Allagash River

Allagash River

Country	United States
State	Maine
Region	New England


Source	Churchill Lake
- elevation	930 ft (283 m)
- coordinates	46°29′33″N 69°17′17″W / 46.49250°N 69.28806°W / 46.49250; -69.28806
Mouth	Saint John River
- elevation	591 ft (180 m)
- coordinates	47°05′8″N 69°02′38″W / 47.08556°N 69.04389°W / 47.08556; -69.04389Coordinates: 47°05′8″N 69°02′38″W / 47.08556°N 69.04389°W / 47.08556; -69.04389

Length	65 mi (105 km)
Basin	1,479 sq mi (3,831 km²)
Discharge	for river mile 3, near Allagash, ME
- average	1,967 cu ft/s (56 m³/s)
- max	40,900 cu ft/s (1,158 m³/s)
- min	87 cu ft/s (2 m³/s)

The Allagash River is a tributary of the Saint John River, approximately 65 miles (105 km) long,^[1] in northern Maine in the United States. It drains in a remote and scenic area of wilderness in the Maine North Woods north of Mount Katahdin. The name "Allagash" comes from the Penobscot word /walakéskʸihtəkʸ/, meaning "bark stream".^[2]

The Allagash issues from Churchill Lake (formerly known as Heron Lake) at Churchill Depot in northern Piscataquis County. In its natural state, it also drained Allagash, Chamberlain, and Telos lakes, but in the 1840s dams were built which diverted their drainage into the East Branch of the Penobscot River, to facilitate the shipping of logs south to coastal Maine.^[3]^[4] Lock Dam drains some water from Chamberlain Lake into the south end of Eagle Lake, which then flows out through the Allagash as it naturally would.^[5] Extending the flowline of the Allagash River to Lock Dam on Chamberlain Lake gives a total length to the mouth of the Allagash at the Saint John River of 86 miles (138 km).^[1]

The Allagash flows generally northeast, passing through a chain of natural mountain lakes. It joins the Saint John from the south at Allagash, Maine, near the international border with New Brunswick. The relatively unspoiled nature of the river has long made it a popular destination for canoe trips. In 1857 Henry David Thoreau, along with his Concord friend Edward S. Hoar and Penobscot guide Joseph Polis, made a canoe journey which led him to the source of the river, i.e. Heron Lake. His account of the excursion called "The Allegash and East Branch" was published posthumously as the third chapter of The Maine Woods (1864).^[6]^[7]

Allagash Falls

In 1966, the citizens of Maine voted to protect the river by authorizing a $1.5 million bond that would "develop the maximum wilderness character" of the river. Much of the river was subsequently designated as the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. In 1970 the waterway became part of the National Wild and Scenic River program of the U.S. federal government. Although the wild designation of the river is normally applied to free-flowing streams, the designation left in place the wooden Churchill Dam for historic reasons. In the 1990s, with the dam failing, the citizens of Maine authorized a concrete replacement for the dam to preserve the nearby recreational facilities on the river. The rebuilding of the dam was highly criticized by environmentalists. The expansion of recreational access to the river through new roads and docks has remained a controversial topic in recent years.

Development in much of the area surrounding the Allagash Wilderness Waterway is restricted by the Seven Islands Land Company, a private land management company that owns approximately 1 million acres (4,000 km²) of forest in northern Maine.

The United States government maintains one stream gauge on the Allagash, located 3 miles (4.8 km) above the river's mouth near Allagash, Maine (47°04′14″N 69°04′51″W / 47.07056°N 69.08083°W / 47.07056; -69.08083 (Allagash, Maine)), at which point the watershed is 1,479 square miles (3,830 km²). The river's discharge (flow) at this gauge averages 1,967 cubic feet per second (55.7 m³/s), with a recorded maximum of 40,900 cubic feet per second (1,160 m³/s) and minimum of 87 cubic feet per second (2.5 m³/s).^[8] Annual maximum flows occur during the spring snow melt and minimums in the fall.^[9]

References

1 2 U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-04-05 at WebCite, accessed June 22, 2011
↑ Bright, William (2004). Native American placenames of the United States. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-8061-3598-4. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
↑ "Telos Dam and Cut (Canal)". Department of Conservation, State of Maine. 2004. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
↑ Megan Saunders (May 9, 2008). "History [of Churchill Dam]". Colby College. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
↑ "Eagle Lake - Maine". Northern New England Touring Kayaker. 2009. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
↑ Thoreau, Henry D. (1864). The Maine Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields.
↑ Huber, J. Parker (2008). The Wildest Country: Exploring Thoreau's Maine. Boston: Appalachian Mountain Club Books. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-934028-09-4.
↑ "Water resources data for the United States, Water Year 2010; gage 01011000, Allagash River near Allagash, ME" (PDF). USGS. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
↑ G.J. Stewart; J.P. Nielsen; J.M. Caldwell; A.R. Cloutier (2002). "Water Resources Data - Maine, Water Year 2001" (PDF). Water Resources Data - Maine, Water Year 2001. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2005-11-18. Retrieved 2006-05-07.

External links

Saint John River Watershed

Tributaries	Allagash River Aroostook River Baker Branch Saint John River Becaguimec Stream Big Black River Birch River Blackwater River Campbell Branch Little Black River River De Chute Daaquam River Fish River Hammond River Jemseg River Kennebecasis River Keswick River Little Black River Little Machias River Little Madawaska River Little River Little Saint Roch River Little Southwest Branch Saint John River Machias River Madawaska River Meduxnekeag River Musquacook Stream Nashwaak River Nerepis River North Branch Birch River North Branch Blackwater River North Branch Meduxnekeag River Northwest Branch Saint John River Oromocto River Red River Saint Croix Stream Saint Francis River Shields Branch South Branch Birch River South Branch Blackwater River South Branch Machias River South Branch Meduxnekeag River Southwest Branch Saint John River Tobique River West Branch Little Black River

Lakes	Baker Lake Beau Lake Chemquasabamticook Lake Churchill Lake Clear Lake Cross Lake Eagle Lake (Allagash R.) Eagle Lake (Fish R.) Fish River Lake Glazier Lake Grand Lake Long Lake Mactaquac Lake Millinocket Lake Mud Lake Munsungan Lake Musquacook Lakes Lake Pohenegamook Portage Lake Saint Froid Lake Saint John Ponds Scopan Lake Square Lake Umsaskis Lake

Towns	Allagash Ashland Blaine Bridgewater Caribou Eagle Lake Easton Edmundston Florenceville-Bristol Fort Fairfield Fort Kent Fredericton Frenchville Grand Bay–Westfield Grand Falls Grand Isle Hampton Hartland Hodgdon Houlton Lac-Frontière Limestone Littleton Madawaska Mapleton Mars Hill Masardis Monticello Nackawic New Limerick Oromocto Perham Perth-Andover Pohénégamook Portage Lake Presque Isle Quispamsis Rivière-Bleue Rothesay Sainte Agatha Saint-Camille-de-Lellis Saint-Cyprien Saint Francis Saint John Saint-Just-de-Bretenières Saint-Léonard Saint-Marcel Saint-Pamphile Saint-Zacharie Stockholm Sussex Van Buren Washburn Westfield Woodstock

Landmarks	Allagash Wilderness Waterway Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Clair–Fort Kent Bridge Edmundston–Madawaska Bridge Florenceville Bridge Fort Kent Hartland Bridge North Maine Woods Reversing Falls Saint John Harbour Bridge Saint John River High Level Crossing Saint Leonard–Van Buren Bridge Tinker Dam Watson Settlement Bridge

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.