THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 



MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. Several ponds on this island formerly afforded breeding ground 

 for alewives, but they are now almost extinct and afford no statistics. In 1821, and again in 1828, 

 these fisheries were thought worthy of legislative protection. 



UNION RIVEE. No river fisheries now exist here, though formerly salmon, shad, and alewives 

 abounded. Especially good facilities are found at Ellsworth for the erection of dams, and they 

 were improved at a very .early date. A settlement was made here before the close of the last 

 century and the corporate existence of the town of Ellsworth dates from the year 1800. In 1815, 

 1816, and 1823 the legislature passed acts regulating the fishery, but they were not sufficient to 

 keep it alive mauy years. 



In Patten's Stream, a tributary of the lower part of Union River, alewives have continued 

 until the present time, but, owing to the obstructions offered by the dams, in numbers too small to 

 n fiord statistics. Smelts, too, are caught, but in very small numbers. 



BLUEHILL. Here was formerly an alewife fishery, which was the subject of legislation in 

 1816, but it has long since been extinct. 



PENOBSCOT RIVER. The Penobscot is the largest river of Maine; its basin has an area of 

 8,200 square miles, extending almost entirely across the central portion of the State, a distance of 

 130 miles, and thence narrowing up rapidly as it approaches the sea-coast, where it is limited to 

 the bed of its estuary. Thus it happens that though in its lower course it traverses a well-popu- 

 lated country, yet about half its basin, its entire upper portion, is covered by the original forest, 

 where are neither tilled fields nor manufactories to foul its waters, nor lofty dams to limit the 

 range of the salmon. In its western and southern portions the Penobscot Valley embraces several 

 hilly and even mountainous districts, but, taken as a whole, it is much flatter than any of the 

 river valleys to the westward of it. The elevations are very inconsiderable, and the rivers for the 

 most part rather sluggish. The headwaters of the main branch are in the highlands on the 

 western border of the State, from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the sea, and about 300 miles from it 

 by the river's course. But the river-bed falls off rapidly, and three-quarters of the descent to the 

 sea is accomplished in half the distance. At Mattawamkeag, about 80 miles from the sea, the 

 elevation of the river is but 190 feet. A descent of 98 feet is distributed over the 45 miles enter- 

 v ning between Mattawamkeag and Oldtown, and the remaining 92 feet fall is accomplished in 

 the short distance of 15 miles between .Qldtowii and Bangor, where the river attains tide-level, 

 though still 30 miles above the mouth of the river as fixed by the charts, but near 60 miles from 

 the open sea. At the head of the tido and for some distance above, the river is 800 feet wide. 

 At Mattawamkeag it is 500 feet wide after receiving the waters of the Mattawamkeag River, 

 which has a width of 300 feet at its mouth. 



The annual discharge of the Penobscot, exclusive of the tributaries below Bangor, is esti- 

 mated at 278,800,000,000 cubic feet of water. The discharge at different seasons of the year is 

 however, very unequal. In a heavy freshet 5,760,000 cubic feet of water pass Bangor per minute, 

 while in time of drought the discharge at that point is but 146,000 cubic feet per minute, or about 

 one-fortieth as great.* 



The principal branches of the Penobscot are : on the east side, the Passadumkeag, 35 miles 

 long; the Mattawamkeag, 85 miles; the Mattagatnon or East Branch, 63 miles; on the west side, 

 the Piscataquis. 71 miles long. The smaller tributaries are very numerous, but, while nearly all of 

 them contributed in olden times to production of fish, few remain open to them now except on the 

 headwaters, which are beyond the reach of any but salmon. Of the lower tributaries there are 



* For the most of the facts as to the elevations and volume of the Peuobscot I am indebted to Wells's Water 

 Power of Maine. 



SEC. v 45 



