View of the flume from our house.
Looking up the flume from the bottom.
Looking upstream at the top of the flume as May Brook pours through the woods.
Looking at the water go down the flume and into the beaver bog.
The kids love walking over here to slide down the flume in the summer.
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Stone Flume
Stone Flume is across the road. The kids go water sliding on it in the summer. The flow of water through it is regulated by the beaver dam upstream. You can explore the ruins of a century old mill on the side of it. The brush in the foreground is alder and willow that the beaver eat. This photograph was taken in February, but now, in April, the flume looks the same. There is a wider flow of water now, but it is still covered in ice and the beaver bog meadow, that the water flows into, is still entirely covered in about one foot of snow. I suppose I could have entitled this post "Stone Flume in Spring"!
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| Click to view more PhotoSunday |
We were out driving on May Pond Road on April 4, when I spied an old bridge in the woods off of the road. We stopped and John explained how these are the ruins of an old mill race on May Brook. He even found the old road in the woods that was used to access the mill. Above you see the curved basin of the mill. Slabs of granite were laid on top of the race for another road, which you can see below. The last photo shows between the granite slabs on the road.
When May Brook leaves the village reservoir, it falls into the Stone Flume and flows to Crystal Lake. I had been trying for three years to get this photograph but was never successful until John led the way to a safe cliff for photography. There was still snow and ice last weekend when we made this trek. The other photographs are stunning because of the rugged and untouched landscape. See my Barton Reservoir Set for more.| # | Title | Date | Town | County | Source | LS Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stone Flume | 1875 | Barton | Orleans | Special Collections, Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont | LS03028_000 |
| 2 | River through Natural Flume | 1911 | Barton | Orleans | Special Collections, Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont | LS01347_000 |
| 3 | Natural Flume | 1911 | Barton | Orleans | Ted Alexander Postcard Collection, Old Stone House Museum | LS03804_000 |
"Stone Flume" 1875
"River Through Natural Flume" 1911
"Natural Flume" 1911
May Pond, directly over the ridge from my house, is the source of water for the Village of Barton. I am in Barton Town, so I have a well. The only NO signs I could think of are here at the pond. Below is another NO sign at the pond: No invasive species are to be transported into the pond or you are subject to a fine of up to $1,000. While Grandson Wingnut and I were there (with Scout the Dog), I took other photos to show you the area.
Lilly pads on a quiet section of the pond. Horrible glare.
A brown damselfly. I had no time to identify these damsel and dragon flies and butterflies. I will work on the identifications this week and update the post.
Red Clover (the Vermont State Flower)
Damselfly
Moth. See the coiled proboscis?
Damselfly
Grandson Wingnut and Scout the Dog on the boat launch of May Pond
May Pond
Old outlet of the pond to May Brook, which flows past my house and has at least four beaver dams as it flows to Crystal Lake.
Dragonfly
The face of the same dragon.Thank you for visiting!
The beaver live mostly on my end of the bog. They are out and about at dawn and dusk, usually just as the light is growing or going. But I was lucky this past Saturday morning while sitting on my porch. This big guy was chomping on all sorts of vegetation in the ponds that he helped to create. Click here to see my photos of the main dam. Above, he is sitting on a flooded hummock.
In these two photos, he is swimming about between two hummocks that would be perfect goose nest areas. Photos were taken with full 10x zoom with Kodak Z710 camera. My Canon is coming soon! (Story later!)
Below: his house. This lodge is visible from every window in the front of my house.
American Beaver (Castor canadensis)
View of the back of the dam looking east at the eastern end of the beaver bog near Doyle Road.
The front of the same dam, looking west. There used to be a human dam here. I haven't learned why it was built yet, but may have been for a mill whose ruins are on the western end of the bog, nearer to my house. When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.
Mr. T and I took a walk this afternoon down the road. We climbed down to the Great Beaver Dam (on both sides of this shack on May Brook) and saw that without any foliage, my house can be seen, in front of Barton Mountain, through the trees.
Here you can see the house more clearly. We are only a few feet west but many feet higher and the house is much clearer. See the tiny bit of white in the extreme foreground? Snow is still around, but it's melting. The temperature was 70°F (21°C) today and the skies were beautiful. We saw two new birds of spring: wood ducks and a bluebird. Their photos will be up tomorrow or Saturday. When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window. This was the perfect spring vacation day.
"Found In Wandering"
The flume on May Brook across the road.
The brook is dammed by the beavers that live across the road. This photo was taken last week when we had a smallish snowfall. We have had below zero temperatures all week, so the brook and ponds are now frozen. We are having a bigger snowfall today (about a foot). When clicked, this photo will open, full size, in a new window.
The flume we slide down in the summer was frozen but now, this week, has melted. May Brook flows from May Pond through the woods (and at least three beaver dams), down this flume, through two more dams, through the Barton Waterworks and down to Crystal Lake, where water leaves through the outlet and Crystal Lake Falls to the Barton River, which flows north to Lake Memphremagog. When clicked, this photo will open, full size, in a new window.
The flume of May Brook is nearly completely frozen now. We slide down the flume in the summer. This is another sight from the front window. But this is taken with a big zoom on. There used to be a beaver dam and lodge at the bottom of the flume. I don't know why a beaver would build there but he did. He has since moved his lodge and dam closer in front of my house, which has changed the lifestyles and habits of all of the animals in the meadow.
Sky Watch Friday
One Deep Breath
Lens Day