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For the UK monkey importation facility that was run by Charles River, see Shamrock Farm. The Charles River is a small, relatively short river in Massachusetts, USA that separates Boston from Cambridge and Charlestown. It is fed by about 80 brooks and streams, and several major aquifers as it flows snakelike for 80 miles (129 km), starting at Echo Lake in Hopkinton, through 58 cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts before emptying into Boston Harbor. Its watershed contains 33 lakes and ponds. Despite the river's length and relatively large drainage area (308 square miles; 798 km²), its source is only 26 miles (42 km) from its mouth, and the river drops only 350 feet (107 m) from source to sea. It is the most densely populated river basin in New England. Harvard University, Boston University, Brandeis University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are all located along the Charles River; at Boston proper it opens out into a broad basin and is lined by parks such as the Charles River Esplanade (in which stands the Hatch Shell where concerts are given in summer evenings). The river is well known for its rowing, sculling, and sailing, both recreational and competitive. The Head of the Charles Regatta is held annually, in October.
Early history The river's name, before the English, was once thought to be Quinobequin (meandering), though that attribution has been discredited by, among others, the Harvard University Librarian in 1850. The river was used by Native Americans for local transportation and fishing, and as part of the way from southeastern Massachusetts to northern New England. Captain John Smith gave the river its current English name in honor of Charles I of England, his reigning monarch. Subsequent European settlers harnessed the river for industrialization, and by 1640 entrepreneurs on the Neponset River had diverted its water to power their mills. Waltham was the site of the first factory in America, built by Francis Cabot Lowell in 1814, and by the 19th Century, the Charles River was one of the most industrialized areas in the United States. Its hydropower soon fueled many mills and factories. By the century's end, 20 dams had been built across the river, mostly to generate power for industry. An 1875 government report listed 43 mills along the 9.5-mile (15 km) tidal estuary from Watertown Dam to Boston Harbor. In portions of its length, the Charles drops slowly in elevation and has relatively little current. Despite the lack of current, early settlers in Dedham, Massachusetts found a way to use the Charles to power mills. In 1639, the town dug a canal from the Charles to a nearby brook that drained to the Neponset River. By this action, a portion of the Charles River flow was diverted, providing enough flow for several mills. The new canal and the brook together are now called Mother Brook. The canal is regarded as the first industrial canal in North America. Today it remains in use for flood control. Design Today's Charles River basin between Boston and Cambridge is almost entirely a work of human design, and forms one of the finest planned landscapes in the United States. Its design was the work of noted landscape architects Charles Eliot and Arthur Shurcliff, both of whom had apprenticed with Frederick Law Olmsted, and by the architect and landscape architect Guy Lowell. This designed landscape now includes over 20 parks and natural areas along 19 miles (31 km) of shoreline, from the New Dam at the Charlestown Bridge to the dam near Watertown Square. Eliot first envisioned today's river design in the 1890s, but major construction began only after his death with the damming of the river's mouth at today's Museum of Science, an effort led in 1902-03 by James Jackson Storrow. The new dam, completed in 1910, stabilized the water level from Boston to Watertown, eliminating the existing mud flats, and a narrow embankment was built between Leverett Circle and Charlesgate. After Storrow's death, his widow Helen Storrow donated one million dollars toward the creation of a more generously landscaped park along the Esplanade; it was dedicated in 1936 as the Storrow Memorial Embankment. In the 1950s a highway (Storrow Drive) was built along the edge of the Esplanade to connect Charles Circle with Soldiers Field Road, and the Esplanade was enlarged on the water side of the new highway. Pollution and Remediation Efforts Despite its famous water pollution, making the Charles "Swimmable by 2005" became an important EPA goal1. While this promise was not reached in time, swimming and fishing are progressively re-emerging as about 90% of the length of the river is now considered safe for swimming2. Health risks remain however, particularly after rainstorms and when walking in certain riverbeds stirs up toxic sediment. During the period September 2004 to September 2006, the City of Cambridge and the state's Department of Conservation and Recreation introduced vegetation at Magazine Beach just west of the BU Bridge on the Cambridge side of the river. This introduced vegetation had significant trouble living there because it was not native to the Charles River. The vegetation installed created a wall preventing the reintroduction of swimming at Magazine Beach. Wetlands and major animal habitat was destroyed in the process and 25-resident resident white geese were deliberately starved for two years with total denial food. Residents organized to save the animals from state-imposed starvation with aid of local merchants. They now have access to about 10% of their 25 year feeding grounds. Government action is going the wrong way on water quality as well. Although the state claims to be limiting the Charles to water related uses, ball fields are being built or rebuilt. Teddy Ebersol Fields between the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Museum of Science were rebuilt with completion in 2006. The reconstruction included poisons to keep away insects. Those poisons did not work so much more powerful poisons were introduced with marking clearly prohitting use near bodies of water. The next day, the Charles River was dead. It showed great amounts of algae from the Mass. Ave. bridge to the harbor. Plans are to rebuild the playing fields at Magazine Beach starting in 2006 in a similar manner in spite of the facts that people universally see no need. Poisons are not necessary now. Poisons will be added, and, once again, local animals will be starved for a period of about a year. The Charles in popular culture
Charles River crossings (partial list) The following bridges, tunnels and dams cross the river from east to west. See also | ||||||||||
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