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"You
who enjoy a stroll in the country these crisp winter days can find no
more interesting and enjoyable tramp than that along the old canal
which was built over 100 years ago to connect the New Meadows and
Kennebec Rivers"; so wrote a reporter for the Bath Independent in 1911,
almost a century ago. His words give evidence that a Iong-forgotten
feature of the landscape north of Bath had survived in a quite
recognizable form at least until then. The reporter had visited the
canal a few days prior and had walked its ice from end to end. Tidal
flow, unconstrained by causeways had kept this waterway open from the
time of its construction; then about 120 years. In addition to
describing the beauty of his own crisp winter stroll and recounting a
little of the history, the reporter speculated about what an asset it
would be to small boats if the canal could be reopened.
Fate, aided by
man, was not to be so constructive. In subsequent years, causeways were
built across the Kennebec end of the canal to carry the North Bath and
Lover's Retreat Roads. Likewise, a causeway was also built for the
Bath-Brunswick Road. Together these structures choked off the flow that
had for so long sustained the canal, leaving the adjacent waters to
stagnate. Slowly the canal began to fill and disappear. Today, this
waterway, once built by men of industry and vision, is little more than
a wet scar on the earth. And Bath, which for more than 100 years became
an island during each high tide, has once again become a peninsula.
But not all
traces of the canal are gone. Inspired by the reporter of long ago,
this writer also made his pilgrimage to the old canal and walked its
frozen waters. There was, of course, no way to confirm that it was once
three or four feet deep and it certainly no longer is. But in some
places, the ice clearly exhibits the dimensions that history records; a
width of 30 feet through much of its 2 1/2 miles length, necking down
to 20 feet at some points. Furthermore, Bath's peninsular status is
still tenuous, at best. The entire end to end joumey, except for
perhaps half the length of a football field, can be made over the ice
of the canal. Of course the walk is not so easy as it was 70 years ago.
The northem section, between the North Bath and Lover's Retreat Roads,
is still kept open by the flow of Welch's Creek (also known as Wittam's
Creek). But from Lover's Retreat Road west and south to the headwaters
of the New Meadows River, the channel is thick with impeding scrub
growth. Approaching the former crossing of the Old Brunswick Road,
marsh grasses obscure most traces of the canal edges but south of this
point, the route again becomes quite obvious.
What are the
origins of the canal? When was it built; by whom and for what
purpose?
It hasn't made the news in a long, long time; in fact, the Bath
Independent's story of 1911 may have been the most recent significant
news coverage. But a little digging produced the following: the first
record of the canal concept is a petition to the General Court of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts for permission to cut a canal from the
head of the New Meadows River into Merrymeeting Bay. It was dated
January 1, 1786, and was signed by 98 citizens of Brunswick and Bath.
(What a New Year's Party that must have been!). The purpose of the
canal was to bring "Lumber and Masts . . . directly into Casco
Bay and to
Falmouth without going to sea or running the hazard of going down that
rapid torrent, the main Stream of the Kennebeck." The principle
beneficiaries, of course, were to be the owners of the tidal mills
along the New Meadows River. Timber local to the West Bath area was
becoming scarce by this time and the canal would give the mills access
to logs which even then were being floated down the Androscoggin and
Kennebec Rivers into Merrymeetlng Bay.
About four
years later on March 5, 1790, the General Court passed an act
authorizing the creation of a corporation to build the canal, listed
the members of the corporation, and specified that no tolls would be
required for public use. But on June 17th of the next year , a second
act was passed amending the list of corporate members and making
provisions for the collection of tolls. It read in part: " A canal from
the head of the New Meadows River to Merrymeeting Bay. .. the New
Meadows Canal...that the said canal shall be kept open for the passing
of boats, rafts and other water crafts, and for all persons who may
wish to pass or transact business therein, they paying the following
toll; ...every boat...of one ton, the sum of nine pence, and in the
same proportion for vessels or boats of greater or less burthen not
exceeding six shillings for any such vessel or boat. For every thousand
feet of boards in rafts four pence half penny; and in the same
proportion for all other kinds of lumber."
On March 22nd,
1793, the court passed an act recognizing that the canal had been
opened "… from the New Meadows River to the waters of the river
Kennebec, a little below Merrymeeting Bay, at a place caned Welch's
Creek, it having been found impracticable to open a canal directly to
the Bay aforesaid, by reason of rocks and other obstructions." This act
also empowered the proprietors to keep the canal open and to enjoy all
rights and privileges. Based upon this act, it appears that the canal
was probably completed the preceding year: i.e., in 1792.
One John
Peterson, must have been the driving force behind the canal or perhaps
became its principle user He built a dam across the upper cove,
apparently in the vicinity of the present Maine Central Railroad
Bridge, and established a grist mill at the eastern end and saw mills
at the western end. Eventually the New Meadows Canal became
unofficially known as the Peterson Canal, and a road on the west side
still bears his name.
The
records don't tell us much about how the canal was operated. Among a
number of people interviewed around the turn of the century, several
insisted that the canal had never been completed and no logs had ever
been transported through it. Others could recall their parents talking
about going down to the locks but no conclusive evidence of locks or
tidal gates has ever been found. It is not clear that anyone has ever
seriously looked for them - there is a remnant of some kind of stone
and
mortar structure in the canal, near the north end but it is clearly not
a lock and probably not a tide gate and it is ceretainly from a later
time. However, one man remembered his
father telling how hard he had worked as a boy poling logs up through
the canal. His father was born in 1795 and if he worked on the
canal
when he was only 10 years old, then the canal operated for at least 12
or 13 years. Of the various accounts, this one seems reasonably
plausible. It is further substantiated by at least one other statement
that under favorable conditions, two rafts of logs placed end to end,
each raft composed of six large logs laid side by side, each log not
less than 60 feet long, were easily floated through the canal.
Nevertheless,
all
evidence suggests that the canal was less than a resounding success.
One
problem concerned the difference in the height of the tides and the
depth of
the canal. Apparently the builders were unable or unwilling to blast
through
the ledge at the summit to sufficient depth, and so, typically, the
canal could
be used for only about three hours of each tide cycle. Also, because of
the
differences of the times and heights of high tide at either end of the
canal,
the flow appears to have always been from the New Meadows River north
into the
Kennebec, thus somewhat impeding the movement of rafts. Another
limiting factor
seems to have been the apparent lack of any flow control such as might
be
afforded by locks or tide gates.
Whatever
problems the
canal may have had, it was adequate to the time. The concept of a
waterway
between the two rivers was a good one and would be quite useful today
if it
were reestablished.
Photo
caption: On this aerial photo, the route of the old canal,
between the New Meadows and Kennebec Rivers has been highlighted, for
clarity, by Ed Benedikt.
See
also the narrative of a walk on the frozen canal route taken in
February 2004, under "Lake Activities".
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