Itinerary

Springwater Fieldtrip I17

November 3-8, 2017

Participants: Dallas Abbott and Bill Menke

Friday, November 3, 2017.

9:00 AM, Leave Tappan NY

2:00 PM, Walk Bradford Bog Trail through stand of Atlantic White Cedar to raised platform offering view of the bog.

2:30 PM, Meet Anne Eldridge by ruins of Bradford Springs Hotel, E. Washington Rd, Bradford, NH.

3:00 PM, Spring 1, Site 66, Bradford Spring. Deploy kayaks into stream west of E. Washington Rd. and kayak with Anne a few hundred meters to the spring house of Bradford Springs, a small brick structure in a marsh.

6:00 PM. Stop for dinner and to stay the night at home of Gigi and Paul Estes, 1 Maple Street, Plymouth New Hampshire. They are members of the Plymouth Conservation Commission.

Saturday, November 4, 2017.

7:00 AM. Breakfast with Paul and Gigi Estes, at their house.

8:30 AM. Drive with Nate Mulherin and Bruce Johnson to Enfield NH.

10:00 AM, Join a tour of the Smith Pond Shaker Forest, Enfield NH, led by staffers from the Upper Valley Land Trust, including Doug Brown, Alison Marchione and John Roe. Five mile hike takes about five hours, including a lunch break at Smith Pond.

6:00 PM, Dinner with Paul and Gigi Estes and their friends at their house in Plymouth NH. Stay the night at their house.

Sunday, November 5, 2017.

8:00 AM, Breakfast with Paul and Gigi Estes, at their house.

9:00 AM, Hike with Lisa Doner in the Walter-Newton Natural Area, Plymouth NH. Lisa is the Chair of the Plymouth Conservation Commission. Hike along Glove Hollow Brook takes about two hours.

12:30 PM, Lunch with Paul and Gigi Estes at their house in Plymouth NH, joined by Lisa Doner.

1:00, Drive to Clarendon VT.

4:00 PM, Spring 2, Site 67, Clarendon Springs, Clarendon Springs VT. Outflow below a large wooden spring house, accesses by a pedestrian bridge over the Clarendon River, at the end of Clarendon Springs Lane. Clarendon House, an old (and no longer operating) mineral springs resort hotel is nearby.

5:00 PM, Dinner of tuna sandwiches. Check in and stay the night at the Clarendon Springs Bed and Breakfast, Walker Mountain Road, West Rutland VT.

Monday, November 6, 2017

8:00 AM, Breakfast of omelets and home-fries at Clarendon Springs Bed and Breakfast.

9:00 AM, Spring 3, Site 68, North Clarendon Spring, Creek Road, Clarendon VT. Outflow pipe is on the hillside beside the Creek Road, about a half mile north of Walker Mountain Road, adjacent to a dilapidated wooden spring house. Otter creek is to the east.

10:00 AM, Hike up Okemo Ridge Road, Ludlow VT, past the lodge of the Okemo Mountain Resort.

11:00 AM, Spring 4, Site 69, Meet Dennis Devereux of the Vermont legislature and property owner Jon McCann, who take us to the Green Mountain Mineral Spring, in a railroad right-of-way at Summit Road, Mount Holly, VT. Water flowing down 8-foot high rock face in road cut. Write-up attached.

12:30 PM, Spring 5, Site 70, Lucky-Seven Spring, Lincoln Road, Ripton VT. Outflow pipe on hillside flowing into a cast iron trough with inscription, “Compliments of Lucky Seven”, across the road from the North Branch Middlebury River.

2:00 PM, Spring 6, Site 71, Fayston Spring, Center Fayston Road, Moretown VT, outflow pipe on hillside into a stone trough with inscription, “Presented by Mrs. B.B. Miller 1982”.

3:00 PM, Spring 7, Site 72, Wonooski Spring, River Rd south of Wonooski St, Duxbury VT, ouflow pipe on hillside below a small concrete spring house.

5:00 PM, Check in to the La Quinta Inn and Suites, 813 Fairfax Rd, St. Albins, VT. Dinner of tuna sandwiches.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017.

7:30 AM, Breakfast at the La Quinta Inn and Suites, St. Albins, VT.

9:00 AM, Meet with group, including Vermont historian Gerald Dexter, at the Town Hall, Sheldon VT.

11:00 AM, Spting 8, Site 73, Vermont Spring, at the Daniel Lussier & Family Farm, East Sheldon Road, Sheldon VT. Outflow into a small pond below a hill.

11:30 AM, Spring 9, Site 74, Missisquoi Spring, Route 74 south of Shawville Road, outflow in rivulets above a small wetland.

12:05 PM, Spring 10, Congress Hill Spring, 144 Shawville Road near St Anthonys Rectory, small concrete spring house below hillside.

12:30 PM, Spring 11, Site 77, Central Spring, 276 Central St, Sheldon VT. Seeps in a small marsh on side of a gently sloping hills with small concrete hillside.

1:00 PM, Lunch of pizza at the Sheldon Creek Market, Bridge St, Sheldon VT. Viewed falls on the Black Creek from the nearby bridge.

3:00 PM, Viewed Lake Champlain at Rock River boat launch, Route 7, Highgate Springs, VT.

4:00 PM, Hiked in Red Rocks Park, South Burlington, VT.

5:30 PM, Checked into the La Quinta Inn and Suites, 1285 Williston Rd, South Burlington, VT.

6:30 PM, Dinner of burritos at the Moe’s Southwest Grill, 1150 Williston Rd, South Burlington, VT.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017.

8:00 AM, Breakfast at the La Quinta Inn and Suites, South Burlington, VT.

9:30 AM, View Lake Iroquois, Williston VT, from the boat launch and public beach. Frost this morning.

10:00 AM, View a wetland along Richmond Rd, near the Old Farm Rd intersection, Richmond VT.

10:30 AM, Park by the Old Round Church and view the Winooski River from the Bridge Street bridge.

11:00 AM, View farms, wetlands and a gravel quarry along the Second Branch White River along Route 14 in Brookfield VT.

11:45 AM, Spring 12, Site 78, Brookfield Spring, along Route 14 south of Brown Drive intersection, Brookfield VT, opposite a wetland. Outflow pipe on hillside flows into a large white plastic barrel.

12:15 PM, View the Brookfield Floating Bridge, which crosses Sunset Lake, Brookfield VT.

12:30 PM, Hike in Allis State Park, Randolph VT, and climb the observation tower, which offers good views of neighboring mountains.

9:00 PM Arrive Tappan NY.

Green Mountain Mineral Spring, Mount Holly, Vermont

Dallas Abbott and Bill Menke

We visited the site of the Mt Holly Spring on Tuesday November 7, 2017. We met representative Dennis Devereux of the Vermont legislature and property owner Jon McCann at the east crossing of the railroad tracks on Summit Road in Mt Holly Vermont. The spring in this area was originally called Green Mountain Mineral Spring. In a 1903 publication from the US Geological Survey, it was reputed to have a flow rate of 3 gallons per minute and a temperature of 58°F. The bedrock consists of slate and marble. Jon had extensively surveyed the area along the roadbed and found a crack in slate bedrock with an outflow of water. Although a sulfur smell was reported in the 19^th century, we did not smell sulfur. We filled ¼ of a 21 liter bucket in 1 minute and 40 seconds, for a flow rate of 3.15 liters per minute or 0.83 gallons per minute. As we were unable to capture the entire flow, it appears that the 1903 estimated flow rate of 3 gallons per minute was relatively accurate. We measured the temperature of the water as 10.8°C or 51.4°F so the 1903 estimate of water temperature was either somewhat high, varied seasonally or has decreased over time.

The original spring water had a moderately high iron content. We had previously seen an iron bearing spring in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. The water from this spring supported bacteria that gave a yellowish cast to the water. There was a small crack lower down in the slate wall a few feet from the spring we measured and closer to Summit Road that also had flowing water. The flow rate was lower than that of the first spring, but could not be directly measured due to its location near the surface of the railroad bed. This water ponded in the railroad bed and had a yellowish cast like that of the iron rich spring in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. We took a sample of this water but did not measure its temperature.

The location of the spring with the higher flow rate is 43° 26.732’N and 72° 46.762’W. The elevation of the site from our GPS fix is 1542±30 feet. This agrees well with the USGS map of the area. It shows the summit elevation as being about 470 meters or 1542 ft.

The site of the spring in Mt. Holly is the old Summit Station. It was called Summit Station because it was the highest point on the railroad line from Boston to Burlington, VT. When the railroad line was constructed, the excavation uncovered a mammoth tusk and tooth. The mammoth tusk became the Vermont State terrestrial fossil. When the railroad line was finished, the last spike was put in at Summit Station and toasted with Boston rum and Vermont hard cider.

The waters of the spring were recorded as containing sulfur, iron, manganese, soda, silica, magnesium, potassium and CO₂ gas. They were noted for a lack of precipitation of the dissolved solids. The spring water was touted as a cure for indigestion, general weakness, chronic constipation, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, rheumatism, gout, kidney problems, liver problems, tuberculosis of the neck (scrofula), diabetes and skin problems, in particular eczema.