We will address these topics of historical interest in the coming weeks and months:
Pre-European Human History, including the use of the region’s rivers, streams, lakes and ponds to link native people living in the region to others north, south, east and west.
Early Settlement of the Upper St. John River Valley, notably by French-speaking people emigrating from what is now Quebec and northern New Brunswick, as well as by English-speaking people moving northward with the expansion of lumbering in particular.
The History of Logging from Early Settlement Days to the Present, from the first drives down the Allagash, through the building of Lock and Telos Dams to control the flow of timber to the Penobscot River, to the present-day management of timber resources by means of a network of private roads that criss-cross the northern half of Maine.
The Creation of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, including plans for damming the Upper St. John and Allagash Rivers, negotiating acquisition of the watercourse as a Wild & Scenic River, surveying the Waterway using a first-of-a-kind approach to accomplish six years of work in six months, and establishing a management system for the nation’s first state-managed Wild & Scenic River.
Please send us your ideas and areas of interest!