Wild Atlantic salmon pool below Six Mile Falls, Kennebec River, Sidney, Maine.

This historic Atlantic salmon pool has been inundated by the Edwards Dam in Augusta for the past 162 years. Now it is fully restored and fully accessible to wild Kennebec River Atlantic salmon and all of the river's other native fish species. Here, the Kennebec is over 600 feet wide. Miles of pristine Atlantic salmon spawning and juvenile habitat lie directly downstream. This pool is 12 miles above the Kennebec's head of tide in Augusta and six miles below Waterville.




Ledge Drops at Six Mile Falls, Kennebec River, Sidney, Maine. Labor Day, 1999.

The removal of the Edwards Dam in Augusta in July, 1999 revealed Six Mile Falls, a 3,000 foot-long ledge drop and rapids on the Kennebec River in Sidney. The falls are one of most scenic stretches of the 17 miles of river restored with the removal of the Edwards Dam. Bald eagles are a common sight; coyote and deer tracks dot the soft sand of the river banks. Access to the falls is by canoe or a two mile hike upriver from the Sidney boat launch. This spring and summer, Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, striped bass, shad, blueback herring, up to 1 million alewives -- and hopefully, wild Atlantic salmon -- will surge through the falls toward Waterville. The logs perched on the ledge were swept away in the fall by Hurricane Floyd.

Click here to see more photos of the restored Kennebec River.

To learn more about the Edwards Dam removal project, click here.

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