Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-01-25

NY ub ,"o NA'r"Ws pond Entirely. The
outlet stream Of Carleton Dond ram.
very rap"ly. 7 an pTlrI u " /
10 that matter if necessary. ana =.
snow that Nc Sian il, 10 vav iri,,
NarroWs pond. rescrv. il nn,,.
| have had some cnnftrcrco ,.i,,
irlehd and your friend, Mr.. RrodIa,
upon some parts Of the hin ma
docs rot like; ami you'd l.kc IL .r.,.a,.
| ABOUT th"m now. He ciiticizcd IN e.
| '"tl"n Of the bin; am I assured bf.
| that inc word power ain nat r,,.,,
ana was not intended 10 mean wh,t IL
thought; and / have CHANGED if in H..
new draft which | will present Ia M
committee to satisfy MIN. He ard
as | understand it, disagree upor th,
| question OF allowing damages 10 tbo
owners OF the dams in the city or Gar
diner. below us. We propose to folIo,.
the existing lav OF the State. We sirnn
~ ask that the people here NAV bar.
| the same treatment given to thcm HI.
the Courts and by the Legislature.
which the people have in Lewiston in
| Auburn and in Dexter, ara in fact III
| der every charter in existence toda,
| unless there may be some " here Spe,.Iai
| mention was made Of he mill-owuer.
| by particular ana apt designation
| believe no such charter can be found
| We are so situated, Mr.. Chairman and
| with so much money in our power II
use. and SO mach earning capacitv
| that we cannot stand a burden that is
not put upon other municipalities. ] do
| IVA L ar n.,i,,
men may have lad in hearing hvdrau.
lie engineers testify, but they can
bring hydraulic engineers enough "a
| testify so that If the provision should
go into this bill that we must nav
damages to the mill owners in Gardi-
ner, we should have t. issue no man
| knows how many mor4 hundreds Of
thousands OF bonds. | do not believe II
is right. in the first place as a matter
| Of moral right and wrong. to put ii up
on us: and, second as Il question If
stern business expCdicncy. we have not
| the means to stand any more burdens
ttan will be involved in going out to
carleton pond. We have just money
enough to get there. We have none to
pay tribute 70 mill owners. who have
no ownership in this water. They want
| the water to make themselves richer
| We need it to save our families from
| the ravages of disease am death 1t is
a great wrong for them u drive US to
| the perpetual use Of tie river water to
| increase their dividends.
| They demand too much when they
claim rights in this vast watershed.
/ &c N-af1rEhT1 reaching
away up into western K,Enehec that
has roughly about zoo square miles.
Walter Wells gives IT, in his Water
! Power of Maine. as 195 square miles.
1t takes in Mara nacook, Greeley pond.
| Cubbossce pond. Wilson FOND and
| great many little lakes reaching away
out through this county. The ona out
| let for the watershed is CCbbOss"eCon-
tee stream. That stream starts from
| Lake CohbOSs"e and meanders about
| 20 miles. think. to Gardiner, and there
| enters the Kannabec river. There are
upon rhat stream eight dams, seven
now. two were consolidated. seven
| dams there in Gardiner Those dams
were originally Owned ny individuals.
| Several years ago they got charter
| together. and they are today called the
| Gardiner Water Power ~.
Mr.. Bradley-They are owned by in
| dividualS now.
Mr.. Heath am simply coming 70
this proposition. that neither those
mill owners nor the Gardiner Water
Power Co. e.. r got anywhere from tn
| LEGISLATURE ~ this state any grant p
any kind by way Of charter that TENTS
in the slightest degree to conflict with
the public use Of the waters Of CohboS-
see lake or any Of thu waters i'll thai
watershed
| want to read from Judge Walton's
opinion l think | have rot stated t.
this committee What these city water
works are going to cost. 1t will eos.
us s2t6 .0a0. according % the engineers
estimate. to 20 to Carleton pond' We
have got $3.50 600 to 10 business WIN
somebody has got to saw" $4,000 some
where. | would ike 70 real from Judge
Walton's opinion in the Auburn Water
Power case. This is the Lake Auburn
ease found i'm the Goth Maine report
page 5S4. Tho city Of Auburn was an
thorzed to take Wat":' from Lake Au-
burn often called Wilson pond. Inc
Union Water Power 60. owned the
dam: it had created tha hnWage ana
in fact was storing un part 81 tt'S
very water that was to hr taken ~
the city Of Auburn. They filed their
petition for damages. 1t was gcncrallN
understood at the bar then, and every
where as a matter Of common consent
that mill owners did have greater
rights than the people and that they
could make them pay tribute I" them.
The county commissic ntrs allowed
them damages. 1t Wcnt to tn" Law
court: and this is whac in" judge says
1T is a settled rule Of law N thl
State and Massachusetts that all great
ponds-that is. ponds containing more
than 10 JcreS-are owned by the St"lP
This is rule of law peculiar TO lit
State and Massachusetts. 1t Is SAN
to have been derived from the Coloilidi
Ordinance of 1917. The rule as stat
ed by Chief Justice Morton, in rs
cent ssachusettS case, is as iplIoNS'
"Tnder the Ordinance, the state
owns the great ponds as public proper
ty, held in trust for public uses. II hds
not only the jus privatum. the oWlltl
ship of the soil. but also the JUS puo'I-
cum and the right to control ana fcsu-
lot ,,,rhI;c ,1.ac IN which the DptllS