In 1832, the Penobscot Boom Corporation was incorporated by the Maine House of Representatives. A lumber baron by the name of Rufus Dwinel and his associates had formed the Corporation to erect and maintain a boom across the Stillwater branch of the Penobscot River between Birch Stream and Eber's Point, for the purpose of stopping and securing logs, masts, spars, and other lumber floating upon said river. The incorporation of the business was granted for thirty years and also gave them the right to erect piers and side or branch booms, where it was thought necessary, between Hemlock Island and Orson Island, between Birch Stream and Pushaw Falls, and between Pea Cove and the outlet between Orson and Marsh Islands. The charter provided that the booms had to be constructed to allow the safe passage of rafts and boats. The Corporation had to allow everyone the same privilege of landing rafts of logs, boards, and other lumber. It was also the responsibility of the Corporation to guard the passageways in the boom so that no lumber could slip through. The Penobscot Boom Corporation was also allowed to charge a toll; failure to pay the toll could result in a lien on all of the logs boomed (Charter).

In 1833, Dwinel sold the franchise and the property to General Samuel Veazie, who found Pea Cove to be an inadequate location for the increasing amount of lumber, and built a boom at Argyle in the winter of 1836 to 1837. In 1838, the state legislature amended an act to the original charter, allowing the Governor and Legislative Council to appoint three men as a Boom Committee, with the authority to manage the boom with the purpose of expediting the work of the boom. This three person committee continued into the twentieth century (Hempstead 17). In 1847, David Pingree (1795-1863) purchased the boom from Veazie (Hempstead 20).

In 1854 a conflict between the Corporation and the lumbermen who used the boom, over the price of the tolls, ended up in the state's legislature. The outcome of this conflict was the creation of the Penobscot Lumbering Association to represent the interest of the lumbermen and an amendment to the Corporation's charter, allowing it to rent the boom and its property to the new association. This arrangement continued into the twentieth century (Hempstead 21).