The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-02-07


lumber business there were at leaFt twenty
dwelling houses, two grocery stores. one
tannery, one grist mill. one pottery, the
first of the kind in the town. one blacksmith
shop, local physician, DR.. Henry Dupee.
who resided here few years. and then re-
moved to Portland, where he died. accord
ing to .sDeane's Diary in March, 1911. A
church edifice was erected here by the Free
Baptists in 1922. and was one of the first
built by that denomination in this county
But as time ELAPSED the lumber interests in
lnis vicinity declined rapidly as the land
became denuded of trees suitable LOT mill
ing purposes, and in a few years this once
f1ourishing village began 10 give evidence
of oecay. and dissolution. This was
especially the case when in lsS2, company
of Portland capitalists purchased the water
mower al Little Falls. three-fourths of
mile above, and built large cotton mill,
which they operated for many years win
uniform success. This mill gave employ
ment to many who resided in the old village
and several moved their houses to the new
centre of business. until but TWO or three OF
the original dwellings were left. and ASIDE
from these nothing remained of the once
busy and thriving hamlet but ruined cellars
and moss-grown fou 1dation stones scattered
here and there along the principal street.
and so endeth the early history of ancient
Magwamqueeg.
A few words III regard to the names those
falls have borne at different times may not
be amiss here. First. as we have seen, they
were called by the Indians Magwamquecg.
and theygare SO termed in the proprietors
book of records. In 1739-40. while building
the dam and mill they were rechristened
Horse Beef, a name they bore for nearly
one hundred years. The origin of which. I
was informed by gentleman who was old
when was boy. came about in this wise:
He said that when the proprietors com
menced to build their mill and dam, there
were Of course, no houses in the vicinity SO
they built temporary dwelling in when
to board and lodge their workmen. anu
among other things necessary for their sus-
tenance, barrel of beef. This the men pro-
nounced of the best quality until one IN
lucky day the cook produced the hoofs OF
horse, which he solemnly declared he found
in the beef barrel This produced tremen-
dous sensation, but investigation proved II
10 be a fact, SO they headed up the barrel,
hoofs and all, rolled it over the dam, and
christened the falls Horse Beef" In 1850,
when the Cumberland and Oxford canal
was opened to traffic. an attempt was made
to change this queer name to Lock Falls
and they are thus designated in few
deeds of that date, but the name never
came into general use. and is now. and for
MANY wears past, mas been forgotten and
the old name Horse Beef was used until
1866 when company of gentlemen in this
vicinity purchased the old saw mill site on
Wjndham side, and built a wooden mill. and
in their charter they were styled the 'Malli-
son Falls Manufacturing company" and
the falls by common usage are now called
Madison Falls.
The next paper was written by Parker M.
Reed, of Bath. and was entitled Some New
Testimony Concerning the Sea Fight Be-
tween the Enterprise and Boxer In the
absence of Mr.. Reed the paper was read by
Secretary Bryant. 1t was a description.
coming from one who took pari. OF some oil
the details of tine famous naval battles.
particularly of the gallant deaths of the two
captains. The fight was witnessed by the
people on Monhegan and Seguin Islands,
and by crowds on the mainland at Booth
bay, the people left divine service to hasten
to the shore and watch the distant vessels
only infrequently visible in the clouds OF
smoke. When they saw one tow the other
westward towards Portland they knew that
the ENTERPRISE had won and the British
were beaten, for the Boxer would have
sailed eastwardly had she been victorious.
The Enterprise first attempted TO sail into
the m outh of the Kennebec river. but the
outgoing tide made the current too strong
and thus she went to Portland.
THE ST. CRoIX COMMISSION.
DR.. H. s. Burrages paper was entitled
1.-The ST. Croix Commission"
The Maine Historical Society has recent
ly received two valuable collections OF
papers. original documents relating TO the
settlement of the eastern boundary of
Maine One Of these collections is the gift
of Hon. George Loekhart Rives OF New
York, who was assistant secretary of state
under President Harrison, and who is a
great grandson of Col. Thomas Barclay.
who was the British commissioner on the
st, Croix commission. These original docu-
ments include letters, records, maps, etc.,
relat ting to the work of the commission.
Nj. Riyes has recently edited some of
these letters that pertain directly to his
great-grandfather. Commissioner Barclay,
and they have been published in book form
by the Harpers. Within a week OF two he
sent copy of the work to Judge William
l.. Putnam of this city, with whom he was
associated when the Judge was connected
with the settlement of the fisheries question.
In a letter accompanying the book he in
formed the Judge that these valuable docu-
ments had descended to him from his ances-
for. that he had made all the use of them,
that he cared to, and that he thought they
ought properly TO belong to the Maine
Historical society. and that he would send
them on if the society cared to have them.
Judge Putnam stated these facts to Secre-
farv Bryant and Mr.. Rives was immediate
ly informed that the society would be very
glad to accept them.
Consequently, soon after the documents
arrived. They half fill large trunk. DR..
Burrage's paper is ii result of this most
valuable acquisition. We can give only the
briefest extract of DR.. Burrage's most valu-
able and interesting account of that early
boundary controversy. The society is now
in possession of all the needfu1 sources of
information in regard to it, and he made
the best use of them to give for the first
time clear, comprehensive statement of
the work of the commission. An outline OF