“Called “Great Northern’s Navy,” the Great Northern Paper Company owned a fleet of steamers used in its logging operations on several waters in the neighborhood of Chesuncook Lake, the largest…
Replacing the “A.B. Smith” [side-wheel steamer built in 1902] was the “West Branch No. 2,” built May 1926 at Chesuncook Dam, now replaced by Ripogenus Dam…” - “Maine’s Steamboating Past” by Donald A. Wilson, published by Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC, p. 117, c. 2007
Vessel Name – West Branch No.2
Class – logging vessel
Hull - wood
Designed by – O.A. Harkness (Orrin Albert Harkness) (1870-)
Build date – 1926
Launched – May 5, 1927
Built by – Great Northern Paper Co.
Built at – on the shore at Chesuncook Dam, ME
Built for – Great Northern Paper Co.
Named for – West Branch of the Penobscot River in Maine.
Power - 30 ton diesel
Gross tons -
Net tons –
Capacity -
Length – 91’
Beam – 21’
Draught – 8’
Crew –
Designer O.A. Harkness was a mechanical genius who developed an inland fleet of lumbering vessels for Great Northern and was known as the “Admiral.” West Branch No. 2 operated between the head of Chesuncook Lake and Ripogenus Dam – 24 miles, towing pulpwood in booms, sometimes as much as 5000 cords at a time. By 1933 she had towed more than half a million cords of wood. – The Lewiston Daily Sun, November 20, 1933.
