Here Yesterday, Gone Today

Sampson and Murdock, 1888



Referring to the Sampson and Murdock map posted above, I've discussed the headwater of Stony Brook in the Stony Brook Reservation in Hyde Park, and Canterbury Brook on the edge of Mattapan. Going clockwise, the next tributary is - or was - the brook that starts near the present day Belgrade Ave/West Roxbury Pky. intersection. Neither street appears on the map, but South and Centre Sts. are there for orientation.

Within the Water Resources and Urban Environment pdf file cited earlier, the entire current layout of the watershed is shown, both above-ground and culverted. This un-named Roslindale tributary is shown to be entirely culverted. Which raises the question: if the entire brook is underground from start to finish, where does the water come from? Each of the other tributaries has at least a short section above-ground to feed the underground culvert. I can only assume that the brook location, which may have been dry in the summer, was used as the path for a storm drain, and the waterway itself simply ceased to exist.