The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-09-09
UP THE PREsUMPscoT.
History and Poetry OF One of Names
Beautiful Rivers.


Correspondence OF the New York Home
Journal1
Portland, Me. August 14.-The tourist
who visits Portland, Maine, at this sea-
son should not fail to make the trip. to
Westbrook by electric cars and from
thence up the Presumpscot river by boat.
This is only the second summer that
this charming resort, has been open to
the public; but the journey, neverthe-
less, is over historic waters and between
historic shores The Presumpscot forms
the outlet to the great ocean, for the
chain of lakes and rivers of which the
Songo, where Longfellow found the in
spiration for one of the best known of his
later poems, is an important link. And
as we are borne along between high
wooded banks, so near together at times
that the overhanging trees almost meet
and interlock Sheir branches over our
heads and gaze over the sides of the
boat into the smoothly gliding current,
and downward to the sky and clouds
below--pendant, as it were, from the tops
of the inverted trees, and watch the
king-fsher diving toward the reflected
zenith that we are fain to regard as the
nadir, we find ourselves involuntarily
reciting from the poem just mentioned
and comparing our bird with
The loon, that laughs and flies
Down to those reflected skies.
The weather being sultry, and the
American Eolus Keeping careful
watch over his imprisoned Zephyrs, we
incline in the drowsy air to enjoy a
siesta, and, accordingly have moncpo-
when the captain, who acts as his own
purser, comes around for our fare; and
in return for sufficient silver to pay for
the round trip, he presents us a small
parallelogram of blue pasteboard bearing
the legend Steamer Sokokis." To our
inquiry as to the origin of this name for
his boat, he tells us that it was taken
from Whittier's poem, The Funeral
Tree of the Sokokis" Already had the
preset writer ransacked the bookshelves
of the nearest antiquarian society for the
history and significance of this word.
But in vain.
According to the most distinguished of
our local historians, the Indians who
dwelt near the mouth of this same river,
more than 200 years ago, called them
selves Aucociscos, giving deep gutteral
accent to the first syllable. And from
this name the early English settlers
evo we'd that of Casco, which is still APP
piled to the well-known bay of the At
Iantic ocean into which the river finds
its outlet. With equal facility may be
derived from the same source the name
which the Quaker poet bestows upon the
same Indians or their descendants.
Quiet and peaceful today are the woods
along these shores, Notwithstanding the
'death-shot echoes" that resounded
through them in a former century. The
historical incident on which the good
Quaker bard based his poem, briefly told,
is as follows:
In May, 1856, Ezra Brown and Ephraim
Winship5left the port in New Marlehead
(now Windham, the town of which our
river forms the western boundary to
work in Browns lot, which was about
French and Indian wars, when all the
inhabitants of the frontier towns were
compelled for safety to live in garrisons
The men had not proceeded far when
they were fired upon by party of Indi-
ans who lay in ambush. Brown was in
stantly killed and Winshlp fell severely
wounded. The sound of firing drew party
of armed men from the fort, and in the
battle that ensued, Poland, the Indian
chief, was among the slain.
The Indians, upon the fall of their lead
er, fled in such haste as to leave their
packs upon the field of conflict; but car
ried away their dead and wounded
From returned captives it was subse-
quently learned that the retreating saw
ages carried the body of their slain chief
tain through the thickly wooded country
to considerable distance but firing of
this, they made a halt near the shores of
Sebago lake, where they bent over a
young tree, forcibly wrenching its roots
from the ground on one side, and having
!. H. u, Alaasr,
hands in the soft earth underneath they
placed the body therein, and then allowed
the tree to resume it's upright position;
or, as it is better expressed in the words
of the poet:
The beechen tree stood up unbent,
The Indians fitting monument
We have embarked near the central
| portion of small manufacturing city,
amid the clatter of shuttles md the
whir of many spindles, for which the
| stream over which we sail, furnishes the
motive power.
| But in a former century, the same
stream was taxed to its utmost capacity
| in the work of converting the virgin for
ests into manufactured lumber for the
| West Indian market. And so well known
| did the placezthen called by it's Indian
name of Saccarappa-become on ccount
of this one industry, that everywhere on
the high seas, vessels engaged in the lum-
Der trade were hailed as "Saccarappers. +"
| When it is remembered that our place
/ of destination-now called Madison Falls
| in honor of an early proprietor-was
known until quite recently by the oppro-
hrious name OF = Horsebeef, "perhaps we
cannot better close this sketch than by
! giving for the edification of the reader, d
bit of doggerel well known among sea-
men as late as when Dana wrote his
| 1.-TWO Years Before the MAST" and thus
accounted for in forecastle lore:
A beef dealer i'll Boston, having salt
| ed down old horse for ships stores, was
| confined IN jail until he should eat the
whole of it. This was many years ago,
| but as we never heard that he had COM
piled with the sentence, it may be reason
ably supposed that he still languishes in
Il Boston jail
The doggerel, familiar to the ears of a