Waterway was utilized as a mechanism to transport goods was the form that natives transported people, goods, and
and items from the interior of Maine to Acadian settlers how they survived during the summer months. Remnants
who traded goods with the natives. As the lumber barons of the timber industry can be seen along the waterway in
bought the lands surrounding the Allagash Wilderness the form of the tramway, dams, and train cars left behind.
Waterway, the headwaters were used to transport the Recent signs of the industry can be seen on the approach
lumber. Telos Dam allowed the men to alter the flow to the headwaters because the Allagash Wilderness
of the river towards the outlet of Chamberlain Lake to Waterway is surrounded by a working forest.
allow the water in Chamberlain and Telos Lakes to move
So can you canoe and are you up for the challenge?
towards the Penobscot River basin, sending the felled
If so, the first tools essential to completing your next
timber towards the profitable port of Bangor.
wilderness adventure will start with a copy of The Maine
In 1966, the Maine State Legislature, managed Atlas and Gazetteer to locate the route and navigate to
today by Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands deemed this the put-in, because the GPS doesn’t always work where
waterway the first state-administered component of the you will be going. Begin your adventure. Research can
National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. This 92 mile be begin with a visit to www.fortkentchamber.com, and
stretch of wilderness waterway will not only transport, also check out The Northern Door Inn, Allagash Guide
it allows a canoer to experience the same waterway not Service, Camel Brook Camps, St. Froid Camps, and
only back to the era of the natives, but also to paddle Willard Jalbert Camps websites: all of these sites provide
across history, observing how the glaciers moved across a wealth of information on exploring this unique area.
this landscape scouring the landscape into the mountains, Best of luck on your next wilderness adventure; maybe I
valleys, and lakes that surround this corridor. Paddling will see you out there!
SUMMER 2013
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