Tour of the Cumberland & Oxford Canal and the Oriental Powder Company
Sponsored by the Northern New England Chapter, Society for Industrial Archeology
Open to other SIA chapters and MCA members

MEETING PLACE & TIME: 9:45am at West Gate Shopping Center, 1364 Congress Street, Portland, Maine. There is a Shaw’s Supermarket with restrooms and coffee machines in the bakery area.

DIRECTIONS TO MEETING PLACE (1 hr Boston to Portsmouth; 1 hr Portsmouth to Portland)

  • From the south, take the Maine Turnpike (I-95) north.
  • Take exit 44 off the turnpike onto I-295.
  • Take exit 5 off I-295, and follow the signs to Congress Street (Rt. 22) WEST, which takes you under I-295 in a U to the intersection with Route 22. Move into the left turn left lane to go west and then stay in the left lane on Congress Street.
  • In about half a mile, turn left at the light to enter West Gate Shopping Center, beside a small Bank America. Bear right and drive through the parking lot and park in front of a white brick building, formerly a Friendly’s Restaurant. Shaw’s is just to the left. (Key [1364 Congress Street, Portland, ME] into Google Maps to obtain a map to the meeting place.)

 
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THE PLAN OF THE DAY
No registration is required and there is no charge for the tour. It will be conducted by private auto on a "show and go" basis; however participants will be asked to consolidate into the least number of cars to reduce the "convoy size" and to fit into some of the very limited size parking areas.

  1. The general tour will be led by retired history Prof. Joel Eastman. We will begin with four brief stops to see surviving sections of the canal in the Portland area.
  2. Our longest stop will be at Gambo Falls, Gorham-South Windham, where the canal ran through the Oriental Powder Mill complex. After the canal closed, it was used by the mill to supply water power to series of small mills built along the tow path. The powder mill portion of the tour will be led by retired chemistry Prof. Maurice Whitten.
  3. Before or after the Gambo Falls visit, depending upon the time, we will stop at a small restaurant in Windham for a leisurely lunch.
  4. We will make brief stops at a surviving lock near the rebuilt Babbs Covered Bridge and another near North Gorham Pond, and then view a new canal built on the site of the old one, the Eel Weir Canal, which supplies water to a hydroelectric station. Then we will walk to see the one remaining end of the Upper Guard Lock of the old canal, which is built of granite, as well as the huge granite dam built at the turn of the century by S. D. Warren Paper Company.
  5. For those with the time, we will drive 12 miles north to visit Songo Lock, built by the canal corporation, and enlarged by a steam boat company after the canal closed in 1870. It is now operated by Maine Parks and Lands.

In the event of serious, disruptive rain on Saturday, May 17th (arrive by 9:45 a.m. to be on safe side), it will be postponed until Sunday, the following day. Such a postponement will depend on Sunday's weather forecast, and the decision to go or not can be ascertained from the chapter president David Coughlin at (603) 714-4052, or if he cannot be reached, then from Nelson Lawry (603) 767-3798.