The event having a major effect on the fisheries of the Kennebec was the 

 construction of the dam at Augusta which closed the entire river above tide- 

 water. The Maine legislature was petitioned in January 183U for incorporation 

 to build a dam, and an act incorporating the Kennebec Dam Company was approved 

 March 7, l83lis 



"Hostility soon appeared to the nroject, and the charter 

 was not obtained without considerable effort. At the time ap- 

 pointed the committee of the legislature 'listended with the utmost 

 patience to numerous petitions and remonstrances from various 

 parts of the state',,... and having classified the objections under 

 three heads, reported a bill. The first objection was on account 

 the fisheries, li^ich it was feared the dam would destroyj the sec- 

 ond related to the navigation of the river^ which would be injured 

 for boats and rafts of luiuberi and the third represented that in 

 times of high freshets the village of Winslow and the mills at 

 Waterville would be flowed," (North, 1870, p. 571). 



The bill passed by the legislature provided for a dam fifteen feet high, 

 with a lock 100 by 28 feet, a sluice-way of 60 feet for lumber, and a fishway. 

 Work was started in l835 and the dam was finally closed September 27, l837. 

 When completed, the dam was 600 feet long between abutments, and l6 feet above 

 ordinary high water. The provision for a fishway was ignored. The lock was 

 completed October 12, 1837. (North, 1870, p. 579). 



The new dam was seriously breached by a freshet in January, 1839. The 

 breach was not closed until l8Iils 



"Salmon, which had a free passage to ascend the river 

 during the two seasons the dam was open, were caught in 

 great numbers after it was closed in l8Ul, One night in 

 June of that year, l50 were taken at Augusta of an aver- 

 age weight of 17 pounds each." (North, 1870, p. 6l0) . 



Although serious breaks in the dam occurred in l855 and again in 1870, these 

 X\rere repaired almost immediately. 



In the year 18U6, a cotton mill and six sawmills were put in operation 

 at the dam. By December 18U7, "ten saws upon the dam and two saws in the 

 steam mill were running night and da^';"^ (North, 1870, p. 639), 



The date of the first attempt to build a fishway over the dam is not 

 known exactly but from the following account by Atkins (1868, p. 5o) and 

 from information obtained in North (1870, p. 697), the probable date is some 

 time between 1855 and I867 % 



