You’re on Track (1917-Present)
Welcome back, Monroe history lovers. This time we’re heading back up to the top of the town, back to Stevenson for a closer look at some amazing history hidden in plain sight. Be forewarned! Once again, we have an example of once you see it you can’t unsee it - my favorite kind of Monroe history! So, let’s take a drive over to Roosevelt Drive (Route 34) toward the Stevenson Dam and have a closer look.
Today, most folks consider the Stevenson Dam as little more than a means of crossing the Housatonic River on their way to another destination, but have you ever stopped and thought about the logistics behind such a massive project. While it is true that natural materials, such as the crushed stone to make the necessary concrete came from neighboring Oxford, everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING ELSE, came in from the Monroe side by rail along the New Haven and Derby Railroad, known to locals as the Derby Extension.
The main line of the railroad through Stevenson towers some 130’ above the Housatonic River. How ever did the contractors manage to move the supplies from the upper rails down into the river valley? The scope of this project was far too grand to depend on pack mules. Once again, the railroad was put to use. The solution was to create interconnected levels of gradually sloped spur lines, all cut into the hillside just below the main line. Let me walk you through our supporting images. I recommend using a computer to enlarge them to study the details.
Our first supporting image is looking southeast towards the Stevenson side of the river. To the far left is where the dam would be constructed. In the middle are the majority of the buildings built for the project. It was a small temporary town consisting of a carpenter shop, machine shop, laboratory, storage sheds, workmen’s living and dining quarters, engineers’ quarters, a store, an entertainment hall and a hospital. It was all set ablaze when the project was completed, and any charred remains lie today beneath the surface of Lake Zoar. Just to give you some perspective on the image, today, just behind those structures in the middle, we find the Lake Zoar public boat launch. The buildings to the far right behind the railway boxcars were built in the two parking lots diagonal from the Lake Zoar Drive-In. Do you have your bearing’s now?
Let’s talk a bit more about those railway boxcars seen to the far-right side of the image. The cars seen at the top are on the main line of the railroad which spans from Botsford to Derby. These cars were shunted by small steam engines and backed down off the main line onto the first stepped spur line. The first line leveled out and extended a distance behind the dam and power station. The cars were then shunted forward and down a second gradual slope to the final level. The railway boxcars seen to the lower right in the foreground are on the lowest level spur line. This level also extended a distance behind the power station where the concrete mixing and power plants were located. Does that lower-level spur line look familiar to you? It should. Today, it’s Roosevelt Drive!
Our second supporting image shows a different perspective of the spur lines looking southwest. Here we see a small steam engine shunting railway cars along today’s Roosevelt Drive. The structure toward the center, surrounded with the wooden formers, is the dam’s power station under construction. Our third supporting image shows the detail of the power and mixing plants from down in the river valley behind the dam. Note the rails and train leading from the mixing plant to deliver the concrete to wherever needed on the project. Our fourth supporting image shows a laborer posing for a photographer with Oxford in the distance. Everything that surrounds him was brought in by rail on the Stevenson side. Our fifth supporting image, looking north, was taken from up on the main line of the Derby Extension. Look closely and you can see the first stepped spur line just a bit lower than the main line. This image provides a beautiful bird’s-eye view of the Housatonic River and the worksite.
Our final image once again proves the amazing power of modern LIDAR technology. With all the trees stripped away, we can clearly see the main line of the railroad and the dam below it. I have highlighted the spur lines in green and the Lake Zoar public boat launch in blue to help you visualize. It all makes sense now. The spur lines are hidden in the stand of towering pine trees just before you reach the dam. The weather is beautiful now, but in the winter months, a light snow makes the railbeds of the spur lines really stand out through the pines. Do as I do. Keep one eye steady on the road and the other in the woods looking for Monroe history. Be careful now. It takes practice.
I hope you enjoy this week’s historic spotlight on the hidden railway spur lines that made the Stevenson Dam possible. Please share this post with your family and friends, and as always, thank you for your continued support and interest in Monroe’s rich history. Until next time, be honest now. You had no idea you were even driving on the railroad tracks, did you?
Regards,
Kevin Daly
Historian, Monroe Historical Society
www.monroecthistory.org
Our Past is Always Present
