Flood of 1902

Phillip H. Coombs, engineer of the city of Bangor, gave this report of the flood of 1902: "On Thursday, March 30th, 1902, the Penobscot River began to show the effects of the storm which had prevailed for several days, and a freshet was apparent. The water backed up by the ice jams below the city to a great height, and about 9 o'clock in the evening, soon after the turn of the tide, the ice about the bridges started with the current, and collecting a mass of ice, logs, and other drift under the irone bridge of the Maine Central Railroad, caused a temporary jam which lifted two spans of that bridge from the piers and floated one of them down against the wooden Toll Bridge, carrying away one span of that structure, one granited pier of the Maine Central Bridge was also swept away." A much more detailed analysis of the flood is available in City on the Penobscot: A Comprehensive History of Bangor, Maine by Trudy Irene Scee. Eight photographs in this collection were donated by Larry Lancaster of Eddington, Maine. Note: Click View Slideshow to enlarge and cycle through these images. Each image has its own description.