The Androscoggin is one of the largest rivers in Maine. To the north, water drains into the St. Lawrence River. To our east is the Kennebec River Watershed. And to the west, the Connecticut River Watershed. The boundaries for all these different watersheds are the high mountain ridges separating one from the other.
Water flows down one side of the mountain ridge or the other, defining the watershed.
The Androscoggin River Valley at Bethel, Maine, with the Presidential Range of New Hampshire in the background photo by Russ Dillinghamcourtesy of Lewiston Sun Journal Click here for a map that shows the Androscoggin watershed in a regional context. A total of 28 dams on the Androscoggin produce power for public and industrial consumption. In the past, the only people you'd see on the river were carrying a peavey and undoing log jams. Now you might see trout fishermen, kayakers, and eagles all in the same stretch of water. It also used to be that if one fell into the Androscoggin, one was taken directly to the hospital for fear of infections.