I did not realize the lower Mullica was dammed at one time. Who has the story behind that? This photo is from the 30's.
I did not realize the lower Mullica was dammed at one time. Who has the story behind that? This photo is from the 30's.
Bob,
That pond was known as "New Pond", and as you can see was quite sizeable due to the fact that the dam was built just below the junction of the Atsion and Meschescatauxin Creeks. The dam failed in 1939 during a big storm that also destroyed Miller's Bridge (on the road from Batsto to Weymouth) on Atsion Creek as well as a number of dams and bridges on other tributaries of the Mullica.
New Pond Dam was constructed in 1895 for the purpose of providing water power to the paper mill at Pleasant Mills. In the 1930 aerial photo you can see a canal leading from New Pond to Nescochague Creek. The owners of the paper mill had dug out this canal and dammed the Nescochague - somewhere near the location where Batsto Forge had been - and dug out another canal leading from Forge Pond on Nescochague Creek to Pleasant Mills Pond on Hammonton Creek Thus, the demanding machinery at the paper mill utilized water power from four of the "five forks": Hammonton Creek, Nescochague Creek, Meschescatauxin Creek and Atsion Creek. Still, the paper mill did not receive suffient water power, and the operation ceased.
BobPBX said:I noted that the canal to the Pleasant Mills Pond is the one you and I walked, right?
PS: I'm confused. Was that Joseph Ball's New Pond? I though that was many years earlier.
Teegate said:THere are quite a few property stones there that I need to look for. It's that time of year
There are at least two markers that I know of in this vicinity. Have you gotten out that way?