Update on Leonard’s Mills dam

In recent months, several articles have been published concerning the Maine Forest and Logging Museum and our Leonard’s Mills project in Bradley. Since some of the reports have had negative aspects, I am responding to reassure our hundreds of supporters (many of whom are Chemo Pond cottage owners) that there is no reason to be anything other than completely positive about our activities at Leonard’s Mills.

The dam at Leonard’s Mills was constructed around 1790 for the purpose of providing a sustained flow of water to run a water-powered sawmill. The museum has restored the original dam for the same purpose; we are providing thousands of people with an opportunity to witness how our Maine frontier forefathers lived in the 1790s.

The dam was restored to stabilize the water level of Chemo Pond at the natural high-water level, the level needed to run a water-powered sawmill on Blackman Stream. Chemo has always had a flooding problem during the spring run-off and other periods of unusually high water. I have been personally familiar with the problem since 1949. This is not something that began to happen when we restored the dam. A lot of water comes pouring into Chemo, and there is only one narrow, restricted exist. This is the way it was fashioned by Mother Nature.

The Maine Forest and Logging Museum is currently involved in a dam alteration permit procedure with the Department of Environmental Protection that we think will provide an improvement over Mother Nature’s seeming negligence in constructing the local topography. A team consisting of hydraulics and civil engineers is working with soils scientists and a fresh water biologist to develop a plan for alteration of the dam, and perhaps some surrounding topograhy, if necessary, to provide for an increased run-off capacity at the dam site.

The point I would like to make is that we intend to do whatever is necessary to conduct the activities at Leonard’s Mills in such a way that our relations with Chemo Pond property owners will be more aggreeable. We believe that a stable summer water level can be maintained at Chemo that will run the sawmill at Leonard’s Mills without reaching a level that some property owners find objectionable. I must remind everyone that many of the Chemo property owners have told us that they like the higher level maintained through the summer.

We are working in close communication with the DEP representatives, and are most appreciative of their effort in steering us along in the regulatory process. We are moving as rapidly as possible under the circumstances, and are hopeful that we can reach an agreeable solution in time to make the alteration in 1990.

As we push ahead with the plans to increase the outflow capacity at Leonard’s Mills dam, it is my sincere hope that it can be done in an atmosphere of friendly relations with everyone. We believe that the engineers working on this problem will be able to determine the water level that will run the mill, maintain an acceptable summer level at Chemo, and provide faster run-off during flood periods.

We again invite the Chemo property owners to establish a monitoring group. If there is something we are not properly addressing in our assessment, then we would like to know while the dam alteration plans are being developed.

Allan R. Leighton is president of the Maine Forest and Logging Museum, Inc.