The Portland daily press., 1874-09-11
Moosehead Lake.
ments-Railr0ad CenncctiOns-Lumber
and Land.
MT. KINEo HOTEL, MoosEHEAD I
LAKE, Sept. s, 1874.

MT. KINEo HOTEL, MoosEHEADl
LAKE, Sept. s, 1874.
To the Editor of the Press.
1 have never been so completely undeceived
in regard to the attractions of any place of sum-
mer resort as by my visit to this great lake of
northern Maine. My impression was that the
country round about was fat and swampy, the
scenery tame, that hotel Accommodations were
aller .ne Ii'or a-i---- sort that at best nobody
could be found here but gunners and fishers,
| and that Moosehead itself was nothing but a
huge raftsmen's pond surrounded by dismal
'black forests and all afoat with the debris
| of lumber.
Yet this is the lovelest, as it is the greatest,
| Inland water in New England. With that one
declaration mark the complete wipingout of
my earlier impressions. Winnepiseogee must
| take place in the rear. The mountains plant
ed about the lake, Squaw, Blue Ridge, Lilly
Bay, the two Spencers, with Katahdin a little
| removed, rise to higher attitudes than those en-
comprising the New Hampshire lake. Mt.
Kineo, in particular is a marvel, springins up
ward like vast wall from the level of the lake.
mass of flint, giant gun.Jfint seven hundred
| feet high and half a mile long! From Its sum-
LII Ouc UcllOluS III ill QireCllO0S an ocean OF
green woods conterminous with the blue ocean
of the sky, and there he will receive such an
| impression of primeval nature and of forest
solitudes as, perhaps, never before. Next to
| the mountains and forests the feature of Moose
] head that attracts attention and adds to its
| beauty is the vast number of islands scattered
about its surface, 312 in all-and the great bays,
| coves and inlets defined from one ard another
| by peniHsulas and headlands. These, in com
| bination, unfold continued series of surprises
of scenery, lake opening into lake, and water
and land alternately pushing each other into
the background, as the tourist moves forward
by sail or steam.
The Mount Kineo Hotel has position alb
solutely unrivaled in beauty by anything of the
sort that has ever fallen under my observation.
| Southwark from the mural precipice of Kineo,
| level tract of land extends directly into the
lake, about hundred acres in all with patches
| of woods at the base of the mountain, and in all
| other directions clear prospect across the lake
and to the great mountains encompassing it,
! Upon this level the hotel is located. 1t has
good rooms, good beds and an excellent table.
| A most agreeable company has been here dur
! ing our stay, nice, well-bred people. And then
| such freedom! The grand occupation is fish
| ing, ami accordingly everybody dresses for fish
ing. Gentlemen are not obliged to eschew even
their top boots at table or in the sitting. room,
aud ladies dress as they please, with none to
make afraid. Amongst the hundred guests
here are not a few who have cast their lines in
Scottish and other famous European lakes.
Their testimony is that in the quality of the
sport and the fish, Moosehead is on par with
| the best of them Be the winds rs violent as
| they may or from what direction they NAV.
there are always chances to fish in some of the
| numerous -hays-ePening, one or another. to
| every quarter of the compass The best sport
Is in May anil June, and in September and Oc-
tober, until the season closes, by law on the
10Th of the last mentioned month Through
August the surface Of the water is too warm for
the most successful ''fy fishing"
Kneo stands midway the length of the lake
There is capital fishing all about it, which is ia
ken to in brch-bark canoes. The fshino or
curssos is, however, chiefly in vogue with mar
ties, by steamer to the outlet, or to one of the
many tributary streams. Canoes are had in re.
course upon arrival in the streams, ard notbino
could be more delightful than to glide alono
'uo Piooiu "no oh"oou ohduuelS OF these wood
land waters Parties camp out by the week or
for the night; but for the greater part return at
evening to the cheerful open fires and the home
| comforts of the hotel, satisfied with the wild
| life of the long day.
| have stopped writing for moment to lool,
at a string of trout brought by one of orr fell
low guests, forty-one in all, and 6ftv-fve
pounds in weight, all caught to-day. That will
give the whole hotel company trout for supper
Trout, however, we have in all its sayory forms
to the stomach's full content and with that
flavor which half a day betwixt the boo,, and
frying pan destroys. AS L take my seat at the
writing table again, glance from the window
discovers a lady standing on the edge of the cliff
oflKineo,o one of the party who have climbed the
mountain to-day. The sun illumines her white
over-dress and makes her visible, thoupb she
looks no larger thana dove. There are deIiobf-
fol walks in all the region, across the istbmps
to the "North Bay" and "Cliff Beach, to
'Pebble Beach," and other lovely spots To
my taste however, there is no pleasanter walk
than on the long piazzas of the hotel, with the
lake stretching away for twenty miles. with
five great mountains towering in full view and
Kineo in the rear lifting it's awful and craoov
'front.' Thus far we have had no rain for ten
days. In the event of rainy day those SO in
Glued could find diversion in the billiard hall
and bowling alley. Our sporting fishermen.