Millville Rapid - February 11, 2023

Millville Rapid under the Central Street Bridge

I didn’t see any trips posted for today, and the Papa Joe hike was out in Hingham, so I decided to stay local and take my canoe out for a few laps at the Millville Rapid. 

Millville is one of the oldest, and one of the youngest towns in Massachusetts. Originally settled in 1662, it was organized as Mendon's South Parish in 1766, and became part of the town of Blackstone in 1845. It wasn't until 1916 that it was incorporated as an independent town. 

Historic mills in Millville

Early in its history Millville was primarily a farming community. A saw mill and grist mill were operating along the river by 1725. By 1830, woolen mills lined the banks on both sides of the river and the Blackstone Canal had been completed linking Providence to Worcester (Millville Lock downstream). Growth would continue with the competition of the Providence & Worcester Railroad in 1847 (Triad Bridge site downstream). Millville would eventually become home to a large rubber mill, which would become part of the US Rubber Company (later Uniroyal) in 1892. Remnants of this industrial past can be seen in the foundations and mill races along the river.

My original plan was to paddle upstream from the Blackstone Gorge, but the current was strong and it was pretty windy. Instead, I drove up to Millville to put-in upstream of the Central Street Bridge. I parked on Bow Street next to the Post Office and carried my boat down to the river. The river was at a nice level – 3.8 feet on the Northbridge gage, 8.4 feet, 570 cfs on the Rt. 122 gage. I did a several runs, but wasn’t very good at catching them on video.

Millville Rapid from Erik Eckilson on Vimeo.

This one earned me another poem from Tom on p.net:

Sixty-four degrees of frost!!!

River bottom’s no longer tossed,

nor shaken, stirred, while on the rocks,

non-migratories stuck there in blocks,

along with depths once on the go,

now one big sheet of H-2-Nooo

you don’t take fresh air facial

or black-n-blue frost bites all glacial!

“I’m just going outside and may be some time.”

(be sure to bring the ponies in)

TW