Irishtown Reservoir In 1857 the residents of Moncton, New Brunswick decided that they needed an abundant and permanent supply of good water. After 20 years of delays and accumulating data the Town decided that Lynch Brook, north-east of Moncton was the best possible site for the new water source. In 1877 P.S. Archibal, Esquire, a civil engineer developed the water works system for a cost of $50,000 which included water service for 200 homes in Moncton and 20 fire hydrants. In the early summer of 1878, 750 tons of pipe from Philadelphia landed on the wharf in Moncton on the Petticodiac River.
The project stayed on schedule and the works was completed before years end. The new Reservoir became known as Fitzsimmons Reservoir. The pipes were laid in three months and three weeks later on October 19th 1878 the water was officially turned on. Due to public demand for more water the old gravity fed system was upgraded with a new pumping station at Crows Island near Halls creek in the early 1890s. As Moncton continued to grow and the demand grew for water, a new reservoir was to be built, it was called the McNutt Reservoir off of McLaughlin Road near the Fitzsimmons Reservoir and a new pump house, which is still used today and is a heritage site on Highfield Street. The Fitzsimmons Reservoir was eventually designated a secondary water supply when the new Turtle Creek Reservoir was open in Albert county south-west of Moncton. The Crow’s Island pumping station was completely abandoned and torn down . The old dam and Irishtown Lake are the only remnants of the old Fitzsimmons Reservoir, not even the name survived as it is now called the Irishtown Reservoir.
Before the placement of the dam on Lynch Brook, which feeds into Hall’s Creek, the area which is now covered by water, was a boggy stream surrounded by the rich Acadian Forest. The Acadian forest is home to many different tree species and land mammals such as whitetail deer, moose, porcupine, coyote, fox and rabbits. The types of birds changed slightly as well from songbirds, woodpeckers and other woodland birds to manly waterfowl species. Shortly after the dam was put in the land upstream started to flood and because it was fairly level it quickly spread out to cover over 250 acres of forest which is now wetlands and a lake. Because the land was so level the lake went out instead of up, therefore it is a very shallow lake with over 90% of it only being 1.5 meters deep with a few spots going down to 2.5 meters. The deepest part of the reservoir is the part closest to the dam were the old stream flowed steadily and created a small valley that runs about 1/2 km before levelling out into forest land again. The shallowness of the main lake part of the reservoir makes it a prime place for the growth of algae in the hot summer months as witnessed here with the "blue-green" algae problems over the past few summers. The part of the reservoir nearest the dam is the deepest part and is used quite often by local canoeist for recreation and training. The potential productivity of plants and fish in a reservoir is rather closely related to the area of shallow bottom that is kept at a favourable depth for plants, rather than by mere volume of water. The plants help to ensure a cleaner source of water and will help to provide food and shelter for many aquatic species. Although this was not the intent of the original plans for the reservoir it is an added bonus. On some days you can see the fish near the shore of the lake, even the goldfish, which were recently released into the lake illegally but have flourished. Waterfowl, amphibious and aquatic wildlife have all benefited from this change, especially important after so much wetland has been drained and ploughed to increase agricultural production in the area. Irishtown Reservoir is a prime example of how resilient nature is and how it can quickly adapt to new influences and completely change the habitat and local geology and become a home for new species.
The geological history of this area, the Maritimes Basin is dated late Devonian to early Carboniferous and is made up of sandstone sequences, shallow-marine limestone and evaporites, lacustrine oil shales, and subaerial volcanic rocks. The area is part of the Salisbury Formation and the park is in the Moncton Subbasin section. The bedrock in the is widely distributed but very poorly exposed. Formational thickness is highly variable; from a maximum of about 500 metres in boreholes from the Port Elgin area, to less than 100 metres over parts of the Westmorland basement ridge east of Moncton. In the southwestern Moncton Subbasin, the Salisbury Formation is characterized by a basal grey sandstone member comprised of grey and greenish-grey, medium- to coarse-grained, multi-storied, trough cross-bedded sandstone with abundant coalified plant material. The sides of Lynch Brook below the dam will have some examples of these types of rocks along it's sides where the water has eroded the top layers of soil. The dam has been replaced since I created this earthcache and the new concrete outflow repo laced the old waterfall so you best guess at the depth is fine, I am not picky, just enjoy the park ;)
In order to log the cache I will need the following 3 requirements in an email:
1. A picture of you with your GPS standing in front of the reservoir or the dam.
2. Your estimate of how deep the reservoir is above the dam by using the depth of the creek valley below the dam.
3. Roughly how old is the local bedrock, which dates from late Devonian to early Carboniferous Periods.
Please take the time to enjoy this wonderful park that was created around this old reservoir.
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