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(1) WACHUSETT DAM AND RESERVOIR.

(a) Wachusett Dam.

A small amount of construction work has been done during the past year in connection with the Wachusett Dam.

Machinery for lighting, pumping and hoisting in the gate or power house has been obtained and set up in the house. The temporary wooden floor in the main room has been raised to its permanent level, but it is not contemplated to construct a permanent tile floor until the power plant, if determined upon, shall be installed. Appliances have been introduced for measuring and recording the amounts of water flowing into the Lancaster Mills pond and furnished to the Lancaster Mills. Some work has been done in pointing the joints of the up-stream face of the dam.

(b) Wachusett Reservoir.

In anticipation of the complete filling of the reservoir, it was deemed necessary to remove the weeds, grass and shrubs which had grown up, since the original stripping of the bed of the reservoir, upon the upper portions of the reservoir site where the water had not yet reached. There was thus cleaned up an area of about 1,130

acres.

The rising of the water of the reservoir, in connection with the action of the wind and rain and frost, has caused a caving in of the steeper banks in several places along the shores, and a consequent retreating of the margin to the original limit of the soil stripping. In such places further cleaning and removal of the soil have been found necessary, and for a total distance of about 4,600 feet the organic material has been further removed to a width of from 10 to 40 feet.

The steep bank on the northwesterly side of the reservoir beyond the waste-way of the dam, which had been covered with gravel, has been further protected from the action of the waves by the laying of riprap for a distance of about 265 feet.

On April 11 there occurred at the North Dike a slide of a portion of the material, composed of sand, gravel and riprap, which constitutes the facing or embankment sloping toward the reservoir. The portion of the dike affected was about 700 feet long, where the dike is about 80 feet high and has a thickness at the base of 1,930 feet.

[graphic]

WACHUSETT RESERVOIR-VIEW FROM NORTHWESTERLY END OF THE WACHUSETT DAM.

ASTOR, LENOX AND TADY FOUNDATIONS.

This facing, which had been placed of varying thicknesses against the water-tight core of the dike, had at this point a slope of 2 horizontal to 1 vertical, and the water had thus far risen against it to a depth of about 42 feet. The slide did not affect the stability of the dike proper, but did show the importance of lengthening the slope of the outer gravel facing approximating to that which is made by the natural action of the water.

It was therefore deemed advisable in making the necessary repairs to reenforce the embankment against the water of the reservoir, not only at the point where the slide occurred, but in other places, by extending the original decline of 2 to 1 to a slope of 4 and 5 horizontal to 1 vertical. The embankment has thus been strengthened at five different points along the westerly portion of the dike, aggregating a length of 1,560 feet. The necessary material was taken from the bed of the reservoir, and the rock for the riprap has been obtained from quarries on the land of the Commonwealth. All the labor has been performed by men and teams employed under the direct supervision of the Superintendent of the Wachusett Department, except for the laying of the heavy riprap, which was done under contract. The entire work had been completed at the end of the year except the laying of a small portion of the riprap. The cost of the work will be apportioned between construction and maintenance, that estimated for reenforcement and strengthening of the dike to construction and the remainder to maintenance.

A map of the completed reservoir, showing the water line and the marginal property line, and the positions of the more prominent points included in the area, has been prepared and accompanies this report.

(c) Location, Construction and Discontinuance of Roads. No new highways have been laid out during the past year, and but one highway has been discontinued, a description of which is as follows:

Discontinuance of Road in the Year 1907.

No. Location.

27 Sterling,

[blocks in formation]

That part of the road formerly leading from Sawyer's Mills January 18, 1907.
to Sterling, extending northwesterly from the portion of
said road already discontinued to the new highway from
West Boylston to Clinton.

(d) Clinton Catholic Cemetery.

As stated in previous annual reports, all the work required to be done under the agreement made with the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield, the St. John's Catholic Cemetery Association of Clinton, and the Board, by which lands were to be acquired in the southerly part of the town of Lancaster for a new cemetery and the bodies were to be removed from the old cemetery to the new cemetery site, has long been accomplished. The soil on the site of the old cemetery was stripped and removed, and the land has been embraced in the reservoir limits, while the new cemetery has long been in general use.

The Board has repeatedly, but without success, asked for the final performance of the stipulations of the agreement, that on the completion of the work the Bishop, who holds the title, shall convey to the Commonwealth the old cemetery lot, with a release of all claims for damages, and thereupon the Board is ready to convey the lands in Lancaster, to which the Commonwealth holds title, to the St. John's Catholic Cemetery Association, and to pay to the Association the balance of money, amounting to $32,096.83, due from the Commonwealth, all as required by the agreement.

(e) Engineering Work about Wachusett Reservoir.

During the past year the survey of the marginal line of the watershed of the Wachusett Reservoir has been completed and the entire area ascertained. The length of the marginal line is determined to be 78.93 miles, and the area of the watershed above the dam to be 118.90 square miles.

Lines have been drawn upon the record plans showing the contour of the area or bottom of the reservoir, completing the work except in the places where there have been recent changes at the shores. Subject to slight revision, the area of the reservoir has been fixed at 4,135.32 acres, or 6.46 square miles, and the capacity of the reservoir has been calculated to be 64,968,000,000 gallons.

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