Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-09-12
RecOllectiOns
OF VassalbOrO

OF VassalbOrO
The following paper written by Mr..
o. P. Robbins for Cushnoc Grange Will
doubtless be found Of interest to such
of the Journals readers as have re-
membrance Of the days OF which Mr..
Robbins writes:
They tell mo that I was born IN
April 1898. IN the Tower" house
where Josiah Brown lived for many
years. but do not remember It. DO
remember Of our living one summer
IN the Ben rown store. now the home
OF Cushnoc Grange and I think In lS4e.
Thaddeus Smell was then building his
home. now occupied by his daughters.
and we were waiting for them to va
cate the house in the neld Of Edward
SHELLS which was torn down . few
years ago. where We lived eight years.
Ny earliest recollections are OF
things around there. and Of Seven-Mile
brook, as It was always called.-of -ae
26-ft we'll with It's good cold water; OF
the smoke house on the place, built to
cure the herring which used to NIL the
streams. and particularly Meadow
brook. where they caught them by the
CARLOAD. I heard II related that once
a party came from Windsor with an
OK team and on the way home one OF
them, who had taken a little too much
90 be joyful" could not walk, SO they
laid him on the load Of herring; when
at their destination they could not ind
him so they tipped up the cart with
man and herring together.
we'll remember the burning Of the
old paper mill OF. the site Of the ma
chine shop which E. o. Brown took
down q few years ago. I saw the tall
chimney fall out into the pond, and
probably 1t Is there yet.
Before the railroad was built the
freighting up the river was done by
boats, and two river steamboats, col
lided near the mouth of the brook in
the dark: one of them. the old Oregon.
was sunk. They raised her up with
two long boats. took her to the shore
and repaired her.
They used to run races sometimes,
and that was the cause of the new
boat Halifax being blown up. The
other boat got to the lock first, SO they
held her steam while waiting, and just
as her wheel began to turn to leave the
lock. the terrible explosion occurred.
Just before the railroad was built
up the river. Bridge & Sturgis built
the hulls Of two schooners on the
north side of the pond below the mill.
and they were taken down river to be
finished. There were at that time
three or four dwellings on that side
and bridge from the mill to the
north shore. That double saw mill"
as we used to call it, was run day and
night.-quite a contrast to the present
time. Quite number Of children
came from the Dunlap house III across
the Smell farm to our school at
Browns Corner as that was included
in our district then.
Fossett's store used to stand nearly
north Of here James Dunlap now
lives and what was the grist mill until
lately, was then a shoe peg factory.
Next above on the stream was the
Shell grist mill which used to do
good business. and the basement was
used as a carding mill run by "Thad"
Smell. He used to talk to me about
what I was going to BE and DO when
I grew up. My father used to run the
saw mill above the bridge some of the
time, and William SHELLS boys and
others the shingle mill. Their was
fiume and water wheel at the other. or
east end of the dam which furnished
En- P,,1 nix
by a Mr. Follansbee. but ] do not re-
member it before the Lee family lived
there. After the new house was built
on the hill Merrill Lee ran potash
mill there, or tried to, and / think that
at one time they ground land plaster
there, and then, for a few seasons,
threshed grain by water power.
we'll remember the saw mill at
"Slab City" which was replaced by the
paper mill, and there was quite lit
tie colony living there. Hartwell
Gardner lived on the corner, before he
built the house where his son Perley
now lives, and at one time, so I have
been told. run a tannery just above the
bridge. I can remember nine dwell
ings there besides the school house,
where now there are two.
There was another sawmill on the
stream many years before Church
built what is now called Fosters mill
and at least one house near II. but
do not know who built 1t. 1 was in
the grist mill (Snells) when man
came In and waited to buy It; Mr.
Smell put price Of $1,000 on it. Just
think. If he had sold and put the
money at interest. 1t would have