The story of Windham’s massive
freshet of 1861
Last of a three-part series on
Popeville. If you missed the first and/or second-part in this series visit
lifestyles.thewindhameagle.com
By Walter Lunt
An
extraordinary event, unimaginable today, occurred in Windham in early May,
1861. The great freshet, or flood, originated in North Windham and swept
through the center of town, then South Windham, and on to Westbrook and beyond.
As reported in part two of this series, the quiet neighborhood of Popeville in
Windham, located along Pope Road between route 202 and the Pleasant River
bridge, was once the site of a thriving industrial center owned and operated by
three brothers, Isaiah, Oliver and Joseph Pope, whose ancestor, Elijah, a
Quaker, came to Windham and opened a blacksmith shop there about 1768.
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| A 1915 postcard view of Popeville looks north toward the Pleasant Street Bridge. PHOTO COURTESY OF WALTER LUNT |
By 1841, the
ambitious and enterprising family had established a prosperous mill business at
the mill dam near Pleasant River bridge. The sprawling company included a
lumber and grist mill and the manufacture of custom clothing. A substantial
boarding house accommodated many workers.
In the early
1900s, Phoebe Pope, great-granddaughter of Elijah, related numerous stories of
life in Popeville during the hey-day of Isaiah Pope and Company. She reminisced
to a reporter about the plain and honest living style of the Friends, or
Quaker, community. Phoebe shared fond memories of the mid-nineteenth century
village where “We young people used to gather on pleasant evenings and watch
the water rush over the dam. There were nice young folks from neighboring
farms, and (among them) some good singers. But the rule was, ‘Be home by nine
o’clock.’"
The Pope
brothers, always the entrepreneurs, decided in 1859 to expand operations to
include a cotton mill, but more waterpower was needed to run it. Two of the
brothers, Oliver and Joseph, purchased the water privilege at “The Narrows” at
the base of Little Sebago Lake off present day route 115 (between route 302 and
the Falmouth Road). There they enlarged
the dam utilizing split stone with no cement or pilings for reinforcement. On
the river below, at Popeville, a new cotton mill had been readied for
operation.
The spring
of 1861 brought unusually heavy rains to the area. Local residents estimated
the lake level had risen 10 to 20 feet above normal. At 7 a.m. on the morning
of May 7, Ellery Sawyer had just sat down to his breakfast when a thunderous
crash and roar emerged from the Little Sebago dam near his farm. “And great the
fall thereof.” Sawyer knew in an instant what had happened.
Mounting his horse,
Sawyer raced toward Popeville to warn what he knew would be an impending doom.
He beat the rushing water by several hours, its progress halted several times
by turns in the river, bridges and by accumulated debris. The Pope brothers
made no effort to remove machinery from their various mills or to secure any of
their property, believing the heavy booms strung across the river just above
Popeville mill dam would restrain the onslaught. An eyewitness to the
calamitous event worked as a clerk for the Pope’s and would later write about
it in his book Windham in the Past. Samuel T. Dole described the flood
waters arrival to Popeville this way:
“At about
ten o’clock, a low sullen roar, like the rushing of a mighty wind, gave evidence that the hour of peril was near at
hand; and in a short time, around a curve in the river came an immense wave
bearing on its crest a huge quantity of debris, consisting of stumps, the ruin
of bridges, mill logs, cord wood and trees that had been torn up by the roots,
all in one confused mass, and borne along with irresistible force by the
rushing waters. It first encountered a strong double boom, where its career was
for a moment checked, but only for a moment. The huge logs of which the boom
was constructed snapped like pipe stems, and the confused mass, augmented by
hundreds of mill logs, precipitated itself upon the mill dam. At one end of
this stood a woolen mill filled with heavy machinery, a large building intended
for a cotton mill and partly fitted up for that purpose, and a dye house, which
contained all the appliances for coloring and finishing cloth. On the other end
of the dam stood a sawmill, a joiner’s shop, grist mill and stave mill, all in
one large building. After remaining stationary on the dam for nearly half an
hour, the mass of ruins , with a mighty crash, started on its downward course, carrying
with it the dye-house and town bridge, the splintered fragments of which were
mingled with the already confused mass.”
After
leaving the Popeville mills in ruins, the raging waters that were draining
Little Sebago Lake continued its mad rush on Pleasant River to its confluence
with the Presumpscot River, carving out a new channel and wiping out mills and
bridges at Allen’s Falls, Gambo (Newhall), Little Falls (South Windham/Gorham)
and Mallison Falls.
In the
following days, the Portland Argus and the Portland Transcript newspapers would
report various details of the massive Windham flood:
“Seventeen
bridges were swept away in the town of Windham…The Windham stage had a narrow
escape (as it had just) cleared a bridge when the rushing waters cast it downstream…The
scene at Sacarappa (Westbrook) was terribly grand and awful…”(Portland Argus –
May 10, 1861; page 2).
“The entire
body of water from Little Sebago Pond which is nine miles long by two broad was
instantly poured forth into the surrounding countryside… Many from this city
went out to view the mighty rush of water …The total damage is probably not
less than $30,000 (it was later reported to be in excess of 35,000 {1861}
dollars)…Actions for damages have been entered against Messrs. Pope, who it is
alleged did not properly secure the dam, and all of their property is attached…”
(Portland Transcript – May 18, 1861; Vol. XXV, No. 7).
After the
catastrophe, the Popes rebuilt some of the mills, but as Samuel Dole observed
“never recovered their old-time prosperity.”
Isaiah Pope
died in 1872. The two remaining brothers were in their 70s and 80s and finally
sold the mill property in 1879. The end of an era. And great was the fall
thereof.
Phoebe Pope
and her young sister, Mary, found themselves penniless and homeless and ended
up living with Friend ministers in East Parsonsfield where they lived happily
with a large circle of Friends.
Next
time, we trace down the last surviving Pope. And discuss the Windham Quakers
involvement in the Underground Railroad.
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