"The fact that salmon passed Carratunk Falls is worth examining. At
this point the whole Kennebec rushes down over a precipice sixteen and a
half feet into a deep chasm several hundred feet long and less than
fifty feet wide. The depth of the chasm is unknown. Logs more than fifty
feet long go down end first, disappearing with great velocity; but they
are never heard to strike bottom, and after a long absence reappear,
generally, it is said, the same standing upright one-third or one-half
submerged, go whirling down the chasm. Those who have witnessed the
ascent of the salmon, say that one was first seen to leap several times a
few feet out of water a little way down the chasm. He was then seen to
emerge from the water a few feet from the fall and obliquely towards it,
with such velocity as to rise twelve or thirteen feet through the air,
and strike head first the face of the falling water at that height. If
he struck the water in a line with its motion he moved forward and over
the crest of the fall; but the least deviation from a true line sent the
fish backward to try again. The same salmon (known by a mark on his
back,) was seen to try to leap the fall six times unsuccessfully, and
succeed on the seventh attempt. Some observers thought that about one in
three succeeded in passing. It would seem that this feat must require
the utmost strength of a salmon, and perhaps only the strongest would
succeed. Besides this main channel there were two smaller passages, one
on either side of the river, where it is said salmon sometimes ascended,
and where they were taken by dip-nets. One hole is pointed out where
nine salmon were once taken at a single dip. The eastern passage might
be converted into an easy fishway, if the main fall should prove too
difficult.
"The passage of Carratunk falls was evidently rendered
possible by the great depth of water from which the salmon could spring
into the air, acquiring momentum enough to carry them two-thirds of the
way up, and by the thickness of the falling sheet, which gave them room
to swim after striking.""
Photo source: "7,000,000 logs. Caratunk Falls, Maine. c.
1870-1890"; Catalog Call Number: MFY Dennis Coll 89-F277; Record ID:
647042; Digital ID: G89F277_035F; Original source: Robert N. Dennis
collection of stereoscopic views. / United States. / States / Maine. /
Stereoscopic Views of Somerset County, Maine.
Written document source: Atkins C.G., N. Foster. 1869. Maine
Commissioners of Fisheries, First Report. Augusta, Maine. P. 49-51: Back to Atlantic Salmon History
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