Evening star., 1903-12-19
"soUATTERs" IN MAINE WOODS.
Land Owners Want to Keep the Forests
for LAUNDERING Purposes.

Bangor Me-, Corr. New YORK Tribune.
Away up on the northeastern border of
Maine, along the St. John and Aroostock
rivers. are hundreds Of little clearings In
the forests where "sQuatters' from New
Brunswick have come in. cleared few
acres Of land not belonging to them, built
log houses, raised small crops and large
families and settled down TO the serene and
happy existence known only to the Acadi-
ans, who are the direct descendants OF the
refugees from the Land of Evangeline.
The men who own the lands have tried IN
all sorts OF ways to get rid OF these un-
invited colonists, and on numerous occa-
away. Then followed evictions by the
score. with scenes as pathetic and distress
as bitter as any ever witnessed in Ireland,
but the remedy has always be ineffect-
the lands. and not all the law nor all the
sherins IN Maine are potent to keep the
mild-mannered but persistent Acadians ON
the domains OF the rich timber land owners
The little farms increased from scores to
hundreds. and the timber land owners ap-
pealed to the state to do something lest
their entire holdings be one day absorbed
by "sQuatters." and so last winter the leg
enough money to buy $4,000 acres of the
lands. to be presented to the settlers, thus
making good their title to what they had
come and taken without leave. The state
also mas 'bQu6tterS TO contend Win, lot
many of them have settled on the school
lands. and lately 1t has been decided, in
stead OF evicting them, to sell to them the
lands they are occupying at q nominal
price. For the purpose OF making these
transfers State Land Agent Ring has this
week made trip to Letter e plantation.
and in a short time the settlers there will
have full title to their little farms. b..
While II is not denied that the settlement
of the rich Aroostock lands by the indus
trious and well-behsved Acadians must re-
suit In great benefit to the state. the land
owners are strongly opposed to the COLOMBIA
ton process. They bought the lands and
paid for them and want to keep them for
numbering purposes; they are looking to
their own personal interests, and not to
the interests OF the state in future years.
1t Is frequently pointed out that the owners
OF the lands got the property. or much OF It.
for a mere song, but their title is good,
whatever they paid. and while the squat
ters'' who want to farm and the eportsmen
and poachers who want to shoot and fish
complain that the rich men are monOpoliz-
ing the earth up north. no one has any legal
ground for complaint. The wild lands of
the state were at first parceled out as boun-
ties to revolutionary soldiers. but many of
the benefciaries failed to pay the taxes
upon the lots given to them. and so the
lands came back by forfeit to the state.
Then came the famous land auctions of old
days, when vast tracts were bought by
wealthy men at a few cents an acre. After
generations of numbering there is more
spruce left in Maine than can be cut, at the
present rate, in half a century to come, al
lowing nothing for renewal of growth, and
now the pulp and paper industry has come,
doubling the value of the timber, and caus-
ing the big corporations like the Great
Northern and the International Paper Com
pany to scramble for all the desirable lands
In sight.