Stairway helps rafters
Security also matter for concern
Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
INDIAN STREAM TOWNSHIP — Dropping down 163 steps into the Kennebec Gorge, a new steel stairway is a monument to the upper Kennebec River's evolving recreational industry, say raft company owners.
It also speaks volumes about security concerns in the wake of Sept. 11.
The stairway was built over the summer to allow rafters access to the Kennebec River without using the road next to FPL Energy's Harris Station.
"Having 70,000 people be able to physically touch the powerhouse was a security problem that was hard to deal with," said Ernie DeLuca, recreational enterprise manager for FPL Energy at Harris Dam.
Rafters have also long needed to expand the increasingly cramped ramp they used to put their rafts into the river.
Peter Dostie, owner of North American White Water, drew up plans for the stair system about three years ago during negotiations for the dam's relicensing. The plans were shelved, however, because of the cost.
But they were taken off the shelf when the Sept. 11 terrorism created a heightened sense of security throughout the nation.
Made primarily of weathering steel, with galvanized steel hand rails and treads and aluminum rails to slide rafts down to the river on, the system cost FLP about $220,000, according to DeLuca.
Advanced Resources and Construction Enterprises Inc. started work on the 109-foot high project in May. It opened to the public at the end of August.
Dostie said Thursday that the stairs had turned out even better than he anticipated. From the top, the view is breathtaking, he said.
"Your perspective of the gorge went from a two to a 10," Dostie said.
DeLuca agreed.
"This appeared to be the answer to everybody's problem," he said.
FPL's specific problem was the need to remove a security nightmare.
During a busy summer day, more than 1,000 rafters would arrive at a cramped paved area next to the power station with rafts stacked four or five high.
DeLuca said it was not unusual for rafters to find their way into the power station, Maine's largest hydroelectric development with the capacity to power a city the size of Portland.
A truck bomb driven down the ramp could have knocked out that power station, according to DeLuca.
For rafters, the problem is less potentially disastrous, but still important.
Since rafting on the Kennebec River began in the mid-1970s, commercial rafting has grown to more than 70,000 trips a year.
DeLuca said that after a strong spring, trips on the Kennebec River slowed during the summer but still eked out a record year through the end of August — rising a fraction of 1 percent from the previous year.
The old system of putting rafts into the river created several bottlenecks and was difficult to use for both rafters and rafting companies.
The new system has a larger staging area and makes for a steady flow of rafts to the river.
Suzie Hockmeyer, an owner of Northern Outdoors, one of the original rafting companies on the Kennebec, said that while the recreation business in the area has evolved to include snowmobiling, hiking and many other offerings, rafting is still critical.
"Rafting is the foundation of everything," she said. "It is what makes people want to come back and see what it is like in the winter. It is what makes people want to stay longer and go hiking and biking."
Alan Crowell — 474-9534, Ext. 342 acrowell@centralmaine.com