Benedict Arnold followed the Kennebec River north on his ill-fated attempt to capture Canada in 1775. Thousands and thousands of Irish and French Canadians used the Old Canada Road (now a scenic byway) section of Route 201 during the 19th century to find seasonal or project employment and later to make the Kennebec Valley region their home. And until the 1970s, as many as 4,000 cords of wood at a time would be floated in great drives down the Kennebec from the northern forests to the saw mills down river.