Local Wetland Geography
BY DON DOUCETTE
Hunkered down, I’ve been idling and studying nearby rivers, origins and destinations.
I curiously began with the Wading River and then expanded my enlightenment.
The Wading River headwaters in Plainville at/near Turnpike Lake. Then flows to Lake Mirimichi in Plainville and into Mansfield/Norton and a confluence with the Rumford River between Pine Street and Route 140 in Norton.
Chartley Brook is a tributary to the Wading River.
The Rumford River begins as Billings Brook near the cranberry bog along north bound Route 95 just past Mechanic Sreet, Foxboro/Sharon line.
Billings Brook becomes the Rumford River from Foxboro through Mansfield, through Norton Reservoir to the Wading River confluence.
From the confluence, both rivers become Three Mile River to the Taunton River confluence, at that point forming the Taunton/North Dighton border.
The Canoe River begins west of Borderland State Park in Sharon, through East Foxboro, East Mansfield and into Norton’s Lake Winnecunnet. Waters flowing from Winnecunnet become the Snake River seen from I-495 at Bay Street and flows into Lake Sabbatia in Taunton.
Lake Sabbatia drains as the Mill River through Wittenton (Taunton) to the center of Taunton and through to a Taunton River confluence just east of Taunton center.
There is a commonality/duality between the route of the Rumford River and Canoe River as parallel drainages with companion headwaters in Sharon and common Taunton River confluences in Taunton.
The melt pattern of the last great glacier randomly created these regional sister river systems, companions of the greater Taunton River Watershed all flowing to Narragansett Bay and ultimately, into the Atlantic Ocean.
Don Doucette
“Ten Mile River Rambles”