Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-06-08

aaif . Century's Culinary Career I'm m.
Woods OF Maine.

There is attached to the robust practicable,
OF the iogeers' life, something of romance
which Is not understood by alr-verv seldom
oy the iumbermen themselves. The memor;e,
oi actuai events in BY gone years and the pic
lures Of the past which only Imagination
hoios up to the vision of the mind. inyes,
WIN really romantic interest the industry
wnich In the beginning of The century com.
menced Its crusade against the stately mines
ana taperlng spruces which clothed ali the
valley of the Penobscot and cast their sbador
then where now is reared this fair Queen Civ
OF the East. The men who labore.i then in
the infancy of Bangor's greatest industry
have nearly all passed away, but there are
those left who bravely stem the tide of wears
and whose "reminiscences of life in forest and
by stream are interesting.
among these surviving pioneers of the
early days is Mr.. John Morrill, of Bangor
VINO Is yet IN robust health. though ~ wears
OF age. Mr.. Morrill, claims to be. and doubt
less Is, the oldest cook on the four rivers
rehobscot, kennebec, Androscogein and
Merrimac-and his experience as dispenser
OF pork and beans dates back SO wears. or tc
1874. he was born in Vienna, Kennebet
county, in 1910, and at the age of IA came &c
winter of that year Mr.. Morrill, had his first ex
perlence in the woods cooking on the shores o,
Schools lake. There were millions and mil.
lions OF big pine there then, and the opera.
tors wouldn't look at spruce. Chase & Co.
conducted this operation at Schools, and all
the big pine they cut was s:wn into clan.
board lengths. In 1923, great fire sweep,
over this Schools country, but there are nc
traces of it now, and only last winter Andrew
webster OF OrOnO cut some very large pine on
the spot where John Morrill, used TO cook
Then, where Chase and & Co.'s landing was
5S years ago, there are now white birch trees
which measure % inches through the trunk. II
one cared TO figure up the probable number o,
men Mr.. NJ. has cooked for in all these IS
winters, and the number of meals these men
must have eaten in all that time, the result,
would probably go a good way toward ex.
planning where the crops 60 to. finally Pork
and beans were then as now the great stand.
by. and numerous were the holes dug in the
ground wherein to bake New England's
darling dish. There were many Indians EN-.
ployed as drivers. There were no wharves
in Bangor then, and tie RATS were ''docked" in
the eddies and on the flats, secured by lines
made fast to the trees ashore. Speaking OF
wharves. Mr.. Morrill, claims, with man
from Atkinson, the honor of having built the
first wharf in the town. 1t was built abou,
the year 1925, where is now the wharf used
by Hincks & Co. and Chas. L. Snow. as a
coal and wood yard. Vessels in those years
used to lay off at anchor in the river. Ii
will be inferred from this that Bangor was
not much of a metropolis then. She was not
MIR. Morrill, states that when he came here
the whole east side of the stream, now
crowded with buildings. was a dense forest,
and the land could have been bought for hall
dollar an acre. 1t is worth something more
than this price now. The old cook has not
retired from active life by any means. He is
engaged the present season in cooking for the
construction crew of the Bangor and Katah-
din Iron Works Railway. The crew mum.
btrs forty men; their meals are prepared in
two shanties, one situated three miles from
the Iron Works and the other at Houston
brook. There is another old cook, a friend
of Morrirs, whose career is but a few years
shorter than Johns. This is Hartwell Smart
of Milo, who is four years Morrills junior
The pair have probably baked more beans
than any other two men who have catered to
the appetites of our red-shirters. Bango,
Commercial