Talk:Farmington River

Untitled

Please add a link to www.ctxguide.com. Connecticut Explorer's Guide features topo maps for kayaking and paddling routes throughout the state.

Czimborbryan 16:12, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Awful pic

It's just a bunch of lines with no implication of which line represents the Farmington, or where it is in relation to anything else on the globe.

74.93.254.92 (talk) 18:33, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

On some important aspects of the Farmington River

I have recently added a geobox here for the Farmington River which forced me to address a couple different issues which may have substantial impact upon this article as a whole. Some of the decisions I've made are subjective in nature and, for others, there may be conflicting information out there. I'll introduce these issues here for discussion.

How to handle the West and East Branches

The first and most challenging problem in filling out a geobox was determining whether this article should refer only to the main stem of the Farmington River or include the West and East Branches of the river.

I decided to evaluate other rivers on Wikipedia to determine how a river formed by like-named branches is generally handled. There doesn't seem to be any hard and fast rule. However, it does seem that the article named after the main stem of the river generally includes the source branches so long as the source branches do not have their own article.

Thus, I've opted to include the West and East Branches of the Farmington River as part of the river itself. Here are some facts this affects:

• The length of the river is measured from the source of the longest branch (source of the West Branch) rather than from the confluence of the West and East Branches where the main stem begins.
• The geobox shows a primary source (West Branch) and secondary source (East Branch) and lists a source confluence to indicate the start of the main stem.

If anybody feels that this method of defining the Farmington River is flawed and should be changed, I recommend discussing the issue here first before modifying the article in any signficant way.

Source of the West Branch of the Farmington River

I have found conflicting information with regard to where the West Branch of the Farmington River begins. The Farmington River Watershed Association suggests in its watershed report that the source of the West Branch is in Becket, Massachusetts. In contrast, the State of Massachusetts states that the West Branch rises in Otis, Massachusetts.

The source of this discrepancy seems to lie in two different ways of evaluating the West Branch origin. The State of Massachusetts recognizes the brook that flows from Hayden Pond in Otis as the first watercourse officially named the "West Branch Farmington River". In that regard, the West Branch can be said to begin in Otis. However, upon examining a map, we do admittedly find that Hayden Pond is fed by nearby Shaw Pond which is, in turn, fed by Shales Brook and an unnamed pond, both in Becket.

Although the headwaters of the West Branch can be traced to Becket, the first length of water that is officially termed the "West Branch Farmington River" is just a bit further south in Otis. So both sources are correct:

• the source of the West Branch is in Becket
• but the West Branch (technically) doesn't begin until those headwaters reach Otis

So semantics are a big part of this discussion, making it difficult to draw an authoritative conclusion. Still, I think some sort of reasonable, consensus notion of where the West Branch begins ought to be determined for the purpose of this article. For my own part, I feel the beginning/source of the West Branch should be determined by the first length of water officially named "West Branch Farmington River". This determination places the beginning of the West Branch in Otis.

Again, if you think my determination is incorrect, please discuss the issue here before modifying the article.

—Jgcoleman (talk) 04:39, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

Source of the East Branch of the Farmington River

There is also some measure of ambiguity with regard to where exactly the East Branch of the Farmington River begins. This article previously suggested that the East Branch Farmington River begins in Massachusetts. However, this claim is not supported by authoritative sources. For example, the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental protection states that "the east branch begins just below the state line of Connecticut at the impoundment of Barkhamsted Reservoir and Lake McDonough". Likewise, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection notes that "Pond, Hubbard and Valley Brooks... converge to form the East Branch Farmington River just below the state line in Connecticut. The East Branch Farmington River is impounded in Connecticut to form the Barkhamsted Reservoir and Lake McDonough."

So, both Connecticut and Massachusetts agree that the East Branch Farmington River does not originate in Massachusetts. Even though its earliest headwaters do indeed come from Berkshire County, those northernmost brooks possess their own names and are not considered to be part of the East Branch.

With regard to the exact point at which the East Branch begins in Connecticut, I think it was historically a bit different than it is now. Prior to the creation of the Barkhamsted Reservoir, the Pond, Hubbard and Valley Brooks came together at a clear point to begin the East Branch. However, after the East Branch was impounded and that confluence was flooded, it seems that the logical place to consider the beginning of the East Branch is now the northernmost end of Barkhamsted Reservoir.

I have made sure the geobox reflects this determination. The article also notes this, but goes on to clarify that the East Branch doesn't look like a river until it exits Lake McDonough. I believe that is worthy of mention because there are certain common expectations with regard to how a river differs from a lake. The first part of the East Branch that common sense would dub a 'river' doesn't really appear until the East Branch slips out of Lake McDonough, even though the river technically begins 11 miles north and simply "flows through" two lakes. —Jgcoleman (talk) 15:19, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

References

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