The Dam

The dam itself was built to Joseph Estes' specifications by Raymond Bergesson of Woonsocket. No written contract for this job was ever signed. It was an oral agreement sealed with a handshake. His men began in the early spring of 1951. The old dam had large and small trees with many roots and brush growing on top and the sides. All the old earth had to be removed, and replaced, after the stumps, roots, and other debris had been screened out. For extra strength, the center of the new dam had a horizontal wooden core about 25 feet wide of 18 foot tongue-in-groove boards sunk upright into the core of the dam. A concrete draw-off box was installed on the face of the dam, with 6 inch oak planks that slipped into the front slats. These flashboards controlled the level of the water by removing and replacing the boards as needed. In the rainy season any excess water ran off thru the spillway at one end of the dam. The new dam measured about 600-700 feet long, creating a body of water approximately one mile long and up to 12 feet deep. The top of the dam was wide enough for a foot path. The water quality was and remains very high.

The last bit of stone riprapping was laid on the face of the dam just ahead of the unusually heavy 1951 fall rains, which rapidly refilled the pond and crept up the front of the dam with remarkable speed, just behind the men installing the last stonework.

Steere, Ebbets and Westcott, acting as the SEW Association, had for about twenty-five years managed the upkeep of the dam, the pond, the private beaches, the roads (around the 1960s the Town of Glocester agreed to take over maintenance of the roads), and collected dues from property owners to maintain the dam and pond; afterwards, they decided that some more permanent method of operating Keech Pond should be set up.

In the 1970s they drew up an agreement to deed the dam, the pond, the roads, the private beaches, the water rights, and their land under the pond to a new organization of Keech Pond property owners, set up specifically to carry on the long-term management, regulation, control, and responsibility for all of the above. This group was incorporated about 1975 as the Property Owners Association of Keech Pond. This organization has an elected slate of officers, and a board of directors. They hold an annual meeting of all property owners.  ​This Association has continued to be the operating body of the pond. It has made improvements and properly maintained the dam.

In the 1990s the Association replaced the original flashboard system of controlling the level of the water with a more up to date 1 1/2-inch steel plate in the front of the draw-off box, with a 20-inch flip valve (or butterfly valve) at the bottom of the draw-off box, which is controlled by a screw at the top.