RANGELEY LAKES, MAINE: FISHES, ANGLING, AND FISH CULTURE. 5OI 



Rapid River. — From Pond-in-the-River this stream pursues a rocky and more 

 or less turbulent course, as may be inferred from its name, for a distance of about 5 

 miles, having a fall in that distance of about 200 feet. The rapid portion of this stream, 

 as has been previously stated, is commonly referred to as the falls, but there are no 

 distinct pitches that could be properly designated as waterfalls. Huge bowlders and 

 ledges in situ, however, cause very rough water in many places when the stream is high. 

 The low ground at the lower end of the river and the overflow from high stages of water 

 in Umbagog Lake make a wide area of still water for about i mile in a direct line to the 

 foot of the falls. At low stages of the lake and river the channel from the falls is more 

 or less winding and the current is far from rapid. The bottom of the stream in the 

 dead-water portion is mainly muddy, and there is much aquatic vegetation here, as 

 well as in the overflowed areas or lagoons left by receding waters. 



Cambridge River. — This stream enters Umbagog Lake at the eastern end of the 

 southern east and west expansion, the debouchure being at Upton Mills, where for many 

 years there has been a dam completely obstructing the stream. Below the dam there 

 is a low ledgy drop into the still water of the river channel in the lake. Formerly the 

 river extended through meadowland for a direct distance of over i mile. At low water 

 it is a winding channel with dikelike banks beyond which is shallow water or flats. At 

 high water the dike is nearly or quite covered, especially at the lake end, and at lower 

 stages of water there are occasionally passages through into the lagoons. 



The Cambridge River is formed by two branches, which unite about 3 miles above 

 Upton Mills to form the main river. The branches are known, respectively, as Swift and 

 Dead Cambridge. The Swift Cambridge has its principal source in Grafton, Me., near 

 Bald Mountain, where two or more small brooks unite. One brook rising in Grafton 

 Notch has its source very near the Bear River, a tributary of the Androscoggin. Another, 

 the principal brook source, rises in York Pond among the hills north of the mountain. 

 This pond is about 4 acres in extent and very shallow, the greatest depth being about 7 

 feet, in one place only. The inlet at the east end of the northern side of the pond 

 is a short thoroughfare connecting it with a small pond of about 2 acres in extent and 

 of about the same depth as York Pond. The shores of both ponds are bordered more or 

 less with boggy ground with the ordinary bog shrubs. The outlet leaves the pond at 

 its north side and is a small, swift, abruptly graded mountain brook almost all the way 

 to its junction with the other branch. 



At Grafton, from the junction of the brooks, the Swift Cambridge rapidly increases 

 in size, but for some distance it is a deep, comparatively slowly flowing stream. The 

 character of the stream between Grafton and the pond above the dam near the Andover 

 Road bridge was not ascertained. Above this dam the pond is several acres in extent 

 but long and narrow. Below the dam the river is quick water, rocky, and full of 

 bowlders, with now and then some deep pools and eddies down to its junction with the 

 Dead Cambridge. 



The Dead Cambridge rises in C Pond in C Surplus and flows westward for about 4 

 miles in a direct line to its junction with the Swift Cambridge. The Maine Water Storage 

 Commission report gives the area of C Pond as 0.52 of a square mile. The Dead Cam- 

 bridge issues as a small alder-covered brook, which condition obtains for one-half of a 

 mile or more to a meadow and overflowed area produced by an old gate dam known as 



