76 FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 



Bangor, Me , January 11, 1892. 

 Hon. John E Ilobbs : 



Dear Sir : I received your communication of January 9th. You 

 ask me hard questions. I will answer the last one first. As to the 

 diminution of the flow of water in the large rivers of the State, I 

 can give you no accurate information, but as an illustration of what 

 the result, will be when the forests are swept away, I can give you 

 an insta' ce with which I am well acquainted, to wit : that of tbe 

 Kenduskeag stream which empties into the Penobscot at Bangor. 

 In fact, the city of Bangor is about equally divided by said stream. 

 This stream rises some thirty miles from its mouth, one branch in 

 the town of Dexter, and another in the town of Corinna. I am 

 told that fifty or sixty years ago there was a continuous flow of 

 water the year round in this stream, and at the town of Kenduskeag, 

 twelve miles northwest of Bangor, were situated large lumber mills 

 on b )th sides of the stream. The water flow was sufficient to carry 

 them the year round. But; duriug the past half century, the land 

 along the shores of the stream has been cleared throughout the 

 greater part of its course. The result is that we have heavy spring 

 freshets, also heavy freshets in the fall, sometimes doing much 

 damage. I recollect a dozen yeai-s ago or more, when living in the 

 town of Corinth through which said stream flows, almost every 

 bridge on the stream was carried away in the month of March. 

 Now. after the spring freshet subsides, the water falls rapidly until 

 it dwindles to a very small stream, not one-half the amount flowing 

 during the summer months that did fifty years ago. 



The old settlers have informed me as to this fact, and from personal 

 observation, I have obtained much of it, and atone time— some fifteen 

 years ago — the whole matter came out in a law suit regarding the 

 right to the water belonging to the mills at said Kenduskeag village. 

 I was attorney for plaintiff in the case. 



I reason this way. If our forests are cut down or burnt over at 

 the head waters of our great rivers, the same result in a few years 

 would follow as in the case of the Kenduskeag river. We shou'd 

 have very heavy and dangerous spring and fall freshets, while the 

 summer flow would not be more than one-half what it is at the 

 present time. This would certainly apply to all great rivers in the 

 State. 



As to your other question, I will say that here in the eastern part 

 of the State where there is so much timber land, it is utterly impos- 



