Barlow Gold!  Francis N. Barlow

Originally printed in the May 1995 Barlow of Barlow Newsletter, by Edson Barlow

One day while he was plowing, Francis N. Barlow discovered what appeared to be gold embedded in the rocks that his plow brought to the surface of his field. Some of the rocks were taken to be assayed and it was truly gold.

Unfortunately, the amount of gold was small and was deeply embedded in rock. It required considerable effort to extract and after a number of attempts to realize a profit, the mine was given up as a losing proposition.

The gold is probably still there, although any mining attempts would be extremely difficult now. In the 1930's, the entire area, consisting of the towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott, was purchased by the state and flooded to create the Quabbin Reservoir to supply Boston with water.

Francis N. Barlow was born in 1854, probably at Ware, Massachusetts, and was a son of Henry White Barlow and Emeline Crucy Hill. He was a farmer at Greenwich, in central Massachusetts, where he spent most of his life. He died on August 14, 1912, at Greenwich, and was initially buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery at Enfield, Massachusetts. Along with many others, Francis Barlow's gravesite at Enfield was moved to a newly created cemetery, Quabbin Park Cemetery, when the reservoir was built.

The Greenwich Gold Mine

Contributed by John F. Barlow, used by permission of 'Quabbin Reservoir'  website

The Barlow brothers had a farm in Greenwich. One day while working near a stream they found some particles of gold in the water. In their spare time the brothers began drilling into the granite ledge from which the stream originated. Near the surface they found gold bearing ore. The ore however was of poor quality and they set out to find richer ore nearby.

In the early 1930's they found another vein. This ore was of better quality and was worth between three and five dollars per ton. Gold was worth about twenty one dollars an ounce at the time. More drilling and blasting produced more ore but the work was backbreaking for the aging, diabetic brothers. The efforts of the brothers was reported in Springfield newspapers and some feared a stampede to the Swift River Valley.

In 1933 the brothers found a new vein which contained copper along with gold. The impending repeal of prohibition gave them hope that the price of copper would rise since most still were made of copper.

The Barlow brothers sold their land to the Water Commission but rented it back in order to continue their fledgling mining effort and in late 1933 they struck a richer vein of gold. This vein, although of the highest quality to date for the brothers, was not the "mother lode" they were hoping for.

The brothers worked the mines until 1938 when the impending flooding forced them off the land. They went their separate ways moving to nearby towns. They never found the "mother lode," leaving only speculation of what riches might lie beneath the clear water.

Quabbin Reservoir

During the 1920's it became apparent that Eastern Massachusetts did not have a large enough water supply to satisfy it's growing needs. Thirsty Eastern Massachusetts inhabitants cast their eyes westward at the pristeen Swift River 100 miles away from Boston. This river flowed through a beautiful series of small towns nestled in the Swift River Valley. Through a series of unimaginable "buyouts" the inhabitants of these towns were tossed out of their homes in preparation for construction of a reservoir......

More Barlow Gold!  Otis P. Barlow

Originally printed in the May 1995 Barlow of Barlow Newsletter, by Edson Barlow

Otis P. Barlow was another New Englander who caught the gold fever. He was born on April 22, 1837, at Woodstock, Connecticut, and was a son of Reuben Barlow and Dorcas Converse. While still a very young man he went to California for gold. He not only found gold but managed to resist the many temptations to spend it in California. He started his journey home by sailing from San Francisco to the Isthmus of Panama. There he took a mule train across to the Atlantic side where he boarded the steamer Central America for the final leg of the journey.

This was the quickest, most comfortable and most popular way to travel between the two coasts of the United States. A first class cabin cost $300, second class cabin $250, steerage $150, and the trip took about three and one half weeks.

But this trip turned out differently. Two days out of Havana, on September 10, 1857, the Central America was struck by a hurricane and sank off the coast of South Carolina. Otis Barlow and 422 other men perished, many as they tried to save their gold. It has been estimated that the Central America carried three tons of California gold and it has only been as recent as 1989 that any salvage efforts have been successful.

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