Saint John Ponds · Lablypedia

In a nutshell

The Saint John Ponds are a chain of shallow lakes at the headwaters of the Baker Branch Saint John River in the North Maine Woods. The flow sequence is from the Upper First Saint John Pond, through the Lower First Saint John Pond, Second Saint John Pond, Third Saint John Pond, and Fourth Saint John Pond to the Fifth Saint John Pond. Flow from one pond to the next is sometimes called Baker Stream rather than the Baker Branch Saint John River. Great Northern Paper Company dug a canal from Fifth Saint John Pond 2 miles (3.2 km) westward to the North Branch Penobscot River in 1939, and built a dam at the north end of Fifth Saint John Pond so pulpwood logs harvested in the upper Saint John River watershed could be floated down the Penobscot River to Millinocket, Maine. The canal and dam have fallen into disrepair so most drainage from the ponds again flows down the Saint John River. All upstream ponds with the exception of the first had dams to regulate discharge flow for log driving, but those dams have similarly fallen into disrepair. Moose use the ponds as summer refuge from heat and biting insects.

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First Saint John Pond

The first pond is the smallest of the chain. The pond has an upper and lower basin connected by a narrow neck less than 200 yards (180 m) long. The upper basin is spring fed with a firm, rocky shoreline, while the lower basin is surrounded by boggy, organic mud. Beaver sometimes construct dams below one or both basins which may raise the water level by approximately 2 feet (61 cm). Native brook trout and yellow perch live in both basins, but during warmer summer weather trout favor the cooler water where springs emerge in the upper basin.

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