Enchanted Pond facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Enchanted Pond |
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View of Enchanted Pond from the north
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 Enchanted Pond
Location in Maine
Enchanted Pond
Location in the United States
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| Location | Somerset County, Maine, US |
| Coordinates | 45°26′02″N 70°11′06″W / 45.43394°N 70.18495°W |
| Type | oligotrophic |
| Primary inflows | Little Enchanted |
| Primary outflows | Enchanted Stream (Dead River) |
| Catchment area | 35 square miles (91 km2) |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 2 miles (3.2 km) |
| Max. width | 0.5 miles (0.80 km) |
| Surface area | 334 acres (135 ha) |
| Average depth | 185 feet (56 m) |
| Max. depth | 202 feet (62 m) |
| Water volume | 25,391 acre⋅ft (31,319,000 m3) |
| Residence time | 1 month |
| Shore length1 | 5 miles (8.0 km) |
| Surface elevation | 1,443 feet (440 m) |
| Islands | None |
| Settlements | Bulldog Camps |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Enchanted Pond is a beautiful mountain pond in the U.S. state of Maine. It sits deep in a valley within the Western Maine Mountains. This special pond is found in the Northwest Somerset area. It lies between two large mountains: Coburn Mountain to the east and Shutdown Mountain to the west.
Near the pond's southern end, you can see two big rockslides. These are areas where rocks have fallen from the steep mountain cliffs. They reach all the way down into the water on both sides of the pond. Enchanted Pond gets its water from mountain springs and from Little Enchanted Pond. It is also the main source of Enchanted Stream. This stream flows into the Dead River, which then joins the Kennebec River.
There are only a few buildings around the pond. These include some sporting camps at the northern end. There is also one remote camp on the southwest shore. Both are part of Bulldog Camps. You won't find any islands in this pond.
Enchanted Pond is very deep. It has only a small area of shallow water along its shoreline. Most of its shores are made of rock and gravel. You can see many large boulders in the rockslide areas. There are also a few sandy beaches. One is on the east side, directly across from one on the west side. Another is on the south shore, near where the water flows out. The pond has very little plant life in the water. This means the water is super clear! It's considered an oligotrophic pond, which means it has low nutrients and high oxygen.
The State of Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife last studied the pond in August 1979. They found the water temperature was 66°F (19°C) at the surface. It was much colder, 41°F (5°C), at a depth of 100 feet (30 meters).
Contents
History of Enchanted Pond
Why is it called Bulldog Pond?
Shutdown Mountain has huge cliffs, about 800 feet (244 m) tall. These cliffs rise sharply from Enchanted Pond. Because of this, the pond was sometimes called "Bulldog Pond" in the mid-to-late 1800s. The rocky face of Shutdown Mountain and the cliff on the western side of Coburn Mountain looked like two bulldogs. They seemed to be looking at each other across the pond. Since other ponds were also named Enchanted, this new name helped people tell this specific pond apart.
Visitors and Wildlife
Enchanted Pond has been a popular spot for over a century. Early lumbermen worked from logging camps on its north shore. Later, people came to enjoy the quiet outdoors, privacy, and opportunities for hunting and fishing. In the 1800s, visitors called "rusticators" arrived by train. After 1900, many anglers (fishermen) used float planes to fly in. Today, guests can avoid a long ten-mile hike from U.S. Route 201. This is thanks to an access road built in 2005 by the owner of Bulldog Camps.
Many animals live among the cliffs and rocky slopes around the pond. These include amazing birds like peregrine falcons, bald eagles, and common loons. The area also has many moose and bears. You can even find fossil rocks, millions of years old, scattered along the pond's shores.
The Enchanted Region's Name
The "Enchanted" region includes more than just Enchanted Pond. It also has spring-fed Little Enchanted Pond. Water flows from there into Upper Enchanted Stream, then into Enchanted Pond. From Enchanted Pond, it goes into Enchanted Stream, then Lower Enchanted Pond, and finally Lower Enchanted Stream. All this water eventually reaches the Dead River.
The area got its name because of many "enchanting" or magical things that seemed to happen there. For example, parts of Upper Enchanted Stream would sometimes disappear underground. Then, they would pop up again hundreds of feet away! Men working in the Enchanted woods would sometimes hear laughter or voices. But when they searched, they would find themselves alone in the forest. Hunters would follow tracks in the snow onto the frozen Enchanted Pond. Strangely, the tracks would sometimes just disappear in the middle of the pond, and they couldn't follow them anymore.
H.P. McKenney's Log Sluice
Enchanted Pond is famous for H.P. McKenney’s amazing log sluice. He built it in 1898. A sluice is like a long, narrow channel used to float logs. McKenney tried to get money for his project, but no one believed his engineering idea would work. So, he decided to pay for it himself.
He and his men spent two years building a wooden sluiceway down Enchanted Stream. This allowed him to float his logs from Enchanted Pond to the Dead River. This new route saved him a lot of travel compared to his old way. Before, he had to go via the Moose River to Moosehead Lake and then down the Kennebec River.
The sluice was built with four-inch-thick pine planks for the bottom and three-inch planks for the sides. They even built several trestles (wooden bridges) over deep gullies, ravines, and large rocks. Some of these trestles were ten to thirty feet high! A wooden dam was also built at the pond's outlet. This dam held back the water until it was needed to float the logs in the spring. Even after all this work, no one was sure if the sluice would actually work.
In the spring of 1900, after years of hard work, worry, and growing debts, McKenney gave the order to open the dam's gate. The first logs were guided into the sluice, and they sped down! People said it took only one and a quarter minutes for the logs to travel the one and a quarter mile long sluiceway. People who had once doubted him now jokingly called his successful project "H.P.’s Folly."
Fish and Aquatic Life
Enchanted Pond has excellent water for cold-water game fish. However, it's not a very productive pond because so much of it is very deep. There are two small streams at the northern end of the pond. These are great places for the pond's native brook trout to lay their eggs. The trout population here grows naturally. The Enchanted Stream inlet also produces many young trout for the pond. It's an excellent place for spawning and for young fish to grow.
The Enchanted Stream outlet, where water flows out, has the remains of an old wooden dam. This dam stops fish from easily moving into the pond. Also, natural barriers downstream prevent other fish species from entering Enchanted Pond. To protect the wild brook trout population, there's a rule against using or having live bait. This helps prevent new fish species from being introduced to the pond.
Geography of Enchanted Pond
Enchanted Pond sits at an elevation of 1,443 feet (440 m) above sea level. It is about 2 miles (3.2 km) long and half a mile (0.8 km) wide. Its total area is about 1 square mile (2.6 km²), and it has over 5 miles (8 km) of shoreline.
The main stream flowing into the pond is Enchanted Stream. It comes from Little Enchanted Pond and enters the northwest corner of Enchanted Pond. To the northeast, another stream flows in. This stream is fed by springs on Coburn Mountain and is the second largest stream feeding the pond. The only place water flows out of Enchanted Pond is Lower Enchanted Stream, which leads to Lower Enchanted Pond.
Enchanted Pond is located in Upper Enchanted Township in Somerset County, Maine. During the last glacial era, huge glaciers carved out hundreds of natural lakes and ponds in this area. These range in size from tiny one-acre (4,000 m²) ponds to Moosehead Lake. Moosehead Lake is one of the largest natural freshwater lakes in the United States, covering 74,890 acres (303 km²)!
You can reach the pond by a few hiking trails. There's also the road built to access Bulldog Camps.
Development and Conservation
Wagner Forest Management, a company from New Hampshire, manages the land around Enchanted Pond. They oversee 2.7 million acres of forestland. This land is managed as an investment for various clients. The good news is that the land is open to the public! People can enjoy low-impact activities like hunting, fishing, and hiking. This helps bring residents, money, and tourists to Maine.
The land around the pond is protected from further building. No new buildings are allowed to be built outside of the existing sporting camps on the north shore. Many areas around the pond have been used for logging since the 1860s. Some areas even saw "clear-cutting" (where all trees are cut down) starting in the 1970s.
