Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-12-02


repaired and rebuilt. ,;,,ry
Mr. Atkins speaks of the extraordinary
opposition on the part of the owners u
the Kennebec dam and of the citizens vi
Augusta to the construction OF nshway'
more than that, the statement was maue
to Mr. Sprague, that IT Name nshwas
were a thing of the past: that althous II
there was in the charter OF the kennepec
| dam :. provision especially requiring II,
there was no probability OF their ever be-
| ing required to build it. This state
ment was made in 1861 by parties. so MI
Atkins goes on to say: ITO allow this
dam to escape the plain requirements OF
law would be a robbery OF the public on
| the whole length of the kennebec river.
| for the benefit of Aug usta." Mr. Atkins
/ was succeeded in the var 49, by Messrs
| StillWay and Stanley
There is on file in the office an elaborate
plan of a fshway. labeled Bracket
| plan for a fishway in dam at Augusta.
hut no date or other memoranda In rela-
| ton TO this plan.
| l find that by the report of the Cont
missioners of 1874, the Company was in
| dicted for not maintaining hshway as
| ordered. The matter was hung mp III
| some wa yuntil 1880 when the Legislature,
| by resolve, chapter $50. relieved the Com
| pany of all penalties and forfeiture by
| reason of not constructing the fishway rs
| ordered, but provided that they 'should
provide a suitabl fishway on or before the
18th day of May next
In the report OF the commissioners o.
| been built on the kcnnebec river this
| year. one at Watervlle, costing 5000; one
| at Augusta, costing So, iO0.'
The formal opening of the fishway ut
Augusta was in May of that year. The
account given in the kennebec Journal.
| May 18th. of the formal opening of this
| fishway, as written by G. w. Martin, M.
D.. would take several columns of the
Journal to reproduce. and l shall be able
| tC give but Il few brief extracts from 1t.
This account says: &c. w. Martin made
an address in which he stated that 1t
has been more than As years that the
kennebec river above Augusta has been
closed to migratory fishes. A dam was
built across the river, at Augusta. in 1891.
which effectually stopped the migratory
fish, since which time only a few have
been seen above the dam, and thcs"
found their way through the lock when 1t
was open.
After many years of effort a suitable
passage has been made through the dam,
but our fish are gone and We must begin
new. Salmon eggs will be secured and
carried to Moosehead Lake, where a
Matching house is built Matched, and the
young fry put in the streams on the old
Matching grounds. These young fish will
go to sea and get their growth. In the
course of four or five years, with un-
erring instinct, they will return full
grown salmon to the very place where
they were born. to deposit their eggs. i
This fishway has been built under the
personal supervision of Everett Smith.
civil engineer, of Portland, Maine.
Mayor P. o. Vickery presided at the for
NAL apening of this fshway. Governor
Davis and his Council, Gen. Cook of r. l.,
Hon. Lot NJ. Morrill,. Mayor J. r. Bod
well of Hallowell. EX-Mayor G. L. Nash.
County Attorney Heath. Col. Darius
Alden, of Augusta, Col. A. w. Wiles. r.
r. Commissioners and many others were
present. The report adds:
III. X. Morrell of the Gardiner Journal
stood in the throng with his head pro-
tected by a cotton umbrella from the
fierce rays of the sum-.
Mayor Viclkery who presided said,
among other things: I'VE have before us
here today structure that is efficient for
the purposes for which it WAS built"
The Commissioners in their report for
that year say: Upon examining this
fishwap a few hours after it had been
opened seven species of fish were found at
various points, among them alewiveS.
The fishway was examined at various
times during the month of June, and Oh
every occasion there were various sorts OF
fish observed therein, including alewives.
Although but few salmon have come to
the dam i'll recent years, yet those few
passed through the fshway this year.
vile, and the first one was placed on eX-
hibiticn there as the first result of the
Augusta fishway, and as the first salmon
takeh from the kennebec river at Water
vile since many years"
Now these tishwayS having been COM
plcted at great cost, and after a long
struggle, and to the satisfaction of the
Commissioners and the public, a deter
mined and persistent effort was made to
restock the Kennebec river with salmon.
and during the years 1881 down to $3.50 mil
lions of salmon eggs were Matched and
put into the tributaries of the Kennc bee
river in this effort to reStOck il.
The Commissioners IN their report for
the years 1891 and 1892. to Governor Bur
leigh, says: The eight years exemption
from obedience to the fishery laws of the
Stltn lam An
guSta, virtually cXtCrminated the kenne-
bee born salmon. When the present fish
way was completed, few surviving
salmon passed up the river and We're sue
cessfully hunted and killed ut Watcrville
We dOubt that either frog or snake could
escape the keen eyes or appetite of the
French village at Waterville Falls. The
different manufa curing establishments
now require all of the water power The
whole of the river is devoted to and used
as Il dumping ground for the waste and
refuse of its various factories. For these
reasons the Commissioners thought ii ull-
wise to continue further salmon planting
in the kennebec river" This report Is
signed by Z. NJ. Saltwater and Henry O.
Stanley, Commissioners.
In their report for the years 1899 and 1890
the commissioners say:
The Kennebec salmon. of world wide
fame, were nearly extermnated by the
SpraSie dam at Augusta preventing the
| access of the fish to their spawning beds
and our efforts to rcStOck the river has
been reutralized by sawduSt and edgings
and the refuse of villages and factories
on their shores.
Let anyone explore the river from Wa
tervile to Augusta, in summer it more re-
senblcs the waste of a neglected wood
yard than a river
! iniEht add here, let anyone read the
sworn testimony taken before the Com
mission to apprase tn" damages the Wa
ter District should pay the Augusta Wa
ter Company and they will say that this
river more reScmbcd IL sewer than Il
river.
Now, here we have the testimony of T.
NJ. Sullwell-for 70 years Commissioner,
and of Mr.. Stanley, for more than IA third
of century cOmmiSsioner-that the
Ishways when finally erected were all
right, and we have their further testi-
mony that in their effort to reStock the
river they planted millions of salmon fry
iE the tributaries. We have their further
| testimony that after a long trial-and ex-
penditure of much money-they aban-
| dOned the effort as useless, principally, il
not entirely, Oh account of the foulness of
the water rendered so by mills
Now, alongside this statement of his
tory Or fact, whichever you may call it,
l will place the communication signed
by a gentleman from Islesboro Maine
published in the Bangor News of May
18th, in which he says, IF all the dams
fish, ,IIo -