The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1912-04-18
OF 1901 IN
SKOWHEGAN
Much Damage Done in
December of that Year
Weather and River Conditions may
Indicate Another Freshet Mt this
Time. Three Notable Ones on the
kennebec.

! 1t Is reported that there are from
SO to 40 inches of snow in the woods
around Moosehead Lake and should
one extreme follow another and the
warm weather come in a hurry, with
two days rain the snow would go
into the river very rapidly and if so
some very high water might be ex-
pected along the valley.
There have been three notable
freshets on the Kennebec within the
memory of living men, the famous
pumpkin" of 1869, that of 1896 and
( the latest one in 1901 which is be-
lieyed to have been the worst ever
seen on the river. In that year there
were floods in a wide area of the
year, and three of the largest rivers
in Maine went on a rampage such as
no one could remember before while
every small brook and stream was
adding its quota of water to the lar
ger ones. Trains were stalled on the
Maine Central, Bangor & Aroostook
and Canadian Pacific for several days,
scores of bridges including some of
the historic, covered wooden ones
were washed out, many thousands OF
logs washed down the rivers to the
sea, all industrial plants which de-
pended on water for power shut
down. electric cars stalled and cleo
trio lighting plants put out of COM
mission. The damage reached many
hundreds of thousand of dollars and
for two or three days business all
over Maine was at a standstill. Mails
and freight had to be hauled by teams
as in the old days before the rail
roads and the only communication
many places had with the outside
world for a week was by one line of
telephone or telegraph wire. Only
three lives were lost but the proper
ty damage, an estimate of which was
never attempted, was enormous.
Around the middle of December in
the year of 1901 there was some eX-
tremely cold weather in some parts
of the country but on the evening Of
December 18th rain began to fall
practically all over the state. This
had been preceded by some warm
weather that had softened the snow
so that it melted rapidly under the
warm rain. The storm did not abate
until the following night, Sunday, and
the fall was very heavy. The tenn
perature was about 10 degrees above
in some places and there being from
~ to Is inches of snow all through
the Kennebec valley, it was realized
by noon that big freshet was started
THE DAMAGE IN SKOWHEGAN
1t may prove of interest to many of
| the townspeople to have recalled to
| their mind some of the damage which
according to the files of the Somerset
! Reporter, which in part are as fol-
! lows:
The Marston Worsted Mills were
flooded in the first floor below the
main one and that even had nearly
foot of water on it at the height
of the flood. All movable goods and
machinery were carried to the upper
floor and everything possible was
kept above water but the damage to
machinery from the soaking it receiv-
ed was considerable.
The SkoWhegan Pulp Co. had their
lower floors flooded, machinery soak
ed and the wooden walls on the water
side and end of their mill badly stove
in with the ice and logs above the
solid granite wall. This company
had from 100000 to 100000 feet OF
spruce loge carried out. Robinson
Brothers had their machinery sub
jected to the soaking process and a
portion of the wooden wall on the
water side was broken in. Steward
Brothers got off without serious dam
age. Their lower floors we're flood
ed but goods and light machinery
were moved to the floor above. The
new building recently erected by II.
E. Spear to be used as a saw mill was
crushed and ruined by logs and ice.
The Skowhegan Electric Light Co.
were among the heavy losers. Their
sawdust burner was undermined and
topled over into the raging current.
One large lumber shed was carried
away and a section of another went
down the river with the flood. Their
wheel house was carried off NJ r.
Aliens mill was badly flooded while
the triangular space between his mill
the gate way and the power house
was filled with ice and logs. The
American Wooden Co. suffered damage
only such as came from the submerg
ing of machinery in their wheel house
The fine granite an dbrck power