Howland town dock recovered after trip down Penobscot

HOWLAND – The prodigal dock shall return.

The town dock that apparently was torn from its moorings by unusually heavy currents – and possibly by large trees that had fallen into the Piscataquis River -reportedly was found on an island Thursday in the Penobscot River in Passadumkeag, town officials said.

Resident Mark Parker of Passadumkeag told Town Manager Glenna Armour that he found what looked like the dock, or a section of it, on an island in the Penobscot near his home. He was even nice enough, Armour said, to take town officials to the dock in his boat. The dock apparently had traveled about five miles in the water before coming to rest.

“We very much appreciate Mr. Parker calling us,” Armour said. “It could save us having to pay to replace it.”

The dock broke free from its cement mooring about 200 feet above the Howland dam sometime overnight April 26 and had been missing since, although someone else, a Milford man, reported finding the dock in the river. But that turned out to be a large plywood dock, not the composite 30-foot-long, 6-foot-wide plastic job the town owns, Armour said.

The missing-dock report last week stunned residents and officials from Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife who gave the town the dock in 1998. They said it was the first time they had ever heard of an inland dock tearing loose during inclement weather.

First Selectman Frank Kirsch said he was glad the town can get the dock back, but cautioned that residents shouldn’t necessarily assume the dock will be reinstalled immediately.

“I’m glad we found it, but I don’t know what condition it’s in and what it might entail to fix it up until we have a look at it,” Kirsch said.

Repeated attempts to reach Parker were unsuccessful Thursday.

Inland Fisheries and Wildlife was due to examine the dock on the island Thursday afternoon and possibly help arrange its transportation back to town.

Town officials do want to see the dock replaced, Kirsch said. Besides being a prime fishing spot, the dock helps bring tourism and river aficionados into Howland.