The Republican journal., 1909-06-17
OLDT1ME INDUSTRIES.

l
In looking over that invaluable book of
reference, Williamson's History of Bel
FAST, we had it brought to mind that
There is not today grist mill or brick
yard within the limits of the city. There
was no mill in Belfast for grinding corn
until after the Revolution. Before that
time Williamson's history says the near
est mill was on a small stream which
emptles into the Penobscot opposite
Odom's ledge. 1t was on their return
from it in canoe that Morrison and
Steele, two of the first settlers, were
drowned the winter after they came
here. A mill at Camden was also resort
ed to. Two men would carry down the
whole grist of the town in boat. During
the revolution, people carried their corn
to Castine to have it ground by wind
mill. Deacon Tufts mill, afterwards i'm
proved by Jesse Sturtevant, situated at
hiram Dale Falls, was built about 1785.
This was the first one here. James Mes
NTH had tide-mill at Little River in
l796. 'The boats for the bay with corn
paddle under the bridge and come at once
to tide-mill,'' says the Rev. Paul Cof-
fms journal. In more recent years Hi
ram Peirce had grist mill at the mouth
of Goose River, which later was trans
ferred by P. C. PIERCE to a new building
on Lewis wharf, with electricity as the
motive power; and Mathews Bros for
many years had grist mill in connection
with their woodworking factory Now
the nearest grist mill is one at Brooks
operated by the Swan & Sibley Co.
Bricks were manufactured here at an
early date. Among the town officers
elected in 1900 the names of Benjamin
and Caleb Smith appear as inspectors of
bricks, and at about that date William
Skinner had a small yard near what was
then the Sanford wharf. There was an
other yard on Waldo avenue near the
site of Seaside Grange hall. In 1877 the
Maine Register gives William Bickford,
Daniel Perkins, A. w. Ferguson, McKeen
Bros. and A. Strout & Co. as brick-mak-
ers. The Perkins yard on the back road
near Little River, was discontinued about
thirty years ago and is now included in
the well-tilled farm of ex-Sheriff S. G.
Norton. The Strout yard on the east
side, carried on by Parish L. Strout, was
for many years the only plant in opera
ton here, but was discontinued few
years before his death.
There are many other industries of the
olden time that have given way to the
changed conditions. The decline in ship
building applies to practically all of the
seaport towns, and few today send YES
sells to the Grand Banks. The writer
recalls the time when paper mills were
IN operation on the east side and when
there was tannery on Phoenix Row. In
place of the paper mills we now have the
leatherboard mills; but the nearest tan
neries are in Liberty and Freedom, and
in Liberty they tan sheep skins brought
from South America. Now leather is
brought here to be made into shoes to be
sold elsewhere, and the shoes we wear
are mostly made in Massachusetts,. Of
course our shoe factory, the wood work
ing and clothing factories, more than take
the place, in the number of men and
women employed and in the value of
their output, of the lesser industries that
have died out. But nothing can equal
the palmy days of shipbuilding, when it
was not unusual for new ship to pay
for herself on her first voyage.
To feel strong, have good appetite and diges-