Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-11-29
Four Main Waterways

- WA A'A&sAA w oN$A w - y ~
Continued from Page one)
walk against the future, they will
probably he able TO hold their own
for a while against outside compe
uuon; bur, generally speaking, I'M
less Maine can get further large sup
plies Of cheap power, and by cheap
must be understood TO mean power
that costs not much over half what
the present available supply on the
market is worth. then there can be
no more pulp and paper mills built
within our borders. at least during
the period which ordinary business
judgment can foresee.
Now without going into the dis
cussion of different lines Of business.
l want to take up briefly the story of
what might be done on the kennebec
river. which is really our principal
undeveloped river in the inhabited
portions of Maine and tell you some
thing of why We made so big an ef-
Tot to get the Dead River storage de-
veloped in 1928 and why it seems to
me so extremely important that its
development be not further delayed.
The kennebec river has about $500
square miles of drainage area above
the Forks; about little less than 1000
miles of this is on the Dead River or
West Branch which joins the main
river itself. On the main river is To-
Gated Moosehead lake, with a storage
capacity of 81 10 % billion cubic feet.
Above Moosehead lake, entering 1t on
the west, is the Brassua river. rum
ming out of Brassua lake. which is
being developed as a storage reser-
voir at the present time TO hold
oh hiJl;ny, n,,l,in nf
This new reservoir will be completed
in the fall of 1925. With it and
Moosehead lake both available, il il
expected that the situation on the
Kennebec river will be substantially
improved over what it is row. The
Dead river, however. which controls
more than a third of the drainage
area above the Forks IS entirely I'M
controlled. Without being able to re-
gulate its waters, not enough water
can be secured in the main river be-
low the Forks, where all The mills are
located and where there is still
large amount of undeveloped power,
to properly run the existing mills or
TO warrant the development OF ad-
ditional power.
AS all Of YOU probably know. tho
manufacturing companies on the riv-
er undertook two years ago TO de-
velop this Dead River storage and
thereby assist themselves and pro-
duce some really cheap powcr or the
Kennebec river below. None OF
these mills had the slightest idea that
their project would be opposed by
anybody, particularly by the state
officials. They were not entering in
to the project for the purpose OF
making money out OF u directly, but
only for the purpose of cqualizing the
flow of water in the river.
1t so happens that the only possible
site for an economical storage dam
on the Dead River included two
church lots which We're located many
wears ago. These lots are held in
trust by the state and are to become
the property of the first church and
of the first settled minister. AT
present there are 10 inhabitants
in the township where they are
located. The manufacturers VINO
sought to develop this storage had
bill introduced in the Maine
Legislature in which they asked the
State to sell them a portion OF these
lots on which they might build a
storage dam and also to sell them
small portions of other public lots
which would be covered with water
impounded by the dam. The price
to be paid was to be fixed by agree
ment between the Governor and
Council. representing the State. and
the water storage company. IL these
two. could not agree, the price was
to he fixed by the commission APP
pointed by the Supreme Court in the
same way that any price of any prop
erty taken for public use is fixed.
The whole proposal seemed perfectly
fair The charter did not give the
proposed storage company any right
to develop or create any water pow
or. The land below the proposed
dam on which n water power station
would have to he built il 1t were sup
piled from this dam was left in the
hands of the State. The Legislature
passed the charter Overwhelmingly.
but much to the surprise OF the
owners, it was vetoed by the Gov
ernor and then passed over his veto.
In the closing hours OF the legisla-
tive session the Governor attempted
TO compromise with the water power
owners and a new proposal was has
tily worked up, which included not
only the right to develop water stor-
age. but also the water power avail
able. A great deal of turmoil arose
wien inns SUBSTITUTE measure was
presented to the Legislature. The
time was very short and it was i'm
possible to properly place the facts
before so many men. Almost imme-
diately the Legislature refused to
pass this compromise measure and
repealed the charter which it had al
ready passed. The whole project
was wrecked and put back for at
least two years.
The Kernebec river now falls al
most 100 feet from Moosehead Lake
to the sea. The Dead river falls 500
feet from Long Falls to The Forks.
If the Dead river could be complete
~ regula ted by storage and the mar
ket secured for all the power which
can be developed above Bingham,