Townshend Dam: An Interview with Ray Ballantine

by Ryan McFarlin

  I interviewed Ray Ballantine to learn about the Townshend Dam.

 

The reason for the Dam was to stop floods on the Connecticut River. It mostly helps Connecticut and Massachusetts not Vermont. It doesn't let as much water go down through the Connecticut River.

 

The Dam was designed in Omaha, Nebraska. The project was run by the Army Corps of Engineers. They used big drills and cranes to build the Dam. It cost 7.5 million dollars. It took three years to build. They finished building it in 1961.

 

One thousand acres were taken. Ten or fifteen homes were moved. A lot of people had to move their houses because building the Dam would cause the river to back up and cause floods. A lot of people lost farmland, like Mr.Stratton. He lost his farm and Ray Ballantine had to move his house. Ray lived right at the Dam.

 

Ray saw the Dam be built. He was the Site Manager. He started working at the Dam when he was twenty eight. He named the picnic shelters after the people who lost their homes...

 

Tim Flynn from the Army Corps of Engineers gave me a tour of the Townshend Dam. I got to go on a tour of the office and the gate house. I saw how you work the computers and the way they work the gates. I liked it when I got to look over the edge.

 

from "Townshend Dam: An Interview with Ray Ballantine" by Ryan McFarlin

Our Town: Learning About Townshend From Our Neighbors

Community Project, Fourth Grade, Townshend Elementary School, February 1997