TheJail Branch River is ariver in centralVermont. It is a tributary of the Stevens Branch of theWinooski River and part of theLake Champlainwatershed.[citation needed]
The Jail Branch is a 16-mile-long river that rises inWashington, Vermont, and flows north intoOrange, where it comes under the influence of the state of Vermont'sEast Barre Dam.[1] Orange Brook and its tributaries Baker Brook, Nelson Brook, and Nate Smith Brook enter the Jail Branch before it flows intoBarre. Turning northwest, the river passes throughEast Barre; Honey Brook and its tributaries enter from the north before it descends through a narrow valley to the center of Barre, where it enters the Stevens Branch just south (upstream) of the downtown. The watershed area is 31,050 acres (12,570 ha).[1] The Jail Branch River supports a healthy wild brook trout population and has had few pollution problems in recent years.[2]
On May 26, 2005, the Jail Branch was the site of thedrowning of three children, whose bodies were found in Barre at 5:45 a.m. local time. The drowning was attributed to the steep riverbank, which could have caused the children to slip and fall into the river.[citation needed]
TheEast Barre Dam was built in response to the 1927 flood. The flood set state records and hit the Winooski River Valley and tributaries the hardest. Eighty-four people died as a result of the flood statewide, and the downtown of Barre was decimated from the flooding of the Jail Branch and Stevens Branch rivers.[3] Nowadays, the dam protects the city from flooding almost yearly, as the area above the dam floods semi-yearly but the controlled flow of water into Barre cuts back considerably on the amount of flood damage.[citation needed]
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44°07′41″N72°26′18″W / 44.1279969°N 72.4383121°W /44.1279969; -72.4383121
