Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1897-02-04
A QUEER COMMUNITY.
Strange Lot of People in a Sinai
Maine Town.


Residents of Maine who look to the
New York and Boston papers for ac-
counts OF queer people and strange
forms of government in different parts
of the world could learn facts worth
studying by going to Norcross. The
settlements of EskimOs on the coast
of Greenland have their old men, the
tribes of Africa have their chiefs, and
even penal colonies recognize the au-
thority of firearms and the lash. Here
the law-abiding people EEL but one
power-the hurrying, unsympathetic
cars, which bring everything that
comes to their homes and take away
everything that goes out.
The distance from Milnocket bridge.
which crosses the West branch east
of there, to Perkins Siding, which is
three miles west, is five miles as the
railroad runs or the crow flies. At
and between these two points are five
settlements of new log and board
structures, comprising about 40 build
ings i'm all. OF these one is q railroad
station, one is a small store, two are
small hotels, one is a sawmill. six are
SIc IA III iSh -
frame houses with shingles and clap
boards on them, and the rest are prim-
tive log cabins with splits for roofing,
spotted poles for hoors and boughs for
bedding. One-half of the male inhab-
itants are either guides or lumbermen,
partly both, one-quarter are mill hands
who saw spool bars and bowels at Per-
kin's Siding, and the remainder are Sec
ton hands and other employees who
work for the Bangor & Aroostook rail
road. Though no census was ever
taken of the place there are about
200 people who live there the year
round. Among them are some % wom-
en- and nearly 40 children. This is
when the population is at low ebb. In
July when the West Branch drive
comes down h population swells to
400 or 500, and after open season for
big game begins it often reaches 1000
souls. besides Indians.
Having grown without governmental
restraint from one log camp to it's
present proportions inside of three
years, Norcross has made itself the
most anomalous community on earth.
1t is not a town. 1t is not even a planta-
ton. On the old survey maps it is
named Indian township, No. 3, so
called by the surveyors to distinguish
il from INDIAN townships Nos. l and
?. The name of Norcross signifies moth
ing. Il was so called in order TO locate
a station for a railroad and a post Office
for the hunters.
Though property that cost $500, 900 is
here and visible, the assessor and tax
collector never visit the place. The
children are born and grow up without
| seeing the inside or the outside of a
schoolhouse. There are not two rods
| of bicycle and not 20 rods of cart roads
in the whole township. AS the nearest
clergyman, lawyer and doctor are from
&c to so miles away h people get along
very we'll without them. When a
couple want to get married they take
their bridal our in hunting up a min.
lister and coming home again. If a
person is sick he is sent out to a doe
tor. because no physician cam be coaxed
to come and see him; and, in case me
dies, the body must he transported
more than 30 miles before il can rest
in a Christian burying ground. There
is no drug store. no dance hall, and nc
barroom Oh other place where liquor
is sold in the township. If two or more
men have a dispute which leads to i
free fight, the non-combatants stand
by to see fair play, without attempting
10 interfere. In case n defeated par
ty feels himself wronged and wants tC
take the matter int court, he canno1
afford to do so. because he would nave
to travel nearly all day by rail before
he could find a magistrate. Even the
game wardcns who arrest men for kill.
ing deer spend more money in taking
their prisoners to court than the fines
amount to when a conviction is Sc
cured. Once in its history. when g
murder was committed near here, &
sheriff from Dover spent a week reach
ing here and getting back home. The
chances are it would take something
bigger than a murder to take him Their,
again.
The person who reads this descrip
ton of Norcross and thinks the inhab
itants are degraded or immoral will
make a great mistake. \ mail foul
times a day brings letters and paper:
from everywhere. An enterprising AND
considerate railroad carries away al
the people have to sell, and brings in
all they buy. Divine Providence doe:
the rest. The men are industrious ant
moral. The women are model wive:
ana excellent cooks. The children ar,
bright and well dressed. Ii Norcros.
were formed into a plantation or in
oorporated as a town, the resident.
would have to pay municipal, county
a~1 - ~ -,
taxes, they 10 not vote, and every maj
is as good as his neighbor. The plac,
is fairer than Utopia. and sweete- tina
the dream of a nihilist- 1t has no coun
terpart on earth.-N. Y. Sun.