Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-04-25

IThe Paner Worlsl. /

Tire kennebse river Eows through the
most delightful portion Of the State u
Maine The agricultural regious through
which L passes are delightful To look upon
in their siversity of hils anil valley, reil anil
forest. We're the summer season but
litrie teager, giving time for the ripcning OF
crops, this region as an agricultural section
eoaid easily vie with any in the country.
There i everywhere evidence of thrift an,i
prosperity, snsI whether for permanent resi-
.tenes or casual visitation, the valley OF the
heuRetec masg alwass prove an attractive
shot
Like all of the Maine rivers. the kenHebee
rise. at great attitude. is solsree being =
os,o feet above the sea level While this is
not equal 10 the height at which the andro-
scogzin springs into eai.tcnee-5oa feet
or even the Penob-csi. which rises at $3.50
feet eleya alton. AMI onis exceeds thai OF the
river st John hy -weufy feet, il j. readily
seen that the possibility of vast water pow
er i embodied in this fall of 2tso feet
From the rivers source until it reaches
tids-water. SINE twenty miles or 80 from it,
mouth, unfortunately, large portion of
this fall oecmrS among the head waters, too
far away ID be utilized. at least for the pre-
1St'R- ~ u -b0IEE u NdNfl EpHNAt AAf
kenRebcc can hardly be considered until il
leaves NooseleatI lake. where it has host
nearly half of it, fall; the altitude at the
outlet Of the lake being ln2J feet. This is
notably lower than Rangeley lake, which
may be considered the principal reservoir
for the Andro-eoygin. which is 1911 feet
above the sea
Ii Is something over forty miles from
Moosehead lake. down the river, that We
come 10 the first pulp making establishment
AT Carraiunk Falls, in the town of Scion
where the fine new plant of the Moosehead
Pulp and Paper Company Is located. Dur
ing the next sixty-tive miles or 80 Of its
course, the river turns the wheels of estab-
hshmeHts producing daily about $50 tons OF
paper materiai-ground wood, soda and sui
phite tibre.--with something over twenty
five tons of paper (manilla, book and news
each day, which quantity of paper will be
more than doubled during the present season
1t is about ten miles from Solon down TO
Madison. five miles farther TO Fairfield four
10 Wateryille, eighteen from there 10 Au-
gusra, Fix miles to Gardiner and rs many
more to South Gardiner where the river gets
down 10 tile water
Practically. all of thi. business has grown
up since 1870. At that time there were
small mills at Gardiner and Skos hogan the
total output of which may literally be esti-
mated at .Ome.fv tons per day, no figure,
being available to show the exact quantity
produced. There was one mill at Skowhe-
gan and two mills al Gardiner, one of " hich
was operated by s. u. Warren K Co.. the
other by liollingsworth < Whitney, These
produced various grades of rag papers. by
the processes then in use. Even for Il
decade following there was no marked all
vancemcnt although wood pulp. the mon
arch, was slowly finding his way through
the forests.
The census Of lsso showed in the entire
state only seven wooh-pulp making estab-
Ii ,hmcnt-. with total capital of about
s4io .6'in, and turning ont but a little more
than $500 900 worth of product yearly. In
point of fact, nearly all of these seven
establishment, were located either upon the
Androscoggin or the kennebec At that
time the paper-making industry was con-
sidcrably the larger. Twelve establish
ment- were repnrtcd with a capital of almost
- 900, 900, turning ont something over that
value of paper. and paving some So 900
annually in wages. This was four times the
amount paid by the pulp mills, while the
the value of the product was almost seven
times a great But soon after lNs0 large
establishments began 10 he planted almost
yearly, and those which had been running
along in modest way took on new life, en-
larged their borders. and greatly increased
the amount of production.
As stated above the establishments along
the kennebpc in ls70werc, at liberal esti-
mate, producing not 10 exceed five tons per
day of rag papers. The plants which have
been described above have capacity of not
less than la tons per day of the various
classes of ground wood. soda fibre and
chemical pulp boards, MANILA, news and
book. Put IN tabulative form, the story of
this river would read;
Tons of daily production. spring of 1870,
,.
Tons of daily production spring of 1892
i72
Even this crctlitable output will be increased
during the present year. in all probability,
from fifty 10 seyenty-fivc tons. Taking
into consideration the figures previously
given for the Androscoggin, we have for the
two rivers the following remarkable COM
parison;
Tons of daily production. spring of 1870
IS.
Tons of daily production, spring of 1892,
Sd.