RIVER LIFE. 



237 



lumber, in small quantities, will probably be run for twenty or 

 thirty years." 



Logs are driven about one hundred and fifty miles, this being 

 the longest drive. Others are hauled on to the river within forty 

 miles of Brunswick. 



From the causes alluded to, the Androscoggin is not much af- 

 fected with drought, nor so seriously by freshets as most rivers, 

 the mills being protected by ledges. " The river is very crooked, 

 and when we have an ice freshet, it is piled up in large quan- 

 tities in the bends of the river, in some instances for five or six 

 miles. Such was the case nine years since — also last spring ; but 

 the damage to our mills in these two ice freshets was but trifling." 



Umbagog Lake, from which the Androscoggin takes its rise, 

 from the construction of its shores, acts as a regulator upon the 

 height of the water. When the Megalloway rises, it flows into 



KKtroe oi ' • '■ 



the Androscoggin, and raises its waters, so thai they run back 

 into the Lake for the distanoe of two miles, having the appear- 



