Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-12-17
County Lines.

A down-east lawyer was talking the
other day about county lines: There
purports to be in the Revised Statutes
said the lawyer. "a complete copy of the
laws, establishing the counties in Maine.
But it would puzzle the best head /
know of to take those laws and define
from them on a map anything like the
counties as they actually exist. There is
a great lack somewhere in those laws, as
they have been published in the Maine
Statutes from 1921 to the present day. as
to the lines established before 1920. Take
for instance the line of division between
Kennebec and Somerset counties on the
west and Hancock Nand PenObscot on the
eaSt-a line established when Hancock
ard Washington counties were cut out OF
territory that was formerly all embraced
in Lincoln county. That law was passed
June o. 1883. Before that time. all of
Maine lying east of a line that began on
stevens carrying place" at the junction
of Merrymeeting bay and Androscoggin
river and then ran up said AndrOscoggln
river thirty miles, and thence north two
dc grees west on q true course to the ut
most northern limits of the province"
was Lincoln county. Here is the line de-
scribed between Lincoln and Hancock
which by adoption in later acts became
the line between I<ennebec and Somer-
set on the one side and Hancock and
Penobscot on the other, viz: "A line be-
ginning at Penobscot bay in the boundary
line between the town of Thomaston and
the town of Camden. thence running
northwesterly by the east line of Thorn
acton, Warren and Union to the north
east corner of Union thence north 22la
degrees east until it strikes the north
line of the Waldo patent. thence north tc
the highlands" Now by this line of d.
vision we have Il straight course due
north from the northeast corner of what
is now the town of Troy, to the north
line of the State, rs the boundary be-
tween Lincoln and Hancock. And none
of the acts passed since that date, as
they have peen published in the Revised
Statutes. affect this division line. except
chapter 314. laws of 1893. setting off the
town of Corinna from Somerset to Pc
uobscot. and chapter 800. laws OF 1883 de-
stroying the northerly part of the line by
taking territory from both Somerset and
Pcn6bscot to make Piscataquis county.
Yet in fact. as that due north line was
laid on the face of the earth it WAS made
10 start from about the middle of the
north line of Troy, instead of at the
northeasterly corner. Thence it ran. not
north. but considerably to the west of
north to the south line of Palmyra.
There ii made set over to the east onto
the west line of Newport. Thence it ran
sa me course to the south line of Corinna.
Thence it followed around the Corinna
township by its south. east and north
lines to the west line of Dexter township.
From there it ran same course north to
the Pisc3taQuiS river on the Dexter and
Sangerville west line. Thence 1t ran east,
north and west so as to put Guilf0rd
township into Somerset county. Thence,
from the northwest corner of Guilford it
followed the westerly line of Willmantic
township to Elliottsville township and
then ran east north and west so as to
put that into Somerset county. And
from the northwest corner of Elliotts-
vile to the north line of the State its
course may have been as crooked as it
was south of it. for all that | know. Why
Corinna, Guilford and Elliottsville, all
easterly of the general line running from
Troy northwest. should have been includ-
ed in Somerset county. the laws defining
the county line, as published give no hint
Neither is there any hint of the reason
| why the line from Troy north was run
| bearing considerably to the west of that
point of the compass" Perhaps seine OF
the students of Maine history can solve
| this problem.