Lincoln telegraph. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1836-1846, 1840-04-23

4
skill has shrunk to its original nothingness,
it must not be forgotten that nature has
done the work. She had raised barrier
across the path of this sluiceway, that
makes it absolutely impossible for the wa
tiers of the Penobscot TO be diverted. No
more water can 90 down than you make an
opening for, and the opening to be made
will not admit the passage Of hundredth
part the water that flows down the Penob-
scot. This opening is TO be made in a
ridge of ledge and earth at least thirty
seven and a half feet high the summit level
Of one route being thirty seven and half,
and the fifty odd feet. Both routes start
from the same point, on the south side OF
the pond, and vary but little IN longitude
from each other. He trusted he had
shown that the fear of turning the channel
Of The Penobscot was all imaginary, and
without OBTAINING the House longer on
that point, he would pass to the considera-
of his second proposition.
Mr.. Nj. went on to remark that the next
question he proposed briefly to examine
was; will the quantity Of water taken inJure
any interest on the Penobscot? He said il
was not pretended that water was wanted
for manufacturing purposes, for there were
no mills, or any other machinery, on the
main branch above Oldtown, and the mills
there, if delayed at all during freshets,
must be delayed by partial inundation, and
the little water let into the sluice when the
river was high could be no interruption to
milling operations below. The only ques-
ton to be determined then, was, will the
water TAKEN inIure the driving of logs from
the foot Of Chesuncook Lake down the
Penobscot? The present difficulty of
driving logs on that river was not so much
owing to want of water. He had been
informed BY persons who had had much
experience in numbering operations on
those waters that logs could now be floated
down as bite as the middle Of June or first
of July, ind that by building one dam at
the foot O Chesuncook Lake, to reserve
portion of the surplus water, they could
be foated down at any season of the year
when the river was free from ice. 1t is
only during the dry season that water is
wanted fer running logs, even during the
present safe of the river, and when it is
wanted o, the Penobscot it cannot be used
in the Slice, for its floor was not to be
laid lower than the usual low water level
of the Prnobscot. He said it was wei!
known fact, that during freshets most rivers
in north America are not only beautifully
supplied with water, but that it frequently
rushed down in such torrents as to produce
alarm, and devastation upon their borders.
How was it possible for any interest TO
suffer, if at such time small portion of
that which was daily running to waste was
turned in an another direction' Practical
lumbermen and others say that ten thous-
and logs can be passed through the sluice-
way in four days. This will be done at a
time when the water on the river was not
wanted -when quantity sufficient to sup
ply dozen such sluices was flowing on to
the Ocean without contribut ing to any in
terest
There was another fact, said he, con-
nected with this branch OF the subject, we'll
worth the consideration of every member.
1t was that the stream above the lakes was
free from ice about four weeks sooner than
the lakes themselves. This was important
Or it showed that 40 or $4,000 logs (more
than will ever be run in one year, can pass
through the sluceway into the inlet stream
and Moosehead Lake, before single log
can cross Chesuncook to go down the Pc
nobscot. 1t was clear then that the guam
,ity of water taken would be portion on
" of the surplus, aud would never be wan
ted or missed.
This was not project, said Mr.. M. that
interested individuals alone, and by which
individuals only were to be benefited, but
to some extent it may be considered a mat
ter of State policy. lie said Maine and
Massachusetts were the joint of owners a.
bout twenty townships in that region, the
timber of which could be run through the
proposed sluiceway, into tine Kennebec
with far less expense and delay, than it
could be run down the Pennobscot, which
would raise the value of those lands and
bring them rapidly into market. 1t was
not, therefore, altogether private matter,
but one in which the State was interested.
Mr.. NJ. said he hoped he had succeeded
in proving that the committee had not &C.
ted blndly or precipitately in reporting
this bill, and as he had been called up IN
expectedly, he would proceed no further
at the present stage of the debate, but
would conclude with reading few extracts
from his minutes of the evidence taken be-
fore the committee.
Mr.. Coffin, the Massachusetts Land
| Agent, was asked if this measure had
been long thought of.
| He said sit had, and the expectation
that such slulce would be made had OPP