Parmachenee Lake

Parmachenee Lake
Gilded age sportsmen carrying gear to Parmachenee Lake in the early days of the Parmachenee Club.
Location	Oxford County, Maine
Coordinates	45°09′N 70°59′W / 45.150°N 70.983°W / 45.150; -70.983Coordinates: 45°09′N 70°59′W / 45.150°N 70.983°W / 45.150; -70.983^[1]
Primary inflows	Magalloway River
Primary outflows	Magalloway River
Basin countries	United States

Max. length	2.9 mi (4.7 km)^[2]
Surface area	913 acres (369 ha)^[3]
Max. depth	93 feet (28 m)^[4]
Water volume	29,130 acre·ft (35,930,000 m³)^[3]
Surface elevation	1,629 ft (497 m)^[1]

Parmachenee Lake is on the Magalloway River near the Canadian border on the western edge of Maine. The lake was named for the son of Native American chief Metalluk, and is best known for the Gilded Age Parmachenee Club. The Magalloway River headwaters enter the north end of the lake in Parmachenee township, and the lake extends south into Lynchtown township where it overflows 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream of Aziscohos Reservoir.

Angling

The lake is habitat for native brook trout and land-locked Atlantic salmon preying on rainbow smelt, minnows, and suckers. As trout and salmon disappeared from rivers in more heavily populated parts of the United States, a group of affluent New York lawyers pooled resources to preserve the Parmachenee Lake area for angling and sport hunting by their friends and families. Their Parmachenee Club protected the ecosystem from market hunters and commercial fishing until the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife implemented fisheries management on a statewide scale. Water quality remains good in the lake, and populations of native fish survive and reproduce without stocking.^[4]

Parmachenee Club

The Parmachenee Club was formed in 1890 to lease 120,000 acres (49,000 ha) of commercial forest land extending south from the Canadian border where they built a camp in the meadows along the Magalloway River. Club members lodged at the camp while engaged in sport hunting and angling. The Brown Company and International Paper Company built a log driving dam in 1910 which flooded the Parmachenee Club lodge. The club built Camp Caribou as improved lodging facilities on Treat's Island in Parmachenee Lake. As angling opportunities declined on more accessible lakes before the advent of fishing licenses, fishing seasons, slot limits, and creel limits, the nearly aboriginal conditions of the private reserve of the Parmachenee Club became legendary among outdoor writers. Parmachenee Lake became a vacation retreat for the United States' industrial and political elite. One of the last visitors, before the club disbanded in the 1960s, was President Dwight D. Eisenhower.^[5]

Parmachenee Belle

Fly fishing was the preferred angling method of the gilded age; and anglers often tied their own artificial flies. Rhode Island patent attorney and Parmachenee Club member Henry Parkhurst Wells invented an artificial fly he named the Parmachenee Belle in remembrance of fishing on Parmachenee Lake. The pattern has been widely copied and used across the United States.^[6]

Sources

1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Parmachenee Lake
↑ The Maine Atlas and Gazeteer (Thirteenth ed.). Freeport, Maine: DeLorme Mapping Company. 1988. p. 28. ISBN 0-89933-035-5.
1 2 Maine Depts. of Environmental Protection and Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (2005-08-04). "Maine Lakes: Morphometry and Geographic Information". Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, The University of Maine. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
1 2 "Parmachenee Lake" (PDF). Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Game. State of Maine. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
↑ Noble, Nancy. "Autumn in the Maine woods...100 years ago". Maine Historical Society. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
↑ Shewey, John (2015). Classic Steelhead Flies. Stackpole Books. p. 129. ISBN 0811713326.

Androscoggin River watershed

Tributaries	Alder River Bear River Cathance River Chickwolnepy Stream Clear Stream Concord River Cupsuptic River Dead Cambridge River Dead Diamond River Dead River (ME) Dead River (NH) Dead River (Sabattus) East Branch Cupsuptic River East Branch Dead Diamond River East Branch Nezinscot River East Branch Pleasant River East Branch Swift River Ellis River First East Branch Magalloway River Kennebago River Little Androscoggin River Little Dead Diamond River Little East Branch Cupsuptic River Little Magalloway River Little River Magalloway River Middle Branch Dead Diamond River Middle Branch Little Magalloway River Mollidgewock Brook Moose Brook Moose River Muddy River Nezinscot River Peabody River Pleasant River Rangeley River Rapid River Rattle River Sabattus River Sanborn River Second East Branch Magalloway River South Branch Little Dead Diamond River South Branch Sunday River Sunday River Swift Cambridge River Swift Diamond River Swift River Third East Branch Magalloway River Webb River West Branch Dead Diamond River West Branch Ellis River West Branch Little Dead Diamond River West Branch Little Magalloway River West Branch Magalloway River West Branch Nezinscot River West Branch Peabody River West Branch Pleasant River West Branch Swift River Wild River

Lakes	Akers Pond Androscoggin Lake Lake Auburn Aziscohos Lake Echo Lake Greenough Pond Kennebago Lake Mooselookmeguntic Lake Parker Pond Parmachenee Lake Pontook Reservoir Range Ponds Rangeley Lake Richardson Lakes Sabattus Pond Thompson Lake Tripp Pond Success Pond Umbagog Lake Webb Lake

Towns	Albany Andover Auburn Berlin Bethel Bowdoin Brunswick Buckfield Byron Cambridge Canton Carthage Chesterville Dixfield Dummer Durham Errol Fayette Gilead Gorham Greene Greenwood Hanover Hartford Hebron Jay Leeds Lewiston Lisbon Livermore Livermore Falls Mechanic Falls Mexico Minot Monmouth Mount Vernon Newry Norway Otisfield Oxford Paris Peru Pittsburg Poland Randolph Rangeley Readfield Roxbury Rumford Sabattus Shelburne Stewartstown Sumner Topsham Turner Upton Vienna Wales Wayne Weld Wentworth's Location West Paris Woodstock

Landmarks	Brown Company Maine Central Railroad Old Speck Mountain Range Ponds State Park Rumford Mill St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad White Mountains

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