Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-08-10

tain the draw during the summer
months or untifs the Maine courts de-
eide the question OF = wnership. but the
trafflc was so great tat they were
forced to give Il mp and this week the!
hauled it up and closed the travei ""' :.
The various boys camps" In MAJ
are all reporting pleasant and proflt~
able summer. It Is not surprising, In
view of the health giving delights they
afford. that their popularity grows con-
stantly greater from season to season.
With crowded hotels and the prac-
tice squadron of the Naval Academy
at anchor off her coast. Kittery is en-
joying an exceptionally pleasant and
profitable summer.
Potato balls are now more plentiful In
Maine than before in years. One man
found nearly a peck in a quarter or an
acre of potatoes. Years ago they were
plentiful, but for half a dozen seasons
potato men do not believe a peck has
been raised in the State. A Houlton
dealer recently offered 800 for peck
Of these balls. A man who planted
some balls last year harvested 10 diff
ferent kinds of potatoes. They were
of fair size and handsome. Years ago
potato balls were SO numerous that
the boys used to sharpen out sticks
and stick the balls on to see how far
they could throw them.
A thief recently entered a summer
cottage at Newport, Maine, and stole
ten pints of whiskey said to have be-
longed to some Boston men. The gen.
tlemen from the Hub" however. need
not go thirsty The spring water in
that vicinity is abundant and of ex-
cellent quality.
Samuel Farmer, one of the first hotel
proprietors in the Rangeley Lakes re-
gion, now of Arkansas City. Kansas,
is visiting in Phillips. Mr. Farmer,
who is 81 years old, was for more than
80 years proprietor of the old Barden
house in Phillips. which was renamed
the Phillips Hotel some Is years ago.
and which was burned about five years
ago. In stagecoach days Mr.. Farmer
was one of the most widely known men
in New England. and almost every
visitor to the Rangeley Lakes region
of necessity as well as. choice stopped
at his hotel. In those days the only
way to reach Rangeley was by way of
Pennington, where the railroad ended.
The stage line was taken to Phillips
the same night, and the next day the
trip was taken to Rangeley, very
hard one by stage. Mr. Farmer went
to Oklahoma when that territory was
opened. the hotel business here having
been practically ruined by the extern
sion of the railroad to Rangeley.
For several years. says the Port
land Press, 1.-The mackerel of the coast
have been almost unknown and it has
the fish which years ago were so plen-
tiful had forsaken their old swimming
grounds. Many have advanced the
idea that the mackerel is slowly but
surely going out of existence, others
say that the fish have been driven off
shore and away by dog fish. However,
the latest theory is that the pulp mills
which have sprung up in different
parts of Maine during the past few
years are the real cause as the chemi-
calls from the mills drive the fish south
or into waters where they do not
come in contact with the chemicals
used in the manufacture of paper"
This is certainly an ingenious theory.
but not an entirely plausible one. 1t
does rot seem possible that the amount
of chemicals used by our Maine pulp
mills would cut much figure when
mingled with the mighty waters of the
ocean.