Water

The New Concord Reservoir was created for a utilitarian purpose--to store water for use by the residents of the village. The New Concord Reservoir is actually one of two town reservoirs. It is the upper reservoir, and holds about sixty million gallons of water. The 10 million gallon rectangular lower reservoir, tucked behind the town maintenance buildings just west of town, is the primary source for the town's water. The village draws only on the upper reservoir when it needs to replenish the lower reservoir. The water that does not flow down to the lower reservoir in underground pipes spills down into Fox creek, past pastures filled with grazing sheep and cattle, under the New Concord S-bridge, where it merges with the aptly named Crooked Creek. When it is not spilling over its banks and flooding farms and fields, Crooked Creek meanders erratically eastward, in no particular hurry, toward the town of Cambridge, where it joins with the waters of Wills Creek. Muddy Wills Creek takes a scenic tour along the western and northern boundaries of Cambridge, before turning north, then winding and arcing west, before it finally meets up with the mighty Muskingum River fifteen miles northwest of New Concord, then travels southward for seventy miles to meet the Ohio river. If you can't follow that confusing journey on a map, just think of it this way. If you are standing on the earthen dam at the south end of the New Concord Reservoir, the water you see flowing into the drain which empties into Fox Creek, is going to travel in a snail shell spiral completely around you before it meets the Ohio River.

On Saturday we decided that the extended bitter cold had kept us imprisoned inside for too many days, so we decided to drive to Zanesville and follow the Muskingum down to Marietta, where it meets the Ohio. We had a limited amount of time, so rather than following the route of the New Concord Reservoir water, we took the shortcut to Zanesville, travelling due west on Interstate, probably saving ourselves a good sixty miles of meandering by following gravity.

At Zanesville we parked near the beautiful Sixth Street bridge, and walked along the greenway between the old Zanesville canal and the Muskingum River, to view the double locks. The canal was frozen over, but water flowed pretty freely down the river. Zanesville is a city that had a million reasons to exist in the 19th century. It is situated at the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum Rivers, and one of the three rapids impeding progress on an otherwise navigable river, and at the point that the National Road crossed the Muskingum River. Add to this the extension of an important spur of the B&O railroad travelling west from Wheeling, and you could say that by 19th century standards, it was at the center of everything. The late twentieth century, in contrast, has not been good to Zanesville, and the decision by the city's leaders to drive Interstate 70 through the heart of the city and over some its most historical neighborhoods proved a disastrous one. Zanesville today is a place you travel through, not to. Its funky, fascinating, historic downtown, with its rivers, canals, famous "Y" bridge (connecting the parts of the city trisected by the confluence of the Muskingum and the Licking) is largely empty. What passes for "growth" and "development" in Zanesville is a dreary, traffic-clogged ribbon of strip-malls, chain restaurants and big box stores marching endlessly northward. It is a city with 100% potential and 0% promise. In my fantasy vision of Zanesville's future, a fleet of C-130s flies over Zanesville, and a few thousand gay urban professionals paratroop down. They lovingly restore its architectural jewels, open art galleries and sidewalk cafes and convert old shipping warehouses into tony condos. That's all it would take, really.

After admiring the hand-operated double locks, and snapping a few pics, we retreated to the warmth of the car and took a scenic ride down to Marietta, Ohio's first city. There we had lunch at the Coca-Cola museum, and drove up to Harmar heights for a nice view of my favorite Ohio city. I never get bored with Marietta's simple charms. In the spring I hope to get back down here for a day of kayaking along the waterfront, biking through Marietta's many historic neighborhoods, and of course, rest and recovery at the local brew pub. It was a great day, and Katie and I decided we really need to figure out a way to get down here for a weekend for two. Maybe in April.