To see forward sometimes you need to look back

How Walter Hoagland Ran The Dam

The piece below was submitted by Betty Gale. In it she reflects on the tried and true method her Granddad, Walter Hoagland implemented when operating the Lake Lenape dam gates during an estimated timeframe of 1930-1952. He tended the dam until the Wheaton family bought the Cotton Mill and the site became Wheaton Plastics Co. Walter retired from Wheaton's after suffering a stroke at the Cotton Mill during the March 1962 nor'easter which ravaged the East Coast. Thanks goes to Aline Dix for getting this piece and clarifying the information.

All the years that Granddad (Walter Hoagland) took care of the dam nothing like this flooding ever happened. He used to drive to Weymouth and measure the depth of the water with a stick he had in the water, then there was some kind of meter on a board near the river that measured how fast the water was moving. Also a temperature gauge was there. It looked an electric meter looks today. Knowing Granddad (Walter Hoagland) it may have been an old one that he converted. Then we would drive back home (on Lenape Ave.) and he would sit in the back shed on his stool with a big old cigar and he would have figures, very neatly done, on papers. Then he would yell to Mema.... (His wife Jane Hoagland) "Janie, I am going to the mill". He would then open or close the gates for the dam according to his figures. Many times I was with him either in Weymouth or at the mill or sometimes both. We never had a flood and most of the time the lake never varied in height unless it was a really dry summer or in the early spring when he let it down so the lakeshores could be cleaned!!

Lots of good memories from this little bit!!
Thanks...Betty Gale, Granddaughter