The Presumpscot River is located in Southern Maine's Cumberland
County, and flows through the communities of: Windham, Gorham,
Westbrook, Falmouth, and Portland.
The Presumpscot River drops 270 feet
over 25 miles from its start at the outlet of Sebago Lake to its mouth
at Casco Bay
With a watershed of 648 square miles, the
Presumpscot is the largest freshwater input to Casco Bay.
The name "Presumpscot" has its origin from
local native culture and means "many falls" or "many rough places."
Before being drowned by dams, the Presumpscot
had at least 12 falls along its length, including
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INDUSTRIAL RIVER HISTORY
- The Presumpscot River has an industrial
history including many "firsts":
- Maine's first dam. The first dam was
built in 1732 at Presumpscot Falls.
- Maine's first mill, Maine's
first paper mill
- Maine's first hydroelectric
dam (1889) at Smelt Hill dam.
- the Presumpscot River had other
major firsts in history as well including:
- the first battle over fish passage
in Maine; Chief Polin of the Rockameecock Indians walked to Boston to plead
with Governor Shirley of the Massachusetts colony for fish passage at the
dam. In 1756, settlers killed Chief Polin
- the site of the first recorded
sale of alcohol to a Native American (Squitregusset of the Aucociscos)
in the nation. Squitregusset sold all his land on the Presumpscot near
Falmouth for one gallon of liquor a year.
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HISTORICAL FISHERIES
- 1500s - Ammoscongin [now Cumberland Mills
Dam in Westbrook] was selected as an Indian planting ground because of
the great quantity of fish there. (Fish were used as fertilizer.)
- The first accounts of Europeans
tell of the Presumpscot as a river where "the entire surface of the river,
for a foot deep was all fish."
- The Presumpscot River historically
supported American shad, Atlantic salmon, alewives, the blue back herring,
striped bass, brook trout as well as both landlocked and sea run Atlantic
salmon.
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PRESUMPSCOT RIVER DAMS
- At present, there are 10 dams on the Presumpscot
River. Working downstream from Sebago Lake they are:
| Dam |
Type |
Owner |
FERC License # |
| Head |
non-hydropower |
SAPPI** |
with #2984 |
| Eel Weir |
hydropower |
SAPPI |
#2984 |
| Great Falls |
hydropower |
Florida Power & Light |
|
| Dundee |
hydropower |
SAPPI |
#2942 |
| Gambo |
hydropower |
SAPPI |
#2931 |
| Little Falls |
hydropower |
SAPPI |
#2944 |
| Mallison Falls |
hydropower |
SAPPI |
#2932 |
| Saccarappa Falls |
hydropower |
SAPPI |
#2897 |
| Cumberland Mills |
non-hydropower |
SAPPI |
|
| Smelt Hill |
hydropower* |
Central Maine Power |
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* damaged in flood of October 1996
**South African Pulp and Paper Inc.
- Smelt Hill dam, the head of tide dam
at Falmouth, is currently scheduled for removal in the summer
of 2001. This will open up the lower 7 miles of the Presumpscot
River from Cumberland Mills dam to the sea.
- Currently, the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) is reviewing licenses for six of
the hydropower dams on this river in two groups.
GROUP #1 : The 5 middle
dams are currently undergoing environmental review for new licenses:
| Dam |
Installed Generating Capacity1 |
Average Annual KWH1 |
Miles Impounded2 |
| Dundee |
2.4 MW |
16,000,000 |
1.7 |
| Gambo |
1.9 MW |
8,500,000 |
3.3 |
| Little Falls |
1 MW |
4,200,000 |
1.7 |
| Mallison Falls |
0.8 MW |
4,200,000 |
0.5 |
| Saccarappa Falls |
1.35 MW |
7,600,000 |
5.0 |
1Source:SAPPI application to FERC
2Source:FERC Scoping Document2, Mar 16, 2000
GROUP #2: The
Eel Weir project, which includes the Eel Weir dam and the outlet or head
dam for Sebago Lake, has just begun its relicensing process.
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ENERGY IN THE PRESUMPSCOT RIVER WATERSHED:
- Currently under construction is a natural
gas-fired generation plant in Westbrook, which will have a generating
capacity of 500 MW. (Another plant in Veazie, near Bangor, will
produce 500 MW.)
- American National Power is in the permitting
process of an additional 600 MW plant for Gorham.
- SAPPI's biomass plant has a capacity
of 395MW. SAPPI sells this electricity.
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Presumpscot River Facts
compiled by Friends of the Presumpscot River.
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