Fish ladder from Great Salt Bay into Damariscotta Lake. Photo taken from Boston Museum of Science. | More than two centuries ago, the people of Damariscotta Mills, Maine noticed the impact of their dam on alewives trying to swim up stream to Damariscotta Lake to spawn. Year after year, the fish threw themselves against the concrete dam to no avail. The townspeople depended on the power generated from the dam to run their mills, but they also depended on the alewives for food and trade. So in 1809, they decided to build a FISH LADDER to give the alewives an alternate route around the dam. The original fish ladder was a twisting maze of rocks creating small waterfalls and resting pools guiding the alewives up 42 vertical feet. |