The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-07-11
WASHINGTON COUNTY "BARRENs. >

A member of the Portland Board of
Trade in his address at the banquet in
this city few weeks ago suggested the
appointment of commission of experts
to ascertain what undeveloped resources
lie under the soil of Maine; and there are
certainly possibilities of mineral wealth.
But there are discoveries to be made in
other directions. AS native of Wash
ington county, with an interest in its
people and in it's prosperity which years
of absence have not diminished, the writ
er read with great pleasure in the Maine
Farmer of May 30th report of its ed
itor on the so-called Washington county
Barrens. AS many of our readers know
the seacoast of Washington county is
rocky, with but little good farming land,
and the fisheries, manufacture of lum-
Der and in the past shipbuilding
been the chief industries The Washing
ton county railway practically follows
the shore line; necessarily so, as land
ward are the barrens. A bare three
miles from Cherryfeld one passes the
last residence before entering upon this
great waste of land and ''there are no
habitations to the north until one strikes
the railroad on the extreme northern
edge of the county. Practically the
same condition is found if one starts out
from any other point in the settled fringe
of territory along the edge Of the coun-
try" The Barrens-Which the editor
of the Farmer says are mot barrens at
all, but covered with a thick growth of
vegetation-b but few miles away
from the coast in the southern part of
the county, and less miles away from
the railroad in other parts" One can
not get more than twenty-five or thirty
miles away from the railroad, while in
the northwest fifty or a hundred miles
from the railroad is not considered pro-
hibitive distance. The following ex-
tracts will show the value of this ''find."
The editor of the Farmer says:
| have spoken of the interior as great
plain. 1t is great plain, in that it is
probably the largest stretch of level
country to be found in the State and
probably the most level. 1t is not fiat
waste, however. The elevation is good,
and while there are no mountains nor
high hills, there are some ridges, and
the plains lay on different elevations,
eliminating in the higher ridges, which
are, in fact, great plateaus, about $50 feet
above the level of the sea. These sue
cessive elevations, plains or plateaus,
are cut up at wide intervals by the river
and lake depressions, and the river bot
tom lands are apparently of rich fertil-
ity. They support splendid growth of
natural grass Of excellent feeding quail
ity and would make good grazing
grounds.
AS one comes upon The Barrens, the
noticeable fact is the great absence of
forests. There are numerous trees, to
be sure, but they are to great extent
very much scattered. There are some
forests also, but the opportunity for
numbering is rapidly growing smaller.
The Barrens are covered with BURBERRY
bushes, of course, and there are great
trees and bushes are grown z luxuriant-
growths of grass. l saw grass in some
Of these places more than a foot high.
This grass grows we'll in any place where
it is not choked out by the blueberries,
and up on the higher parts of The Bar
rens l saw patches of grass growing
where the blueberries had been prevent
ed from growing for some reason or
other; six or eight inches high and thick
and heavy.
Much Of the land in this county appar-
emily lays out on the level, which is about
two hundred feet above the sea. There
does not appear to be side hill which
cannot be plowed, and the soil can be
worked like Dakota prairie. There are
some rocky ridges, but the rocks do not
seem to belong; they lay in great wind
rows or ridges and apparently came down
in the ice of the glacial period. And
these rocks seem to have been deposited
for the most part near the lower edge of
the county, leaving most of what is now
the wild land free from stones. One of