, New Hampshire , and north to Bradford, Vermont , and Piermont, New Hampshire . In 2001,

5733-457: The college town of Northampton. Pequots 1637: 3,000 (est.) 1910: 66 1972: 21 The Pequot ( / ˈ p iː k w ɒ t / ) are a Native American people of Connecticut . The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe , four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation , or the Brothertown Indians of Wisconsin . They historically spoke Pequot,

5824-472: The community's connection to it. The trailhead is located approximately a mile east of downtown Springfield on SR 11/Clinton Street, and ample parking is available in a shared field utilized by the Springfield Farmers Market during Saturdays from June to early October. Future plans for the trail include an extension of approximately 0.7 mile northward to Bridge Street, aiming to enhance accessibility to downtown Springfield. Car number 10 and 16 are preserved at

5915-455: The dam's powerhouse from being overwhelmed, despite blocks of ice breaking through the upstream walls. In Northampton, Massachusetts , looting during the flood became a problem, causing the mayor of the city to deputize citizen patrols to protect flooded areas. Over 3,000 refugees from the area were housed in Amherst College and the Massachusetts State Agricultural College (now UMass Amherst ). Unprecedented accumulated ice jams compounded

6006-428: The decision, and the Department of the Interior revoked their recognition in 2005. That same year, it revoked recognition for the Schaghticoke tribe who had gained recognition in 2004. The Connecticut state government and Congressional delegation opposed the BIA's recognition because residents were worried that the newly recognized tribes would establish gaming casinos. The 1130-member Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation has

6097-410: The early 1600s to name the river, which was also called simply "The Great River". It was also known as the Fresh River, and the Dutch called it the Verse River. Early spellings of the name by European explorers included "Cannitticutt" in French or in English. Archaeological digs reveal human habitation of the Connecticut River Valley for 6,000 years before present. Numerous tribes lived throughout

6188-407: The end of the French and Indian War in 1763. The Abenaki had resisted British colonial settlement for decades, but colonists began settling north of Brattleboro, Vermont , following the war. Settlement of the Upper Connecticut River Valley increased quickly, with population assessments of 36,000 by 1790. Vermont was claimed by both New Hampshire and New York , and was settled primarily through

6279-408: The establishment of the independent Vermont Republic in 1777 and its eventual accession to the United States in 1791 as the fourteenth state. Boundary disputes between Vermont and New Hampshire lasted for nearly 150 years and were finally settled in 1933, when the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed King George's boundary as the ordinary low-water mark on the Vermont shore. In some places, the state line

6370-520: The fertile Connecticut River valley prior to Dutch exploration beginning in 1614. Information concerning how these tribes lived and interacted stems mostly from English accounts written during the 1630s. The Pequots dominated a territory in the southern region of the Connecticut River valley, stretching roughly from the river's mouth at Old Saybrook, Connecticut , north to just below the Big Bend at Middletown, Connecticut . They warred with and attempted to subjugate neighboring agricultural tribes such as

6461-463: The holding and releasing of water between the river's 54 largest dams. The Cabot and Turners Falls hydroelectric stations generate up to 68 MW. The Holyoke Canal System and Hadley Falls Station at Holyoke Dam are rated a combined 48 MW. The Connecticut River watershed encompasses 11,260 square miles (29,200 km ), connecting 148 tributaries, including 38 major rivers and numerous lakes and ponds. Major tributaries include (from north to south)

6552-409: The log drivers. Mount Tom was the landmark the log drivers used to gauge the distance to the final mills near Holyoke, Massachusetts . These spring drives were stopped after 1915, when pleasure boat owners complained about the hazards to navigation. The final drive included 500 workers controlling 65 million feet of logs. A final pulp drive consisted of 100,000 cords of four-foot logs in 1918. This

6643-530: The northeast, over 430,000 people were made homeless or destitute by flooding that year. The Connecticut River Flood Control Compact between the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont was established in 1953 to help prevent serious flooding. The creation of the Quabbin Reservoir in the 1930s diverted the Swift River , which feeds the Chicopee River, a tributary of

6734-759: The operator. In 1999, the Toonerville Rail-Trail, also known as the Springfield Greenway, was opened to the public. Spanning 3.2 miles, the paved multipurpose trail primarily follows the course of the Black River in eastern Springfield until it reaches the border with New Hampshire across the Connecticut River . The trail serves as a recreational pathway, preserving the legacy of the Toonerville Trolley and

6825-452: The police to issue a "shoot on sight" edict; 800 National Guard troops were brought in to help maintain order. Rescue efforts using a flotilla of boats saved people trapped in upper stories of buildings, bringing them to local fraternal lodges, schools, churches and monasteries for lodging, medical care, and food. The American Red Cross and local, state and federal agencies, including the WPA and

6916-481: The presence of large, shifting sandbars at its mouth, the Connecticut is the only major river in the Northeastern United States without a port at its mouth. The Connecticut River carries a heavy amount of silt from as far north as Quebec, especially during the spring snow melt. This results in a large sandbar near the river's mouth which is a formidable obstacle to navigation. The Connecticut

7007-609: The problems created by the flood, diverting water into unusual channels and damming the river, raising water levels even further. When the jam at Hadley, Massachusetts , gave way, the water crest overflowed the dam at Holyoke , overwhelming the sandbagging there. The village of South Hadley Falls was essentially destroyed, and the southern parts of Holyoke were severely damaged, with 500 refugees. In Springfield, Massachusetts, 5 sq mi (13 km ), and 18 miles (29 km) of streets, were flooded, and 20,000 people lost their homes. The city lost power, and nighttime looting caused

7098-628: The property. Following the most recent ice age , the Middle Connecticut River Valley sat at the bottom of Lake Hitchcock . Its lush greenery and rich, almost rockless soil comes from the ancient lake's sedimentary deposits. In the Middle Connecticut region, the river reaches its maximum depth – 130 feet (40 m) – at Gill, Massachusetts , around the French King Bridge , and its maximum width – 2,100 feet (640 m) – at Longmeadow , directly across from

7189-520: The river's first unnavigable waterfall. Pynchon surmised that traders using any of these routes would have to dock and change ships at his site, thereby granting the settlement a commercial advantage. It was initially named Agawam Plantation and was allied with the settlements to the south that became the state of Connecticut. In 1641, Springfield splintered off from the Hartford-based Connecticut Colony, allying itself with

7280-637: The second-largest city and the only state capital on the river, is at the southern end of this region on an ancient floodplain that stretches to Middletown. 15 miles (24 km) south of Hartford, at Middletown, the Lower Connecticut River section begins with a narrowing of the river, and then a sharp turn southeast. Throughout southern Connecticut, the Connecticut passes through a thinly populated, hilly, wooded region before again widening and discharging into Long Island Sound between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme in flat coastal marshlands. Due to

7371-499: The shad population has increased. The mouth of the river up to Essex is thought to be one of the busiest stretches of waterway in Connecticut. Some local police departments and the state Environmental Conservation Police patrol the area a few times a week. Some towns keep boats available if needed. In Massachusetts, the most active stretch of the Connecticut River is centered on the Oxbow , 14 miles (23 km) north of Springfield in

7462-534: The site in Connecticut of the Dutch Fort House of Hope, where he founded Newtowne. Shortly after Hooker's arrival, Newtowne annexed Matianuck based on laws articulated in Connecticut's settlement charter, the Warwick Patent of 1631. The patent, however, had been physically lost, and the annexation was almost certainly illegal. The fourth English settlement along the Connecticut River came out of

7553-493: The surrounding region. The high volume and numerous falls of the river led to the rise of industry along its banks during the Industrial Revolution . The cities of Springfield and Hartford in particular became centers of innovation and "intense and concentrated prosperity." The Enfield Falls Canal was opened in 1829 to circumvent shallows around Enfield Falls, and the locks built for this canal gave their name to

7644-472: The swamp". Frank Speck was a leading specialist of the Mohegan-Pequot language in the early twentieth century, and he believed that another term was more plausible, meaning "the shallowness of a body of water", given that the Pequot territory was along the coast of Long Island Sound . Historians have debated whether the Pequot migrated about 1500 from the upper Hudson River Valley toward central and eastern Connecticut . The theory of Pequot migration to

7735-457: The thermal plume reaching 55 miles (89 km) downstream as far as Holyoke. This thermal pollution appears to be associated with an 80% decline in American shad fish numbers from 1992 to 2005 at Holyoke Dam. This decline may have been exacerbated by over-fishing in the mid-Atlantic and predation from resurging striped bass populations. The nuclear plant was closed at the end of 2014, after which

7826-565: The time of the founding of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies, the Pequot had already attained a position of political, military, and economic dominance in central and eastern Connecticut. They occupied the coastal area between the Niantic tribe of the Niantic River of Connecticut and the Narragansett in western Rhode Island . The Pequot numbered some 16,000 persons in the most densely inhabited portion of southern New England. The smallpox epidemic of 1616–1619 killed many of

7917-436: The town of Windsor Locks, Connecticut . The Connecticut River Valley functioned as America's hub of technical innovation into the 20th century, particularly the cities of Springfield and Hartford, and thus attracted numerous railroad lines. The proliferation of the railroads in Springfield and Hartford greatly decreased the economic importance of the Connecticut River. From the late 1800s until today, it has functioned largely as

8008-524: The two above-named communities. Historically, the Pequots spoke a dialect of the Mohegan-Pequot language , an Eastern Algonquian language . The Treaty of Hartford concluded the Pequot War in 1637, when the colonists made speaking the language a capital offense. Within a generation or so, it became largely extinct. Pequot from both the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation and the Mashantucket Pequot now speak English as their first language. In

8099-429: The watershed (Connecticut and Massachusetts) than in the northern part (Vermont and New Hampshire), largely due to differences in stream gradient and substrate. Eight of the 12 species in the watershed are listed as endangered, threatened, or of special concern in one or more of the states in the watershed. A number of colonial animal species make their home in the waters of the Connecticut. Deeper areas are habitat for

8190-406: Was Sassacus . In 1633, an epidemic devastated all of the region's tribes, and historians estimate that the Pequot suffered the loss of 80 percent of their population. At the outbreak of the Pequot War , Pequot survivors may have numbered only about 3,000. Members of the Pequot tribe killed a resident of Connecticut Colony in 1636, John Oldham , and war erupted as a result. The Mohegan and

8281-490: Was to take advantage of the wartime demand. In March 1936, due to a winter with heavy snowfall, an early spring thaw and torrential rains, the Connecticut River flooded, overflowing its banks, destroying numerous bridges and isolating hundreds of people who had to be rescued by boat. The dam at Vernon, Vermont , was topped by 19 feet (5.8 m). Sandbagging by the National Guard and local volunteers helped prevent

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