New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-18
A MAINE SWEDISH COLONY
r. WAS FOUNDED IN 1870. AND is PROS
Porous

fEROlS.
r,,respondence Of The Cincinnati Tribune.
From here It's all Sweden"
Ts farms 10 Se ahead sf @ q on cnTo
As asphalt; and now We were on the edge OF New
sweden the most honrishi9S colony ever planted
~ us protector subsequently made Minister 70
Sweden W our Sve' by h ana Its remarkabe
From the lower waters Of the Penobscot f., is a
and Aroostook Railroad. through tho great pine
snSs Of Aroostook County The train carries y up
through the home OF the deer. past the runways Of
slvays up hill; by The doors of hunting remns
spOrtsmen's hotels bare and most a,tractivey des-
iahdin whose peak may be seen in shadowy out
Inc M M She w dS3ss Then when least
made groves OF second growth, orchards and
some into view The railway station Water IanS
and solitary iavern 1NHDflop into villages with
sen spot of the great Northeast, Wv 80"
FOUNDING THE COLONY.
The gSn % ESnnssa Wdssgy Thomas
feen appointed war consul to that country in
IS and then the idea Of bringing the hardy and
aroused the interest OF both the Swedish and the
Name 81 sa tScra "H o after years Of
land N Aroostook County to the head OF each
family and aid until his first crop could be har-
siorer Of Immigration by the State OF Maine, and
The settlers voluntarily relinqushed State aid
on June p, $50. under his guidance, nfty-one
swedes sailed from Gothenberg 10 America. The
colony was composed of twenty-five men. eleven
women and eish'een children. All Of the men
N other trades and professions. Among them was
lay pastor, pISVkSlhlIh, civil engineer, TWO
carpenters a basket-maker. "A wheelwright a
baker tailor and maker of wooden shoes. 1t
there was not a physical blemish on one Of them.
and no one ha1 beeh accepted whose character
from nearly every province in Sweden and
provided with money enough TO pay their passage
The immigrants reached the borders OF Maine
July z: As they crossed the line from New-Bruns.
party was greeted by q salute OF cannon by the
sNedes began converting NE wilderness into
homes by 10 ST pa, own ne G IN NE wSy OF e"rnns rheir
work telling trees. cutting out roads ana building
tools from the State. fund provided for hat pur-
pose. Al the close 81 the year through births and
numbers to III; seven miles of road had been cut
tweniysix dwelling houses built. and about three
hundred acres Of land cleared and partly SOWed in
Cain A number OF the dwellings were erected by
ss ne yde az peSe prs and con9ned ,bTs ronms
each. They were also furnished with cooking
.s Sav Tn" Caritoi vas recird wbSrein al
public functions not given in the various churches
To-day there are more than seventeen hundred
onsbgs rhcy hS mo nov snls Svnr
The own about 500 o00 worth OF live stock and in
"a. their farm products were valued al sl73.7 100
That year the total value Of buildings clear
INKS. tools stock, factories, mills and farm and
considers hat quarter OF century ago this terri
ouent To-day there upward OF four thousand
svedes IN Maine. who are the direct result OF this
ENORMOUS POTATO CROPS.
On every side were neat farmhouses. some of
them bright with paint and all Of them tidy and
warmly built. with barns three and four times
groves. orchards and meadows and vast potato
fields Aroostook County raises more potatoes than
great regions Of The world ors 0' one e
acre, and The average yield is more than two hun
There would be very little profit in farming. es-
ssy at s this busy season II there were not
s ana can 6 Riek up as g P9
We. among the Aroostook swedes But it is hard
work and there Is plenty Of IT,. They get up a,
s sa .n IL ne hey Fseb al ct uS L ( s ss ass %
S distinguish "a notato from an esrlh ball They
breakfast at 4,SO o'clock. luncheon at ii o'clock
dinner at o'clock. and supper at O'Clock. At
O'Clock lights are out
PREACHERS WHO ARE FARMERS
The First Lutheran Church plain. white struct-
ure hare and simple, quite different from the
rather gaudy Baptist meeting house down the
VIE in the family potato P patch With nR their pi little
The pCpe o sf c9R h Of i
Ell combine farming with their ministerial labors.
Money goes long way in this faraway nook. but
even here $500 year is not enough to rear and
educate family. unless IL is pieced out with some
kind o. labor. The feature Of the Lutheran. as OF
al churches hereabous. is the horse shed. large
enough 20 shelter regiment Of cavalry, and In
which the worshippers leave their teams during
services. The Swede IS merciful man TO his
beasts
There are half dozen white schoolhouses with
aoG hafsaIs and dGzen or more sawm a
all manufacturing Industries this region, turning
GU; fifteen thousand tons Of starch annually. New
mills going up yearly. ! stopped at one OF
these rills-a simple affair. with many odd make
shifts IN a mechanical line, such as a homemade
pump and electric plant. designed and made
by two Youngsters who never saw a dynamo. eXcept
he one al Caribou and never saw that until their
tsn was set up. They built 1t from descriptions
II book The machinery clankcd and camored
rosiy as The potatoes bounded down the chutes
INTO the bins wherein they became pulp. then
paste and at last starch.