Mystic River
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- This article is about the two Mystic Rivers in New England. For the Dennis Lehane book and movie, see Mystic River (book) and Mystic River (movie) respectively.
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Massachusetts
The Mystic River is the name of a short river in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The river lies to the north of and flows approximately parallel to the Charles River. Encompassing 76 square miles of watershed, the river flows from the Lower Mystic Lake, and travels through the Boston, Massachusetts area communities of Arlington, Medford, Somerville, Everett, Charlestown, Chelsea, and East Boston. The river joins the Charles River to form inner Boston Harbor. The river gave its name to the well-known novel and movie Mystic River.
The river has a long history of industrial use, and a continuing water quality problem. Extensive salt marsh lined the banks of the river until 1909 when the first dam was built (converting all the salt marsh to freshwater marsh, and enabling development). The present dam was built in 1966, and named after Amelia Earhart. The dam has three locks to allow passage of boats, and pumps to push fresh water out to the harbor even during high tide. Dam operators leave the locks open at times in an effort to allow passage of fish, most notably the native Alewife. There is a fish ladder, but it has never functioned. The dam is closed to the public.
The Maurice J. Tobin Bridge spans the river, joining Charlestown and Chelsea.
The name of the river derives from the Native American word "Missi-Tuk", which translates to "great tidal river".
References
External links
- Mystic River Watershed association (http://www.mysticriver.org/)
- Group working for public access to dam top and nearby river bank (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MysticCrossing/)
Connecticut
The Mystic River is a river which flows through the southeastern corner of the U. S. state of Connecticut. It empties into Long Island Sound, dividing the village of Mystic into Groton and Stonington.