The Republican journal., 1885-01-22
Maine Its Agricultural Features and
Capabilities.
BY SAMUEL l.. BOARDMAN.

Maine: Its Agricultural Features and
Capabilities.
| BY SAMUEL l.. BOARDMAN.
Copyright, 1884, S. l.. b.
I.-SITUATION AND BOUNDARIES.
Maine is the most easterv State of the Amer.
lean Union, and is situated between 4257 and
4732 north latitude and 66.j2 and 71.6 longi-
tude west from Greenwich. 1t has length of
something more than 301 statute miles from
kittery Point to the outlet of Lake Pobenago-
nook, and "A width of 224 statute miles at its
widest part its most westerly point being at
the line of Salmon Falls River in the town of
Lebanon, n. H.. and its most eastery point at
West Quoddy Head. The southern boundary
of the State. in its whole extent, fronts upon
that portion of the Atlantic Ocean. in a sue
cession of large bays, ancently known as The
Gulf Of Mainc-which name has been restored
and deneated upon the late maps of The Unit
ed States Coast Survey. On this southern
boundary there are eleven large bays, viz,
York, Saco, Casco. Sagadahoc, Muscongus,
Penobscot, Bluehill, Frenchman's, Narragua-
gus, Machias, and Long Reach. This shore
estuaries subject to the ebb and flow of
the tide, has been estimated at ,4S6 miles.
measured on our best maps; but the recent
work Of the United States Coast Survey has
shown these estimates to be far below the
truth, and it is believed that the actual shore
line of Maine. by actual measurement, will eN-
ceed 5000 miles. The State has by far the
| greatest extent of coast of any American
State, Florida, the second largest in extent of
coast line. having but 200 miles The south
ern ocean line of the State is 226 miles 3,640
feet. The eastern boundary follows uD the
| llver SAINT CrolX from the ocean. through Pas
samaquoddy Bay, through the Cheputueticook
and Schoodlc chain of lakes to the source of the
| Saint CroiX. thence along an ancient line due
north, run in 1881, to the Saint John River,
near Grand Fails, distance OF 195 miles. The
northern boundary extends from the Saint
John River, near Grand Falls along that river
| to Crown Monument, or northwest State corn
| er, a distance of 800 miles $3.50 feet. The
western boundary extends from the monument
| at the point Just named. over an ancientIy run
line to the sea, at the mouth of the PScataquis
River. near kittery Point, distance of l63
miles $3.50 feet. These are the boundaries of
the State as defined by the treaty Of Washing
| ton. August g. 1912.
The area of the State has been varouslv stat
ed by different writers. and what may have
been regarded as authorities. is from 81, ,166
| square niles to $4,000 square mIleS.1 But tbe
places it at 30, ,S95 square miles. or "a total land
surface of 29S9o square miles. 50 it will be
seen that Maine has about the same area of ter
| ritory as the other New England States of New
| Hampshire, Vermont. Rhode Island, Connecti-
| cut, and the State of Delaware, combined. Or
| the three States of Rhode Island. Connecticut.
and Delaware could be lost together in the for
ests of Northern Maine, land still have about
each margin of Wilderness sufficiently large
| to make its exploration without a compass a
nf lIy In St.,ta il.
| divided iuto sixteen counties, fourteen cities,
four hundred ana twelve towns, and ffty-siX
organized plantations.
In order that comparison Of the area of
! Maine with some foreign countries may be
| shown, the following table is presented:
State Of Mailie... 33 776 saxony .......... 5,7ss
| England ......... .5O922 Blyara.... o, ,293
Ireland .......... .32 i3 Baden. ........... 1910
Scotland 463 Hanover ........l4,S SO
| Denmark ..........4 152 Wurtemberg ...... 1881
Thus it will be seen that the State of Maine is
larger than either Scotland, Ireland, or Bava-
| ria; more than twice large az Denmark or
Hanover, nearly As large as SaXony, Baden,
| and Nurttmberg combined, and nearly as large
| As England.
1t may appear somewhat strange that fully
| one-half OF the territory of Maine is vet unim-
| proved. But questions relating to boundary
disputes and land titles (in the early history of
| the occupation of the State), speculation ma
| Mas, and unwi>e State policy in earlier years
the consideration of which does not come with
| in the scope Of this repor1-retardrd occupi-
tlOn and development for many years. And
| while the State has no public lands to grant for
| homestadS, there are yet large tracts Of dc>ir-
able land in Aroo>took county, in the eastern
counties in the great Dead River section, and
along The lines of the new railroads now being
bult IN different parts Of the STATE. belonging
to prOurlttur>, which are ready for sale for
farms and homes. and, too, at prices which
give purchasers advantages over other and. in
many respects, lie 5 favored localities. These
| lands are described in succeeding divisions Of
this report.
I PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES.
| Our sources of Information upon This subject
are 50 partial and incomplete that it is more
easy TO define The leading outlines Of the geo
! logical formations of the State than to speak OF
minute local characteristics. The Stale las bad
al three >rverai times partial survey. Of it. ter
| ritOry. In 1886 the legislature authorz Il a
geological survey of the State, and the ia1c Dr..
Charles I. jackson was placed in charge.
Three annual reports, 1887, 1888 and 1899.
I We're published. AT the same time the public
| land, in the State belonging jointly to Maine
and Massachusetts We're eXplur 4 bV Dr. jack
>on. and Two reports We're published (lS}1,
| 1881 In 1888. under authority of the Board
| OF Internal improvements" the late Dir. Ezr-
hiel Holmes made an exploration and survey Of
the territory on the Aroo>took River, publish
ed in 1899 in a pamphlet of IS pages. 'Fh, re-
| port dealt largely with the agricultural features
OF the region explored, and among other rec
concentrations was the growing OF the sugar
beet and the establishment of State farm. No
other attempt was made by the State to obtain
| knowledge Of It's geological and mineral re-
sources till the year 1861, wien the legislature
by a resolve authorized Il scientific survey Of
| the State, with the late DR.. Ezekiel Holmes as
naturalist and Prof. Charles II. Hitchcock s>
geologiSt, with IA corps of four assistants. Two
annual reports We're published, and on account
of the large demands upon the treasury of
| the State, i'll consequence of the rebellion. APP
| preparations were withheld, and after Two
years work the survey was discontinued.
| Much of the work OF the second survey covers
the same ground did the previous work of
Professor jackson. From these incomplete re-
ports we are obliged 10 gather all the accurate
knowledge we possess of the geological forma-
| tons of State. What is needed more than
all else Is that the State shall undertake thor
ough and complete survey of its whole terri
tory, and make known to all the great and vet
| undeVelOped natural resources contained with
in its borders. This will do much toward
| bringing our resources into economic and prac-
llcal development, and it is work the State
owes to itself to have accomplished at no dis
tant day. The State has no geological map
| showing its mineral resources and the charac-
terisics of the soil. The late Mr.. John A.
| Poor, in his memorial to the State legislature
of Maine, in 1861, on 'Maine as a Field for
| Immigration" said:
| ''lnOse sneelS OF Greeneat map OF Name
on which DR.. Jackson noted the result of his
explorations, and which were expected to ac-
company his final report, were never published
| or returned TO the State library on the abrupt
| termination of his abors in 1888 after he had
explored large portion of the State. Had
DR.. jackson prepared something like a general
view of the geological features Of the State,
and their relations to those of the neighboring
provinces. in the form of geological map, the
State would, we think, have continued the nee
essary appropriations to have completed the
| full surVey.9
Fortunately this copy of Greenleaf's map of
Maine QS32), in sections, to which Mr.. Poor
referred, is now in the collection of the writer.
l. was purchased some years since at second
| hand book store in Boston, and is justly re-
garded as unique. 1t has this legend. 'Charles
I. jackson, Boston, Mass, 1888, Geological
Survey of Maine" All the marking and color
ings of the map are very plain and distinct,
and it embraces the results of Dr. Jacksou's
two years tield-work explorations on our sur
face geology.
A.-TOPOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE.
| The surface features of Maine may be classed
in two grand slopes: 1st, the southern or AT
lantc slope, ID, the northern or Saint John
| slnnp