Though small, the Kennebec River which flows through the state of Maine, reflects the hardy independence of the people who have inhabited the its shores—from the lost races of the Stone Age to the fiercely proud "Down-Easterners" of the present day.

A river once worshipped as a god by the Abenaki Indians, among Maine's first settlers, the Kennebec was traveled by many famous explorers; the islands at the mouth were visited by Leif Erickson and his viking voyagers as early as 1000 A.D. The territory surrounding it was claimed for the British by John and Sebastian Cabot and by Jacques Cartier for the French—overlapping claims which eventually cause the long and terrible French and Indian Wars.

Rich in history, the story of the Kennebec River is a story of ingenuity and rugged individuality.

From the dust jacket