RIVER LIFE. 



233 



"Long lumber, 20,824 M. ; Shingles, 16,302 M. ; Clap-boards, 

 1905 M. ; and of pickets, 50 M." The editor remarks that " the 

 amount of money received for sales on the above lumber is 

 $445,000." In addition to other kinds of lumber, there are 

 large quantities of door and blind stuff not enumerated. 



There remains but one observation to be made touching the 

 lumber business on the Kennebeck. It is estimated by good 

 judges that the present annual amount of lumber on this river 

 may be hauled for ten successive years, after which it will de- 

 preciate one fourth every ten years, and thus, in forty years, ex- 

 haust the resources of the river. 



For the principal facts involved in the above statements, not 

 duly credited already, I am indebted to Mr. A. W. Babcock, an 

 intelligent gentleman and extensive operator on the Penobscot ; 

 also to Mr. E. Bartlett, of Augusta, whose zeal in furnishing an- 

 swers to the various questions proposed for consideration has only 

 been equaled by the degree of readiness which he has manifest- 

 ed to assist me; and to M. Springer, Esq., deputy collector of 

 the customs for the port of Gardiner, Maine. 



Statistics of Lumber on the Kennebeck. 



Taking leave of the beautiful Kennebeck, the flourishing vil- 

 lage! which skirt its borders, and its rich, productive farms, spread- 

 ing east and west, our attention is next arrested by the serpen- 

 tine Androscoggin, with its vast water power. 



