Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-11-17
WINTER OF 81.
"reminiscences Of a State
Official.
Story Of Storms and Wolves
Up in Lagrange.
An Old Fashioned Winter in III. Co...
! Old Times.


morning. while in Sed sch of mat.,i.I A.,
fill the column which is daily n,bIish..,
under that head 10 pass a uleasan,
half hour i'll the s.tnrtum sanctor,,n az
one OF the well known heads of de-
paltmentS. The culN >.rSstiou natur,I
ly enough. began with the Their fm.
Il subject the we'll worn but uavar
failing theme being spoken of in a gen.
efal way at first. but gradually worked
around 10 the late snow Storm and the
probability Of the snow remaining
throughout the winter
The gentleman who represented the
department was of the opinion that 4
| rainstorlu would aome along before :,
great while. and carry the SNOW off. as
| il was yet little ctrly for the snow
| to come to stay.
'Eut. SAID he, as he concluded his
| expression Of opinion, Il have known
the snow to come earlier than this and
| To remain on until April. And | will
tell you " hen il WAS. 1t VAS the tenth
day of November. 1851. / hay. ALWAYS
remembered that SHOWS torn. for one
reasun-my baby brother was born
| that night And then. as ht slowly
tti'''4 ti' N'S.ii Ilt N.tS SiIohlIlS. ana
SaZed dreimily out Of the window. i'm
the direction of Maintnp. he seemed to
be- locking back To the day of that
storm, and To the event which i:
hcrald.d.
Presently he turned To his caller.
again. and said: Yes | remember that
storm. very WELL and of the winter
which! followed it. We lived up i'm the
town OF Lagrange al that time.
Lagrange is in PtnDbS,Dt county, you
know, and is now on the line of the
Bangor & Aruostook. The storm came
ITS q surprise. We had been blowing
, the day before. breaking up u piece If
land. ana when we got through. that
, night. We lett the pillow in furrow,
ready to begin again. the next morning
But when morning came, there was
over a foot of snow on the ground
Well. we went out AMI got the pow.
and the furrow where we had left ii
was not finished. until the next spring
When morning came. too. | had Il
little brother and that is how re-
member the date of that storm 50 We'll.
but that was an awful hard winter
| There were six Zee, of snow on the
ground. and ii seemed as if it would
never go Of in the spring. Another
thing that remember about that Will
ter was the wolves. The snow was
deep that they We're almost starved.
and We're driven by hunger to come
| into the settlements in search of food,
| and We used to hear them bowling al
most every night.
They had been round during the
fall, but did not go ia: from the woods.
although they did great deal of dam
age, then. My father had flock of 80
sheep. and those devils got in among
them and killed A. We thought that it
! was the work of dogs. at first. but
when we came upon the body OF the
old ram. and saw the way he was
! chewed up. we knew that no dog could
ever do such work rs that.
| Fathers pasture was something Of
| the shape Of a horseshoe and We
! found the bodies of the sheep that had
! been killed. along the edge of the
| woods. 1t was Il funny thing, but
| none of their bodies We're mutilated.
except that of the ram. and he was all
! torn to pieces. He was an ugly Did
! fellow. and probably he left some sore
spots in the sides of those wolves be-
. fore they conquered him.
When the pack appeared about the
| town. i'll the winter. there We're eight
Of them, all big fellows, and something
had to ne done to get rid of them. One
of our neighbors had an old horse that
F! was worthless, and it was decided to
Kill him. and after poisoning the meat
- hA G.I.l 81.
; house. where the wolves could get it.
They did so. and il was not many
| nights before the wolves We're gone.
dead, every one of EN-. | remember
the first wolf that was found dead. He
was big fellow, and they said he
weighed so pounds. but he was gaunt
and thin, and hardly believe he was
! as heavy as that. The bodies of six
i were found, that winter, but those of
the other two were not located until
the snow had gone in the spring. Some
of the wolves crawled three miles after
/ eating the poison.
i Il think that pack was the last that
= ever came into Maine. for we never
heard of any afterwards I have
;! watched the papers for years, to see if
any more wolves were reported in the
! state but have not read Of any as yet.
! "There was a funny incident in con-
i naction with that wolf raid. One of
! the Young fellows III the town had been
I ont counting, one night. and WAS COM
ing home. late. II was dark. and he
had a lantern, and as he entered his
yard he heard Il noise out by the barn
He kept his sheep under the barn, ana
thinking something might be the mat
tor he hurried in the direction OF the
noise.
i LAS he entered the barnyard he
i fornd sheep just dying where the
uolve.; had left 1t. Not far from the
h,rnvard was a high knoll. and as he
hont over to examine the sheep. the
wolves who had retreated to the knol
IN his approach. began to howl To
cav that that young man was scared
docs not begin to express his feelings
He never stopped 10 see where the
noise came from. but made nee me
for the barn. and locking himself in.
for daylight. The wolves Oh