The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-09-08
IN THE MAINE WOODS.
~.
BY j. W. HANSON, D. D.

III o. W. AA-at'SpANs IT, D'
".
Very few are aware of the unequaled
natural beauties of Maine, and of its at
fractions in coast and inland scenery.
1t far surpasses all the rest of New
England, and no other state in the I'M
ion can approach it in variety of nat
ural scenery. 1t occupies, within its
twenty million acres, one half Of the
area of New England, and is about the
size of Scotland, or Ireland, or Indiana
or South Carolina. 1t not only has a
longer sea coast than any other state,-
for while it is 278 miles in extent, its
indentations, put into straight line
would stretch from New York to Liver
pool, for it would make a line nearly
5000 miles long. And unlike all other
maritime states, it is rock-bound with
an occasional beach by way of contrast,
the lodges becoming loftier toward
the East, thus giving coast of unriv-
aled grandeur and extent, far surpass-
ing most of the rest of the Atlantic
seaboard, which is flat and uninterest-
ing.
Indeed, believe Maine has one local
ity which includes more Of natural
beauty-a larger variety than any other
equal area in any country on earth,-
Mt. Desert Island. Ten miles by ten,
almost touching the main land, it con-
tains thirteen sharp mountain peaks
varying from 700 to l 800 feet high, and
being so near the sea, really as high
from the spectators eye as ordinary
mountains three times their height
above the ocean. There are seventeen
ponds and lakes, in precipitous glens;
mountain streams with cascades and
falls, in which are trout; and sounds
that penetrate for miles into the inter-
ior; forests containing deer and other
game, and level and beautiful plateaus
on which already wealth has lavished
the adornments of civilization. Mt.
Desert is an epitome Of the state, and
though it has a larger variety in the
same compass, the entire state is rich
volume of which this wonderful island
is but the preface, to the tourist who
enters Maine at that point.
Back from the coast toward the cen
ter begins primeval wilderness, almost
unbroken, seven times larger than the
famous Black Forest of Germany, COW
eriDg two-thirds of the state, and with
a thin and rock covered soil that will
never be otherwise than covered with
forest; ,620 lakes on more than one
fifth of the territory are scattered over
its surface, some of them of great size
and depth. Few places on the globe
have 50 many lakes within the same
space. They cover 1900 square miles,
or more than any in other states except
Minnesota and Utah, and more on the
same area than either of those. And
such lakes Moosehead, the Rangeley
system, Chesuncook, Sebago and multi
tudes of others, sequestered, wild, deep,
with magnificent shores, afford an
amount of scenery THAT can only be
realized by the delighted tourist.
These lakes, beyond all others are the
home of the trout. Its rivers are ), l5l
in number. Its mountains are innum-
cradle, from Ktaadn, which is 5,2i8
feet above the sea, down. Among the
principal are Bigelow, Saddleback 600
feet, Abram, 3,4OO feet, Blue, 2SO4
feet, Kennebago, Russell, Haystack,
etc. These mountains are covered
with forests and strewn with boulders
so that they must always remain the
haunts of deer, moose, carbon, bears,
etc, and can never be subdued by the
hand of culture. AS a place of resort
for the lover of nature and the lover of
hunting and fishing, this vast and near
realm of lake, river, mountain, forest
and ssa-shOre cannot be equaled lin
America, and must become more and
more the haunts of those attracted to
such scenes and pastimes, and however
many may resort thither, they can never
exhaust the resources of the wonderful
realm, for the wise legislators of Maine
are protecting fish and game from
reckless Tavage, so that they are far
more abundant now than at our first
visit thirty years ago. Such drives and