Listen, You Can Still Hear the Echoes of Days Gone By #18
Most people who pass through the gates of the North Maine Woods do so for the fishing, hunting or just to get away and do some camping. But, I’ll bet they never think about the incredible history that has been such a large part of that region.
As I spend more and more time in the region, I have developed a much broader understanding of life during the logging days many, many years ago, and their trials and tribulations in getting their most prized crop, the timber they had cut, to market. It has driven me to want to know more about them and what they did. There are a few books out there that give you some background and the Maine Department of Conservation, who now oversees this area through the Bureau of Parks and Lands, has some very good information on the region and what took place during that time.
One such place that I have tried to obtain a broader knowledge of is “Churchill Depot or Churchill Dam” as it is now called. Sixty seven miles up the Pinkham and Pelletier & Pelletier Road from the six mile gate lies Churchill Dam. Today as you drive through, it is very quiet with a number of camping sites, as well as a staging area for canoe trips by outfitters. They are painstakingly trying to maintain the historic flavor of years past, at the same time allowing the public to enjoy its beauty. Today, a few of the old buildings remain, but many of them are just a memory only seen in old photos.
Churchill Depot began its existence around the early 1920’s when Edouard “king” Lacroix opened his logging operation and headquarters there. The business was called The Madawaska Company. His main goal was to find a way of getting his logs downstream to the different mills he had contracts with. As part of his brilliant engineering strategy and forethought, King constructed a dam on the outlet of Heron Lake so he could raise and control the waters behind the dam. These waters included Heron, Churchill and Eagle Lake. By doing so, he could also raise the water level in Round Pond. As a result, King was able to use the lakes with their raised water level to float the logs south to a tramway they had built and eventually down to the Great Northern Mill in Millinocket. King also used a rail system known as the “Eagle Lake and the West Branch Railroad. Today, many of the old trains and cars still remain at the tramway and many people visit them just as a means of developing an understanding of their work efforts.
In developing Churchill Depot, a large storehouse was built to store goods coming in before they were sent to the lumber camps via water. They also constructed a garage that housed and allowed maintenance of the Lombard log haulers they used in the logging operation.
In the early 30’s about twenty families lived at the depot. Among the workers there, were Camp Superintendents, paymasters, boat operators, and scalers. At the peak of the operation thousands of people came through and were processed at the depot annually. Due to the growth of that location, schools, houses, offices, gas tanks and other structures were built. Today, only a few of the existing structures remain including the old boarding house and another structure that houses a museum. There is also a ranger station and the waterways supervisor’s home and office.
The first wooden dam was constructed in the 1920’s. In 1967, it was reconstructed and in 1999 it was replaced by a concrete dam. That dam remains today. In speaking with the Ranger during my visit, he told me that each day, they open the gates of the dam at 5:30pm to reduce the back water, and to allow canoes sufficient water to work their way down stream. The gates are closed the following day at noon. They remain closed from that time until opened again at 5:30pm. I am told that when opened, there is an enormous amount of water that travels downstream. Most of my party there that day was taking advantage of the water by putting on their waders and fishing just below the red stakes of the dam. The ranger made sure to determine where we were going to be as he said the release of water at 5:30 could very easily take you downstream in a second. We told him that we would prefer not to go downstream without a boat and paddle and would be off the water long before the gates opened.
I would like to thank the Maine Dept. of Conservation and the Bureau of Parks and Lands for keeping this historic place so pristine. As you drive in, you cannot help but think back to the early years and think about how it must have been living there. It was once a desolate wooded area of Maine that turned into a small town as a means to create work and opportunity for many. You can still almost hear them as you pass through.
Research and photo of older depot conducted with help from the Maine Department of Conservation website listed below.
Train photos courtesy of Terri Hallowell
FROM THE INBOX:
I am told that people are spotting a lot of partridge and their chicks this summer. I would concur, as we are seeing them every time we are in the North Maine Woods. It also appears that there have already been a couple of hatches because we are seeing chicks that vary in size from larger to much smaller. While TC and I were fishing with our friends Jason and Sherry this past Saturday, we were on our way up the trail from the canoes to the truck when we ran into two different families of birds with their chicks. As we passed, Sherry stayed behind to watch the mother. She yelled to us that the mother had just come to within 10-15 feet of her and was hissing at her. When we walked down to see, the mother retreated back to the safety of the woods. Also, while fishing, we had a visitor. Here are a few photos of it.
good stuff
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