Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-03-10

feaehigz the waters Of the Penobscoe q he
southwest Garner Of Molunkus PiantaEton.
Thence the course Il Z mule norm VI esss.
slsn2 the northern shoulder Of Peoobscof
and the forth line Of Washington. for liz
| lie more than thirty miles, until re reach
our starring point on the shoses Of Grand
Lake. In our journey around Aroassook,s
perimetsr. foilssipg IL svindinGs Ut -
boandsry lakes aaA dveSs. nn1 DaslaG
its lines through tine unbfoken wilderness,
vs find se have made . journey Of about
$50 miles and hare enciose4 an area Of
G 500 sqa.fe miles. In en- jSsrneyinG ~
had travelled along the boundaries Of four
count, in our Own State. snd fer our
foreign neigbbcrs ~e have fesnd I've large
provinces. New Brunswick and Qaebec,
ard 10 less than six provincial counties.
II se nov vish 10 start on smother Lizzie
tramp, and bisecs the county, we nay set
OCT from, the 70 70 Of East0n SD travel .
due west course for more than hans3sed
miles BET re We reach the province OF
Quebec. and fad We have spsnned the en-
tire State Or We may start from Moiun-
kus on the Old military road fsoD Bangor 70
Heuito and travel dae north one bundFed
and twenty Ave miles to the Sc. John river
II these distances do not sssis1y -, -
msy start from the shore Of Grand Lake
and Dszke cur way in . bee line. diagonally
across the county to the northwest cosnes
Of Big Twenty and We shalf dad re have
covered nearly $50 miIes. Truly Afoostook
"a big county. This vast area 10 drained
BY three Of tue large rivers of Maine. tAs
- john, Penobscot aud ST. Creix. many
Of their tributaries being larger and more
beautiful than some OF the famous rivers
Of Europe. while iss extent Of lake surface
alone fully equals the area Of some Of the
counties In the older StAtes Of New Esq
land. 1t'' ,..t - fs-''s =
The settled portion Of aroostook 10 aain-
ly included 10 the Eve tiers Of owns which
form the entire breadth Of the county ia
its southern part and which extend north
ward 10 the river ST. John. The towns
along the upper st. John, ~ far west ss the
mouth Of the st. Franc!s, are also thickiy
seitled AID there are numerous little ham,
lets and detached openings containing good
farms along the shores of the Sc. John
above ~ Francis as far up ~ Seven lsisnds.
xhere are some of the finest farms 10 the
STATE. There are alec seversl settlers on
the Allegash who have comfortable homes
and good farms. finding q ready market fo,
all their surplus products in the lumber
camps near by. From Ashland. in she fifth
tier. the mail route from Patten continues
on through portions Of the sixth and seventh
tiers, fifty miles to Fort Kent at the mouth
Of Fish river. The country along
this road Is quite thcky settled for
a greater part of the way and there
much good farming land. This road
passes through Portage Lake Plantation
IL Ii -.
the magnificent sheet of water from which
the township takes its name. italso passes
10 sight of Long Lake with its picturesque
landscape scenery. and skirts the pebbiy
shores Of Eagle Lake which is one Of the
most beautiful In any land. Ga its placid
bosom field" of coutesting oarsmen
mi sht start and row straight away for fully
ten miles without obstruction, and the race
could be Witnessed by admiring thousands
from the gently sl0ping banks On either
Al re. With the exception of the portions
named (Which include more than one-hslf
the county, and remote openings in out of
the way places, the remainder of the county,
comprising the great northwest is an IN
broken wilderness. Here Nature may be
seen in her virgin loneliness and in all the
grandeur or her original beauty. Here is the
home of the moose, the deer. the bear and the
caribou, together with many different
species of smaller game. Here are rivers
and streams where the finBy tribe sport in
wanton freedom and in blissful ignorance
of bait OF fly. Here is the boundless
forest where flows the Allegash, and
hears no sound save its own ale
CATIONS" Here the mighty Wallastook,
monarch of rivers, the deep and slug
gish Ma tawaakwamsis, the swift flow
ing Chemquassbamtcook, the noisy Musqus-
cook, the lake fed Chimmenticook and
many other streams Of equally euphonious
names. flow peacefully along, unvexed by
the busy mill wheel, and the deep solitude
of their forest shades undi sturbed by the
shriii whistle of the crowded factory. Re-
mote and wild as this region is however,
and uninhabhed in summer save by the Da-
i've denlzefs of the forest. it is during
the sinter season the theatre of Q busy
industry
Now above the lofty trea tops of the
forest prmevsl' rises at frequent intervals
the curling smoke of the woodsman's camp,
while the frequent ring of the sturdy chop
per's axe. and the crash of the mighty mon
arch of the forest as it lays its cumbrous
len 9Th along the snow-clsd ground, are
heard On every hand. On the banks Of all
stronl-voiced teamsters and the merry
c'anking of chains, as the big loads of logs
are hs He'd from out the fragrant greenw God
add the high, wharf.-the throw" 10 built up
alorg the steep bank. to be rolled into the
freshet sue lied waters in the ope ming spring
and foaed away to the distant mills.
Formerly the only lumber cut in this
great wilderness was the pine which grew
in abundance and was of excellent quality
Then the pine was all hewn into timber in
the woods and, as only absolutely perfect
trees were taken, much valuable lumber
was sacrificed. The chopper sounded the
tree by striking upon it with the poll of
his axe ana If it gave evidence Of being
sound it was cut down. II was then
chopped into for a short distance at fire.
quent Intervals and if found perfect il was
sided up a. far rs the first limb and haule d
to the landing. II hoxever the slightest
evidence of rot or shake was discovered at
any point the whole tree was condemned
and left to rot upon the ground. This
proved to be a most wssteful business and
a quarter of q century ago the pine suit
able for square timber was practically ex-
hausted and round logs made up the prin-
cipai part of the drives. Indeed whole
waters operations have been made upon
old timber works" hsuling the discarded
logs and the tops of timber trees which,
however knoty, were sawed into boards
for box making A pine growth
once cut of does not renew it.
self and the extensive operations
Oh aoah ri lilo stpsp ral
the land of this valuable timber In the
old pine timber days the spruce vas looked
upon with something like contempt BY the
lumberman as tree of an inferior race and
one wholly unworthy of his steel 1t was
thought il those days that a spruce township
was utterly worthless and it was hardly
deemed possible that the cutting and dfiv-
ing Of this variety of lumber from these
distant lands would ever be carried ON with
profit. As early as 1870, however, stray
spruce log was occasionally seen among the
pines in the St. John river drives, and,
steadily increasing from that time, they
now form the bulk Of the drives, the pine
being conspicuous by their extreme rarity
| he spruce towns are now the most valua-
bic of all the lands in this timber producing
section, as the wood grows rapidly and the
same ground can De cut over at profit ~
sften as once in II or 10 years. The value
II Aroostook and to Naine Of this vast lum
Der industry is much lessened BY the opera
ton OF the special law which allows the
lumber to be fosted into the province Of
New Brunswick there to be manufactured
and returned 10 the markets of the United
States free of duty. Cou,d the repeal of this
law be secured. and the vast business of
msnufact iring this immense amount Of
lumber be transferred to our own county,
it would largely aid in developing the re-
sources of this part of the State and would