The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1916-09-14
MERGERS Early History
Written for Lewiston JournaD


it joins the Kennebee, just above Nor
ridgewock.
Mrs. Susan D. Robinson, we'll
known Lewiston woman, gives many
"reminiscences of the town of Mercer,
which was her birthplace Her grand
father, Daniel Burr, became resi-
dent about 1900. Her mother was
the daughter of Squire Howes of New
Sharon. Squire Howes was engag-
ed in business in Mercer as early as
1907. Consequently, many of Mrs.
Robinson's recollections are of things
told her as child and which her re
markable memory has kept fresh in
mind; the rest are within her own
remembrance.
An idea of the beautiful scenery
about Mercer may best be conveyed
by the remark of a noted man whose
boyhood was spent in the town. After
he had travelled much, and during his
travels had visited many foreign
lands, he returned for a visit to his
early home. One day, in driving down
one of the long hills, he looked out
over the lakes and the winding river,
with the forest-covered slopes in the
distance, and said: q have seen
Italy, but it doesn't compare with
this"
All the region around Mercer is
famous for apple growing In fact,
apple growing was begun very early
in the towns history. John Thomp-
son, the grandfather of Judge ]. H.
Thompson, was one of the first to
plant apple trees extensively. He
owned some fine orchards and it was
there that the Somerset apple origi-
mated. Nobody ever knew just where
Thompson planted some seeds of the
Williams Favorite, and among the
trees he raised was one very different
from the rest. The apples it bore
were large and handsome, and event
ually someone gave it the name Som
erset, after the county in which it was
grown.
One of the first apple-growers to
introduce the grating fruit trees in
Mercer was Levi Gates. After he
was 90 years old, Mr.. Gates went to
Oregon. The section of the state
into which he moved was an unde-
veloped country and he carried with
him some apple seeds. as we'll as
those of other kinds of fruit, so that
he practically introduced fruit grow
ing into the region
John Gates. a son of Levi, was an
other man who played part in the
development of the West. He first
learned the machnists trade in Wor-
cester. Mass. From there he went
to California. The Pacific coast at
that time drew men from all parts of
the East like a magnet. John Gates
received proof of this one day when,
during his stay in California, he went
into a store to buy shovel. He was
addressed by man whom he did not
recognize, but who proved to be the
son of his nearest neighbor in Mer-
GER, and an old schoolmate. After
staying in California for awhile, John
Gates went to Portland, Oregon. He
time he attained the rank of captain,
He had genius for mechanics and
he hit upon a device by which the
machinery might be improved. He
worked out his idea and had it pat
ented. 1t was so much of a sue
cess that he made others, and it is
said of him that no one man ever
made so many improvements on
steamboats, as he did. Besides being
an inventor, and engaged in numerous
other duties, Capt. Gates became
prominent in the political life of
Portland and was several times mayor
of the city.
Capt Gates was not the only mayor
that Mercer has furnished in a west
ern city, for Walla Walla, Wash, has
had a Mercer man at the head of its
government. This was Frank Paine,
who with his brother, John, went to
Walla Walla to establish a business.
The town of Mercer, known in its
earliest days as Industry Plantation,
was settled in the year 1882 by a
man named White, who went there
from Wiscasset. Another of the
early settlers was Daniel Elliott.
About 1900 two young men from
Leicester. Mass, Clark and Joel
Works who had been living in the
town. went back and induced their
father and two neighbors to return
to Maine with them. The trip took
nine days by wagon, though some of
their descendants, who have in later
years moved to the Far West, went
in five. BY 1907, Mercer showed in
dications of becoming a thriving
community, for Squire Howes had
established there a grist mill, a saw
mill and a carding machine.
Martin Burr, who settled in Mercer