Benton Dam

Leave it to my parents to find some of the neatest places in Maine. They've done it again with todays tour of the Benton Dam. It's one of those places that we've driven by dozens of times, yet never gave it a second look.

It features a fish elevator that allows spawning fish to continue their journey upstream. The fish are then sorted by size and species - allowing the biologists to ensure that illegaly transplanted fish are not permited on the journey.

During a 3 week period in May, fisherman are contracted to harvest elwives from below the dam. These will serve as bait to lobster fisherman, each crate floating in the river will sell for $60 each. The crates are filled by hand, floated until all are ready to be loaded onto trucks, then are transported to the coast to be sold. It's quite the operation.

The kids were not impressed with todays Meme & Papa Adventure - I, however, walked away with new information about our state, and I'm happy with that. To apease the kids, we went to Dairy Queen... it was to be their "favorite part" of the day. Crazy kids, one day you'll appreciate things like this.