"The dam at August is the most foi^midable of these 

 (artificial obstructions). It creates a head of 17 feeto 

 It ip q-iiite ins urri-.ount able by any kind of fish. The fev7 sal- 

 mon and ale-vri-ves seen above August since its erection must 

 have passed through the lock. A fishway was constructed over 

 the dara some years ago, under the supervision of the Board of 

 Fish i/ardens. It vas located at the west end of the daiTj. 

 Considerable expense was laid on it, but through some fault of 

 construction it vias not capable of vrithstanding the force of 

 floods, and of floating logs which always accumulate at that 

 end of the dam. The first fi-eshet wracked it badly and opened 

 such seams in its cemented bottom that the water was wasted be- 

 fore it reached the foot of the fishway. Another freshet com- 

 pleted the -work of destruction. The structure, therefore, 

 never had a fair trials" (Atkins, 1868, p. .'^O) » 



When it became necessary to replace the l60-foot section of the dam swept away 

 in February 1870, pressure v/as applied to the dam owners to build a fishway. 

 The historian North appears to have expressed the attitude toward fishways 

 prevailing in his day in the following accoimts 



"Hhen the proprietors were ready to move they requested 

 the assistance of the city to relieve them from the burden and 

 damage of a fishway which the law required tc be made, and 

 which competent authority was urging them to build. The law 

 relating to fishways was doubtless passed by the legislature 

 without knowledge of its operation upon enterprises of the mag- 

 nitude contemplated at Augusta, Here is a dam nineteen feet 

 high above tide water, on a large river, subject to sudden and 

 great rises, upon which a large manufacturing capital is to be 

 invested by the most wealthy and experienced maniof acturers in 

 the country. This, if successfully carried out, vjill be of in- 

 calculable value to the valley of the Kennebec and the whole 

 state, and while encouraged by wise and fostering laws, should 

 such enterprises be subject to other laws creating serious ob- 

 stacles to their execution? Can it be doubted that the perma- 

 nent interest of the States is to foster manufactures rather 

 than the inferior fisheries? One gives constant and profit- 

 able employment to industry almost unlimited to extent, and 

 in its operation stimulates every other branch of businessj 

 the other is limited in its operation to a short period of the 

 year, and does not so directly promote any other interest. If 

 it should be said that each may be fostered without injuring 

 the other, it should be recollected that capitalists will not 

 be persuaded that it can be done, and will shun our State if, 

 in exhibiting its unrivaled water powers, it should show the 

 irritating and burdensome incumbrances of fishways inseparably 

 connected with them." (North, 1870, pp. 790-791). 



