Two massive floodgates used to hold back the Warner River have gone missing, and residents think the disappearance may be related to a similar, recent theft of a turbine upstream.

Alan and Lee Wagner use the gates to control water flowing toward their home, a converted mill building on Newmarket Road in Warner, where they have lived since 1976. As water cascades downriver, it goes through an industrial turbine hooked to a 23 kilowatt generator in the basement. It produces enough power to heat their home for the winter.

As temperatures begin to drop this year, Alan Wagner said the turbine needs major repair work at a machine shop. Without the floodgates, he can't safely stop the water long enough to remove it.

This is the second time in recent weeks that hefty industrial equipment has been stolen in the area. Sometime in October, Peter Ladd's large turbine disappeared from his property, which is within walking distance on the same river. He had taken it out of the water so visitors to the land could see an artifact from the river's industrial history up close.

For both Ladd and Wagner, the thefts on their quiet, scenic stretch of river is particularly painful because they both left their land open to visitors.

"It's almost a tourist attraction here with the covered bridge," Wagner said, adding: "Over the summer, probably thousands of people would walk by (the floodgates), but it only takes one, I guess.'

Each of the gates, cast from 5/8-inch-thick steel, weighed upward of 500 pounds. Wagner thinks someone with a winch and flatbed truck or two strong people with a pickup truck could have made off with them. When the turbine was in use, he usually left them leaning against a 15-foot boulder.

"If people were parked up by where the gates were, I wouldn't have thought anything about it," he said. "I would have thought they were just parked to do some fishing or enjoying the area."

Ladd thinks someone with a winch stole his turbine, and he points to scuff marks on a nearby tree they might have used as an anchoring point.

While the police have no leads, Wagner and Ladd are hoping someone will return their missing industrial equipment.

Even if someone was caught with the equipment, it could be difficult to prove they intended to steal it, according to Warner police Sgt. Scott Leppard.

"People can take these and trade them in for money," Leppard said. "Or maybe somebody thought it was a piece of discarded equipment and maybe didn't have the state of mind to steal it, but to just take it off the road as a conversation piece."

Leppard said the police will not press charges if the equipment is returned.

Replacing the floodgates would cost about $1,000. They are only worth about $100 at a scrap yard, Wagner said.

"I think it's a shame," he said. "I think it's pretty sad someone would do that."

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