The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1912-09-12
\. {. RAILROAD LINES WORK IN DEVEL-
OP|NG MAINE FARMING
Good Crops Being Grown on the Burberry Bar
rens of Washington County

] H111aOi WIN NHt utfeIOpiieHL vi lHt
big tract Of land at Deblois, near
/ Cherryield, under the direction of tn
/ New England Lines Industrial bu-
/ reau are contained in a recent article
/ in the Boston Transcript from the
pen OF writer who has been in tina.
section of late. It is headed Western
+ Colonists for Maine and pictures in
/ rather rosy Colors the situation to be
found Down East as compared with
present Western conditions. While
containing many inaccuracies and the
writer shows a lack Of knowledge of
Names farming conditions, on the
whole it gives one of the first extend
ed accounts Of the proposed develop
ment of the season.
As to the location the writer SAYS.
To one visiting the region for the
first time these miles on miles Of level.
treeless plateaus are revelation The
map shows them without roads and
without inhabitants and marked only
as plantations, though some of the re-
gion has tiny towns with a postofice
and road or two. Such are DebloB
and Beddington on the western border
of the region, Mortified and Wesley
in its middle and Cooper and Meddy-
bemps on the east
Into this region comes suddenly a
new factor railroad that seeks to
make business for itself. The Maine
Central railroad is planning to col
onize Washington county with pros
porous people who will increase its
income by using it to their own adj
vantage. and it sees in these 500
square miles. more or less, Of level.
arabic, cleared land an opportunity
for prosperous farms that will en-
nance its own prosperity Back Of
this is the Aellen idea, the New Eng
land Lines Industrial Bureau which
is working patiently and vigorously
for the upbuildng of New England,
seeking continuously to bring into
its territory new people to work the
old farms, new industries to hum by
the unused water power and a great
er more prosperous population which
in the end, of course, is bound to
make the railroad more prosperous.
1t is the custom in some quarters to
speak i'll of the New England lines
and their general manager. Here
certainly is one thing in which the
railroads are spending thousands for
the upbuilding Of the community, an
idea that originated with Mr. Mellen
himself.
Most people, even if familiar with
much of the wild land of Maine,
think of this region of plantations as
a vast forest Instead the Maine Cen
trail brapch of the Industrial Bureau
recognizes it as a region Of potential
farms and wishes it occupied. The be
ginning of the work has come in get
ting central, through purchase or
option, of $4,000 acres in aud near
the township of Deblois on the west
ern edge of this great series OF
pateaus. This in itself has been no
light task. The wild lands bought
a century ago for their timber, lost
their value when the timber was cut
and were not salable to anyone
They descended from father to many
sons. to more srandsons and still on
until perhaps 40 people, inheriting
under one original title. are scattered
over the known earth. But the Free
man heirs and the Wyman heirs have
been found and 60 square miles are
now in hand for the beginning of the
experiment.
That makes quite a tract of land,
lying mainly in the town of Doblois
and the townships east. 1t is sanuY
loan. with water always to be had as
a depth of five or six feet. Before the
Civil war this region was surveyed by
a staff of engineers from Washington.
d. G.. for the National government,
and Jefferson Davis was in charge of
them In a lone boulder b the side
of the road leading up to Deblos from
Cherryfied may be seen big copper
bench-mark, put there by his orders
if not by his hand. II sires the hnight
Of land there as al feet aboye tide
water Climbing a long slope above
this the road comes To It level at
height of POO feet, and hero one finds
that mile-long furroW.
THAT MILE-LONG FJRROW
1T marks the beginnins of the
demonstration farm which tie Indus
trial Bureau has planted beside the
road to show beyond a doubt what the
land of these sandy plateaus will do.
Here is a plateau of 1000 acres in eX-
tent. level as a floor, without a stone
in the soil. and a mile long furrow
might just as we'll have been two
miles long or three if the man be
hind the plough had been ordered 70
make it. The land is there The fur
row parallels the road at right angles
to it run plots planted to various
crops. In May of this year this land