Harris Station Dam

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Indian Pond
Kennebec River Map.png
Kennebec River, Maine. Harris Station Dam stands 12 miles (19 km) downstream from its source at Moosehead Lake, and Indian Pond floods the river for 9 miles (14 km) upstream of the dam.
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Indian Pond
Location Somerset County, Maine
Coordinates 45°31′N69°49′W / 45.517°N 69.817°W / 45.517; -69.817 [1]
Basin  countriesUnited States
Max. length9 mi (14 km) [2]
Surface area3,455 acres (1,398 ha) [3]
Max. depth118 feet (36 m) [4]
Water volume64,093  acre⋅ft (79,058,000 m3) [3]
Surface elevation955 ft (291 m) [1]

Harris Station Dam is a hydroelectric dam in Northeast Somerset, Somerset County, Maine. Also known as the Indian Pond Project, the dam was built from 1952 to 1954 as the largest hydroelectric dam in the state of Maine. It impounds the Kennebec River at the southern end of the natural Indian Pond, about 12 miles (19 km) downstream from Moosehead Lake. [5]

The concrete gravity structure is 175 feet (53 m) high and was named for Ford Harris, the chief engineer of original builders Central Maine Power. [6] The dam creates about 86 megawatts of hydroelectric power. It is owned and operated by Brookfield Renewable. [7]

The Kennebec River valley is flooded upstream of the dam northeasterly through Indian Stream township into Sapling township. Tributaries Bog Brook, Gold Brook, Falls Brook, Coburn Brook, and Brandy Brook enter the west side of the reservoir. East side tributaries are Burnham Brook draining Burnham Pond, and Indian Stream draining Little Indian Bog, Big Indian Pond, Trout Pond, and Moore Bog. [2] The reservoir has good cold water habitat for brook trout, lake trout, and land-locked Atlantic salmon. [4]

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The West Branch Penobscot River is a 117-mile-long (188 km) tributary of the Penobscot River through the North Maine Woods in Maine. The river is also known as Abocadneticook, Kahgognamock, and Kettegwewick.

Chamberlain Lake is one of the largest and deepest lakes in the North Maine Woods. The lake originally drained north through Eagle Lake and Churchill Lake into the Allagash River tributary to the Saint John River. Nineteenth-century logging operations diverted the lake into the Penobscot River before designation of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in 1966.

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Millinocket Lake is the source of Millinocket Stream in the North Maine Woods north of Baxter State Park. Millinocket Stream flows 5.5 miles (8.9 km) to Maine township 8, range 8, where it joins Munsungan Stream to form the Aroostook River. The lake extending along the border of Maine range 9 townships 7 and 8 is impounded behind a wooden dam. The dam enlarged the lake to include Little Millinocket Lake and Moose Pond by flooding adjoining bogs to store water for hydropower. The large areas of shallow flooded bog are a good habitat for fallfish, yellow perch and white suckers; but with summer water temperatures ranging from 70° near the surface to 55° in the deeper areas, dissolved oxygen concentrations become unfavorable for trout. Tributaries to the lake drain a number of small ponds to the west of the lake including Atkins Pond, Blackmore Pond, Buckley Pond, Big Caribou Pond, Little Caribou Pond, Chandler Pond, Elsie Pond, Ervin Pond, Jack Pond, Kyle Pond, Line Pond, Mathews Pond, May Pond, Little Moose Pond, Upper Moose Pond, Pretty Pond, Snowshoe Pond, and Spring Pond.

Spencer Lake extends southward from Fish Pond in Hobbstown township into Maine township 3, range 5. The north end of the lake receives drainage from Whipple Bog, Whipple Pond, Hall Pond, Toby Pond, and Chub Pond through Fish Pond. The south end of the lake overflows through Little Spencer Stream and thence Spencer Stream 6 miles (9.7 km) to the Dead River 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the confluence with the Kennebec River at The Forks. The lake supports a native population of lake trout and brook trout, and has been stocked with land-locked Atlantic salmon. There is a boat launch area at the north end of the lake accessible from a 2-mile (3.2 km) gravel road 11 miles (18 km) west off U.S. Route 201 at Parlin Pond.

A chain of three Jo-Mary Lakes along the border of Penobscot County and Piscataquis County drain into the Pemadumcook Chain of Lakes in the North Maine Woods. The flow sequence is from Upper Jo-Mary Lake into Middle Jo-Mary Lake and then through Lower Jo-Mary Lake into Pemadumcook Lake.

The chain of Debsconeag Lakes in the North Maine Woods is a tributary to the West Branch Penobscot River. The flow sequence is from the Sixth Debsconeag Lake through the Fifth, Fourth, Third, Second, and First into the Debsconeag Deadwater on the West Branch.

Hancock Brook is an east-bank tributary to the Saco River at Hiram, Maine. The brook originates in eastern Denmark and flows through a chain of ponds along the border between Hiram and Sebago. The narrow-gauge Bridgton and Saco River Railroad was built along the brook in 1882, and operated until 1941.

The Saint John Ponds are a chain of shallow lakes at the headwaters of the Baker Branch Saint John River in the North Maine Woods. The flow sequence is from the Upper First Saint John Pond, through the Lower First Saint John Pond, Second Saint John Pond, Third Saint John Pond, and Fourth Saint John Pond to the Fifth Saint John Pond. Flow from one pond to the next is sometimes called Baker Stream rather than the Baker Branch Saint John River. Great Northern Paper Company dug a canal from Fifth Saint John Pond 2 miles (3.2 km) westward to the North Branch Penobscot River in 1939, and built a dam at the north end of Fifth Saint John Pond so pulpwood logs harvested in the upper Saint John River watershed could be floated down the Penobscot River to Millinocket, Maine. The canal and dam have fallen into disrepair so most drainage from the ponds again flows down the Saint John River. All upstream ponds with the exception of the first had dams to regulate discharge flow for log driving, but those dams have similarly fallen into disrepair. Moose use the ponds as summer refuge from heat and biting insects.

References

  1. 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Indian Pond
  2. 1 2 The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (Thirteenth ed.). Freeport, Maine: DeLorme Mapping Company. 1988. pp. 40&41. ISBN   0-89933-035-5.
  3. 1 2 Maine Depts. of Environmental Protection and Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (2005-08-04). "Maine Lakes: Morphometry and Geographic Information". Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, The University of Maine. Archived from the original on 2006-09-03. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
  4. 1 2 "Canada Falls Lake" (PDF). Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. State of Maine. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  5. "Harris Station Dam: The Key to Kennebec River Rafting - Maine Rafting and Adventure Vacations | Northern Outdoors". Archived from the original on 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  6. "History of Harris - ES398B - Dammed Maine: Watershed Policies and Governance - Colby College Wiki". Archived from the original on 2016-07-13. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  7. "Maine". Archived from the original on 2015-12-23. Retrieved 2013-07-29.

45°27′38″N69°51′55″W / 45.46049°N 69.86534°W / 45.46049; -69.86534