New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-10-24
COLOSIzlYG WITHOUT GOING VEST

The similarity of the northern portion OF
our own State TO that of the State Of Maine
renders great experiment IN the latter
which has now passed through its stage OF
infancy, of special interest 20 us. In the hope
that it may arouse consideration on the part
of some of our philosophical citizens, and
suggest some similar undertaking for the i'm
provement of what we now designate as
wilderness, we offer a rapid synopsis Of the
enterprise referred to.
The Hon. w. w. Thomas, jr., was from 1867
to 1866 the United States Consul at Gutenberg,
Sweden. He made himself acquainted with
the language of the people among whom ne
was placed he did mOre-he took the opp0r-
tunity to obtain an intimate acquaintance
with the characteristics and modes of life OF
the industrious and hardy population OF the
Scandinavian peninsula. Perceiving that 10y
incessant toll the peasantry there rendered
fruitful comparatively sterile soil warmed
by brief Summers and frozen by sub-arctic
Winters, he asked the natural question whether
these hardy farmers, if transported to his own
more favored cline, might not III the unsettled
parts of Maine aid in the development
of the State and find for themselves
cOngenal homes In furtherance of this idea,
Gen. Chamberlain introduced a bill in the
Maine Legislature Of 1870 which enabled MIR.
Thomas to 20 again to Sweden and arrange
for the transportation of small colony as a
nucleus: he was appointed COMMISSIONS OF
Emigration, with authority TO settle the emf
grants on certain public lands of the State.
The annual emigration from Sweden was at
that time from twenty to twenty-five thousand,
no considerable portion of which had ever
stopped this side of the great West"
In the northern wilderness" of Maine, the
whole State of Massachusetts might have been
set down without touching civilization on It's
borders, Ont of this vast territory the fertile
valley of the ArOostoOk was selected as the
site OF a colony. The new settlers were
obtained by personal interviews and ex-
plantations Mr. Thomas went to their homes
in NOrTland and Jemptland; slept in their
houses where nine persons TO one sleeping
apartment is fair average, and recruited
picked colony Of so souls-eyery one Of
them church members, and bringing their
minister with them. They were mostly farmers,
though there were some carpenters and black
smiths among them. Some of them had been
hunters of the elder duck, and eked out
slender addition to the means of life by obtain
ing the down from the nests for that pur-
pose swinging themselves by ropes under the
beetling cliffs of the seacoast. There was good
stuff in tho little band for pioneers. They
settled July 3d. 1870. on Township 10, Range 3,
and called it New-Sweden.
1t is not necessary to tell how they burned a
space in the woods, built their Lighthouses, In
Guiding meeting house, and constructed
turnpike. They were Of good cheer, and the let
ters they wrote home reflected it. Without fur
Their effort i'll Sweden there was q stream of
emigration to Maine established simply by the
representations of the colonsts here. The
settlement is 10000 acres, and now contains
over 1000 souls The ashes of the clearing
enrich the land which is naturally fertile, and
three tons of hay and 80 bushels of wheat to
the acre are not unusual crops. Not more than
two OF three persons of all that have come.
have gone back dissatisfied. Many of the
later emigrants have brought considerable sums
of money to buy land, varying from few
hundred to five or six thousand dollars.
The success of this colony has been prin-
cipally due to the fact that it has been made
self-suppOrting. 1t has cost the State nothing
but the salaries and expenses of the Commits
sion, a matter of perhaps $4,000. The emf
grants paid for their own passage. They re-
ceiyed each from the State one hundred acres,
conditional upon occupancy for five years,
building dwelling house, and clearing fifteen
acres, after which they have warranty deed
with no fees or other expense charseable upon
the land. Where they needed food, seed, and
Implements these were advanced to them by
the State agency and soon paid for by
work on the State highways. Beside the
colony there are four or five hundred artisans
that have been drawn in the stream of emf
grafton, who have settled where they found
employment in cities and towns throughout
the State; and the servanU-grl question has
new factor toward its solution in an excellent
class of house servants that are i'll demand
and have found situations throughout the
coast cities of New England. This year, the
colony being in all respects firmly established,
State supervision will entirely cease and the
Emigration Commission be disbanded.
Whether any undertaking of the sort could
be so honestly, economically, and efficiently
managed elsewhere than in New-England may
be matter of doubt. But there can he little
question IA TO the need of similar enterprise
here. There is a single county III our State
which, according to the last census, contained
less than 5000 inhabitants in its l,OOO,OO
acres, and where only one-forty seventh of
the land is under cultivation.
-----
It's announced that Mr. James Gordon Bennett
~. A ftAs f.. al ~.