The Medomak River, historically known as the Muscongus River, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed June 22, 2011 river in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. From its source () in

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

, the river winds south to the head of its

tidal river A tidal river is a river whose flow and level are caused by tides. A section of a larger river affected by the tides is a tidal reach, but it may sometimes be considered a tidal river if it had been given a separate and another title name. Gene ...

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

in Waldoboro, then about south to

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

. The river flows through Hockomock Channel into the head of

Muscongus Bay Muscongus Bay is a bay on the coast of Maine, United States, between Penobscot Bay and John's Bay. Muscongus was the name of an Abenaki village meaning "fishing place" or "many r largerock ledges." John Smith recorded the river in 1616 as Nusco ...

. ''Medomak'' is

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pred ...

for "place (river) of many alewives".

Human history

The Medomak River was the boundary between the

Waldo Patent The Waldo Patent, a letters patent also known as the Muscongus Patent or the Lincolnshire Patent, was a document granting title to of land in what is now the U.S. state of Maine. It is named variously for businessman Samuel Waldo, who eventually ...

and

Pemaquid Patent Pemaquid may refer to: * Pemaquid, Maine, former name of Bristol, Maine, U.S.; today, a village within the town ** Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site is a publicly owned historic property operated by t ...

but the early European settler's recruited in Germany by Samuel Waldo were unaware and settled both sides of the river. Later the settlers on the west bank of the river had to purchase the land they had settled on from the legal owners. The settlers arrived by ship and traveled by foot or boat until roads began to be built in the 1780s. Two ferries crossed the river in Waldoboro, (John) Light's ferry roughly east of the German Church and Waterman's ferry from Dutch Neck to Sampson Cove. The first bridge (main street) was built In the 19th century Waldoboro became a significant shipbuilding center and customs port of entry. Many dams were built in the 18th and 19th centuries to power water mills such as sawmills and grist mills. These dams prevented fish migrations such as alewives with an estimated harvest of 41,512 in 1896 to being "practically extinct" by 1956.

Fresh water section

The fresh water section of the Medomak River drains the Medomak River Watershed which is about 74 square miles with about 1077 acres of lake area. Seven great ponds include Crystal, Washington, Johnson, Iron, Medomak, Little Medomak and Kalers Ponds.Robert E. Foye, "Medomak River Drainage Fish Management". Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Game. 1956. Pettingill Brook, Little Medomak Brook, Kalers Pond Outlet, and Hope Brook feed the Medomak. Fishes include brook trout (squaretail), white sucker, brown trout, minnows, smalImouth bass, lake chub, white perch, common shiner, yellow perch, golden shiner, chain pickerel, blackchin shiner, hornpout (bullhead), redbelly dace, smelt, blacknose dace, alewife, ninespine stickleback, eel, and pumpkinseed sunfish.

Salt water section

This river is a significant

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve mollusc. The word is often applied only to those that are deemed edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the sea floor or riverbeds. Clams h ...

fishery. Some of the migratory fishes in the river include alewives,

blueback herring The blueback herring, blueback shad, or summer shad (''Alosa aestivalis'') is an anadromous species of herring from the east coast of North America, with a range from Nova Scotia to Florida. Blueback herring form schools and are believed to mi ...

(together called river herring),

American eel The American eel (''Anguilla rostrata'') is a facultative catadromous eel found on the eastern coast of North America. Anguillidae, Freshwater eels are fish belonging to the Elopomorpha, elopomorph superorder, a group of Phylogenetics, phylogen ...

s (the juveniles called elvers or glass eels),

rainbow smelt The rainbow smelt (''Osmerus mordax'') is a North American species of fish of the family (biology), family Osmeridae. Walleye, trout, and other larger fish prey on these smelt. The rainbow smelt prefer juvenile cisco (fish), ciscoes, zooplankton ...

and

striped bass The striped bass (''Morone saxatilis''), also called the Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock, or rockfish, is an anadromous perciform fish of the family Moronidae found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. It has ...

. Two other notable species are the

horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs are arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only surviving xiphosurans. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or even crustaceans; they are chelicerates, more closely related to arachnids like spiders, ticks, and scor ...

and quahog clam.

References

*
Maine Streamflow Data from the USGSMaine Watershed Data From Environmental Protection Agency

External links

3.5 minute underwater video of alwives migrating
{{authority control Rivers of Knox County, Maine Rivers of Lincoln County, Maine Rivers of Waldo County, Maine Waldoboro, Maine Rivers of Maine

Human history

Fresh water section

Salt water section

See also

References

External links