Cumberland and Oxford Canal - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Cumberland and Oxford Canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

was opened in 1832 to connect the largest lakes of southern Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

with the seaport of Portland, Maine

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

. The canal followed the Presumpscot River

Presumpscot River

The Presumpscot River is a river located in Cumberland County, Maine. It is the main outlet of Sebago Lake.-Course:The river flows through the communities of Standish, Windham, Gorham, Westbrook, Portland, and Falmouth before emptying into Casco Bay at Falmouth...

from Sebago Lake

Sebago Lake

Sebago Lake is the deepest and second largest lake in the U.S. state of Maine. The lake is deep at its deepest point, with a mean depth of , covers about in surface area, has a length of and a shoreline length of . The surface is around above sea level, so the deep bottom is below the present...

through the towns of Standish

Standish, Maine

Standish is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,874 at the 2010 census. It includes the villages of Standish Corner, Sebago Lake Village and Steep Falls, and the localities known as Richville, Standish Neck and Two Trails...

, Windham

Windham, Maine

Windham is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 17,001 at the 2010 census. It includes the villages of South Windham and North Windham...

, Gorham

Gorham, Maine

Gorham is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 16,381 at the 2010 census. In addition to an urban village center known as Gorham Village or simply "the Village," the town also encompasses a number of smaller, unincorporated villages and hamlets with distinct...

, and Westbrook

Westbrook, Maine

Westbrook is a city in Cumberland County, Maine, United States and a suburb of Portland. The population was 17,494 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area.-History:...

. The Canal diverged from the river at Westbrook to reach the navigable Fore River estuary and Portland Harbor. The canal required 27 locks

Lock (water transport)

A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...

to reach Sebago Lake at an elevation of 267 feet (81.4 m) above sea level. One additional lock was constructed in the Songo River

Songo River

The Songo River is a river in Maine with the only remaining operational lock of the Cumberland and Oxford Canal. The river flows from Brandy Pond at the south end of Long Lake into Sebago Lake at Sebago Lake State Park. Songo Lock controls the elevation of Long Lake and allows navigation of...

to provide 5 feet (1.5 m) of additional elevation to reach Long Lake

Long Lake (Maine)

Long Lake is an eleven mile lake between the towns of Naples, Maine, Bridgton, Maine and Harrison, Maine. It is connected to Brandy Pond through the Chute River. Long Lake was created by receding glaciers, and has many coves and rocks....

from Sebago Lake. Total navigable distance was approximately 38 miles (61.2 km) from Portland

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

to Harrison

Harrison, Maine

Harrison is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,315 at the 2000 census. A historic resort area, Harrison straddles Long Lake and Crystal Lake...

at the north end of Long Lake. A proposed extension from Harrison to Bear Pond and Tom Pond in Waterford

Waterford, Maine

Waterford is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,455 at the 2000 census. It is a recreation area noted for historic architecture and scenic beauty.-History:...

would have required three more locks on the Bear River, but they were never built.

A state lottery was authorized to help raise $50,000 for the project, and the Canal Bank of Portland was chartered in 1825. The canal was completed in 1830 at a cost of $206,000. The excavated portions of the canal had a surface width of 30 feet (9.1 m) with a 10 feet (3 m) wide channel 3.5 feet (1.1 m) deep. The locks were 10 feet (3 m) wide and 80 feet (24.4 m) long. Lock walls were made of granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

masonry

Masonry

Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...

with wooden gates at either end. A lock keeper was stationed at each lock to move the lock gates with heavy timber balance beams, manipulate iron valves to adjust water levels within the lock, and collect a 6 cent fee for use of the lock.

Canal boats

The flat-bottomed canal boats had blunt bows

Bow (ship)

The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...

, square stern

Stern

The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...

s, and a draft of 3 foot (0.9144 m). A tow path adjacent to the excavated portions of the canal enabled horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

s to tow the canal boats while the boatmen steered with poles. Canal boats using the lakes had a removable keel

Keel

In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...

and two short hinged masts

Mast (sailing)

The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...

capable of supporting sail

Sail

A sail is any type of surface intended to move a vessel, vehicle or rotor by being placed in a wind—in essence a propulsion wing. Sails are used in sailing.-History of sails:...

s or being folded down for passage through the excavated canal. Cargos included lumber

Lumber

Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....

, masts, barrel hoops and staves, boxmaking shook, and firewood from the interior to Portland. Apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

s were an important agricultural product of the area; and Oriental Powder Company

Oriental Powder Company

Oriental Powder Company was a gunpowder manufacturer with mills located on the Presumpscot River in Gorham and Windham, Maine. The company was one of the four largest suppliers to Union forces through the American Civil War.-History:...

mills adjacent to the canal in Windham manufactured nearly 25% of the Union gunpowder

Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

supply for the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Canal boat passengers were charged one-half cent per mile. A wide variety of manufactured goods moved inland through the canal from Portland. The south end of Long Lake is locally known as Brandy Pond because a barrel of brandy

Brandy

Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...

was lost from a canal boat during passage through that part of the waterway.

Railroads and Steamboats

Freight to and from Oxford County

Oxford County, Maine

Oxford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine with a population of 57,833 as of the 2010 U.S. census. Its county seat is Paris.Part of Oxford County is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, metropolitan New England City and Town Area while a different part of Oxford County is...

began moving over the Atlantic & St Lawrence Railroad (later Grand Trunk Railway

Grand Trunk Railway

The Grand Trunk Railway was a railway system which operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal, Quebec; however, corporate...

and then Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway

The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

Berlin

Berlin, New Hampshire

Berlin is a city along the Androscoggin River in Coos County in northern New Hampshire, United States. The population was 10,051 at the 2010 census. It includes the village of Cascade. Located on the edge of the White Mountains, the city's boundaries extend into the White Mountain National Forest...

Subdivision) in the 1850s and the 18 miles (29 km) long Presumpscot River

Presumpscot River

portion of the canal fell into disuse when the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad (later Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division

Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division

The Mountain Division is a railroad line that was once owned and operated by the Maine Central Railroad. It stretches from Portland, Maine on the Atlantic Ocean, through the Western Maine Mountains and White Mountains of New Hampshire, ending at St. Johnsbury, Vermont in the Northeast Kingdom...

) reached Sebago Lake Station

Standish, Maine

in 1870. Some of the Presumpscot River lock facilities were converted to dams for the S. D. Warren Paper Mill

S. D. Warren Paper Mill

S. D. Warren Paper Mill is a small mill built on the Presumpscot River in the 1730s in a rural and fairly unpopulated area. In 1854, that small paper mill, in the soon-to-be established town of Westbrook, Maine, was purchased for $28,000 by Samuel Dennis Warren. The mill was named Grant, Warren and...

. Steamboats continued to use Songo Lock to provide transportation from Sebago Lake Station to the lakeside communities of Bridgton, Harrison

Harrison, Maine

Harrison is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,315 at the 2000 census. A historic resort area, Harrison straddles Long Lake and Crystal Lake...

, Naples

Naples, Maine

Naples is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area. The population was 3,274 at the 2000 census, and it is home to part of Sebago Lake State Park. Naples is a resort area.-History:The area...

, Sebago

Sebago, Maine

Sebago is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,433 at the 2000 census, although it swells during summer months to approximately 5,000...

, Casco

Casco, Maine

Farmers found the surface of the town uneven, its hard and rocky soil "tolerably productive." Outlets of ponds, however, provided Casco with good sites for water powered mills. The town had four sawmills, four gristmills, a shook mill, a barrel stave mill, four shingle factories, a carriage factory...

, Raymond

Raymond, Maine

Raymond is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,299 at the 2000 census. It is a summer recreation area and is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area...

and North Windham

Windham, Maine

Windham is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 17,001 at the 2010 census. It includes the villages of South Windham and North Windham...

. The Bridgton and Saco River Railroad

Bridgton and Saco River Railroad

The Bridgton and Saco River Railroad was a gauge railroad that operated in the vicinity of Bridgton and Harrison, Maine. It connected with the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad from Portland, Maine, to St...

reached Bridgton in 1883 and Harrison

Harrison, Maine

Harrison is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,315 at the 2000 census. A historic resort area, Harrison straddles Long Lake and Crystal Lake...

in 1898. The Sebago Lake, Songo River, and Bay of Naples Steamboat Company continued to offer summer passenger service to tourists until the last steamboat Goodrich burned at its Naples dock in 1932. Songo Lock remains in service for pleasure boats.

Relicensing of the dams was the subject of the 2006 Supreme Court case S. D. Warren Co. v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection.

Canal boats

Railroads and Steamboats

See also