Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1920-11-09
The Road by Granite Ledge.

The Road by Granite Ledge.
Editor Democrat:
Among the choicest bits of New Eng
land scenery is that portion OF Oxford
| County, which is made conspicuous BY
Spruce, Bald, Speckled, Davis, Bean,
ZIrcon, GlInes and Hemingway noun
tains. Nestled under the feet Of the
first of these there are seven ponds, or
mountain lakes, Great Concord, Little
Concord, Shagg, Abbott, Washburn,
half Moon and the Lost Pond or Hans
Bog.
On the shores of these lakes, mostly
on Shagg, people have built sixteen cot.
tages, or bungalows, or camps,-call
them what you willard thereby have
increased the value of the property and
the valuation of the town of Woodstock
by thousands of dollars. These people
are quiet, orderly class, who know the
value Of their rsurroundings and are will
ing to pay for what they get. They also
would like to get what they pay for.
every year. Not for the cottagers alone,
but It Is known all over the country for
it's splendid scenery, it's pure air and
water, Its hunting and fishing. 1t is q
health reservoir.
More cottages will probably be built
here and many more would be, were 1t
not for one serious draw bach, the roads.
Sixty years ago, the road by Granite
Ledge was respectable and no one
thought of such thing as not finding q
decent thoroughfare that way. To-day
the road Is simply relic, not flt for use
aud liable to be indicted at any time.
The road from Sumner and Paris as
far as Shsgg Pond has been better the
past summer than for several seasons
before, but here all commendatiop ends.
To get to the Concords, to reach Rum
ford and Milton requires as much cour-
age as 1t would to enter den of lions.
Is this rights Is it treating the people
who have invested their money here in
business like wayp
But there is another phase to this
question and still more important one
to those whom 1t Immediately concerns.
The post Office at Redding furnishes the
mails to many families that have their
bones on this road or its tributaries and
who are doing their part towards carry
ing on the affairs of towns, county and
state. They own teams, autos and
trucks; and for the same purposes that
people living elsewhere do. How are
they to use the samep Let him who
would try to 60 from West Sumner to
Rumford Falls In any other way except
on foot, answer the question.
And still Rumford is the natural mar
ket for all this section. It is fifteen
miles from Redding to Rumford, and
very fair road all the way, except this
one piece. And this Is not wet, or clay
ey, or sandy, or lacking In material.
The only trouble Is the bill and this is
not very bad one. There are worse
leading from Commercial to Congress
Street in Portland, over which the bust
ness of the city goes on day after day.
But there is still another phase to this
question, wider reaching, perhaps, as
far as money value Is concerned and GER
tainly 80 with respect to the general
public interest. For miles on either
side this road is bounded by timber
lands, of which 1t is the natural outlet.
There are at least ten thousand acres of
woodlands which this piece of road rem
ders accessible. Some of the lots have
scarcely yet seen an axe; others have
been cut over years ago, and are now
ready to cut again; and Others still that
have been cut over more recently, but
are fast replenishing.
These lands are growing constantly
more valuable and many of the aban-
doned farms In this and other sections
of the state are worth more, twice over,
than when in their highest state of Guilt
vation. Rumford Falls wants timber,
Locke's Mills wants timber, Bryant's
Pond wants timber, Paris wants timber
and other places want the same. How
shall they get itp
For years, spool stock has been hauled
twelve miles, over more billy road
than the one In question, to West Paris
and there shipped by rail to Looke's
Mills. Pulp wood cut In the vicinity OF
Shagg Pond has been hauled twelve
miles to East Sumner, and shipped from
there by rail to Rumford Falls. Now
with q suitable road by Granite Ledge,
1t would be as easy to deliver this tim.
Der directly at the points of consump-
tion, as 1t is now to deliver 1t at the
shipping points.
Bryant's Pond especially wants and
must have timber. Seventy-one years
ago, there was a limpid sheet of water
there, surrounded mostly by q growth OF
poplar and pine. That was all. Then
the souud of blasting was heard, to be
followed by the whistle of the locomo-
tive. A railroad station and engine
house were built, followed by Ezra Jew
ellis store, Elder Dunham's and other
houses. Then came more stores and
more houses; the hotel, under the guard
ianship of Mr.. Frye, was doing thriving
business, and Clark, the driver, brought
the Concord coach, with Q resounding
crack of the whip, upin front of the sta
tion as the train came in, and Conductor
Grosvenor Waterhouse called from the
platform, "Bryant's Pond, Bryant's Pond |
Rumford, Dixf1eld and Andover."
The place was thriving. 1t had Its
churches, stores, ministers, doctors, den.
tist, lawyer, milliner, jeweler, black
smiths, etc., and what more could be
wanted?
But there came set back. The Port.
land & Oxford Central Railroad had gone
as far as Buokfield and collapsed. 1t
went as far as Canton and collapsed
again. Then, under new management,
1t went to Rumford Falls, bought up
another road and reached the Rsngeley
Lakes. 1t became part Of the Maine
Central system.
No longer was Bryants Pond the mar
ket and outlet for Rumford, Dixf1eld,
Andover, Canton, Peru and lot of other
places. Trade and travel fell off, people
moved away and the place shriveled.
Then new era began: the advent of
the wood working mills. From that
time the place has been prosperous. It
Is an attractive village, with substantial
and commodious public buildings, nice
residences, clean streets and pretty lawns
and shade trees. 1t is all right.
But ask any man you may happen to
meet there, how all the people in the
place get their living and he will answer,
"By working In the shops" Ask him
what they would do IL the supply of
wood should fail, and be will say, "Move
out" And he would be telling the
truth. Then, certainly, 1t is of the high.
est importance for this place and its sur.
|roundiDgs to do everything possible to
facilitate the importation Of timber.
In the early sixties, spruce and hard
wood were hauled with oxen from the
Harding place and adjacent farms, over
Billings Hill to Bryant's Pond. The
spruce brought FIVE and one-half dollars
thousand and the hard wood three dol
lars and seventy-fve cents q cord. And
those farmers were we'll satisfied. In the