Ponds & Waters

Source: 1914 Vt. Secretary of State book, Industrial Vermont: CABOT: Some sources of the Winooski river are in this town. Joe's Pond is in the northeastern part of Cabot. Others are Molly's Pond, West Hill Pond, and Coit's Pond. Joe's Brook is part of the Passumpsic River system. The other ponds belong to the Winooski River system. The developed water powers include a grist mill and repair shop at Cabot village, Utley's saw mill in the west part of the town, Ford's saw mill and Bancroft's tennis racquet factory, at Lower Cabot, and Lamberton's saw mill at South Cabot. The undeveloped water powers include a small power (plant?) at the old starch factory site, at Cabot village, and several on Molly's Brook in the east part of the town. Storage reservoirs would be feasible on Molly's Brook. The water varies from soft to rather hard.

Cabot Plains forms a divide. Brooks and ponds on the western side of Cabot flow into the Winooski River, then indirectly northwest to Lake Champlain. The Winooski (Abenaki for Onion) is Vermont's longest river. Lake Champlain empties north into the Richelieu River, which joins the St. Lawrence River and empties into the Atlantic Ocean, at the Gulf of St. Lawrence. On the east, Joe's Pond and several brooks flow east from Cabot Plains to the Connecticut River south to Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Town of Cabot is wholly dependent on groundwater for drinking and industrial use. Two dams were identified as potential hazards in 2012:

There are two dams of concern in Cabot. The first is the Marshfield Dam, in the southeast corner of the Town. It is a hydroelectric facility operated by Green Mountain Power (GMP). On August 28, 2011, due to the large amount of rain, from tropical storm Irene, officials feared a dam breach. They considered releasing a large volume of water, to ease pressure behind the dam. However, the rain subsided and the release was called off. Massive flooding would have occurred downstream, in East Montpelier and Montpelier, had the dam been released. GMP is working with adjacent towns to improve communications with businesses and residents in emergencies. GMP is also working with the Army Corps of Engineers, to develop inundation models to simulate dam failure and identify sites that will be impacted. (See Molly's Falls Pond, below)

The other dam is much smaller and not operating. Saw Mill Dam, in lower Cabot, is in very poor condition. The Town is unsure who owns it. The dam is roughly 135 feet wide and 14 feet high. It holds back silt, behind the dam. If the dam breached, roughly 12 homes and business could be flooded. 2018 Hazard Mitigation Plan

The Winooski River rises from Coits Pond in Cabot and flows for approximately 94 miles.

Coit's Pond is in the northwestern corner of the Town of Cabot, near where corners of the towns of Hardwick, Walden, Woodbury and Cabot meet. It is the northernmost headwaters of the Winooski River. William Coit surveyed Burlington, Vt, in 1798; in 1796, he surveyed the boundary between Vermont and Canada. Coit and another surveyor, James Savage, often worked with Surveyor General James Whitelaw, who surveyed the Bayley-Hazen Road, in 1776, and the Town of Cabot in 1786.

Joe's Pond is in the northeastern corner of Cabot. It is bordered by the Town of Danville, along its southern and eastern shores, and Walden to the north. The west shore is all in Cabot. The pond has three sections, totaling three miles long and about a mile wide. The smallest section, at West Danville, is at the outlet of Joe's Brook, which flows into the Passumpsic River, then to the Connecticut River. There is a public beach, and a rail trail nearby. This section has a maximum depth of 30 feet. The middle section has many summer cottages and several year-round residences. It also has a maximum depth of about 30 feet. The largest section has two visible islands, and a sunken island. It is almost 100 feet deep, at its deepest point, in a cove, near the state fishing access.

Joe's Pond is fed by Joe's Brook, which flows from Cole's Pond in Walden, and several smaller brooks. The brooks flow off Cabot Plains into a large wetland at its northwest corner. It has a rich history that includes Indian Joe (Susapp) and his wife, Molly, for whom this pond and a smaller one to the south were named. The couple spent summers hunting in this area. Indian Joe was friendly to early settlers and acted as guide for Colonel Bayley, when the Bayley-Hazen Military Road was built.

Molly's Pond is about two miles south of Joe's Pond, in East Cabot, near the Peacham town line. It is small, fed by brooks coming off Cabot Plains and hills of Peacham. It is shallow, largely bordered by farm land. The main outflow is to the larger body of water, formerly Marshfield Reservoir, now renamed Molly's Falls Dam Pond, which flows to the Winooski River. There is also one brook that outflows north from the eastern end of Molly's Pond, towards Joe's Pond.

Molly's Falls (Dam) Pond is immediately south of Molly's Pond. Native Americans called the pond Mali Bowk, and the falls Mali Pan-jah-lok (Molly’s Waterfall), after scout Joe Sussap's wife. Molly’s Falls Dam Pond is a reservoir, created when the dam, constructed in the 1920s by Molly’s Falls Electric, Light and Power Company, was built on Molly’s Brook, in South Cabot, between the pond and the falls. It flooded acres of farmland and inundated the nearby Cabot hamlet of Petersville, which had homes, a sawmill, and a school. The first settler of Petersville was Reuben Atkins in 1825; it was named for Peter Lyford, a selectman.

Building the earthen dam required relocating the road from Danville and Marshfield. The dam was finished in fall 1927. The power plant, in Marshfield, was the only one operating for one day, during the devastating Flood of 1927. In 2015, Molly's Falls Pond became a Vermont State Park. Molly's Falls Pond State Park

West Hill Pond was created by a small dam, about 1820, to power a grist mill and a saw mill. Previously, a large meadow, about 60 acres, was supposedly used by native Americans to raise corn. Settlers raised hay there. It is shallow, used for power and ice, by early settlers. The pond is surrounded by farmland, with a few year-round residences and summer cottages. The former mill house is a seasonal cottage. The dam was restored in the late 1900s. West Hill Pond Dam 1980.