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Diver1111 09-07-2009 08:50 PM

Paddle wheel find
 
1 Attachment(s)
In Lake Opechee about a week ago I found a paddle wheel in about 37 feet of water. I am confident it is not from a boat of any kind, but I could be wrong.

I found it randomly diving not running side-scan; It is approx. 12 feet long, with wooden planks about 8" wide each that create the paddles. While I didn't study it too well, there were perhaps a dozen or so of these paddles.

The diameter of these paddles as I approximated them from the centerline (axle) of the assembly to their outer edge would put this thing at about 4 to 5 feet in diameter.

Question: What use would this device serve? Given it's location I would assume it had to do with the many mills that were right on that waterfront near the present-day Lakeport Damn, not powering a boat, given it's small diameter.

I attach a map of the area from perhaps 1890-this is sometimes called a "Sanborn Map"; Sanborn was hired to do building surveys of existing structures to determine their construction type, height, number of floors, square footage, proximity to water for fire-fighting purposes etc. way back when, to estimate the insurance risk they posed. I obtained these maps by visiting the State Library in Concord.

On the Sanborn map you will see canals referred to as sluices or raceways that could have had paddlewheels of some kind in them from which they drew some kind of power.

As for the attachment of the Sanborn map, if you want to see all of it I suggest you click on the attachment itself, then do a "Save As" and save it to your desktop, at which point you might be able to either view it better or print it out and piece it together.

Any help appreciated with this odd object.

Rattlesnake Gal 09-08-2009 07:42 AM

Paddle Wheel Find
 
You sure have been keeping yourself busy this summer Diver1111! Thanks for sharing your finds with us. I took a look in a few of my books, but didn't come up with much. I wonder if someone at the Belknap Mill might be able to help you?

BroadHopper 09-08-2009 03:12 PM

Lake Opechee
 
Has quite the history with all the mills in Lakeport. My grandfather was a supervisor for Scott & Williams in Lakeport. He told me during World War II, Scott & Williams was manufacturing carbuerators for the war effort. When the war was over. There was a warehouse full of carbuerators. He mentioned that in the late 40's Scott & Williams dumped pallets of carberautors into Lake Opechee. Just wondering if you ever bumped into something like that during your dives in Opechee. He did not mention where it was dumped. I imagine they would either be dumped off the Opechee Inn where Scott & Williams had a machine shop. Or they could be dumped of of where Opechee Trading post is. There was another machine shop at Union Square.

scubajay1153 09-08-2009 05:56 PM

Opechee
 
I have dove a handful of places in Opechee and most of the interesting things I have found were glassware, pottery and some lost fishing gear. Over behind Bayside Ct there is alot of wood and piping type debris (and dead eels) and my dives for the FD around the boat launch on Messer St revealed a mostly shallow area with shards of pottery as well. THe paddle wheel is interesting to hear about. I think the leads about a power source for one of shore building/mills may be dead on but alas I have no material to back it up. Maybe a trip to the Goss Reading Room may help?

Diver1111 09-13-2009 05:39 PM

Paddle wheel
 
Yes RG it's been a good summer for finds-cool stuff, no? Outboards, steamboats...

Have not been in the CT River all summer except for June-neat things there too-wow-talk about history there-lots of guns too. The weather (rain) blows out the CT River so not much going on there this year; As for the paddle wheel, I will work on that more;

As to the carburetor reference above (thanks for the neat info on that) and them being dumped, I ran side-scan around the entire perimeter of Opechee recently scanning left/right for a total swath of 250 feet combined, and found nothing of interest. Doesn't mean there isn't anything there of interest, just that I didn't find any. A pile of carbs might show up but you need to understand the limitations of side-scan. Metal is good, but prob. covered with silt, mud etc. and scattered.

I also tried to pick up the paddle-wheel on side-scan...but nothing. Considering I had a very good idea where it was (as I surfaced after finding it to triangulate my approx. position over it vis-a-vis the shore) I couldn't do it.

As with anything wood-especially water-logged wood, I was a bit surprised I couldn't see it on SSS, but alas, no.


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