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Working The Bay:
Penobscot Bay's Geography and Resources |
From Marshall Point in Port Clyde to Naskeag Point in Brooklin, Penobscot Bay’s coastline is longer than 1,000 miles and includes more than 1,800 islands. Its marine life is most influenced by the cold seawater current called the Gulf of Maine Gyre and the currents created by an eight to thirteen foot tide. Cold water holds more oxygen and supports more nutrients than warm water. Like fertile soil, the nutrient-rich waters in Penobscot Bay support healthy and abundant growth. Penobscot Bay is a home for almost all of the seventy commercially harvested species of fish and shellfish landed in the Gulf of Maine. It is this rich resource that attracted early seventeenth century fishermen to the Penobscot Bay area.
Maine’s valuable timber is improved by cool weather, which encourages slower growth, thus higher wood quality. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the British Royal Navy used white pine for masts and spars. Throughout the Maine lumber boom of the mid-19th century, white pine was the primary species cut, processed, and shipped to the American East Coast, the West Indies, and South American ports. Other species were used to build ships, boats and houses. Still others were well suited for barrel staves and headers, boxes, shingles, and furniture. Firewood was cut both for heat and for burning lime in the lime kilns. Leather tanning needed hemlock bark. Softwoods were used in Maine’s paper industry beginning in 1868, and the paper industry expanded greatly in the 1880s.
Penobscot Bay’s rocks and clays provided granite for buildings, limestone for mortar and plaster, and clay for bricks. Harvesting rock and clay began prior to 1800, but grew tremendously in the 19th century. Maine’s cold climate and pure lakes and rivers located close to the sea were well suited to a successful ice business (key to map: pinkish-tan = granite; red-brown = brick; yellow = lime).
Penobscot Bay’s rivers provided waterpower to run sawmills, gristmills, woolen mills, paper mills, and foundries, before steam engines and electricity became available. In some places, tide mills operated on the incoming and outgoing water flow.
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