Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1909-09-14
As to shaxg Pond.

AS 10 Sua$S fVn0.
/ A correspondent OF the Democra ask
led recently:
u, nwhere is Shag Pond? In what town:
How large? Stocked with what kind o
] fish? So much appears a. to its visitors
many desire to learn of It,"
Attention to the rest-giving qualities
of q temporary residence by the shore OF
Shagg Pond has caused postponemen'
of the reply to the question, which II
was desired to give somewhat In full,
even at the risk of repeating some things
!, which have been said before.
| Well, then, Shagg Pond (note the two
1g's, please, which are preferred by its
frequenters) is In the OF treme east OF
the town OF Woodstock. Lying as neal
the geographical center OF Oxford Coun.
ty as could be located in so irregular a
territory is miniature wilderness OF
hills and rugged mountains, CONT aiming
| five or six ponds of various sizes. By
laying ruler on the map 1t can be seen
that one could travel in straight line
about twelve miles from the county road
near Bryant's Pond to the Worthley
Pond road in Peru, crossing in that dis
lance only one highway. That highway
traverses this little wilderness in gen.
orally north and south direction, and
passes within short distance Of the
shore of Shagg Pond.
To reach Shagg Pond from the south,
We go through Redding in the north.
western corner of Sumner, the pond be-
ling about mile and quarter beyond
the Redding post office. If one travels
L in fhof hn
goes up over "Granite LEDGE" through
about two miles of unbroken forest,
until on the other side of the divide the
roads fork, the one on the left going in
the direction of East Milton and Alb
bolts Mills, and the one on the right
past Concord Pond toward Dickvale and
West Peru. None of these roads are
boulevards, though automobiles occa-
sionally travel them
As for size, Shagg is little one. APP
proximately round in shape, it is about
half mile in length, and about the same
in width. 1t is in fact SO small that the
eyes of nature lovers for years looked
over it without seeing it at all. 1t is
small enough so that troll around it
before breakfast is just enough to get
warmed up, and the distance across Is so
inconsiderable that the man who has
camp on the back side is only short
row from the road.
Shagg Pond lies deep In the basin
among the wooded hills, with an outlet
through a narrow valley to the south
east. On its northern side the wall of
the basin is formed by two rugged hills,
bearing the appropriate even If unpoetic
names of Bald Mountain and Speckled
Mountain.
Bald Mountain throws up an over
hanging cliff above cavern filled ravine
piled with immense rocks, the debris
left by Titanic forces. This ravine with
it's piles of massive rocks and underlying
caves presents scene which can not be
matched in kind in the famed White
Mountain region. Among the crags of
the mountain the eagles nest, and above
its summit they circle in the sun. Deer
sport upon its lodges, and from it's slopes
the voice of the bear is heard at night.
Speckled Mountain raises its rugged
southern face to height of thirteen
hundred feet above the pond, the
monarch of the region. Now rosy with
the morning light, now smiling in green
and tender gray under the summer sun,
now with its dark cliffs frowuing in deep
shadows, anon with the storm cloud
lowering on it's peaks, it has all the
moods of willful woman, and it is diff
cult to believe that it has not living
spirit. On its precipitous southern face
the mountain climber may find real
even if limited opportunity to exercise
his skill, and from it's summit may be
beheld large expanse of Goods coun-
try" much of it unmarked by traces
of man.
But to come down from the mountain
tops to business. As the Englishman
says, it's fine day; let's go out and kill
something. Otherwise We couldn't en-
joy to the full the beauties of nature,
There's another part to the inquiry,
namely, with what kind of fish is the
pond stocked?
And that's rather poser. As far as
the writer's personal experience goes, 1t
is principally stocked with small but
fat hornpout, good eating in spite of the
needless prejudice against them, but a
beastly fish to dress.
However, to be serious, there are some
good pickerel in the pond, and occasion
ally one of them gets caught. And dur
ing the past few years our paternal state
and national governments, through the
intercession of those specially interested,
have been supplying young trout and
salmon. A few Of them, which have
grown to good size, have been taken
from the pond during the early fishing
this year. And there have been ia it's
depths, from time immemorial, some
monster trout, only one or two of which
have ever been caught. If you don't
believe 1t, ask Bill Jones, or any other
man There is no reason why, in time,
this should not develop into good fishing
territory; but frankly, as yet 1t is good
fishing only for the true fisherman, who
finds his delight more in performance
than in results.
Having thus detailed the natural feat
ures of the place, Ii may be well to sum-