The Allagash Wilderness Waterway was established by the Maine Legislature in 1966 to preserve, protect, and enhance the natural beauty, character, and habitat of a unique area. It is a magnificent, 92-mile-long ribbon of lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams winding through the heart of northern Maine's vast commercial forests.

For more than a century "The Allagash" has been praised and enjoyed as a sportsman's paradise. Many famous people, including Henry David Thoreau, have enjoyed its beauty and come away filled with determination to protect it for future generations. The people of Maine have made this dream possible. The State of Maine, through the Bureau of Parks and Lands within the Department of Conservation, seeks to ensure that this area will be maintained forever as a place of solace and refuge from the pressures of society.

Protection of the Waterway was further enhanced in 1970 when it was named the first state-administered component of the National Wild and Scenic River System. There are no permanent human residents in this area, and visitors show respect and care by leaving the fewest possible signs of their presence.

Originally known as Heron Lake Dam, Churchill Dam was constructed in1846 to raise water levels in Eagle Lake and Churchill Lake so that logs could be floated south from Churchill and Eagle Lakes through Lock Dam and Telos Dam to the East Branch of the Penobscot River. It was re-constructed in 1925 by Great Northern Paper Company and was breached in 1958. A temporary tractor bridge existed across the natural course of the river at its outlet from Heron Lake, which was used until Daaquam Lumber, with design and engineering by Great Northern Paper and the state?s approval, built a new, timber-crib dam and bridge in 1968, 300 feet upstream of the site of the breached dam. Shortly thereafter, the Parks and Recreation Commission purchased the dam, along with the Restricted Zone, and operated it to ensure an adequate flow of water through Chase Carry Rapids for summer canoeing. Winter water releases were sold by the state to New Brunswick Power, until this practice was stopped at the request of the Inland Fish and Game Department.

The deteriorating structural condition of the 1968 timber-crib dam caused the load limit rating of the bridge across the dam to be progressively reduced to six tons, eventually limiting the bridge to small trucks and passenger vehicles in 1995. The Bureau of Parks and Lands replaced the deteriorated, increasingly inoperable dam with a concrete structure in 1997. The new bridge deck was designed to carry off-road logging trucks and heavy forest fire fighting equipment, at the request of the Bureau of Forestry and forest landowners.

In 1960-61 Richard Gilman, a contractor for the Grafton Lumber Company built a bridge to haul timber across the narrow space of water between Round Pond and Churchill Lake. In 1964-65 the Cliff Lake gravel connection was linked to Gilman?s road making it possible for four-wheel drive vehicles to reach the area. In 1969-70 two Canadian brothers, Denis and Gilles Poulin, formed John?s Logging Company, naming this after the Pope, the slain President Kennedy, Governor John Reed of Maine, and several other John?s important to the brothers. The Johns Bridge was rebuilt and then named for the company. This connected it with the road system on the easterly side of the lakes, making it an important thoroughfare for sport fishing and lumber operations alike. The Seven Islands Land Company constructed the current bridge when the second John?s Bridge had deteriorated.

All along the Allagash Wilderness Waterway there are remnants and reminders of the long and active history of the region. In 1994, the bureau contracted with a knowledgeable individual, who was assisted by volunteers and Waterway staff, to inventory historical artifacts resting above ground along the Waterway. Since that time, three phases of the survey have been conducted. In all, twelve sites have been surveyed and mapped. Artifacts associated with each site have been numbered, photographed, and recorded. Survey records are housed in the Waterway office and in the bureau?s Augusta office.

The artifacts inventoried during this survey generally related to machinery, engines, and structures that served lumbering operations in the Waterway in the early decades of this century. Where possible, significant artifacts have been retrieved and stored in the barn at Churchill Depot for possible use in future historical exhibits.