The mighty Piscataquog River P&G Traditional Cache

The Piscataquog River, which flows 14 miles through the town of Weare was once one of the best sources of water power in the state. In the early 1900s 22 mill sites had been located along the banks of the river in the Weare area. On September 21, 1938, following several days of heavy rain, a hurricane moving up from the West Indies passed through the center of New England.

The additional heavy rains from the hurricane caused the failure of the Deering Reservoir Dam, which resulted in a wall of raging water to rush down to the Weare Reservoir Dam. Although the dam held, the rushing water broke through the land at the side of the dam, releasing the millions of gallons of water in the reservoir. The raging river, completely out of control, washed away everything in its path, leaving parts of Weare devastated.

In response to the 1938 hurricane disaster and other seasonal floods, the U.S. Army Corps Engineers built the 2,000-foot long Everett Dam, as part of the Hopkinton-Everett Flood Control Project, which had been authorized by Congress to prevent a recurrence of the devastating floods. The overall project was completed in 1963 at a total cost of $21,400,000.