Parmachenee Lake is on the

Magalloway River The Magalloway River is a river in northwestern Maine and northern New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Androscoggin River, which flows to the Kennebec River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine, near the Atlantic Ocean. The total ...

near the

Canadian border Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

on the western edge of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. The lake was named for the daughter of Native American chief Metalluk, and is best known for the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Wes ...

Parmachenee Club. The Magalloway River headwaters enter the north end of the lake in Parmachenee township, and the lake extends south into Lynchtown township where it overflows upstream of Aziscohos Reservoir.

Angling

The lake is habitat for native brook trout and land-locked Atlantic salmon preying on

rainbow smelt The rainbow smelt (''Osmerus mordax'') is a North American species of fish of the family Osmeridae. Walleye, trout, and other larger fish prey on these smelt. The rainbow smelt prefer juvenile ciscoes, zooplankton such as calanoid copepods ('' L ...

minnow Minnow is the common name for a number of species of small freshwater fish, belonging to several genera of the families Cyprinidae and Leuciscidae. They are also known in Ireland as pinkeens. Smaller fish in the subfamily Leusciscidae are c ...

s, and suckers. As trout and salmon disappeared from rivers in more heavily populated parts of the United States, a group of affluent New York lawyers pooled resources to preserve the Parmachenee Lake area for

angling Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techni ...

and sport

hunting Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

by their friends and families. Their Parmachenee Club protected the ecosystem from

market hunters A professional hunter (less frequently referred to as market or commercial hunter and regionally, especially in Britain and Ireland, as professional stalker or gamekeeper) is a person who hunts and/or manages game by profession. Some professional ...

and

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

until the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife implemented

fisheries management The goal of fisheries management is to produce sustainable biological, environmental and socioeconomic benefits from renewable aquatic resources. Wild fisheries are classified as renewable when the organisms of interest (e.g., fish, shellfish, ...

on a statewide scale. Water quality remains good in the lake, and populations of native fish survive and reproduce without stocking.

Parmachenee Club

The Parmachenee Club was formed in 1890 to lease of commercial forest land extending south from the Canadian border where they built a camp in the meadows along the Magalloway River. Club members lodged at the camp while engaged in sport hunting and angling. The meadows and camp were seasonally flooded by a

log driving Log driving is a means of moving logs (sawn tree trunks) from a forest to sawmills and pulp mills downstream using the current of a river. It was the main transportation method of the early logging industry in Europe and North America. Histor ...

dam built by Brown Mills Company and

International Paper The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 56,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. History The company was incorporated January 31 ...

Company. Camp Caribou was originally a floating camp built by John Danforth who in 1870 relocated the camp to Treat's Island. In 1890 it was sold to the Parmachenee Club who expanded the facility with a farm house and farm on the east shore and a fish hatchery. Camp Caribou eventually consisted of a main lodge, maids' quarters, guides' quarters, a large woodshed and 13 individual family cabins. They also developed a hillside spring that was piped across the lake to the club. As angling opportunities declined on more accessible lakes before the advent of

fishing license A fishing license ( US), fishing licence ( UK), or fishing permit is an administrative or legal mechanism employed by local governments to regulate fishing. Licensing is one mechanism of fisheries management commonly used in Western countries ...

s, fishing seasons,

slot limit A slot limit is a tool used by fisheries managers to regulate the size of fish that can legally be harvested from particular bodies of water. Usually set by state fish and game departments, the protected slot limit prohibits the harvest of fish wher ...

s, and creel limits, the nearly aboriginal conditions of the private reserve of the Parmachenee Club became legendary among outdoor writers. Parmachenee Lake became a vacation retreat for the United States' industrial and political elite. One of the last visitors, before the club disbanded in the 1960s, was

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

in 1955 who slept in Cabin 5. The Brown Company eventually bought the property and used it as a corporate retreat. The island was then leased to a private individual and has been seasonally occupied since then.

''Parmachenee Belle''

Fly fishing was the preferred angling method of the gilded age; and anglers often tied their own artificial flies. Rhode Island patent attorney and Parmachenee Club member Henry Parkhurst Wells invented an artificial fly he named the ''Parmachenee Belle'' in remembrance of fishing on Parmachenee Lake. The pattern has been widely copied and used across the United States.

Sources

{{authority control Lakes of Oxford County, Maine Defunct organizations based in Maine Lakes of Maine