The Republican journal., 1886-11-11
A Washington County Letter.
TIE ST. GROIN RIVER. CALAIS AND ST. STEPII
EMS. RED BEACH. NEW PHASE OF THE IN
DIAN QUESTION. PRINCETON.

EMS. tED BEACH. NEW PHASE OF THE IN
DIAN QUESTION. PRINCETON.
Correspondence of the journal.
The st. UroiX river, for its entire length,
forms the boundary line between Maine and
New Brunswick. 1t is fed by the Schoodic
and other large lakes and the volume of water
is considerable. In its upper course it is not
picturesque, neither of itself nor by its sur
roundings. At Milltown, two or three miles
above Calais, it furnishes power for small
city of saw mills. partly on American and
partly Oh English domain. There is also Il
large cotton mill on the latter side. At Calais
the st. CroiX becomes a tidal river. The usual
tide is 20 it. from high water to low water
mark Here we feel at home for we see shipping
at the wharves and steamers come and 90.
Some six miles below Calais the river wdens
out into St. Andrews Bay, and about the same
distance farther OIL opens into the noble Pass;-
maquoddy. There are few islands in the river
or in st. Andrews Bay. Lewy's Island, in a
branch of the st. CroN, has considerable local
Importance as being in pioneer days the home
of Capt. Levy. a Passamaquoddy Indian. The
Captain had the bittcrcst feelings of hatred
against the pale faces, but for prudential rea-
sons he vented his spite only upon his white
wife, whom he abused most shamefully. Many
amusing stories are told of him which | am
inclined to believe have somewhat gained in
flavor with age and repetition. The island it.
self is barely above the river and not more
than one-fourth of an acre in extent. In St.
Andrews bay there is considerable island
where in early days Il company of French inl-
migrants passed the winter. Specimens of
pottery and utensils are sonnet mes uncarthcd
The city of Calais, called tbe Border City by
the inhabitants, has population of somewhat
| more than 5000. Its valuation is little more
than two-thirds that of Belfast. The build
ness center of the city there are several sub
stanta brick structures. The wharyeS are
| numerous and large. The river is usually
| open in winter quite up to the city, but occ,-
sionally is closed for two miles below, where
| there is wharf for winter freight The lum-
bering interest is of great importance. The
shores of the river above the mills are literally
covered with logs for miles, while below
the wharves and every available space are
piled with boards, shingles, etc. The whole
| length of the town is fourteen miles on the
river, from Midtown Ca part of Calais on
the north to Red Beach on the south. The
| road for the whole distance is smooth. hard
and absolutely free from rocks. | think
there is no finer road Of the same length
| in the State of Maine. a toll bridge takes Us
across to the city of st. Stephens, y. b., while
just above is the city of Mltown, st. Stepll-
| ems. They are essentially one city but with sep
| aratc municipal governments Both have 4
| population of about 1000. The buildings are
mostly of wood and are painted white or 4
dull gray. Many of the people are evidently
wealthy. As in Calais numbering is the most
important industry. Those who believe that
Prohibition has done nothing for Maine would
| do well to visit these cities on the border.
| Some of our free trade brethren might learn
useful lessons also.
| Farming in this section is Il secondary busi-
ness. On the New Brunswick side of st. An
| tlrews bay we see two or three acres of ruta-
| haga turnpS growing Oh almost every farm.
| The farmers are receiving soc per bb. for
them at the present time. They are shipped to
Boston and other large cities.
Red Beach, in the extreme southern part of
| Calais, is so-callcd from the red sand or gravel
on the shore which is the dctrtu> from the
red granite lcdgcs. 1t is quite Il picturesque
spot and the view of the bay is fine. Here
are located the works of the Red Beach Plaster
Co.. the Red Beach Phosphate Co.. and the
State of Maine Granite Go. The power is fur
nishcd by a A inch I.afltl water wheel running
under a 26 foot head. The company, a NUM-
Der of years ago, by digging canal at a cost
of some $4,000, diverted the waters of large
lake to the use of their extensive mills. few
feet below the dam are tide water, wharvc>
and shipping. The situation is >trikingIy like
the water power at the mouth of Goose River.
Belfast. 10000 casks of plaster We're ground
in 1850. This finds a market in all tho large
cities of the world. 5000 casks to Australia
We're among the shipments last year The
| plaster rock comes from Nova Scotia. Both
cacined and land plaster is turned out. In
| making the latter the stone is first crushed in Il
crusher at the rate of 120 tons per day and is
| afterwards ground between granite mill stones
at the rate Of 90 tons per day ior each set of
stones. Cacined plaster is made from selected
plaster rock containing very little of impuri-
ties by crushing and grinding, with the ad-
| ditiona process of being subjected to intense
heat. The works have a capacity Of no tons
| of plaster and 10 tons of phosphate per day.
The rock is hoistcd from the vessels by water
power and stored in large storehouse> on the
wharf from which it is taken on cars and
| drawn to the top of the mill. crushed, ground
cacincd, barrelled and comes out of the base
ment on cars which return it to the wharf.
The business since 1854 has been under the
charge of the managing partner Mr. c. II.
| Newton, who has invented and constructed the
| most of the machinery. His foresight has
| provided every convenience possible and his
| energy is still sufficient to furnish the main
| spring for the whole. About GO men are en-
| ploycd. Just above these works Is another
| dam furnishing power for the granite business.
| Tie quarry is near at hand. The supply of
red granite is unlimited 1t is used for ccmc-
| terry work and for ornamental architecture.
| Abouti15 men are employed and good grade
| of work turned out.
| At Calais we took the cars for Princeton. q
miles up the st. Croix river. This road ha,
been in operation 33 Years and is spared
monument of mercy The cars are probably
| the original ones and are without ventilation,
without springs, and dirty. The passenger
car was filled with Indians bound homeward
| from Calais where they had been attending a
| Catholic festival. They were well dressed
and well behaved. Many of the young women
We're quite good looking and appeared to he
aware of it. But the aroma that lowered
around some of those old bucks reminded me
of Bayard Taylor when he said that ''in Shang-
| hac he counted thirty-nine stinks and several
well defined smells" The party was accom-
panied by three Sisters of Charity. On arriy-
| ing at Princeton all embarked in canoes for
their settlement across the lake.
| As they took their straight and silent way to
the shadows of the woods, as matter of
course | sadly regarded them as the last REM
nants of Il doomed race. | have meyer read of
any other thing to do. Everybody does it.
| Shortly after, however, Texas Charlie came
into town with his Kickapoo humbugs in war
| paint and turkey feathers, and proceeded to
| plaster things movable and things immovablc
with the legend ''Indian Sagwa," etc. | have
| lost confidence in the last remnant business.
| Nl,n Vn,ltn hn, f, l,Nf