The Human History of Salmon Hole

Hey Y’all!

I realized recently that I have been going to Salmon Hole for about three months now, but I really don’t know anything about the area besides what I have been able to observe first hand.  While I feel a connection to my phenology spot, I haven’t actually taken the time to get to know it.  Part of how you get to know something is by asking its history.  So that’s what I set out to do, find the history of the area so that I can better understand the land that I have the privilege of observing.  (Also it’s an assignment, but I’m actually curious too!!)

While the natural history of the landscape is obviously quite important, for this post I am just going to focus on how humans have impacted their surroundings during the past 10,000 years or so.

Pre European Settlement:

Native Americans have been in the region for thousands of years, using the resources that the banks of the Winooski River provided.  These resources included animals to hunt for game; wild plants to use as medicine and food; and natural materials such as clay and wood to use for tools.  The Abenaki named the river, the Winooski (which means onion river land) due to the fact that the river banks were plentiful with naturally occurring wild onions.  Then closer to 1000 AD horticulture came to the area and natives began planting the three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) in the floodplains of the river.

 <—- Wild Leeks

(Photo From http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com/2010/04/wild-leeks-spring-favorite.html )

Samuel de Champlain and The French:

When the French arrived in the early 1600s, they cut down a lot of trees along the river banks for lumber.  They also used the Winooski as a water highway to the colonies in the South, especially when times were particularly tense between them and the Natives.

Ira Allen and His Mills:

Ira Allen, an entrepreneur from Connecticut, built a series of mills along the Winooski Falls (very close to Salmon Hole) after the Revolutionary War.  Originally these mills just produced everyday goods like lumber and flour.  This caused there to be a lot of deforestation in the area which led to a lot of flooding.  This became very burdensome to the people of the area because these floods caused a lot of economic/property damage, and in some instances, the floods were so severe that people died.

<—-The Grist Mill at Winooski Falls

(Photo From http://www.uvm.edu/~hp206/2013/pages/witman/index.html and Vermont's Historical Society)

Also, some of the mills, such as the Chance Cotton Mill pictured below, did not provide the best working environments, or have the best labor management practices.  The mills often employed French Canadian children, and while this was a trend that was acceptable at the time, it should be noted that the area does not have a perfect or pristine background.

(I mean this is obvious because of the poor relationship that happened between the settlers and the Native Americans, but…)

<—–Raoul Julien working in Chance Mill, Photographed by Lewis Hine

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winooski_Falls_Mill_District)

Even though this was the case, people stilled used the Falls as the location of their mills.  However, instead of using the mills to produced good, they started producing power and energy.  This energy capture started way back in 1886, and even now hydroelectric power is one of the greatest outputs from the Winooski River.

Salmon Hole In Particular:

Part of how hydroelectric power is generated is by creating dams along sections of the river.  Spawning salmon really like this particular dam along the Falls, and they often gather in the swirling pools of the dam’s waters.  The fact that this area is such a Salmon Magnet is how Salmon Hole got its name.

Today, many people enjoy this area for its recreational value, particularly as a prime fishing location.

<— a picture my friend Connor Stack took of the fish he caught at Salmon Hole!

Even though sections of Salmon Hole's History are kind of dark, I'm glad that I now have a more complete understanding of what has happened in my phenology spot.

I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane!

Until next time!

 

In case you were wondering about where I got my information!

Sources:

https://winooskiriver.org/human-history.php

Salmon Hole Park & Riverwalk Trail

http://www.uvm.edu/~hp206/2013/pages/witman/index.html