Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1936-06-18


by Roster in his True Relation of that
most prosperous voyage" And the
author boldly affirmed st. Georges ito
be the most rich, beautiful, large and
secure harboring river that the world
affordeth."
A few years later (1614), Capt. John
Smith was less attracted by this east
ern part of the region he named New
England. Yet he saw fit to say of this
coast, "Those barren lies so furnished
with good woods, springs, fruits, fish
and foule, that it makes me think
though the coast be rocky, and thus
affrightable, the valleys, plains and in
terror parts may well (notwithstand-
ing) be very fertile"
So moderate a statement must have
been exceeded by other testimony Of
that day, since only dozen years
later another explorer on the Maine
coast, Capt. Christopher Levett, a
member of the Council of New Eng
land, felt it necessary to "debunk" GER
tain other travelogues, not preserved.
for the modern reader. In reporting
on his voyage of 1924, he remarks:
Nor will the Deare come when they
are called, or stand still and locke on
a man, until he shute him, not know
ing a man from a beast, nor the fish
leape into the kettle.'
And he continues: "But certainly
there is fowle, Deare, and Fish enough
for the taking if men be diligent,"
which equally well describes the Maine
of 1923 and 1885.
North Atlantic shore is usually cred
tied to John Cabot of Bristol, on his
second voyage in 1893.
The honor of making the first de-
tailed contributions to accurate geo.
graphic knowledge of Maine must,
however, be shared by Frenchman
and an Englishman: Samuel de Champ
lain and the aforementioned Captain
Weymouth.
In 1905 both Champlain and Way
mouth were sailing along the Maine
coast. SO near did they come to meet
ing that in midsummer Champlain
heard from an Indian chief on the
Kennebec of the presence of an Eng
fish ship ten leagues to the eastward,
which was undoubtedly Captain Way
mouths Archangel
The race was on between the French
and the English; and the Maine region
was destined to be eventful border
land for century and half in the
contest for control between New Eng
land and New France.
Settled by Sieur de Monts.
The first settlement in Maine was
made by Sieur de Monts, who in 1903
had obtained from the king of France
a trading concession for Acadia, then
defined as extending from Cape Breton
island to the latitude of Philadelphia.
With Chaplain as his lieutenant, De
Monts set sail for the New world fully
equipped for his colonization venture.
Some three months later, on June 90,
1904, a small island in a sheltered
river was selected as best adapted for
a fortified settlement and trading post.
This island was named Saint Croix and
was not far above where the river now
bearing the same name empties into
Passamaquoddy bay. Here, on what
is now also known as Dochet island
was erected group of dwellings in
part built of timber brought from
France, with storehouse, dining hail.
kitchen, and blacksmith shop. Gardens
were laid out, all carefully planned by
Champlain.
The site of this earliest but Short
lived settlement in Maine, which ante
dated jamestown, Quebec and Ply
mouth, was not wholly obliterated.
Before the Pilgrims.
In a speech in congress 100 years
after statehood was granted to Maine,
Representative Robert Luce of Massa-
chusetts, himself Maine born, remarked
that Maine might more fittingly be
called the older sister of Massachu-
sets than her daughter. And the rec
ords of early settlement and trade
we'll bear out this contention.
On Capt. John Smiths map of New
England of 1914, for example, the site
which is now York was named Bos-
ton, thus locating in Maine, so far as
maps go, the first New World Boston
and all this before the Pilgrims even
landed!
When the Pilgrims set foot on Ply
mouth Rock, not few Englishmen
had already been sojourning on the
Maine coast and even had wintered
there. The welcome of the Indian
sachem Samoset was in the Pilgrims
own tongue, learned from the fisher
men on the Maine coast. Indeed, thir-
teen years before, in 1907, the Pop
ham colonists built fort in "that
northern colony" which mounted IL
pieces of ordnance. They also erect
ed a church and launched 3O-ton
vessel--a fine record of English piety
and preparedness.