ridges, and swimming is not allowed. Down in the low brownstone regions, only a handful of sizable lakes are present, nearly all the result of dams. Regrettably, the best swimming opportunities in the Valley - the rivers - have not been adequately cared for, and most are now unsuitable for swimming. During the steamiest days of summer when a slow-moving Bermuda high smothers the state, the highways are choked by people streaming out of the Central Valley in search of Uplands lakes and coastal beaches.

Mining the Valley

In addition to the superb agricultural land, availability of rivers for transport, and some limited water power, the Central Valley also has valuable resources in its bedrock and overlying glacial drift.

Thanks to the many quarries operating in the Central Valley between 1640 and 1955, Connecticut brownstone is a familiar sight from New York to San Francisco. Brownstone was a popular building stone because it was attractive, relatively easy to quarry, and inexpensive. The quarries near Middletown and Portland were especially active, and many residents of today can trace their ancestry to skilled Italian stonecutters who immigrated to work the rock. It was not easy work, despite the softness of brownstone. The workday ran from 6 a.m. to sunset during summer, and from one-half hour after sunrise to sunset during winter. Great teams of oxen aided the men in the back-breaking chore of hauling stone blocks, but much of the work was powered by human muscle. After quarrying, the blocks were loaded onto schooners and shipped down the Connecticut River to ports all along the East Coast. Under the difficult working conditions prevalent in quarries at the turn of the century, drunkenness and tardiness were, understandably, common. A handbill once posted at the Brainard & Co. quarry in Portland read:

Every man justly chargeable with intemperate habits, disobedience of orders, unfaithfulness in performance of duties, or with quarrelsome

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