Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-29
ABOUT POLAND SPRING.
A Popular Maine Resort.

ABOUT POLAND SPRING.
A Popular Maine Resort.
MEN WHO KNOW HOW TO RUE A HoTEL-mAN
KICKER AND soNs-A PICTURESQUE couxrlY-
BIRTHPLACE OF NOTABLE PEoPLs.
Correspondence Of TEE EVENING STAB.
| POLAND SPRING, NE, August Is.
The everlasting down-pour Of this season has
brought most Of the summer resorts to grief,
but Poland Spring il an exception. The house,
though greatly enlarged since last season, has
not been equal to holding half the applicants,
and numbers of would-be guests have been
waiting In Lewiston and Portland and in the
farm houses Of the surrounding country for an
opportunity to get in This Is due partly to the
fame Of the Poland water, but good deal to
the reputation Of the hotel a. q wonderfully
well = kept house. Among old travellers
it ranks with the best Of the admir-
ably kept Swiss hotels-the Sweitzerhof
at Lucerne, for instance. The unique
beauty of the surroundings Of the house
has also doubtless considerable to do with its
popularity. 1t is situated at an elevation Of
nearly thousand feet upon the summit Of one
| OF those stately symmetrically rounded "whale-
backed" ridges peculiar to this part of Maine.
The scientific theory 10 that these great ridges
| were ground down from rough mountainous
elevations to their present symmetrical form
by the passage over them Of immense fields Of
ice and stones during the glacial period.
Upon ledge on SCOTS Hill" in the neighbor-
ing town OF Minot grooved lines of consider
able depth formed by the grinding OF stones
carried across it under enormous pressure cor
respond with the marks Of glacial action on
the lodges In the noted 'glacisr garden" in
Lucerne.
MAGNIFICENT OUTLOOK.
The panoramic view from the hotel is won-
derfully fine, embracing in the foreground Q
chain Of beautiful lakes somewhat resembling
the Lakes Of Killarney in outline. These lakes
are margined on the opposite shores by
meadows and gently-sloping hillsides Of lawn
like verdure dotted with clumps Of fine trees,
notably with the graceful fountain shaped elm
OF New England. In the background, through
the whole sweep Of the southwest, west and
northwest, extends grand circle OF mountain
ranges, in which the conical peaks Of Mt
Franconia range and the whole White Noun
tain range. To the northeast and south q wide
extent Of picturesque country Is spread out
presenting at every point some view of singular
beauty.
NorABILITrEs BORN HEREABoUTs.
In this circuit under the eye, within a radius
OF thirty miles, "a large number Of the men con-
spicuous in public affairs, literature and bust
ness life have been born. Paris Hill, towering
to the northwest, sent out Hannibal Hamlin to
be Senator and Vice President, and Horstio
King to be Postmaster General Livermore
Hill, to the right, was the birthplace of the
famous Washburne brothers-Elihu B. and the
others-who have figured in all branches of
public life, and who according to Ignatius
Donnelly, were all born with an official brand
upon their backs. Near here was the birthplace
OF the Lovejoy brothers, pioneers in the anti
slavery movement one of whom was killed by
pro-slavery mob at Alton, ILL.,, and the other of
ranks in Congress. The hills of beautiful
Minot, adjacent, sent out the Hilborn brothers
to California-the brilliant lawyer, U. 8. Dis
trict Attorney s. G. Hilborn, and his brother
Ed z. Hllborn, prominent in business IN that
state. Next comes the thriving manufactur-
ing city Of Lewiston, the home of the re-
spected old families, the Fryes and the Ding
leys, represented in Congress so ably by Sena-
tor VIM. p. Frye and Representative and ex-
Gov. Nelson Dingley, jr. This is also the
high character and marked ability, but who
has been handicapped in his public
aspirations in republican Maine by his robust
democratic craftsmanship. Auburn. over the
river from Lewiston, contributed Gen.
Stephen Packard, who figured notably in re-
construction affairs in Louisiana.
Continuing the circuit coastward we come to
Brunswick and Portland. places that have
turned out a notable roll Of distinguished
children-Longfellow, Hawthorne, john Neal,
N. P. Willis. Richard Storrs Willis Fanny
Fern" Willis, Major Jack Downing" CSeba
Smith), Elizabeth Cakes Smith, James and
Erastus Brooks, founders of the New York En-
press; Neal Dow, the terror Of thirsty souls and
the apostle Of the "drys," and the great and
only Tom Reed. who, if all signs do not fail,
will soon elevate his Shakspearian head over
the Speakers chair. In Portland-this beauti-
full city by the sea. celebrated in song by Long
Ill Al II
Of the Portland Advertiser, commenced his dis
tinguished public career.
SOMETHING ABOUT POLAND SPRING.
Everybody has heard of the Poland Spring
water. 1t goes everywhere and the consump-
ton has now, it is claimed, reached upward Of
400 900 gallons a year, or more than twice that
OF oil the Saratoga springs combined. Perhaps
some of the numerous drinkers of the water
who have never been here may like to know
mething about the spring. 1t energies from
the hillside through the seams Of a mass Of
gneiss in pretty strong stream of perfectly
colorless water that leaves no sediment and is
almost as transparent as air in its rocky basin.
1t is odorless and tasteless well as colorless,
and il is. therefore, somewhat Of a puzzle to
account for its remedial qualities, unless on the
theory advanced by some Of the doctors of the
wonderful virtue Of perfectly pure water as q
solvent and absorbent of deleterious matter.
WHERE DOES THE WATER COME FROM?
As there is no adequate water supply on the
hill from which the spring energies to keep up
this steady flow through the year it is evident
that it must come from q long distance, per-
colating through several formations or strata
at great depth. by which it is freed from all
organic matter and gets its uniform tempera-
ture at al seasons. The success of the Poland
Spring has induced the establishment of host
OF rival concerns throughout this part Of the
country, all claiming springs Of similar or
superior purity and virtue, but alas! they
lack either the abilities of the shrewd elder
Kicker to exploit their waters or the wonder
full capacity OF the .'Ricker boys" to run hotel
way back here in the hills Of Maine, the equal
Of the best in the world, for their enterprises
have all come to grief.
Among the washingtonians who have been