The effects of flooding can be seen as the underpinning is gone from the Stinchfield Mill and flood damage is very apparent in the back of the Bragg Shovel Handle Factory, two of the buildings in the center of the photo at Skowhegan Island.
The logs in the river are characteristic of 1870. Later, four-foot pulp wood was more common.
In 1896, a major flood struck towns along the Androscoggin and other rivers. Here, the Little Androscoggin River waters approach the front doors of businesses along Main Street in Mechanic Falls.
The J.A. Bucknam Building is the shorter of the brick buildings to the right.
A freshet at Riverton Park in Portland in March 1900. A freshet or spring flood is caused by a thaw or heavy rain and results in a sudden overflow of water.
Workers begin to clean up after the water had receded from about six feet over the bulkhead at the South Channel Dam in Skowhegan in 1901.
The mechanism at left is a part of the gates and hoisting machinery. The tangle of timbers toward the right and rear is the wreck of the Madison toll bridge.
The flood damaged the wooden toll bridge and destroyed the suspension bridge. Workers had to use dynamite to clear up the debris.
The mill at right, probably built by M. J. Allen, later became the Marston Worsted Mills, then Adams & Burns. The building burned.
In 1916, the Madawaska River flooded in Stockholm. The photo shows the original bridge before it was washed away. The photo is looking south with the Company Store in background.
Major spring floods occurred throughout the east coast in 1936.
Here, the Curved Bridge over the Ossipee River is framed by high water. The photo is taken behind Bonney Memorial Library, looking south toward Cornish village in March 1936.
This bridge, built in 1930, is unique in that it is curved and was originally known as the only curved bridge in Maine.
Record flood levels on the Androscoggin River in 1936 affected many communities. Because most mills were built immediately next to rivers to take advantage of water power and water for cooling machinery, the industries were vulnerable to spring floods.
The flooded Androscoggin destroyed the iron bridge between Durham and Lisbon Falls and severely damaged the Worumbo textile mill in Lisbon Falls.
In the photograph, racing flood waters are submerging several cloth smoothing machines.
The 1936 flood was the second largest recorded in the history of Lisbon, the largest being the flood of 1814 when the surging Androscoggin destroyed 21 sawmills.
This photo depicts a small building on the Worumbo campus in Lisbon Falls being submerged by the floodwaters. The building was used by mill security watchmen.
The flood of March 27, 1953 took E.C. Gerry's sawmill in Lovell downriver. The mill was rebuilt across the Kezar River on higher ground, and is currently owned and operated by Mark and Edward Woodbrey.
