Dundee Dam, Presumpscot River, Maine. Rare view of 1830 Cumberland & Oxford Canal in drained Pond.

The Dundee hydro project is in a dewatered condition to facilitate repairs to low-level gates at the dam. This offers a rare glimpse of the Presumpscot River in a pre-project condition. The Dundee Project is located on the Presumpscot River in Windam, Cumberland County, Maine. The project is the third-most downstream of six hydroelectric facilities between Sebago Lake and the Atlantic Ocean in Portland, Maine. Upstream of the project are the Eel Weir and North Gorham hydro projects, and downstream are the Gambo, Little Falls, and Mallison Falls hydro projects.

The Dam, originally constructed in 1913, was built to provide power to the downstream S.D. Warren Mill (now Sappi NA). The project includes the dam, powerhouse, three turbines, bypass reach, tailrace channel, and an eel lift. The dam is a 1,492-foot-long structure, comprised of a 175-foot-long, 50-foot-high earthen east embankment, a 1,050-foot-long, 50-foot-high earthen west embankment, a 90-foot-long concrete non-overflow section, a 150-foot-long 42-foot-high concrete spillway, The powerhouse contains three horizontal Francis turbines direct-connected to generators with a total installed capacity of 2.4 MW

Aside from a great look at the upstream side of the dewatered dam, of great interest to me is the very visible remnants of the 1830 Cumberland & Oxford Canal that ran 50 miles from the Stroudwater in Portland up along the Presumpscot River into Sebago Lake and then on into Long Lake. In the video, you can clearly see the abandoned hand-dug Cumberland-Oxford canal along the west side of the original river channel. According to the American Canal Society, the Cumberland & Oxford Canal was chartered in 1821, constructed between 1827 and 1830, and closed in 1872 with the advent of train service to western Maine. The canal was a 50-mile-long (22 miles excavated, 28 miles on waterways and lakes) small canal with the lock chambers listed as 10-feet by 70 feet, and the canal ascended 260 vertical feet over its length. The canal was operated for flat-bottomed double-masted canal barges with a working 3-ft draft. The barges, at a peak of 150 active barges, were moved by horses from the tow paths along the sides of the canal, and the masts were lowered for bridges and raised for use on the lakes and waterways. The engineer for the canal also was the engineer for the Erie Canal, which adds to the coolness factor.

The only existing operating portion of the canal system remaining is the Songo Locks at the outlet of Brandy Pond, which is the last operating lock of the original 28 locks on the canal, although the lock has been widened and upgraded to service modern traffic.

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