Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-03-24


the ST John river in Northern Maine
and the lower waters of that river in
New Brunswick became vexed and
out of patience at the bother and de-
| lays of getting hung up by snags.
rocks and other obstacles. and said IA
few things unbecoming, so the late
Benjamin beverage of Andover told
| him to told go to Bangor and the Pen
| obscot waters and find out what would
| be the most suitable for a steamer SER
vice adapted to that river the st. John,
and he would help furnish the funds.
Accordingly shipments were made in
| pieces and sections of steam wheel
boats patterned after the little stern
wheeled steamers on the river Penob-
| scot between Oldtown and VIM
which run in high water time there.
and in 1S49 came the Reindeer to To-
biuue. Then the GaSellc and Bonny-
doom and tile Ida Whittier named Tor
the Captains daughter. Then they
carried down shaved shingles and
cattle on the decks OF the steamers at
times which there were quite few
then raised by the descendants of the
lOyaiists who early came there in 1889.
They brought back merchandise for
the people in Northern Maine and up
per New Brunswick which was hauled
to Caribou, Fort Fairfield, Pressure
Isle. Ashland and Masardis. This was
in high water time in springs and
falls they also carried passengers and
did thriving and paying bust
ness up to 1876 when the New
Brunswick Marrow Gauge r. r.
was built up to Andover and
made it Improbable competition.
They were then taken off and one was
| transferred to the Merrimac river in
New Hampshire. and one to the Mira
| michi in New Brunswick The Gaselle
WAS blown up half way between
Woodstock and Fredericton and the
pilot, Robert Miller, was killed. AS To-
biGuc was then the terminus for the
up river landings it was quite lively
at times with it's many millions of
/ shaved shingles along it's high banks
| for long distance. With full taverns
| too. There was also a boat built on
| the upper st. John called the NADIA
waska, which run from Grand Falls
| in high water TO EdmundstOn. some
| times farther up, but did not make ii
profitable. so the contract was let to
Beardsley brothers to take it apart
and it was moved below Grand Falls
and run for a time on the lower st.
John river. The company was COM
posed of Ben Beverage of TobiIue,
| Ridcout and Whittier of the Penobscot
| river. When the railroad come so
ended steamboat service which part
| of the year accommodated the early
pioneers of Northern Maine and North
| ID>,,v oil nd ,nl
| goods such as -four. pork and fish quite
| reasonable. Captain Whittier was
smart and an energetic Yankee. Cap
| tain Bull. one of the loyalsts come
from northern New York state, he had
a large family. Peter the Oldest came
to Bulls Eddy in 1921. ana Abner the
| youngest made a trip back to New
| York with his wife, driving there and
return by horse and wagon across
! Maine and New Hampshire over the
| Vermont line. thence into New York.
| AS roads were poorer a hundred years
ago and indirect he went by the ia
| NOUS cut in the White Mountains by
| the Wylie house.
Desire Violet watched in q mill in
| Dollhouse New Brunswick. He came
| from there to the Little Madawaska
| bridge on the Van Buren, road where
he lived for nearly fifty years. He
| had lived in Newfoundland whcrt
| some say he was born, but it's I'M
certain whether he was born there
| or in France. He was thought to
| be hundred years old when he died,
eight miles north of here on the Van
| Buren, road. He was an old man here
fifty years ago.
| MANY will remember the cold Fri
day of Feb. 18th, 1861. The sun never
shone that day. the wind increased
| as thc day wore on and 1t blew d
line gale all day long with u low
| freezing temperature that chilled the
| human body through and some were
| frozen to death OH the cold Friday.
| David Collins was on the road with Il
Single team toteing between here
| and Bangor. on the way back So
| Hasen keech who was ever thoughtful
| and ncighborly who worried about the
| family put on his wife's hood and
went over to Collins to see if they
| were safe. Some mail carriers were
| chilled to death on the road. And in
| the lumber woods the trees rocked and
| swayed and bent till the twigs and
| limbs broke and dropped to the
/ ground making the deep snow fly
| causing accidents to men and teams
| making it unsafe to continue opera
| lions longer. so some teams quit and
| went to the camp. 1T was an avail
| anche never to be forgotten by all
who were alive here then. A great
event in tho elements of God. that is
, marked by time and often talked
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