During his short life, Thoreau’s  opinions on the Talbot Mills Dam in North Billerica, and the Middlesex Canal through Lowell, changed back and forth several times. During his “River Years,” the final decade of his journal (1851-1861), Thoreau came to understand that human and natural river processes were inextricably linked into a larger whole that remained as beautiful as it was wild.

Professor Thorson, formerly a full time surface-process geologist for the U.S.Geological Survey, spent three decades teaching college students river science before turning his attention to Thoreau’s Concord River in 2015. The results of that inquiry was published in 2017 as The Boatman: Henry David Thoreau’s River Years by Harvard University Press to mark the bicentennial of Henry’s birth.  During his talk, “Thor” will present “Thor”eau’s nuanced understanding of the ecological and cultural role of the Billerica Dam.

Prof. Thorson’s books will be available for purchase, signing, and inscription.