CHARIE BUTTON

I lost a professional colleague this week. His name was Charles Button. I first met Charlie when I was an Engineer with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and he was the Chief Engineer of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. Our careers crossed paths later when I was made Chief Engineer for the Boston Harbor Project for EPA and he the Chief Engineer for the Mass. Water Resources Authority, the agency responsible for construction of the massive treatment plant you now see on Deer Island.

He called me one day and asked if I would like to take a train ride. “Sure, where are we going.”It turned out he was going to make an inspection of the tunnel boring machine that was currently gouging out a 24 foot diameter tunnel that would eventually discharge wastewater out into Mass. Bay. The machine was down for maintenance and he wanted to take a look at the progress in the tunnel. After getting instructions on how to use the portable oxygen tanks we would be carrying we descended by elevator 400 feet in the bowels of the earth. There we boarded a narrow gauge train normally used to transport workers to the site. We clicked and clacked our way out 8 miles to the machine. We crawled inside this massive structure and visually inspected the grinding wheels. The operator explained how he maintained alignment by focusing on a laser target always shining on crosshairs immediately in front of him. It was an experience I have never forgotten.

Later Charlie and I crossed paths again. I was and still am a volunteer for an Organization called the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC). Charlie was one of the Commissioners appointed by the Governor to serve on the Commission. Although we were acquainted primarily by our professionals careers, I like to believe we became close friends as well. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

 

 

HEAD HOUSE PIER

In the Postcard if you look to the right of the Head House you will see an elevated structure. That is the pier that led to the area we now know as the Sugar Bowl. My father used to push me in a stroller there until the Pier was destroyed in the September Hurricane of 1938. I was almost 4 at the time so I do have a vague memory of it. The pier was destroyed in the center so you could still walk to where the Pier ended. It was years before it was dismantled so I visited the location many times afterwood

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I recall sitting on the benches along the side enjoying the cool summer breezes. Many years later when they built the causeway to the Sugar Bowl and beyond to Castle Island I enjoyed basically the same stroll. The only thing different is that there are no benches along the causeway where you can occasionally rest.

South Boston is blessed to have such a lovely area to enjoy. It is still my favorite area for a walk on a hot summer day.