Kennebec River
Historic Atlantic salmon presence and abundance in the Kennebec River
watershed.
Excerpted from: Atkins, C.G, N.W. Foster. 1867. Twelfth Annual Report of
the Secretary of the Maine Board of Agriculture. Stevens & Sayward,
Printers to the State. Augusta, Maine.
Estuarine Fishery (below Augusta):
"Touching the former abundance of fish, we have the testimony of sundry
persons. Mr. Ezra W. Emmons of Georgetown, 69 years of age, has always lived
on the Kennebec, and been familiar with its fisheries. He says that 50 years
ago there were twice or three times as many weirs as there are now. At the
same time there were a great many set-nets, and as many salmon were taken
by them as by the weirs. A Mr. Emerson fished with a weir, and one year,
for several days in succession, took 6,000 or 7,000 shad each tide. The
salmon used to average 45 each tide.
Augusta Fisheries:
"At Augusta, Mr. William Kennedy estimates the number of salmon taken
in 1820 at 4,000. There were twelve drift nets engaged in the fishery. The
year that the Augusta Dam was built, Mr. K. caught more than usual, namely,
500; but from that time the fish immediately fell away, and very soon the
yield was only 12 per year."
"Charles Hume of Augusta, used to fish at Waterville with a driftnet
from 1830 to 1837, and took 150 salmon yearly. But he says the fishing at
that place had been falling off for many years. Total catch at Waterville,
2,000 salmon. In 1838 he came to Augusta, the dam being built, and that
year caught 300 or 400 salmon. From this time they declined in a few years
to 15 or 20 salmon yearly, and after 1850 to four or five, and some years
none. Salmon used to be brought down to Augusta from Waterville and sold
at four cents per pound, but the price at the mouth of the river was six
cents.
Waterville Fisheries:
Mr. William Getchell, who owned the small island in the middle of the river
at Ticonic Falls, Waterville, and fished there with a dip net from 1804,
used to take $500 to $600 worth of shad and alewives annually. With his
three boys he had taken 1,100 shad and 20 salmon in one afternoon. One day
four men, of whom he was one, dipped out and boated ashore 6,400 large shad.
The most of the salmon fishing was with drift nets below the falls. Mr.
Getchell had counted 82 of these nets, each employing two men with a canoe,
fishing at one time. He estimates the average at 40 canoes, and that each
took three salmon per day. This gives 4,800 salmon in forty days fishing.
Skowhegan Fisheries:
From Samuel Philbrick of Skowhegan, we learn that there were many salmon
and shad caught at that point, although the falls were not favorable for
fishing, and nearly all the fish passed by. The fishing here was with dipnets
and a man would not generally dip more than 20 shad in a day. A trap set
for salmon, in 1808 and several years after, used to average six salmon
a day. At Carratunk falls was better fishing, and it was easy to load a
boat with salmon in a day.
Solon Fisheries:
Col. Christopher Thompson of Embden, used to fish at Carratunk falls. The
greatest catch he ever knew with a drift net was 60 salmon in one night.
The year when the Augusta dam was carried away he and his brother caught
30."
Major Tributary Fisheries:
Sandy River:
"Salmon were taken at various points with spear and net. Mr. John Tibbets
of New Sharon, used to set a net for them, and had taken three while getting
his net into the water. From several others in New Sharon we have information
to the same effect. Seventy years ago they were plenty in Strong. But in
1804 the New Sharon dam was built. This stopped shad and alewives, but a
fishway is said to have been maintained for a few years which permitted
salmon to pass. A few years later another dam was thrown across the river
nearer its mouth and the fishways were no longer maintained. It is probably,
however, that in high water the salmon could still pass all the obstructions,
for Mr. David Hunter of Strong, took a salmon there only 40 years ago. Into
its mouth and tributaries they still came. In Sawyer's stream, in Starks,
they spawned in great numbers. Mr. Levi G. Sawyer has seen and taken many
of them there, but only in the fall and winter. In October they came and
were seen spawning; and sometimes were observed through the ice. They were
diminishing for several years before 1837. That year Mr. Sawyer took two,
and they were his last. A salmon weighing 22 pounds was caught in this stream."
Carrabassett River:
"This is similar to the Sandy river. Its source is among the mountains,
and it is subject to very sudden variations in volume. It has the same clean,
stony, gravelly and sandy bottom, over which the water glances with a shallow
current. But it is more transparent and has even less dead water. It is
eminently a salmon river, and we obtained no tradition of shad or alewives
ever having visited these parts. As early as the month of June the salmon
ascended the river to Kingfield or farther; and they have been seen spawning
in Salem village, thirty miles from the Kennebec. A various points on the
Carrabassett salmon were taken by spear and dip net. Maj. C. Steward, of
North Anson, remembers when 'tons' of them were caught at that place. At
New Portland so many were sometimes taken that only the bellies were saved,
the rest of the fish thrown away. They disappeared from the river; but during
the year when the Augusta dam was carried away, they ascended again to Kingfield,
and twenty were taken at North Anson village."
Dead River:
"The salmon has a namesake here in 'Salmon Stream,' the first large
brook above the Forks. The story is, attested by several witnesses, that
salmon were seen lying in great numbers at the mouth of this stream, whence
its name ... Mr. Luther Moore, who has lived at Bingham 78 years, says that
salmon used to run above the Forks on the East Branch ten miles and on the
West Branch (Dead River) sixteen miles. That would just carry them to Grand
falls on the Dead River, and to the only difficult fall on the main river."
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