1892.
Oct. 15
Concord, Massachusetts.
Mass.
Concord. Weather much like that of yesterday but with
more haze and less wind - only a gentle breeze from S. E.
[margin]Goose Pond[/margin]
  In the forenoon drove to Goose Pond which I had
not seen before for twenty-three years! Its beauty
impressed me deeply today. It is unlike anything
else in this region but resembles some of ten smaller
ponds in Plymouth County & elsewhere on Cape Cod.
The water, nowhere more than a foot deep, was clear
and singularly free from aquatic plants nor was there
grass or sedge of any kind about the shores which
were muddy or sandy. A clean pond despite the muddy
bottom, looking as if it might have been only recently
dry and filled with water. It lies in the bottom
of a deep hollow surrounded on all sides by narrow
ridges. It is nearly cut in two by an intersecting
ridge which has a gap in the middle.
Caliph (a farmer on the Sandy Pond road) tells me
that Goose Pond contains no fish of any kind. He
introduced pickerel years ago but the pond dried
up completely the next season & they all died of
course. Ducks still visit this pond. One of the
Concord gunners found a flock of Black Ducks
there last month & killed three of them. I saw
no feathers or other signs of water fowl but the
mud was literally covered with the tracks of foxes
and Raccoons - in about equal numbers.
I also drove to Sandy Pond. A reef of rocks exposed
by the low water was covered with Crows which
kept rising and circling about before alighting
again.
[margin]Raccoon tracks[/margin]