Maine

Canal History

As the map shows, the canals/navigations of Maine are found along the coast, creating routes inland from the Atlantic Ocean. All are improved rivers with dams and locks to create navigation pools.

The Cumberland and Oxford Canal was 38 miles in length and used 27 locks between Long Lake and Portland. It is often called the “Portland Canal.” The Kennebec River Navigation System is a 43-mile-long sea level route between Augusta and Phippsburg that is still maintained by the USACE.

CANAL GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS

There are no statewide canal groups.

Major Repositories and Archives

The Maine State Archives– Search for terms such as canal, navigation, locks, etc.

Library of Congress – The default for all searches is the LOC.

CANAL INDEX PAGES

 The “canal index” project is an on-going project of the ACS to document canal sites. Most of the information is from the 1970-1990 time period, however new pages are being added. Feel free to contribute to this project by submitting a form.

Note: Canals in blue and underlined have index sheets which are accessible by double clicking on the hyperlink.  Canals listed in green below do not yet have index sheets.  They are listed here to make the list more complete.  It is intended to add index sheets for them in the future.

• Cumberland & Oxford Canal
  • Songo River & Lock    
•  Georges River Canal
• Kennebec River
  • Augusta
  • Seeboomook
• Mousam River Channels
• New Meadow’s (Peterson’s)
• Passamaquoddy
• Penobscot
• Piscataquis
• Quoddy Lock
• Saco River
  • Moose
  • Hancock
  • Burnt Meadow
  • Ten Mile
  • Freyburg
• Stillwater
• Telos Canal

Please note that these are the actual pages done in the early 1970s.  Changes have occurred since and there are some inaccuracies in the information on the pages.

Revised 4/29/2022