The Kennebec River, Maine’s largest river, begins at Moosehead Lake and flows 190 miles through Somerset, Kennebec, and Sagadahoc Counties to the Gulf of Maine at Popham Beach. For over 40,000 years before Samuel de Champlain explored the area in 1604-1607, it was a primary travel route for Native Americans; George Popham later established the short-lived colony of Fort St. George at its mouth. Benedict Arnold chose the Kennebec River for his march into Canada in 1775, and afterward the river became a gateway for European trade and settlement. Lumber, pulp, and ice moved downriver to the coast to be traded for finished goods needed by colonists, shipbuilding flourished along its banks, and the river powered mills there; it remains important today for hydroelectric power and recreation, especially white water rafting.