The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1904-12-29
AROQSTOOK.

Among the first to recognize the pos
sibilities and to urge the development
of the Aroostook region was Hon. Fred
Atwood of Winterport; and some years
ago the writer was one of party he
led into the wilderness to gaze with
wonder upon the vast potato fields and
other evidences of prosperity in the
Garden of Maine. Mr.. Atwood recent
ly sent us copy of the Massachusetts
Ploughman bearing date of March 10,
1887, and containing, as he wrote, "the
beginning of the B. & A."-the great
railroad that is soon to bring our city in
touch with Northern Maine. The paper
contains a full report of meeting of
farmers held in the Ploughman Build
ing, Boston, to discuss the agricultural
advantages of Aroostook county. Mr..
Atwood presided, and addresses were
made by Governor Bodwell of Maine;
Hon. z. A. Gilbert, Secretary of the
Maine Board of Agriculture, Hon. Will
liam Dickey of Fort Kent, Hon. Francis
Barnes of the Maine Board of Agricul-
ture, Prof. Charles F. Fernald of the
Massachusetts Agricultural College,
Hon. Charles B. Pratt, Mr.. A. Stockin,
Col. z. A. Smith, Rev. w. L. Sleeper
and others. Letters were read from U.
S. Senators Frye and Hale, Congress
men Milliken, Boutelle and Reed, Hall
C. Burleigh and other prominent gen.
tlemen-all speaking in high terms
of ArooStook.
In his address Mr.. Gilbert said of
Aroostook: cit is similar to the rolling
prairies of the West, though the
sloughs, if you will permit the express
sion, the undrained unproductive por-
lions of these sections, are left out,
leaving it all arabic land after being
cleared" 49,. "a large part of its area
comprises fine fields that have already
been cleared and most of them can be
worked by machinery as the prairies of
the West can be SO worked. Yet be-
yond that portion there are still vast
forests where almost the State of Mas
sachusetts could be dropped and hide
itself out of sight, still unbroken only
by the lumberman's axe" Although
the cultivated area has been greatly ex-
tended since these words were spoken,
II years ago, they fairly represent the
situation in Aroostook today.
Prof. Fernald began by saying that it
was his firm conviction that Aroostook
county had not been properly adver-
tised, and it is of interest to recall here
the difficulties in the way of reaching
that region in the old days as compared
with the facilities now offered by the
B. & A. At the close of the Rebellion
Prof. Fernald resigned his position in
the Navy and was i'll charge of the
academy at Litchfeld when called at
an advanced salary to take an academy
in Houlton. The best information he
could get of that village was that it
was small hamlet of log houses, and
he had many misgivings as to accepting
the position. How to get there was
the next question. He said:
l enquired which was the best way
| to get there. ! found that l could go
| to Bangor and take the stage from
there, or from Old Town, or l could go
! to Portland and take the Boston boat
and go to Eastport, and from there to
st. John and take the New Brunswick
railroad up to some unnamed town in
the woods, and stage it the rest of the
way 1t was with misgivings that [
began the journey. l went to Bangor,
and took the railroad, and then rode
over the VeaZie railroad as far as Old
Town. They had a stage for us that
went along beside the Penobscot river
as far as Mattawamkeag. All that time
| had misgivings, which my wife
shared, in regard to the unknown land
in the far North
AS he progressed on his journey,
however, he was impressed with the
fine farming land, "the beautiful village
of Linneus' and, after we had left
that nine miles, we came into one OF
the finest villages, one of the most en-
terprising villages, that it has ever been
my good fortune to visit in the State of
Maine,-into Houlton.' He stayed
there five years, and was ever after an
enthusiast with regard to Aroostook,
its fertile soil, its wonderful lakes, and
its enterprising people. Il left this
county," said Prof. Fernald, with this
impression in my mind, that there is a
great region here yet to be developed"
Hon. Harrison Hume, one of the
speakers at this meeting, in referring
to visit to Aroostook, mentioned one
farm where he saw "twenty-six acres
of potatoes in one lot He might,
even at that time, have seen much
larger areas of potatoes; and now we
hear of 800 and 400 acres planted to
potatoes and yielding 300 to 400 barrels
per acre. Mayor Dickey of Fort Kent
testified to the healthfulness of the
Aroostook climate, having gone there
forty years before when his life was
despaired of from trouble with his
lungs, but had attained the age of
seventy-seven and was then in the en-
e