CHAPTER V.

Length of Kennebeck.--Moose-head Lake.--Its peculiar Shape.--Its Islands.--Burned Jacket.--Interesting Deposit.--Mount Kineo.--The Prospect from its Summit.--Moose River.--Old Indian.--The Banks of the Kennebeck.--Beauties of the Country, &c.--Lumber on Dead River. --Falls at Waterville.--Skowhegan Falls.--Arnold's Encampment.-- Nau-lau-chu-wak.--Caritunk Falls.--Lumber.--Statistics.--Author's Acknowledgments.--Androscoggin.--Course and other Peculiarities.--A question of Rivalry.--Water Power.--Original Indications.--Interesting Sketch of Rumford Falls.--Estimated Water Power.--Lumber Statistics. --Droughts and Freshets.--Umbagog Lake.--The serpentine Megalloway. --Granite Mountains.--Beautiful Foliage.--Romantic Falls.--Character of Country.--Manner of Life in Log-cutting, &c.--Statistics, &c.-- Presumpscot River, great Water-powers of.--Warmth of Water.-- Statistical Remarks.--Saco River.

The beautiful Kennebeck lies about sixty miles west of the Penobscot River, running from north to south, nearly parallel with the latter, constituting one of those great marks of designation which divide the state longitudinally into three sections south of the 46th degree of north latitude to the sea-coast inclusive.

The Kennebeck takes its rise in the southwest section of Moose-head Lake (according to Mitchel's Atlas), so called, probably, from the near resemblance it has, with its numerous coves, arms, and bays, to the branchy horns of the moose. As laid down on some maps, particularly on the map of the Eastern States in Smith's Atlas, published by J. Paine, of Hartford, it requires but a small exercise of the imagination to see in its outlines the form of an immense animal, making the portage from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean with fearful strides of fifteen miles each. The figure of the lake, as laid down on Mitchel's maps, corresponds more exactly with the branching appearance of a moose horn. "Its whole extent, from north to south, is about forty miles, and varies in width from one to eight miles, and very irregular in shape, owing to its deep coves, bays, and islands, which in some parts almost fill the lake. Many of these islands are mere ledges of slate, covered with a scanty growth of cedar and fir, rising perpendicularly from the surface of the water, which fall suddenly to a great depth by their sides. Others are large islands of many acres, well wooded, and bordered by beaches of sand, as well as by ledges of rock. On the eastern side, a few miles from the foot of the lake, rises a high rocky point, called Burned Jacket. It is composed of gneiss, curiously crossed in every direction by veins of quartz. Its sides are covered with huge blocks of gneiss which have fallen from the top, forming long dens and passages between them. On a small, low island, northwest from Moose Island, I found the beach almost covered with fine black ferruginous sand. It is the common black sand used in writing. It lies upon and in a strata with the yellow beach sand, and may be collected in great abundance. Such sand is commonly sold, when put up in pound papers, at six cents each. To obtain large quantities, it might be scooped up with shovels, and afterward separated from the yellow sand by powerful magnets." Take your knife-blade, when charged with the magnet, and immerse it in your sand-box, and quantities will adhere to it, leaving whatever is foreign to itself. "Mount Kineo, to which allusion has already been made, has the appearance of a huge artificial wall of stone rising directly out of the water on the eastern side of the lake, opposite the mouth of Moose River." "We paddled under its cliffs, which jutted out over our heads at a height of five or six hundred feet. Below, they descend perpendicularly ninety feet. The northern and western sides are covered with trees, and slope so that one can reach the top by a path along the edge of the precipice. From its summit is enjoyed a beautiful prospect of the lake, with its islands, and of the adjoining country, forming a most picturesque landscape. The country, to the northward and westward, is generally low. Moose River is seen making its way through it, and finally emptying into the lake on the opposite side. To the eastward the country is more hilly, until the view is lost among the mountains of the Ktaadn group. On looking down from the edge of the precipice, we see the water directly beneath; and so steep and overhanging is the rock, that by a single leap one might throw himself from almost the highest point, and strike the water six hundred feet below, and many feet distant from the base of the mountain. Mount Kineo receives its name from that of an old Indian who formerly lived and hunted in its vicinity."

The most striking feature of the Kennebeck is derived from the well-cultivated and beautiful country through which its waters flow. "From Anson to Bath," a distance of about eighty miles, it passes through a particularly well-cultivated section, presenting an extent of territory probably under a higher state of cultivation than any other division of the state.

To use the complimentary and probably truthful remarks of a gentleman long a resident at the capital, Augusta, "No river in the United States, within the same distance, can be found with more pleasant and delightful scenery, more beautiful villages, or a more thriving population." "The principal business places on its banks are, beginning at its mouth, Bath, Richmond, Gardiner, Pittston, Hallowell, Augusta, Waterville, Fairfield, Bloomfield, Millburn, Norridgewock, and Anson. Bath has long been known for its ship-building, having furnished many of the finest ships engaged in our European trade. Richmond, Gardiner, Pittston, and some other towns on the river, have also built many fine vessels. From Merry-meeting Bay (the confluence of the Kennebeck and Androscoggin from the west) to the Dead River is a fine farming country, while the lumbering region on the Kennebeck, for the most part, extends northward to the lake, around it and its tributaries, and at the Dead River. Formerly a considerable quantity of lumber was cut on the Sebasticook; but now the quantity is very much diminished, owing to the scarcity of logs on that river."

There are several noted falls on the river; the first is at Waterville. "The Kennebeck River is there observed rushing through a breach which has been formed by the disruption of stratified argillaceous slate." "The fall of water is from a ledge of these rocks, and varies from eighteen to twenty feet, according to the state of the river."

The next considerable fall on the river is at Skowhegan, "produced by the falling of the Kennebeck over a rocky ledge to the distance of from ten to twelve feet. During the fatal campaign of Arnold, his army encamped upon an island near the falls, and occasionally relics of the encampment are now found, such as pipes, coins, &c."

At Norridgewock the Kennebeck plunges about ten feet over ledges of hard argillaceous slate, which constitute another step in the series of pitches over which the river passes, seeking its home and level in the bosom of the Atlantic Ocean. Nau-lau-chu-wak is said to be the original and true Indian orthography, the sense of which is this: these falls, or this place, is the only obstruction to navigation.

At Caritunk Falls, still further up river, and half a mile from Solon village, "the Kennebeck dashes over hard quartz rock and mica slate ledges, which run northeast, southwest, and dip northwest 60°. Measured barometrically, the fall is sixteen feet perpendicular, but is said sometimes to be upward of twenty feet. The gorge through which the water passes is fifty feet."[21]

[21] Geological Reports of Maine.

The lumbering interests on the Kennebeck still hold a marked prominence.

There is reported on this river and its tributaries, from Bath northward, including all its tributaries (not including the Androscoggin as one), one hundred and fifty saw-mills, several of which, from Augusta down, are driven by steam.

Averaging the various amounts of long lumber, as reported from sources the most reliable, we report 66,900,000 feet as the amount of long lumber sawed in one year, though not the invariable amount, as this differs on all rivers more or less, as the various influences to which this business is subjected operate. The average price of long lumber has been variously estimated by different gentlemen who have given an opinion, but, from the best evidences before me, I venture to put it down at $12 per _M._

But the question here occurs, and to my own mind with distinct impressiveness, Why is there so great a disparity in the prices of long lumber on the Kennebeck and the Penobscot? This question I can not satisfactorily answer to myself, and to it I venture but one suggestion in reply. The probability is, that, in the wholesale slaughter (so to speak) of lumber on the Penobscot, there may be a larger proportion of the fourth, fifth, and sixth qualities of lumber--as it is there distinguished--than on the Kennebeck.

Having made application to some of the most intelligent lumbermen on the Penobscot for a solution of this question, I may yet be able to append such facts as the inquiry may elicit.

From the best sources of information to which I have had access, the following is furnished as a tolerable approximation to the truth in relation to the amount and value of short lumber:

Laths, 17 millions, at $100.00 per _M._=$17,000. Clap-boards, 4 millions, at 15.00 per _M._= 60,000. Shingles, 26-1/2 millions, at 2.50 per _M._= 66,250.

The "Gardiner Fountain" for January 28, 1848, reports the following as the amount of the various denominations of lumber manufactured at Gardiner and Pittston:

"Long lumber, 20,824 _M._; Shingles, 16,302 _M._; Clap-boards, 1905 _M._; and of pickets, 50 _M._" The editor remarks that "the amount of money received for sales on the above lumber is $445,000." In addition to other kinds of lumber, there are large quantities of door and blind stuff not enumerated.

There remains but one observation to be made touching the lumber business on the Kennebeck. It is estimated by good judges that the present annual amount of lumber on this river may be hauled for ten successive years, after which it will depreciate one fourth every ten years, and thus, in forty years, exhaust the resources of the river.

For the principal facts involved in the above statements, not duly credited already, I am indebted to Mr. A. W. Babcock, an intelligent gentleman and extensive operator on the Penobscot; also to Mr. E. Bartlett, of Augusta, whose zeal in furnishing answers to the various questions proposed for consideration has only been equaled by the degree of readiness which he has manifested to assist me; and to M. Springer, Esq., deputy collector of the customs for the port of Gardiner, Maine.

STATISTICS OF LUMBER ON THE KENNEBECK.

+-----------------------+---------------+-------------+---------+ | | |Average price| Total. | | | | per M. | | | | +-------------+---------| |No. of Saw-mills | 150. | | | |Amount of Long Lumber | 66,000,900. | $12.00. |$802,000.| |Amount of Laths | 17,000,000. | 1.00. | 17,000.| |Amount of Clap-boards | 4,000,000. | 15.00. | 60,000.| |Amount of Shingles | 26,000,500. | 2.50. | 66,250.| | | | |---------| | | | |$946,500.| |Probable number of men | | | | | employed |1,200 to 1,500.| | | |Probable number of Oxen| | | | | and Horses employed | 1,000. | | | +-----------------------+---------------+-------------+---------+

Taking leave of the beautiful Kennebeck, the flourishing villages which skirt its borders, and its rich, productive farms, spreading east and west, our attention is next arrested by the serpentine Androscoggin, with its vast water power.

"From Merry-meeting Bay, into which it empties, to Lewiston Falls, it formerly went by the name of Peyepscook or Pyepscook, which means crooked, like a diving snake," strikingly expressive of the zigzag course of the stream, and the numerous pitches in its channel, giving it the appearance, or at least suggesting the idea, of the movements of a diving eel.

The length of this river is set down at two hundred and fifty miles, though the distance, in a direct line from the point where it takes its rise to its mouth, does not probably exceed one hundred miles. It is this circumstance which gives it an opportunity to drain a large territory, and, though less numerously attended with tributary streams than either the Kennebeck or Penobscot, it is said to discharge more water during the year than either of the latter rivers.

To glance at the map and institute a comparison between the Penobscot and Androscoggin, the former sixty miles longer, with its hundreds of lakes, numerous branches and tributaries, ramifying nearly one third the area of the entire state, in the regions of ice and snow, mountains and wildernesses, then survey the Androscoggin, with comparatively few tributaries or lakes, and the thing seems incredible that the latter annually pours into the Atlantic more water than the former; yet actual surveys, made by the late Colonel Baldwin, J. A. Beard, Esq., and others, have demonstrated this result with mathematical certainty. In time of freshets, in the spring and fall, doubtless the Penobscot disgorges more water; but during the summer and winter months the waters of the Androscoggin exceed in quantity.

The country through which this river flows, "from Brunswick," a few miles from its junction with the Kennebeck, "to Dixfield, sixty miles distant, is not remarkable in its features; but from the latter place to Umbagog Lake," the grand reservoir of the Androscoggin, "and from Phillips, in Franklin county, westward, up the Megalloway River," the extreme north tributary of the Androscoggin, "some thirty or forty miles, the country is said to be wonderful for its mountains."

Respecting the water power and privileges on this river, Colonel A. J. Stone, to whom I am chiefly under obligations for the facts involved in this part of my work, says, "I doubt whether there is a state in the Union that can show so many as we can on the Androscoggin and its tributaries."

"There are now three or four water-falls at Rumford, on this river, while anciently there must have been others of greater magnitude, for deep holes are seen worn high up on the rocky banks, where the waters never ran in modern times. Now the whole descent is divided into two principal and two minor falls, the first two being from six to ten feet, the middle seventy feet perpendicular, and the fourth twenty feet, while the whole pitch is estimated at one hundred and eighty feet. It is the middle fall, however, that will attract the attention of the traveler, for there the torrent of water pouring down with the noise of thunder, and dashing itself into foam as it chafes the rocky walls, produces an effect full of grandeur."--_Geological Reports._

"In the distance of half a mile on the river, at this place (Brunswick), we have forty-one feet fall (three dams across the river), consequently the water may be used in this distance three times." "By a survey made by the late Colonel Baldwin, the capacity of the Androscoggin is sufficient for carrying two hundred thousand spindles." Numerous privileges of the same capacity are of frequent occurrence. All that is requisite to make this river the seat of the most extensive factory operations in the world is capital, and from the superior water power here presented, it is fair to presume that the attention of capitalists may ultimately lead to investments in manufacturing on a magnificent scale.

At Livermore some incipient movements are making for the erection of factories by a company. At Brunswick, a cotton factory, with four thousand six hundred spindles, is already in operation.

In relation to the lumbering business on this river, the chief object of attention in noticing this and the rivers already alluded to, there are "from two to three million feet of lumber run down, and about the same amount is purchased (in the log) on the Kennebeck, and taken up through Merry-meeting Bay, and manufactured at Brunswick yearly."

"Five millions are manufactured into boards, and about one million into clap-boards and shingles, &c. About one half of the five millions manufactured into boards are shipped to Boston, Mass., Providence and Fall River, R.I., and to the West Indies. The remaining half are manufactured here into sugar-box shooks for the Havana market."

The mean or average price which lumber bears per _M._ here is $14.30. The "resources for lumber on this river are very limited. The principal dealers are about leaving the business, though lumber, in small quantities, will probably be run for twenty or thirty years."

Logs are driven about one hundred and fifty miles, this being the longest drive. Others are hauled on to the river within forty miles of Brunswick.

From the causes alluded to, the Androscoggin is not much affected with drought, nor so seriously by freshets as most rivers, the mills being protected by ledges. "The river is very crooked, and when we have an _ice_ freshet, it is piled up in large quantities in the bends of the river, in some instances for five or six miles. Such was the case nine years since--also last spring; but the damage to our mills in these two ice freshets was but trifling."

Umbagog Lake, from which the Androscoggin takes its rise, from the construction of its shores, acts as a regulator upon the height of the water. When the Megalloway rises, it flows into the Androscoggin, and raises its waters, so that they run back into the lake for the distance of two miles, having the appearance of a river running back to its source. The Androscoggin rises from the western side of the lake, and here is a sluggish stream, with low, grassy banks five feet high, covered with scattering swamp Maple-trees. "The Megalloway River is extremely serpentine and wild in its course, winding its way amid high mountains, while its banks are composed of sandy loam, covered thickly with Maple-trees."

"The Umbagog Lake is an irregular, shallow sheet of water, with grassy and boggy shores, and is surrounded by lofty mountains of granite, which in September are clothed with the red and yellow foliage of Maple and Birch trees, the former greatly predominating, and covering the mountains to their very summits." Among other objects of romantic interest are "Frye's Falls, in Andover Surplus," upon Frye's Stream, so called. "This stream rushes over a precipitous mass of granite, gneiss, and mica slate rocks, precipitating itself by a fall of twenty-five feet into a rocky basin below. The chasm is fifteen feet wide, and the basin fifty-five feet broad. Here the waters form a beautiful pool, and then leap again, by a second fall of twenty feet, into another larger and shallower reservoir, from which they descend gradually to Sawyer's Brook, running into Ellis River."

There are about sixty saw-mills on this river and its tributaries, thirty-two of which are at Brunswick and Topsham; about two hundred shingle machines, most of which manufacture for home consumption; ten only, or thereabouts, manufacture for markets abroad, which cut about three hundred thousand to a machine. Average price per _M._, $2.75. Though there are said to be fifty clap-board machines of some sort on the river, yet only "nine can be reckoned as manufacturing for market," "which, owing to the scanty supply of timber, cut only about fifty _M._" to a machine. Average price of clap-boards per _M._, $22.50. There are only nine lath machines, which, as is reported, for want of material, cut only about two hundred and fifty thousand to a machine. Average price per _M._, $1.18.

Throwing the whole, then, into a tabular form, we have presented for our inspection the results of the lumbering operations on the Androscoggin, for the market, as follows:

ANDROSCOGGIN.

+---------------------------+----------+------------+--------+ | | | Average | | | | | price | Total. | | | | per M. | | | | +------------+--------+ |No. of Saw-mills | 60. | | | |No. of Shingle Machines | 10. | | | |No. of Clap-board Machines | 9. | | | |No. of Lath Machines | 9. | | | |No. of Long Lumber |5,000,000.| $14.30. | 71,500.| |No. of Shingles |3,000,000.| 2.75. | 8,250.| |No. of Clap-boards | 450,000.| 22.50. | 12,375.| |No. of Laths |2,250,000.| 1.18. | 2,773.| | | | |------- | | | | |$94,898.| +---------------------------+----------+------------+--------+

There is also a small amount of lumber manufactured on the Presumpscot, a small river about fifty miles long, if we include Sebago Pond as a connecting link between Presumpscot Proper and the continuation of the inlet stream, which takes its rise about twenty miles east of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, running southwest, and finally emptying into Casco Bay, a few miles north of Portland.

"There are said to be seventeen falls of water on this river within twenty miles of Portland, each affording a good site for mills, and a sufficient volume of water on each pitch to carry eight hundred looms, together with all other needed machinery for such purposes." "Sebago Lake is a thoroughfare and feeder of the Cumberland and Oxford Canal, and there are between the lake and the sea twenty-six locks of nearly ten feet each, making the fall equal to two hundred and fifty-five feet." The fountains of this river are so springy that "the water never freezes so as to prevent or impede operations," nor are they troubled with droughts; the current is ever-living.

At Sacarappa, on the Presumpscot, there are six saws for long lumber, two shingle and two lath machines. At Great Falls there are four saws, also four more a few miles up the river, and four shingle and four lath machines. Above Sebago Pond there are also four more saw-mills, the produce of which finds a domestic market in the neighboring towns.

The resources for lumber on this river are nearly exhausted, as must be evident from the settled condition of the country through which it runs its short career.

Having no means by which to ascertain the various amounts of lumber manufactured on this river, I will venture upon a calculation, with a view to make results more tangible, keeping in view the scanty resources lumbermen must have in such a country for logs.

There are fourteen saws reported which manufacture for exportation. With a proper head of water and a sufficient number of logs, one saw is capable of cutting a million feet per annum. But, in the absence of the necessary supply of logs, we should feel inclined to limit the amount manufactured per saw to one hundred and fifty thousand feet, board measure, the average price of which is said to be $12 per _M._

Of lath machines there are six reported, capable, under favorable circumstances, of cutting one million pieces per annum to a machine. But in this instance, from the scanty supply of material, we should not feel warranted in an estimate exceeding two hundred thousand to each machine as the average product, worth probably about the same as similar kinds of lumber on the Androscoggin.

Six shingle machines may be supposed to produce a limited amount of this kind of lumber, for the same general reason assigned for the scanty supply of other kinds. Two hundred and fifty thousand to each machine, worth two dollars and fifty cents per _M._, may therefore be considered not extravagant.

Some attention has been given to factory operations on this river at Sacarappa, where there is one mill with three hundred and sixty looms, whether for cotton or wool I am uninformed.

TABLE.

Number of saws manufacturing for market, 14. Number of lath and shingle machines, do., 12. Amount of long lumber 2,100,000, at $12.00 = $25,200. Number of thousand shingles 1,500,000, at 2.50 = 3,750. Number of thousand laths 1,200,000, at 1.12 = 1,344. ------ Total $30,294.

Though this is comparatively a small lumber operation, still, provided the truth has been approximated in the estimates made, this done annually amounts to no mean revenue, and affords employment to not a few persons, supplying bread for many mouths, and enriching those who conduct the business. While such operations build up many beautiful villages along the romantic banks of those fine streams and rivers where falls occur, they also give an impulse to the farming interests of the country contiguous, and serve as so many little hearts in the great system, whose pulsations vibrate with general intelligence, education, and improved manners throughout the interior.

For the principal _facts_ involved in the view given of the Presumpscot and its lumbering interests, I am mainly indebted to the kindness of E. Clarke, M.D., of Portland, Maine.

The next considerable river is Saco, which rises among the White Mountains of New Hampshire, at the _notch_ near where the Ammonoosuc River takes its rise. The Saco, from its source to the Atlantic Ocean, into which it empties, is about one hundred and forty miles in length, its current rapid, and waters clear. In common with many other rivers, some portion of it is exceedingly crooked. Within the single town of Fryeburg its serpentine windings are said to be thirty-six miles, making in this meandering only four miles on a direct line. Fine intervale lands abound in this vicinity, and also in Brownfield.

There are four noted falls on this river. The first is called _Great Falls_, at Hiram, where the water plunges down a ledge of rugged rocks seventy-two feet. At Lemington are the _Steep Falls_, of twenty feet. At Buxton are _Salmon Falls_, of thirty feet; and ten miles below we come to _Saco Falls_, where the river is divided by _Indian Island_, containing thirty acres, and on each side the river tumbles over a precipice of rocks forty-two feet high, and disappears amid the waves of the Atlantic. From the east side of the above-named island, which is fertile and pleasant, the appearance of these falls is majestic.

This river is easily affected by freshets. At such times the water rises ten feet, and sometimes it has risen twenty-five feet; when in many places it overflows its banks, and makes great havoc with property.

This was particularly the case in the great flood of October, 1775, when a large stream, called _New River_, broke out of the _White Mountains_, and bore down every thing in its way, till it found a channel in Ellis River. The Saco, being swelled enormously by this accession to its waters, swept away mills, bridges, domestic animals, and great quantities of lumber.

The burst of New River from the mountains was a great phenomenon; and as its waters were of a reddish brown or blood color, the people considered it an ill omen in those times of revolution.[22]

[22] Williamson's History of Maine.

In regard to the lumbering interests on this river we know but little, save that in years gone by it has constituted a large share of the business done on the river, and that at the present time it has so much diminished as to be comparatively unimportant.[23]

[23] Several letters were written to different gentlemen at Saco, such as were named to me by their friends abroad, for information on this subject; but from some cause, they have remained silent, having taken no notice of my letters, which, I am happy to say, forms but _one_, and the only exception to the prompt and intelligent responses the author has received from gentlemen wherever his inquiries have been directed, whether to the province of New Brunswick, or to gentlemen in Calais, Bangor, Augusta, Brunswick, and Portland, Maine.