Daily Kennebec journal., 1916-08-11

went Oh the rampage WcuHeSodS Ai6he'
it's waters rising to freshet pitch ana
sweeping everything before them along
portion of its course. The area covered
by the damage zone did not cover many
miles in this vicinity but the work of the
water was done very thoroughly and Will
result in many thousands of dollars
worth of damage to the lumber operators
Of Augusta and vicinity. just how mucn
cannot at this time be stated, but the
blow is one of the heaviest that they
have received for years.
The rise of water came as a surprise to
almost everybody, for while perhaps a
few people who keep in touch with the
river and it's doings from year to year
were aware that a rise of water TO 2
certain extent was in progress in the lax
region and would naturally find its way
into the river itself, it was hardly ex-
pected that It would reach dangerous pro-
portions. and when on Thursday morning
people arose to find the usually peace1ul
Kennebec a raging torrent and choked
with a Jam of logs extending from oank
70 hank some little time elapsed before
thew could thoroughly understand the Sit
uation.
The water began to show gain IN
height Tuesday morning and continued to
gain slowly all day, and the rain whicn
fell that day and night as well as OH
Wednesday morning, and which IN many
places amounted at times to downpour
helped swell the water to furtner rise
The real rush Of water got along Wednes"
dav evening. and the first indication OF
trouble became manifest when at ABOUT
10 o'clock some of the booms uprl'er ie'
20 and logs began coming over the Au-
o,sta dam. The area affected was tha'
between the dam and Five Mile lsiaho
boom. and that the booms farther uprlve,
were not robbed of their contents py tne
f,ood was due to their solid construction.
The first small lot Of logs that came
over the dam however were oestihsu
70 make trouble for directly In their
path was the fleet of motor ooats
owned by members of the Augusta
Yacht Club, some 10 in all, and THESE
we're torn from their moorings ana
carried down river, some of them as
far as the Augusta State hospital ana
others clear to Hallowell. Only TWO
of the boats withstood the onslaught
of the logs and remained where their
owners had left them. Most all OF the
boats showed traces of their rough
treatment but none Of them sustained
any injury of a serious nature and all
of them were brought back to the
clubhouse Thursday morning.
| The logs which carried the ooats
away were but a forerunner OF others
to follow and before morning the
river presented such scene as Is
deIdom witnessed on the lower Ken
nebec. On the east bank of the river
about Az miles north Of the city, at
point known as Kennebec, where
are located three Of Augustus busy
manufacturing plants. the Boyd q
Harvey Co.'S. shingle, pole and tie
mill, the S. D. Warren Cos. pulpwood
mill and the box board mill of the
Kennebec Lumber Co., and it was
here that the freshet did the greatest
amount Of damage.
| The boom Of the S. D. Warren CO.
was empty, all Of the stock having
| been sawed, but in the booms of the
Boyd & Harvey Co. and the Kennebec
Lumber Co. were many thousands OF
logs waiting to be sawed, and when
along toward morning the water
reached it's maximum height, which
was about four feet, the booms hold
ling them could stand it no longer and
gave way, turning the whole lot loose
and away they rushed down river. But
that was not all, for near the dam
was a lot of logs belonging to the
Cushnoc Paper Co., which has a mill
on the east end of the dam. and also
lot of logs belonging to the Angus
ia Lumber Co.
These logs were swept over the
dam as through mill race and rush
ed off down river threatening destruc-
ton to anything that came in their
way. Thousands Of them piled up
against the piers of the new railroad
! bridge and the rest kept on down
river.
| At the landing float Of the Augusta
Yacht Club was the yacht Josephine
from New York, while just below at
the steamboat wharf was the steamer
| Islander Below her at the Purinton
wharf was the tug Ariel, and luckily
none Of them were damaged. The Is
lander, however, could not make her
Thursday trip on account Of the logs
in the river at her hour for sailing.
Over on the east side of the river at
the wharf of the Augusta Lumber Co.
were two schooners, the three-master
| Lizzie j. Call and the Wesley Abbott,
and they. too, escaped.
At o'clock Thursday morning the
river was filled with logs from bank to
| bank, but they gradually thinned out
and by 10 o'clock had stopped running.
Some Of them found their way down
| river to point below Gardiner. but
the majority were run into the Halo
well boom and the boom at Browns
island. The water on the dam began
to recede during the forenoon and at
the noon hour had dropped six inches.
Thursday night it was still falling and
unless another heavy rain should come
it will soon be down to the normal
pitch for the summer season.
The heaviest losers by the freshet
will be the Boyd & Harvey Co. 1t was
estimated that in the company's boom
were about $4,000 logs and 10000 rail-
road ties, and these were all swept
away. In the boom Of the Kennebec
Lumber Co. were about 5000 logs and