i found two young people down here on a couple years ago with four wheel is running all over the place knocking trees down i discourage them strongly there was also a group building a fire is here the shoreline of the legendary sako river indian seller stretches for about a mile along the soco river in the salmon falls village area of hollis a small southwestern maine town founded in seventeen ninety indian cellar is located just below the salmon falls bridge directly across from buxton's pleasant point par village was once a thriving center of industry and commerce lumber mills were built on the shores of the village and la drivers took advantage of the swift moving springtime water flow to transport logs down the river the demand for electric power in the sokal river valley was growing and so was the size of the dams the skeleton dam was constructed in one thousand nine hundred forty eight and remains the largest dam on the soc river rising seventy four feet above the downstream river today the water flowing through indian cellar has been calmed by a series of dams including the west buxton bonnie eagle moderation and bar mills dams but it was the skelton dam that changed the course of the river most dramatically the dam has reliably generated power since one thousand nine hundred forty eight but not without a cost to the natural environment the skeleton dam blood in the salmon falls gorge and the inset here just as a piece of while a since forty eight since they flooded this it was a very popular spot before it was flooded everett flooded it just shut off like that nobody bothered come out it was the psycho river indian seller takes its name from the deep sheltered bedrock walls of the granite gorge that once dominated the landscape in this historic area of hollis this section of the gorge stayed cool in the warm summer months and migratory native americans were said to have stored their food in small caves located at the base of the indian cellar crew vos before the skelton dam was constructed salmon falls and the indian seller were a sight to behold especially in the spring time the train that once ran from portland maine to rochester new hampshire brought hundreds of sightseers and picnickers drawn to seasonal log drives and the pounding of class four and five water under in its way through the gor destination spot in the summer some of the local still remember the white water rapids that once tore through the gorge rita anderson's first visit to the park was back in the late  picnic lunch and then we'd just sit there and go and enjoy the falls and and just being outdoors and listen to the roar of the falls and cause saw maybe some logs on some of those big rock that was there in the middle of the river rita has lived and worked in hollis all her life and has a great love for the woods and waters of hollis anderson served as the town's conservation commissioner  twenty five relatively uneventful years all that changed in two thousand and seven when she learned about main woodland properties plan to develop the indian seller property into twelve house lots i was very concerned about because that is to me that's pristine property rita knew she'd need all the help she could get if the newly formed campaign to save indian seller had any chance of success so she enlisted the help of john madden are an outdoorsman with a passion for conservation john mather i've gotten very interested in the conservation commission in hall  was divided up into a huge twelve unit subdivision and with roads roads coming in and everything they were going to sell off high price sucker of a waterfront laws will not only h buxton was up in arms about this there was concern across the river as we were they were look over here and see this all cut up into a subdivision well lo and behold we organized and got trusted public land to tell us how to raise money and how to fund for how to write grants and all that sort of thing the trust republican got involved in the indian cellar project in early two thousand and seven i remember reading an article in the portland press herald after a planning board meeting where i think the developer who own the property was an applicant to put in a you know his subdivision and my recollection is the paper recounted eighty plus or minus people coming to the planning board meeting and being surprised that the prosecutes sold now was being slated for subdivision and they wanted to be part of that process so i saw a couple of things in that article one is the article talked about the emotion behind the property the surprise that it was under development the history of people had gone down to the shores to get to the river for generations and now it was at risk of being lost one of the questions we had to answer is how are we going to pay for it and in order to get there we saw the land from a future program on the horizon that's a competitive grant process we need to look at the property and say does it have conservation value absolutely does it have historical value and does the community want to make it happen sure and so l m f lanfear means future was one of those funding opportunities but we had to compete for that's not going to pay for the whole thing one funding source in today's day and age does not get you there so the town leadership was listening they were making any commitments but they were listening and ultimately the town contributed two hundred fifty thousand dollars that had to go to the voters and the voters said yes thirdly we went out and raised private dollars and the community buxton hollis and surrounding communities all stepped up we put together the personalities in the team that went to the landowner and said we would like to talk to you to see if you would consider selling the property to the trust republic land and ultimately the town and we negotiated for months and were able to get that opportunity then we had to raise you know north of eight hundred thousand dollars and you're looking around saying we're going to find eight hundred thousand dollars in a very short period of time relatively raised enough private dollars to buy the land and to create in and down in a stewardship and down the delta care of nearly one million dollars was needed to buy the land from the developers against heavy odds and seemingly insurmountable obstacles the campaign to save indian seller was finally realized in two thousand and nine the opportunity to buy a piece of property comes once sometimes you get another bite of the apple but you need to be thinking about how do i protect that property and how do i take care of it it was clear early in the project that the stewardship the taking care the getting involved was a key to success just buying it wasn't enough what you want to make sure is that there's sort of a culture that builds around the protection effort that says this is ours we want people to be here but we need to take care of it this is you know there's a thousand when you're trying to do something like this that keep stopping in your tracks what do we do how do we go about acquiring this well we had a gigantic fundraising thing to raise enough money and  succeeded after we bought this i've kind of grabbed the ball and as far as turning it in from just a piece of land into what i call a preserve which is accessible the state give us a bunch of money from the land for means future we were obliged by promise to them to the state not just leave this while lead to make it accessible to the public and i run everything in my power to live up to this obligation hats off to john matt or john was it is and was a huge incredible champion a visionary for what this project could be and is turning into and how it is being enjoyed today the key is to get you know people in behind him get depth on the bench to follow his lead to learn from people like john and embrace the property the way he has indian cellar is a remarkable success  has been diving professionally and recreationally for years he and the dive partner had read new stories about the park and decided to explore the property for themselves dad about forty feet shooting the rock ledge looking for good solid there we had a ledge drop straight down to sixty feet looked around to the bottom at the sixty foot level the amber colored water made visibility a little difficult it would have been completely in the dark without lights but the water is very clean and i was surprised that there was no almost no sign of human beings at all years the park suffered from neglect and misuse but today's visitors enjoy a network of well maintained trails and a diverse biologically rich shoreline habitat as awareness of the park grows the indian seller salmon falls region is poised to undergo another historic period of change plans are underway to rebuild the pedestrian bridge that once connected the towns  homeless this bridge construction initiative is winning support from both sides of the river and promises to make salmon falls a safer more inviting and attractive place on the buxton side you you have you know the very steep slopes the cliff slopes it's on the hollis side that you have you know some of the steep embankments but you also have gradual sort of gradual slopes where people can actually get to the river they can get to the river to say fish they can get to the river to put their canoes and their kayaks in this is an important property to protect for the following reasons first of all it's beautiful when you're up on the bridge crossing the soco when you look down you see a natural landscape that is just stunning all you know it all seasons you get onto the property and it's undisturbed it's a natural it's a natural landscape with a diverse for structure so you've got biodiversity my first walk told me about the history of the indian the cellar and how american indians are moving up and down the river valley look to you know the geological kind of features because it's cool in july and back up in those rocks and and it kept there kept you know kind of their foodstuffs cool all year round that was important so not only you've got sort of this this historical cultural piece to it indian seller park has it all history wildlife habitat and recreational value this is kind of a designated fishing spot so the saga as a rate riding a fish in the ils and bass and you the natural world provides a peaceful refuge from today's hectic hyperconnected and a vital community gathering place pleasant point in indian salary for visitors and a ski in  the stresses and pressures of twenty first century life why is nature important to the wellbeing of the individual in the community it's the essential part of our existence is to know what's out there is where we are that's where we're our roots where we colorful is man showing that some time in the in nature is tremendously beneficial to productivity and state of mind we don't sweat anywhere near enough time outside doing things seller park is shielded from any form of future development for the rest of time but challenges remain many long time conservation commission members are getting older a new generation of park stewards and visionaries must step forward to ensure that the park is preserved and protected forever indian seller is worthy of your time energy and ideas volunteer trail stewards are crucial to the ongoing success of this our you can help build and maintain trails while educating the public about the sensitive ecological nature of the park as well as its historic significan your involvement can help keep the parks momentum moving forward the harness conservation commission meets in the salmon falls library every first and third monday at five pm new members are always welcome please do your part to help ensure the legendary indian seller remains forever wild and free we need that we need support there's no question we need more people who will come to the meetings we have good able but they're busy we need some people who have a little bit of time and a common actually have ideas and want to actually do something and have the time to do it i have all great people on there but they're the working be a point you know that they've got to they've got a tremendous amount on their plate in this world we live in the two three hundred years from now when people look back on this project or they look back on on mains landscape in general the world's going to i think be completely different we have three hundred thirty million people today we're on our way to five six hundred million in fifty years what's it going to be like in a couple hundred years i think when you look back you're going to see pockets like the  cell or project in property and people are going to say thank you thank you for making those investments and then to protect places like this today today besides tomorrow don't hesitate to get involved conserving our natural resources can make an entire world of difference for future generations in today's day and age one of the most of the things that the trust republic land in our partners feel is getting people outside getting america getting a priest to appreciate experience the remarkable beauty the state has to offer and they've got one of the best right in our backyard be able to go outside it much they are healthy much mentally interestingly they have a lot of different perspectives on their mind they never ward if somebody wants to be outdoors they're going to love it and even if they don't they come you know they'll get