The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1923-05-03

I soon found my nrOgress barred by
q marsh or bog evidently OF consider
able width. After trying to cross and
getting some wet feet In the process
followed along toward the left un-
til I found drier going. From then
on 1t was simply q case OF uphill, In
part through woods and In part thru
old clearings. Az ] rot higher up
commenced to get q splendid view to-
ward the west. Well toward the top
one can look right into the town Of
Skowhegan. At one point a peculiar
view of the Kennsbec River comes in.
1t Is only short piece that shows
and this just patch near Coburn
Park, the Barn Doors. I think, and
perhaps the gorge above 1t toward the
railroad bridge.
A part Of the time I had been in
a beech growth and up on the ridge
1 found lot of old beech trees. All
OF a sudden it dawned on me that
these trees were covered with beech
nut burrs and then l observed that
had been fairly tramping on beech
nuts for the last half hour. In places
the ground was thickly strewed with
them. 1 had a shoulder bag along
for convenience In carrying my lunch
and picked beech-nuts until tired
of that sort of sport. Thinking the
matter over I could plainly see that
II the wooded area of Maine was like
that was passing through, there must
be literally carloads of these nuts
going to waste, sighed to think Of
the pity of 1t. This discovery and
my meditation in the beech growth
of the Notch Mountain led to a
Beech-nut Campaign in the Independ-
ent- Reporter which resulted in the
sale of nearly thousand quarts of
beech-nuts for which the Riddles of
Somerset County were paid three or
four hundred dollars. Had | made
my discovery earlier 1 could have
marketed ten times that amount and
secured, of course, a proportionately
larger income for the young people
or the county.
Further up on the Ridge | ran
across an old granite quarry. At
various points granite had been taken
out and at one place there Is pit
ten or fifteen feet deep. The old der
rick lies there decayed past any use
fulness. 1t and the pit just referred
to are the principal evidences of min
ing activity. Some blocks had been
mined, moved from the pit and then
abandoned. The granite is of splen-
did quality and of easy access. The
slope is just about right to make easy
hauling from this ridge toward Skowi
hogan for several miles and the sharp
est ascent anywhere would be the
Heselton street hill near the Great
Eddy. Someone ought to revive the
granite industry in this locality. A
portion of the rock is a lightly tinted
rose color The attractive granite
in the J. Palmer Merrill building was
quarried from this mine
What has been already related in
this tale occupied me until the mid
die of the afternoon. I had lunched
once in the meantime and at about
three o'clock sat down at point over
looking the valley toward the west
and finished what had in the eat
able line. An hour here, part of
which was devoted to a nap In the
sun, finished a most enjoyable, inter-
esting and health-conserving day. All
out doors In Maine ti'n,pts to just
such excursions and provides the OPP
portunity for them. I have had SINH
lar wanderings, some of them around
Bigelow Hill, Stickney Hill, Eaton
Mountain and the hills up in Emblem.
the name of which ! do not remem-
Der. l hope l may be favored with
the opportunity for many similar ex-
cursions.