by By George Black
Houghton Mifflin, 2004
This is a wonderful book about three rivers (the Shepaug, the Housatonic, and the Naugatuck), their valleys, and their people. Like a braided stream that occasionally divides into several interlacing channels, the 26 brief chapters tell the story of rivers and valleys in the context of Colonial and geologic history, ecology, economics, and politics. The rivers are located in Connecticut, but readers from all over the Northeast will find this a fascinating and relevant story and enjoy discovering the similarities and differences between their rivers and valleys and those in the book.
The first chapter is entitled, “The Trout Pool Paradox,” and it talks of tributary streams with pools where “wild creatures of astonishing beauty swim free in the limpid currents.” The paradox is that these places are ideal for “solitary contemplation, for romantic love, for a sense of reconnection with lost wildness,” but these pools “nurtured the most noisome and alienating developments of the American industrial revolution” with grist mills, sawmills, and other factories tapping the energy of running water. Although they may seem wild and serene, these places have been heavily influenced by human history.
I found myself reminded of historian William Cronon’s Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, and the author admits to being “influenced enormously” by his writings. Humankind’s place in nature is an underlying theme of the book, but unlike Cronon’s academic and factual style, this book is far more familiar and engaging. Lifelike dialogue imaginatively shows people’s love of rivers and their valleys. I felt I was there at the informal lunch gathering of entomologists discussing stream insects, or with the Saturday morning group of volunteers eating donuts before cleaning up a stretch of river. Black’s descriptions put me in the living room of the octogenarian who transplanted insect life into a stream to revive the trout fishery and made clear the boater’s protest of policy on natural river flows. The author tells the stories of rivers and their valleys in vivid, recognizable ways, knitting episodes of dialogue, historical anecdotes, scientific facts, economic impacts, and political intrigue into an easily read and enjoyable story.
Black has worked on this book like an investigative reporter, talking to historians, ecologists, geologists, activists, managers, volunteers, and others, weaving elements of past and present into a compelling tale of a portion of the Northeast defined by watershed boundaries. In the end, the facts, anecdotes, dialogue, and cleverly designed digressions come together to leave the reader with a unique understanding of the complex interplay between people and their landscape.
My one criticism is the title itself. This fine book is about far more than trout or their pools, and sadly many may overlook it, mistakenly concluding it is just another book for anglers or trout devotees. Readers from throughout the Northeast and beyond will enjoy this story, which will make them think about the rivers and watersheds that define their own surroundings.