The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1920-06-10
NAME,
Its Romance, History and Interesting
Features.

computed Dy u. w. T1Ocee, JI., FuOIlclCy
Manager, Maine Centennial.
Some of the most notable leaders in
Americas public life also were Maine
born, among them Thomas Bracket
Reed, renowned parlamentarian and for
mer speaker of Congress, at Portland;
John D. Long, former Secretary of the
Navy and Governor of Massachusetts, at
Buckield; Rufus King, twice United
States Minister to Great Britain and one
of the principals in the drafting of the
American Constitution, at Scarboro;
William P. Frye, American diplomat and
former acting president of the United
States, at Lewiston; Lot M. Morrill,, sec
rotary of the treasury, U. S. Senator and
governor of Maine, at Belgrade; Melville
W. Fuller, former Chief Justice of the
United States Supreme Court, at Au-
gusta; William Wideery Thomas, Ameri-
can diplomat, minister to Norway and
Sweden and founder of the remarkable
Maine Colony of New Sweden, at Port
land; Nelson Dingley and Eugene Hale,
widely known statesmen, born respec-
lively at Durham and Turner; John A.
Andrew, Massachusetts, noted Civil War
governor, at Windham; Hugh McCullock,
famous financier and former Secretary of
"
geant Smith Prentiss, one of Americas
most famous orators, and id to be the
greatest eXtemporaneous speaker that
ever lived, at Portland; General Neal
Dow, Father of Prohibition, and leader in
public life, at Portland; Annie Louise
Cary, world renowned singer, at Wayne;
Nathaniel Parker Willis, at one time
Americas most popular essayist, at Port.
land; Sumner l. Kimball, father of the
great coast life-saving service of the
United States. at Lebanon.
Other Name born men who have
achieved almost worldwide reputation
are Noah Brooks, author and friend of
Lincoln, a native of Castine; Cyrus Ham
lin, first president of Roberts College,
Constantinople, WATERFORD; Walter M.
Bracket, Americas greatest painter of
fish, Unity; Eastman johnson, America
renowned portrait painter, Lowell; Pro-
fessor Dudley Allen Sargent, one of the
hest known directors of physical training
in the United States, Belfast; George Otis
Smith, director of the U. S. Geological
Survey, Hodgdon; John F. Stevens, for
mer Chief Engineer of the Panama Canal,
West Gardiner; Richard Hawley Tucker,
widely known astronomer and director of
the great Lick Observatory at Mt. Ham
ilton, California, Wiscasset; John Wash
burn, President of the Washburn- Crosby
Flour Company at Minneapolis, Halo
well; Walter M. Lowney, chocolate manu-
facturer, Sebec, and many others almost
equally as well known.
Some of the States DISTINGUISHED citi-
zens, past and present, who while not
born in Maine, achieved their success
while resident of it. Among these was
Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary, discoverer
CT the North Pole, who came of Maine
stock. His home at the time of his death
was on Eagle Island, Casco Bay, in the
town of Harpswell Formerly he was for
several years successfully resident of
the cities of Portland and South Portland
and the town of Fryeburg. Other notables
in this class are James G. Blaine, former
Secretary of State and Republican nomi-
nee for president, who lived at Augusta
General Henry Knox, first Secretary of
War of the United States and Washing
tons Chief of Staff, whose home was at
Thomaston; William Pitt Fessenden, for
mer Secretary of the Treasury under
Lincoln and famous American statesman,
a lifelong resident of Portland Emma
Eames and Emilio de Gogorza, world
renowned singers, who both live at Bath
Professor Donald B. Macmillan, noted
Arctic explorer, who makes his home at
F'reeport, and very many Others
Not large State in area as compared
with many in the Union, it is, however,
of immense size when compared with
those in its immediate vicinity. For in
stance, it practically equals in territory
all of the other New England States com
bined, and one of its sixteen counties,
Aroostook, is almost as large as the State
of Massachusetts. The total area of
Maine is 3,04O square miles, or 10, 1872, 300
acres. OF this the land area is 20. 1916
square miles and water area BIAS. The
State is 302 miles in length and 285 in
width.
Maine has about 300 islands and about
1000 lakes. Among the former, Mt. De-
sert Island, one of the largest on the At
lantic coast, contains 10000 acres and is
noted for its wonderful scenery. On it is
located the only National Park east of the
Mississippi, Lafayette National Park.
One of Names lakes, Moosehead, is the
largest in New England and has an area
Of l20 square miles and is about IS miles
IL length. There are about 5000 rivers
and streams in the State, its rivers and
lakes comprising one tenth of it's total
area
Names coast line is one of the most
remarkable in the entire world as well as
one of the most beautiful While in a
straight line, from its most westerly to
its most easterly point, it measures only
about 278 miles, because of its almost
numberless bays and indenta tions, the
actual coast line of the State reaches the
astounding figure of about 2, 1876 miles.
Maine also has many lofty mountains,
among them famous Katahdin, one mile
in height and renowned for its rugged
beauty The entire area of the State is
exceptionally high only about one third
of its territory in the south, and in the
valley of the St. John river in the north,
being below an altitude of 800 feet
Many great rivers rise within its bor-
ders or flow across it, among them being
the mighty St. John whose source is in
the north part of the State and is one
of Americas great waterways. The
longest river wholly within the State is
the Penobscot with a length of approx
mately 800 miles. The Kennebec River
is about $50 miles long.
Maine has another interesting feature
and that is the fact that it is exactly
midway between the equator and the
North Pole and monument in the town
of Perry marks the exact halfway point
No State in the Union has greater
variety of wonderful scenery than Maine