Kennebec River

Kennebec River
Wyman Lake on the Kennebec River in Somerset County, Maine
Location
Country	United States
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Moosehead Lake
• elevation	1,024 feet (312 m)
Mouth
• location	Gulf of Maine, North Atlantic Ocean
Length	170 miles (270 km)
Basin size	5,869 sq mi (15,200 km2)
Discharge
• average	9,111 cu ft/s (258.0 m3/s) at its entrance to Merrymeeting Bay

The course of the Kennebec River

The Kennebec River is a 170-mile-long (270 km) river within the U.S. state of Maine.

It rises in Moosehead Lake in west-central Maine. The East and West Outlets join at Indian Pond and the river then flows southward from Harris Station Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the state. It is joined at The Forks by the Dead River, also called the West Branch, then continues south past the cities of Madison, Skowhegan, Waterville, and the state capital Augusta. At Richmond, it flows into Merrymeeting Bay, a 16-mile-long (26 km) freshwater tidal bay into which also flow the Androscoggin River and five smaller rivers. The Kennebec then runs past the shipbuilding center of Bath, then to the Gulf of Maine in the Atlantic Ocean. Due to the open, rapidless waters of the Southern Kennebec, Ocean tides and saltwater fish species such as the endangered Atlantic Sturgeon often affect the river's ecology as far north as Waterville, a small city located over 35 miles inland. Tributaries of the Kennebec include the Carrabassett River, Sandy River, and Sebasticook River.

Segments of the East Coast Greenway run along the Kennebec.

• 
  A U.S. Coast Guard cutter breaks ice on the Kennebec River near Bath, Maine; March 2005
• 
  The Kennebec at the capital city of Augusta
• 
  The Kennebec River just south of Bath

Etymology

The name "Kennebec" comes from the Eastern Abenaki /kínipekʷ/, meaning "large body of still water, large bay".

History

Discovery by Europeans

Champlain's 1607 chart of the Kennebec

In 1605, Samuel de Champlain navigated the coast of what is now Maine, charting the land and rivers of what was then called New France, L'Acadie including the Kennebec as far up as Bath, as well as the St. Croix, and Penobscot rivers The Abenaki village of Norridgewock was located on the Kennebec in the 1600s.

Shipbuilding

The English Popham Colony was founded on the Kennebec in 1607. The settler built the Virginia of Sagadahoc, the first oceangoing vessel built in the New World by English-speaking shipwrights. Hundreds of wooden and steel vessels have since been launched on the Kennebec, particularly in Bath, the so-called "City of Ships", including the Wyoming, one of the largest wooden schooners ever built.

Following the War of 1812, Bath and the rest of the country experienced a lengthy period of expansion of international trade and therefore of maritime fleets. Many of those ships were built in Bath. In 1854, at the peak of this boom period, at least nineteen major firms were building ships in Bath. The sole remaining shipyard is the Bath Iron Works, owned by General Dynamics, one of the few yards still building warships for the United States Navy. The USCGC Kennebec was named after this river.

An English trading post, Cushnoc, was established on the Kennebec in 1628.

Navigation

The Kennebec River was an early trade corridor to interior Maine from the Atlantic coast. Ocean ships could navigate upstream to Augusta. The cities of Bath, Gardiner, Hallowell and Augusta, and the towns of Woolwich, Richmond and Randolph developed adjacent to that transportation corridor. The river upstream of Augusta became an important transportation corridor for log driving to bring wooden logs and pulpwood from interior forests to sawmills and paper mills built to use water power where the city of Waterville and the towns of Winslow, Skowhegan, Norridgewock, Madison, Anson, and Bingham developed. The Maine Central Railroad and U.S. Route 201 were later constructed following the river through these towns and cities.

Father Rale's War

England's 1710 conquest of Acadia brought mainland Nova Scotia under English control, but New France still claimed present-day New Brunswick and present-day Maine east of the Kennebec River. (The Kennebec River was also a border for the Natives.) To secure its claim, New France established Catholic missions in the three largest native villages in the region: one on the Kennebec River (Norridgewock); one further north on the Penobscot River (Penobscot) and one on the Saint John River (Medoctec). Continued encroachments led to Kennebec Abenaki warriors taking up arms in what Yankee historians sometimes refer to as Father Rale's War (1722–1725). A Yankee militia raid on the Abenaki Indian mission village at Norridgewock in August 1724 dealt the Abenaki resistance a crippling blow. As many as 40 inhabitants were killed, including women and children, as well Sebastien Rasle. The 67-year old Jesuit priest was scalped, as were 26 of the Abenaki who had been slaughtered. Having plundered and torched the tribal village, the Yankee raiders destroyed the surrounding corn fields and obtained bounty for the scalps. Some Abenaki survivors returned to the Upper Kennebec, but others were welcomed by their Penobscot allies or found permanent refuge in Abenaki mission villages in French Canada.

Revolutionary War

1,110 American Revolutionary War soldiers followed this route during Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec in 1775.

War of 1812

During the War of 1812, near the Kennebec River, the Battle of Hampden was fought in Maine.

Ice industry

In 1814, Frederic Tudor began to establish markets in the West Indies and the southern United States for ice. In 1826, Rufus Page built the first large ice house near Gardiner to supply Tudor. The ice was harvested by farmers and others who were inactive due to the winter weather. The ice was cut by hand, floated to an ice house on the bank, and stored until spring. Then, packed in sawdust, it was loaded aboard ships and sent south.

Flood of 1987

On April 1, 1987, over 6 feet (1.8 m) of melting snow and 4 to 6 inches (100 to 150 mm) of rain in the mountains forced the river to flood its banks. By April 2, 1987, the river had crested at 34.1 ft (10.4 m) above the normal 13 ft (4.0 m) flood stage, meaning the river rose 21 ft (6.4 m). At the flood's peak, the flow topped out at an estimated 194,000 cubic feet per second (5,500 m³/s). It caused about $100 million in damage (171 million in 2008 dollars), flooding 2,100 homes, destroying 215, and damaging 240 others. Signs of the flood can still be found around the towns and cities that line the river.

Whitewater Rafting

In 1976 Suzanne and Wayne Hockmeyer, of Kennebec Whitewater Expeditions now Northern Outdoors, pioneered whitewater rafting through the Kennebec gorge just below Harris Station Dam. Today, Northern Outdoors and 22 other rafting companies in The Forks raft the river daily from May through October. Four times per rafting season Brookfield Power tests their generating turbines by releasing the maximum amount of water possible from Harris Station Dam. At 8000 cubic feet per second these Kennebec River Turbine Tests are the biggest whitewater releases in Maine.

Natural resources

Prior to the industrial era, the river contained many anadromous fish, in particular the Atlantic salmon. The exploiting of hydroelectric power in the region reduced the runs of such fish. The removal of dams on the river has been a controversial local issue in recent years. The removal of the Edwards Dam in 1999 has led to increased anadromous activity on the river.

Dams

Edwards Dam

The Kennebec River before the construction of Edwards Dam was extremely important as a spawning ground for Atlantic fish. In 1837, the Edwards Dam was built across the Kennebec River, just shy of the limit of tidal influence. Made of timber and concrete, it extended 917 feet (280 m) across the river and 25 feet (7.6 m) high. Its reservoir stretched 17 miles (27 km) upstream, and covered 1,143 acres (4.63 km2). In 1999, the dam was removed.

Hydroelectricity

The following is a list of hydroelectric power stations on the Kennebec River

Name	County	Coordinates	Owner	Date of FERC license issuance	Date of FERC license expiration	Total Capacity (MW)	Avg Annual Generation (MWh)	Year First Generator Online
Indian Pond Project (Harris Station Dam)	Somerset	45.4603°N 69.8662°W / 45.4603; -69.8662	Brookfield White Pine Hydro, LLC.	1/13/2004	10/30/2036	76.4	228,241	1954
Shawmut	Kennebec	44.6309°N 69.5835°W / 44.6309; -69.5835	Brookfield White Pine Hydro, LLC.	1/4/1981	1/30/2021	8.8	49,498	1913
Weston	Somerset	44.7636°N 69.7185°W / 44.7636; -69.7185	Brookfield White Pine Hydro, LLC.	11/24/1997	10/30/2036	12	80,341	1920
Wyman	Somerset	45.0697°N 69.9068°W / 45.0697; -69.9068	Brookfield White Pine Hydro, LLC.	11/24/1997	10/30/2036	72	389,210	1930
Williams	Somerset	44.9592°N 69.8705°W / 44.9592; -69.8705	Brookfield White Pine Hydro, LLC.	11/2/2017	4/29/2054	13	93,734	1939
Abenaki	Somerset	44.7921°N 69.8867°W / 44.7921; -69.8867	Eagle Creek Madison Hydro, LLC	7/24/2003	4/29/2054	20	96,767	1950
Anson	Somerset	44.7984°N 69.889°W / 44.7984; -69.889	Eagle Creek Madison Hydro, LLC	7/24/2003	4/29/2054	9	43,545	1950
Lockwood	Kennebec	44.5484°N 69.6269°W / 44.5484; -69.6269	Merimil Ltd Partnership	3/3/2005	10/30/2036	2.4	11,048	1985
Hydro Kennebec Project	Kennebec	44.5639°N 69.6207°W / 44.5639; -69.6207	Hydro Kennebec LLC	10/14/1986	9/29/2036	15.4	80,882	1989

Statistics

The river drains 5,869 square miles (15,200 km²), and on average discharges 5.893 billion US gallons (22,310,000 m³) per day into Merrymeeting Bay at a rate of 9,111 cubic feet per second (258.0 m³/s). The United States government maintains three river flow gauges on the Kennebec river. The first is at Indian Pond (45.51114°N 69.81080°W / 45.51114; -69.81080 (Indian Pond, Maine)) where the rivershed is 1,590 square miles (4,100 km²). Flow here has ranged from 161 to 32,900 cubic feet per second (4.6 to 931.6 m³/s). The second is at Bingham (45°3′6″N 69°53′12″W) where the rivershed is 2,715 square miles (7,030 km²). Flow here has ranged from 110 to 65,200 cu ft/s (3.1 to 1,846.3 m³/s). The third is at North Sidney (44°28′21″N 69°41′09″W) where the rivershed is 5,403 square miles (13,990 km²). Flow here has ranged from 1,160 to 232,000 cu ft/s (33 to 6,570 m³/s). Two additional river stage gauges (no flow data) are in Augusta (44°19′06″N 69°46′17″W) and Gardiner (44°13′50″N 69°46′16″W); both of these gauge heights are affected by ocean tides.

Before the river was dammed, it was navigable as far as Augusta.

See also

• List of rivers of Maine

External links

• MaineRivers.org Kennebec River profile
• Real-time flow or stage data for The Forks, Bingham, North Sidney, Augusta, and Gardiner gages.
• Kennebec-Chaudiere Kennebec-Chaudiere International Corridor
• "Kennebec" . The New Student's Reference Work . 1914.