Maine’s History Magazine
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Volume 29 | Issue 3 | 2020
15,000 Circulation
Penobscot~Piscataquis~Hancock Counties
The Wearin’ Of The Green
St. Patrick’s Day in Bangor
History Of The CCC In Maine
Helping people get back to work
Dover’s Colonel Calvin Douty
Maine Celebrates 200 Years!
Civil War hero
Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
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Inside This Edition
Maine’s History Magazine 3 It Makes No Never Mind James Nalley 5 History Of The CCC In Maine Helping people get back to work John Murray 8 The Wearin’ Of The Green St. Patrick’s Day in Bangor Charles Francis 16 Dorothea Dix Remembered The Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center Charles Francis 20 Brewer’s Larry Gorman North woods balladeer Charles Francis 24 The Seafaring Tapleys Of Brooksville Adventure on the high seas Jeffrey Bradley 27 Bar Harbor’s John H. Douglass Civil War vet became a Bar Harbor hotelier Brian Swartz 30 Newport’s Vic Firth Company Worldwide drumstick manufacturing began in 1963 Brian Swartz 34 Dover’s Colonel Calvin Douty Civil War hero Paul Emerson 38 That Never Again Summer Working at Moosehead Lake John Redden 49 Mattawamkeag’s “Doc” Troutt A greatly loved physician and neighbor Jane Oliver Thompson
Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
Publisher & Editor Jim Burch
Layout & Design Liana Merdan
Advertising & Sales Manager Tim Maxfield
Advertising & Sales Jennifer Bakst Dennis Burch Tim Maxfield
Field Representatives Paul Conley James & Diane Nute
Office Manager Liana Merdan
Contributing Writers Jeffrey Bradley Charles Francis Paul Emerson John Murray
James Nalley John Redden Brian Swartz Jane Oliver Thompson
Published Annually by CreMark, Inc. 10 Exchange Street, Suite 208 Portland, Maine 04101 Ph (207) 874-7720 info@discovermainemagazine.com www.discovermainemagazine.com Discover Maine Magazine is distributed to town offices, chambers of commerce, financial institutions, fraternal organizations, barber shops, beauty salons, hospitals and medical offices, newsstands, grocery and convenience stores, hardware stores, lumber companies, motels, restaurants and other locations throughout this part of Maine. NO PART of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from CreMark, Inc. | Copyright © 2020, CreMark, Inc.
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Front Cover Photo:
Main St. in Dexter. Item # LB2007.1.100518 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org All photos in Discover Maine’s Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties edition show Maine as it used to be, and many are from local citizens who love this part of Maine. Photos are also provided from our collaboration with the Maine Historical Society and the Penobscot Marine Museum.
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It Makes No Never Mind by James Nalley
A
t the time of this publication, it will be March, which is consistently voted by Mainers as one of the two worst months in Maine (the other one being November). Typical words for such an “accolade” include: cold, wet, dead, windy, blah, and “I just want to see something green.” Well, since it is always good to look on the bright side of things, March just happens to be the best month for maple tree sapping. Every March, regardless of the snow levels, the cold nights and relatively warm days inspire the maple trees to send their sweet sap up their trunks in order to feed the buds. This is also when “Maine Maple Sunday” occurs, in which maple producers throughout the state open their doors and allow the public to see how, for example, 40 gallons of maple sap are turned into one gallon of pure Maine maple syrup. Held on the fourth Sunday in March, this annual celebration includes more than 100 sugarhouses, each offering various activities such as sap-boiling demonstrations, syrup tastings, guided tours, and culinary delights ranging from pancakes and candies to maple syrup-topped desserts and baked beans.
In regard to maple syrup itself, there are many interesting facts. First, for those that are health-conscious, maple syrup happens to provide up to three times the sweetening power of cane sugar, with only 40 calories per tablespoon. Second, maple syrup is rich in minerals, such as potassium, magnesium, and iron, and it has the same calcium content as whole milk. Third, Maine has a mandatory maple syrup grading law that all producers must follow. According to a March 2011 article in The Free Press, all commercially sold Maine maple syrup must be one of three grades: 1) Grade A Light Amber (a lighter version made from the first, brief flows of the season); 2) Grade A Medium Amber (a slightly darker version with a stronger flavor that is best on pancakes, waffles, etc.); 3) Grade A Dark Amber (a stronger, darker version of Grade A Medium Amber that is not bitter and can be used in both cooking and at the table); and 4) Grade A Extra Dark Amber (the darkest version with less sweetness and more robust flavor that is best used in recipes such as baked beans). Finally, as stated in Maine Living, “Tapping the maple trees does no permanent damage and some
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maple trees can be tapped for more than 150 years.” For those interested in attending one of these events and enjoying “Maine’s Official Sweetener,” the date is March 22, 2020, and a full listing of participating sugarhouses can be found on the Maine Maple Producers Association website at www.mainemapleproducers. com. Well, on this note, allow me to close with the following syrup-inspired jest: A pharmacist returns to work after a short lunch break. He finds his assistant busy behind the counter and a man holding his stomach and cowering against the wall. The pharmacist asks, “What’s going on?” The assistant explains that the man came in with a very bad cough and asked for some cough syrup. “Well, did you give it to him?” asked the pharmacist, after which the assistant says, “No, we didn’t have any.” Then the pharmacist asks, “So WHAT did you give him?” “Oh, just some dark maple syrup and some strong laxatives,” replies the assistant. The pharmacist yells, “What were you thinking?! That combination doesn’t work!” The assistant smiles and says, “Well, his coughing definitely stopped since he’s too afraid to do it anymore.”
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History Of The CC In Maine Helping people get back to work by John Murray
W
hen President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in 1933 the United States was in the midst of the Great Depression. Many were experiencing difficult times, and a staggering number had lost jobs and could not find work. By March of 1933, 13.6 million people in the United States were unemployed. President Roosevelt knew the challenges that lay before him well before he began his tenure as the leader of the nation. In President Roosevelt’s inaugural address on March 4, 1933, he spoke of the dire need to put people back to work. “Our greatest primary task is to get people back to work. There is no unsolvable problem if we
face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting of the government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and organize the use of our national resources.” The president did not hesitate to put a plan into motion. Two days after the inauguration, President Roosevelt called an emergency meeting with his government officials. In this meeting, he informed the government staff as to what he intended to do. As a component of what he called the New Deal, President Roosevelt would immedi-
ately put a half million young men to work in the newly created CCC, which was the Civilian Conservation Corps. These young men would work in the wilderness, forests and lands throughout the country, and their primary focus was to restore and conserve the legacy of the national lands. On April 5, 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps was established by Congress, and would have a presence in every state of the nation. Shortly thereafter, Maine was informed on April 27, 1933 that the CCC would establish multiple needed camps in the state for extensive long-term projects. The CCC was formulated on a military model, and would be administered and (cont. on page 6)
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(cont. from page 5) run by the United States Army. A training facility was set up at Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth, and recruitment quickly began at the newly formed recruiting office in Bangor. Initial manpower for work projects in Maine would total 1,800 men. Recruitment was based upon the criteria that the candidates had to be unemployed men in good psychical condition, and be between the ages of 18 – 24 years. Boot camp training would last for many weeks at Fort Williams, and its purpose was increasing the physical stamina of the young men, plus instilling the importance of functioning as a team. When boot camp training was completed, the young men would be assigned to work camp locations in the state. Depending on the work camp, an assignment would last for a minimum of six months, or perhaps a maximum of two years. The CCC would provide clothing,
lodging and meals for the workers. Wages for a worker were 30 dollars a month, and was slightly higher for men that were chosen for supervisory duties. It was mandatory that $25 dollars a month would be sent home to the families of the camp workers, and the workers were allowed to keep $5 a month for themselves. The program was fully functional with trained men by July 1933, and 14 work camps were initially established throughout the state. With the success of the program in Maine, a total of 19 work camps would be established by November of 1935, and the total camp work force in Maine would be increased to 3,425 men. That same year the age requirement was modified, and men that were between 18 - 29 years old could now be selected for the program. In the following years, more work camps were established throughout Maine, until the number of work
camps reached 28. With vast sections of forested land in Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Hancock counties, a total of 8 CCC work camps would be built in these three counties. The township locations of these camps were Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor, Patten, Greenfield, Millnocket, Ellsworth, Beddington, and Kokadjo. Even though the CCC was administered by the United States Army, the overseeing supervisory service in Maine was undertaken by the United States National Park Service, or the Maine Forest Service. Work duties varied depending on the overseeing supervisory service agency. The National Park Service focused on forest culture. This included planting trees and combating erosion. Along with that, roads and trails were constructed for the recreational use of the general public. The Maine Forest Service focused on forest fire protection. Flammable brush was
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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com cleared, and fire breaks were constructed in regions that were prone to forest fires. In addition to fire protection, roads and trails were constructed and maintained in the wilderness areas. Work days were highly regimented, and closely resembled the military model. Men lived and slept in large barracks, and the work days were grueling and long. A typical day would begin at 5:30am, and a hearty breakfast was served in the mess hall. Men and required work gear were loaded on trucks, and driven to the work site. A midday lunch break was taken at the work site, and work would continue throughout the remainder of the day. Depending on the season and the availability of daylight, a typical work day averaged 12 hours a day. At the end of the work day, men and gear were back on the trucks and would head back to the work camps for dinner. When at the work camp, men stayed in the barracks
in the camp compound. Remote work sites that were a distance from the work camp would require living in makeshift camps until the project was completed. When CCC work projects were in full swing in the United States, the CCC nationally employed a half million young men during the year. During the nine years that the CCC was run, the program provided jobs for 3 million men until the onset of WWII. In the nine years of its existence, the men of the nationwide CCC planted 3 billion trees, stocked rivers, streams and lakes with nearly 1 billion fish, built and maintained hundreds of miles of roads and trails, suppressed forest fires, fought harmful insect pests in the forests, and constructed 800 state parks throughout the nation. For Maine, the CCC provided well needed employment to a total of 16,686 resident recruits, plus another 1,136 jobs to non-resident recruits that came to
Maine for work opportunities. In addition to those employment numbers, 1,612 supervisors and technical support staff were employed by the CCC in Maine. With the involvement of the United States in WWII, The U.S. Military recognized the regimented military style training of the men that comprised the work force of the CCC, and these men became prime candidates for military service. With the job crisis over at that point in time, the nation now had a new crisis to be concerned about. CCC camps throughout Maine rapidly shut down during this era, and the last CCC camp to close in the region was the Bar Harbor work camp during June 1942. There aren’t many surviving Maine residents that remember the existence of the CCC work camps, but the lasting legacy of the work performed by the CCC is still evident today. *Other businesses from this area are featured in the color section.
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The Wearin’ Of The Green St. Patrick’s Day in Bangor by Charles Francis
B
angor, like most Maine cities that have a significant number of residents who trace their roots back to Ireland, puts on more than the usual display of green on St. Patrick’s Day. Stores, restaurants, and schools all have their leprechauns, Irish harps, and, of course, shamrocks in prominent view. These displays are nothing, however, to those of a hundred and more years ago when the city’s Irish had distinct memories of the old country. Then, the city’s Irish laborers, like the Bangor Mudlarks who loaded and unloaded the countless vessels that lay at anchor in the Penobscot, held parades, drank huge quantities of rum and other spirits, and, of course, proudly sported the green.
Few, except those who were willing to spend something at a florist, however, wore shamrocks because, at that time of the year, everything was either still snow-covered or just beginning to turn to mud. Yet, the sprig of green was always referred to as ‘that precious plant,’ because, more than anything else, it symbolized the home which most had left because of the potato famines of the nineteenth century.
Legend has it that when Saint Patrick was preaching on the Hill of Tara he bent down and plucked a beautiful green plant that had three leaves which he used to illustrate the nature of the Holy Trinity. That plant supposedly was the shamrock. However, ever since that time, naturalists have been arguing just what it was that Saint Patrick picked. Some say it was a variety of clover but they can’t agree whether it was Trifolium repens or Trifolium dubium. Others believe it was a member of the oxalis family. Then there is the argument for Ajuga reptans, the common bugle which is also known as comfrey and carpenter’s herb, and therein lies a story.
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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com The Ajuga is a creeping plant with pale green to purple opposing leaves. It flowers from April to June. Just before the flower opens it looks almost like another leaf. While the Ajuga is often used in rock gardens in the northeast it is not native to North America but instead originated in the British Isles. As the story goes, a young Irishman brought a sprig of Ajuga to the New World from his cottage garden back home. He had it hidden in the lining of his hat because he was afraid authorities would confiscate it. Some believe this one sprig to be the origin of all the Ajuga in North America. Those that believe Ajuga to actually be the shamrock, point to the fact that it was long used in Ireland for medicinal purposes. It is remarkably effective as a cough suppressant and in reducing hemorrhages. In fact, it is similar in some respects to digitalis. The hardships suffered by the Irish
who came to Bangor and other North American cities in the nineteenth century can only be imagined today. The records of vessels carrying Irish immigrants around the 1820s, the period of the first potato famine and when the first wave of Irish came to Bangor, give us some idea, however. In 1819 the Mermaid was blown off course and lost on Cape Negro. While the passengers were saved, they lost all their belongings. In 1825 a hundred and seventy-four were lost when the Nassau went to pieces somewhere in the Gulf of Maine. In 1827 all the passengers on one vessel contracted smallpox. In 1828 the Granicus was wrecked on Anticosti Island. No one survived the winter there. Yet, those who did make it across the Atlantic maintained fond memories of their vanished homes and for many, they were symbolized by the shamrock. For the Irish of nineteenth-century
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Bangor and elsewhere, the shamrock was a symbol of defiance and a declaration of independence. That was why when the Mudlarks marched on Saint Patrick’s Day they invariably sang the words of the old song, “They’re hanging men and women there for wearin’ of the green.” On another level, the shamrock was a tie to a totally different way of life. It represented where the older immigrants or the previous generation had grown up. It brought back memories or stories of the stone cottages, stone walls, and stone arches of Ireland. And it brought back memories of little gardens where people grew their comfrey or carpenter’s herb for its healing power. Whichever plant is truly the shamrock, those that see it as a symbol for March 17th know that it is the little plant that Saint Patrick picked when he preached on the Hill of Tara.
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Boy scout troop outing in Brewer, ca. 1920. Item # 2003.29.27 from the collections of the Brewer Historical Society.
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The Hancock House in Ellsworth. Item # LB2007.1.100693 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
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Students and teachers outside the Deer Isle school, ca. 1900. Item # 7802 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com
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Stonington Harbor ca. 1942. Item # 7884 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com
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Dorothea Dix Remembered The Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center by Charles Francis
I
n 1848 Hampden-born Dorothea Dix addressed the United States Congress. Her subject was one of the causes she devoted much of her life to, adequate funding for facilities and treatment for the insane poor. What Dix wanted from Congress was a federal land grant of 12,500,000 acres. The land was to be set aside as a public endowment to benefit not only the insane but the blind, deaf, and mute. While Congress did pass a bill in support of Dix’s request, it was vetoed by President Franklin Pierce. Dorothea Dix did not give up on her quest for government funding, however. The diminutive social reformer — she weighed ninety-five pounds and
was a lifelong sufferer of tuberculosis — continued her lobbying of federal authorities. In 1854 her request was signed into law. Dorothea Dix may just be Maine’s
most influential native. She is regarded by many as the most significant social reformer of the nineteenth century. While her renown centers on her work for psychiatric care, she is a member of the American Nursing Association’s Hall of Fame for recruiting more than two thousand women to work as nurses for the Union Army during the Civil War. North Carolina has a Dorothea Dix Hospital. The Unitarian Church, of which she was a member, recognizes her as one of the most significant Unitarians of all time. And these are just a few of her accolades. Unfortunately, Dix has been little remembered in her home state. Until recently, that is. Until 2005 the only visible memo-
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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com rial to Dorothea Dix in Maine was a small park in her birthplace of Hampden. Then, in 2005 Bangor Mental Health Institute was renamed the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center. The name change was admittedly politically motivated. Bangor State Representative Sean Faircloth, known as a strong advocate for social reform, called for the name change “to elevate future debate on mental health issues.” Faircloth thought the use of Dix’s name would help call attention to the problems of Mainers facing mental health issues. For a wide range of reasons, the name change was long overdue. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Dorothea Dix was that she accomplished so much for the good of others when she herself suffered greatly in the way of physical illness. Her tuberculosis led to the loss of a lung and years of convalescence while she was still in her twenties. In her mid-thirties, recurring pulmonary hemorrhaging
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forced a return to a bedridden state. She was in her sixties when Secretary of War Simon Cameron made her the first Superintendent of Union Army Nurses. Even in her eighties — she died at eighty-five — Dix was a familiar figure at disaster sites. In her last years, she even took up a new cause, animal welfare. (She saw to it that water troughs were scattered around Boston for overworked and thirsty draft horses.) All of these things and many others Dix accomplished after having been born to what we would call a dysfunctional family. Dorothea Lynde Dix was born in Hampden on April 4, 1802. By all accounts, her father was a drunk and her mother — at the best of times — apathetic. One story has it that she ran away from home at twelve to escape the horror in her family. Fortunately, she did have a doting grandfather, Dr. Elijah Dix. Today, Elijah Dix’s name is pre-
served in Maine in Dixmont, which he owned a large portion of, and Dixfield, where he is buried. The elder Dix was a wealthy man who acted as his granddaughter’s father figure. Unfortunately, Dr. Dix died when Dorothea was seven. Dorothea’s first career was that of teacher. At the age of fourteen, she opened a private school in Worcester, Massachusetts for young women. Foreshadowing her work with the poor, she also taught those who could not afford the cost of the private school in separate evening sessions. While little is made of it by Dix biographers, the most important constant in her life would seem to be Unitarianism, which in the nineteenth century stood in the forefront of a variety of educational and social movements. Dix numbered among her close friends the great Unitarian divine William Ellery Channing as well as such Unitarians as Samuel Gridley Howe, head of the Perkins School for the Blind, and his (cont. on page 18)
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(cont. from page 17) wife Julia Ward Howe, who was noted for her abolitionist stands and as the composer of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Ironically, Clara Barton, another Unitarian reformer and famous for her association with the American Red Cross, was her chief Washington nemesis during the Civil War. It was William Ellery Channing who was indirectly responsible for Dix becoming a crusader for the welfare of the mentally ill. In 1836 Channing was responsible for Dix going to England for tuberculosis treatments. There she stayed with a Unitarian philanthropist named William Rathbone whose charities included the poor and destitute. While in England, Dix first saw the true horror of the then-current treatment of the mentally ill in the infamous Bedlam. Here, patients were chained in unheated and unlighted cells. Sometimes the incarceration lasted years. Rathbone’s charitable activities and her exposure to Bedlam were important factors in Dix’s
own development as a reformer. On her return to the United States in 1838, Dix threw herself into her work to better the conditions of the mentally ill. By 1848, when she appeared before Congress, she had been responsible in part or completely for the establishment of six new asylums as well as eighteen penitentiaries and five hundred poorhouses. In later years, she would influence similar developments in England, on the Continent, and even as far away as Japan. Bangor Mental Health Institute once housed as many as four hundred inpatients. When the institution was renamed Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center the number was only one hundred. The decline in inpatients in part reflected changes in the philosophy of dealing with the mentally troubled as well as state finances. Perhaps both will be reassessed in light of the renaming. Dorothea Dix would certainly work to this end should she still be alive.
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Main Street in Bangor, ca. 1901. Item # 196 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com
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Brewer’s Larry Gorman North woods balladeer by Charles Francis “And when they see me coming, Their eyes stick out like prongs, Saying, “Beware of Larry Gorman! He’s the man who makes the songs.”
T
he above lines were written by Larry Gorman who is probably the best known and least-liked lumberjack to have worked in the north woods in the 1800s. Larry Gorman is the most famous lumberjack of the nineteenth century not because of his skills with an ax or a peavey, which were exceptional, but rather because he composed songs, seventy of which have been preserved. It is these same songs, however, that were responsible for making him the least-
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liked lumberjack of the time. They were biting satires designed to ridicule their unfortunate subject, who most often was someone who worked with Gorman or lived in close proximity to him. Moreover, he has been the subject of two books written by Maine authors, as well as a number of short studies in the country of his birth, Canada. Larry Gorman was born on the Trout River in West Prince, Prince Edward Island in 1846. Prince Edward Island, when Gorman was growing up there, was in a state of almost complete economic depression. For that reason, ‘Islanders’ left in droves to find work elsewhere. This meant either going to sea or working in the woods on the
mainland. Gorman was one of the great number of Islanders who traveled to the north woods of Maine and New Brunswick to find work. And it was in Maine, particularly in the area extending from Lincoln to the far reaches of Aroostook County, as well as on the Union River in Hancock County, where Gorman made his reputation. And what a reputation it was, for it included being made the central character of one of Holman Day’s novels, and having his songs collected first by Fannie Hardy Eckstorm of Brewer, Maine’s first great folklorist, and later by Professor Edward Ives, the founder of the Northeast Folklore Archives at the University of Maine.
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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com If there is a single work that truly captures the drama of the Maine woods and the life of the lumberjack and timber baron, it is King Spruce by Holman Day. One of the reasons that the 1908 novel so successfully depicts life in the north woods is that the characters are based on real-life figures. The most notable of these is the book’s hero, who is none other than Larry Gorman. Day is known to have interviewed Gorman a number of times while working as a newsman for the Lewiston Journal. Gorman, who sometimes worked in a brick factory in Brewer, also caught the attention of Fannie Hardy Eckstorm around the same time that Holman Day was interviewing him. Eckstorm, who traveled throughout the north woods with her trapper father, devoted much of her life to chronicling the folklore of those who followed the traditional lifestyle of the nineteenth century. In 1927 she published Minstrelsy of Maine: Folk-songs and Ballads of the
Woods and Coast with Mary Winston Smyth of Islesford. Smyth’s contribution to the book dealt with the sea while Ekstorm’s dealt with the north woods. Included in the book are several of Gorman’s songs. Much later, Larry Gorman became the subject of University of Maine professor and folklorist Edward Ives’ 1963 book Larry Gorman: The Man Who Made the Songs. Gorman is described by Ives as a larger-than-life figure who was somewhat feared for “the malicious satirical quality” of his songs. In 1993 the book was reissued by a Canadian publisher. A Canadian reviewer writing in The Canadian Journal of Traditional Music said that the publication in Canada “is only fitting as Larry Gorman was a Canadian, and his songs circulated in the Canadian Maritimes as much as in Maine.” Interestingly, the Canadian reviewer, who cites several of Gorman’s songs, does not mention his best-known work, The Good Old
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State of Maine. As Professor Ives said, Larry Gorman’s songs could be quite malicious. For example, when he did not approve of Michael Monaghan, his new brotherin-law, a twice-married man much older than his sister Bridget, he satirized the marriage in a song called Monaghan’s Raffle. The song is rather unique, for in addition to making his sister into a lottery prize and calling Monaghan by the name of Brigham – a reference to Brigham Young and bigamy — he describes the process he went through in composing the song, which appears to have been done in the Brewer brickyard. The lines dealing with the process of composition are as follows: I was sitting alone in the shanty, Never thinking of anything wrong, When a piece of brick hit me square in the neck, and I vowed that I would make a song. (cont. on page 22)
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(cont. from page 21) Several lines later, he refers to Brigham dancing with his concubine, who is, of course, his sister Bridget. Another figure Gorman chose to inflict his biting rancor on was Michael McElroy, a man that Gorman had worked for in Prince Edward Island and that Gorman believed had cheated him. McElroy became the subject of some thirty extremely vicious songs. However, people of the time loved them and
remembered them. The following lines on McElroy give a good idea why: That McElroy is quite a fop, A proud, suspicious, naughty pup, His head is tapering at the top, Like some wild goose decoy. While people were entertained by Larry Gorman’s songs so long as they were about others, almost everyone shunned him out of fear that they would become one of his subjects. Because of
this, Larry Gorman finished out his life in obscurity, working at the brickyard in Brewer. Larry Gorman, the man who made the songs, died in Brewer in 1917. It is interesting to consider how he would have viewed the revival of interest in his songs, which now make more friends for him than when he was alive.
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Dorcas Mitchell Loring Hicks of Hampden, ca. 1910. Item # 15013 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com
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The Seafaring Tapleys Of Brooksville Adventure on the high seas by Jeffrey Bradley
T
he century that followed the Revolutionary War established Maine’s world-phenomenon maritime prowess and the long and storied lineage of great sailing ships and their able masters. Back then trade routes stretching from the Far East to New York or California might take months to navigate. Even “fast” passenger packets between the east and west coasts of America took weeks for having to round Cape Horn at the bottom of South America. Profits depended on speed, so fast “clipper” ships came into vogue that could cross the Atlantic in a “blister-
ing” thirteen days! When the Suez Canal opened in 1849 bigger, slower ships used this shortcut to deliver more goods in slightly less time. But until the opening of the Panama Canal in the early 1900s and the advent of steam a sailing voyage could still take the better part of a year. That much time at sea increased the odds of natural disaster — rogue waves, entangling seaweed, storms, shoals and shipwreck all took their toll. Many a ship just disappeared without ever leaving a trace. But there was a romance about it. Standing on the heaving deck of a JOEL GRAY WILSON PRESIDENT
stout-hulled oaken ship heeling before the wind while leaving a hissing white wake with the rigging thrumming under a leaden cloud-scudded sky was, it was said, to feel God’s own pulse beating against the planking. In Brooksville the adventurous Tapley clan heeded this wild call. Seven of eight brothers went down to the sea in ships to become Master Mariners and live adventurously before the mast. A few led fairly mild careers. Capt. Abram, for instance, commanded brigs and schooners before retiring to Hampden as manager of the Knickerbocker Ice Company on the Penobscot River,
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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com while brother Capt. John engaged sedately in the West Indies trade — although his son, Capt. James H. Tapley, liked to fondly recall his “adventure” with a German submarine off the coast during World War One. Some lived more precariously. Capt. Jerome moved quickly up the ranks and was in command of the David Wasson when a tidal wave struck in 1873 and disabled the vessel east of Bermuda. With no word of their whereabouts, they were eventually given up for lost — until turning up four months later in Montevideo! A British tea merchant had apparently found and “brought them hither,” but getting back to Maine first involved a transatlantic crossing that added months to their schedule. Joy on returning home was tempered by the loss of local crewman Wassie Jones, washed overboard earlier and drowned. Later Capt. Jerome again found himself battling the elements, this time off the Madeira Islands when
a fierce gale drove his ship the Nellie Clifford ashore. Aground and dismasted, he finagled new spars, sails and rigging aloft and still delivered his cargo on time. A faded collection of photographs shows a jumbled wreckage of ships left behind by the storm. Older brother Capt. Thomas was also stranded mid-ocean when a sudden squall swept his vessel. With Yankee ingenuity and the materials at hand he retrofitted his ship and entered port with all goods intact. In keeping with family tradition, Ira, his son, became a captain in the Old Dominion Line aboard the Princess Anne, largest ship in the fleet. Others were not so fortunate. Capt. William commanded the schooner Mattie Holmes without mishap for years but his two captain sons met untimely ends. The elder, Angier, perished piloting a government vessel when a gas buoy exploded; younger son Robert died suddenly when serving aboard the
American Hawaiian Line. Then there was Capt. George. He went to sea at age thirteen and lived to be 90, piloting schooners, brigs and ships before retiring in 1894 and logging an incredible nineteen voyages to the West Indies, crossing the Atlantic twenty-six times, circling the globe four times, doubling Cape Horn off South Africa nine times and crossing the Equator seventeen times! Then tragedy struck. In 1869 in command of the bark Ironsides and accompanied by his wife — not an unusual occurrence given the time spent at sea — somewhere off the west coast of South America she gave birth to a daughter and died. Her body was taken ashore in Peru and buried. Continuing the trek overland and on foot, when alas; the babe died, too. He pressed indomitably on, packing his little girl in a keg of rum then interring her in the family plot then returning all the way to Peru to fetch his poor wife’s body home! What feelings accompanied (cont. on page 26)
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(cont. from page 25) these macabre tasks one can only imagine. Eldest brother Capt. Robert had an easier, if somewhat more lengthy, time of it. Sailing the Hattie E. Tapley (built for the brothers in Bangor in 1862), he made passage for Japan with an even dozen Tapley menfolk aboard. On the manifest — an organ bound for a missionary in Nagasaki. After cruising the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, in navigating the treacherous Straits of Java during a dense fog they “made breakers” and escaped only narrowly by dint of “lively work.” Nearly half a year later they finally raised Japan. The return leg included stops at remote flyspeck Ascension and St. Helena Islands before reaching their New York destination in 1880 — after some 700 days at sea! Whether that organ ever reached the missionary in Nagasaki goes unreported. (Thanks to the Brooksville Historical Society’s “Traditions and Records
Street scene in Bucksport showing Harriman’s Garage. Item # LB2007.1.100347 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www. PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
Collection 1935-36” sourced online at http://genealogytrails.com/maine/hancockco/misc_shipsandsailors.html for assisting in this article.)
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Bar Harbor’s John H. Douglass Civil War vet became a Bar Harbor hotelier by Brian Swartz
W
ounded twice during a suicidal charge during the Civil War, John H. Douglass came home to Bar Harbor and opened one of the town’s first hotels. Born in Montrose, Scotland in 1799, William Stuart Douglass emigrated to the United States in 1815. He settled in Maine and married Priscilla Doane, born in Bucksport in 1805. The couple lived in Northport when a son, John H. Douglass, was born on October 7, 1840. When he was 12, Douglass “commenced … to make my home in the Town of Eden on Mt. Desert Island,” he wrote in 1910. “My parents being very poor, I at the age of 13 … started to go to sea, as cook
of a fishing schooner,” he recalled. The work paid him “5.00 per month” plus “my board” and “lodging.” Douglass remained a sailor until spring 1862. He married Margarette Higgins of Eden on April 19. They would have 10 children, of whom six would survive to adulthood. That summer Maine organized five infantry regiments, numbered 16 to 20 and all destined for battlefield glory. Douglass joined a so-called “Ellsworth company,” commanded by Captain Zemro Smith, that became Company C, 18th Maine Infantry Regiment. Commanded by Colonel Daniel Chaplin, the regiment mustered at Bangor on August 21, 1862. “On the 27th
of … August we left Bangor, Maine for Washington D.C. for further orders,” Douglass recalled. Then ten companies and one thousand men strong, and the 18th Maine went into the forts protecting Washington, D.C. “After 3 months delay … we were made into the 1st Maine” Heavy Artillery, according to Douglass. The transformation added eight companies and 800 men to the regiment, and the soldiers trained on the siege guns and other artillery in the D.C. forts. The book The First Maine Heavy Artillery by Horace H. Shaw and Charles J. House, describes Douglass as “m.” (married) and 21 when he joined the 18th Maine, a name almost forgotten (cont. on page 28)
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The Bar Harbor Grand Hotel is a replica of Bar Harbor’s historic Rodick House. With its great downtown location, the Bar Harbor Grand Hotel offers first class amenities and personal service. Bar Harbor ME • 207 288 5226 • barharborgrand.com
Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
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(cont. from page 27) by history after the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery went to war in May 1864. To reinforce the battle-damaged Army of the Potomac, Major General Ulysses Grant summoned several heavy artillery regiments from their District billets. “In May 1864, we left the defenses of Washington D.C. on board of a U.S. Transport & went down to Bellsplain [Belle Plain] Landing” on the Potomac River in Virginia, Douglass remembered long afterwards. The 1st MHA lads “went on shore & started across country to Fredericksburg,” he wrote. “Our first engagement against canon (sic) and Bullets was” at Harris Farm on May 19, and “we lost heavily in Men & officers here. I had 3 bullets cut my clothing, but no blood brought in this Battle.” Moving south with the Army of the Potomac, the 1st MHA crossed the James River on a pontoon bridge and “went in[to] camp for a day or two of
very much needed rest,” Douglass recalled. “We had to go out foraging for something to eat. We lived on Old Dry corn on the cobb for a while.” Then the regiment gained immortality outside Petersburg on June 18, 1864. Ordered to charge across open ground to capture Confederate fortifications, the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery advanced in three lines “about 4 o’clock … with 900 able-bodied young men,” Douglass noted. Shredded by enemy fire, “600 of our Regt fell dead & wounded in the charge,” he wrote. “I got up within 20 yds of the forts and was shot with two Bullets – one through the right arm above the elbow and another Bullet through my left shoulder. This Bullet broke up my collar bone, split off some of my shoulder blade [,] passing out just clearing my backbone and through everything,” Douglass wrote.
Evacuated to an Army hospital and then a hospital ship, he sailed with “some 700 badly wounded boys … down the James River and out to Sea bound North.” At 4 p.m., June 29, eleven days after “I received my wounds in front of Petersburgh (sic) … I had my wounds dressed” at a military hospital in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, Douglass recalled. Mustered out on January 10, 1865, Douglass later served as a lightkeeper at Goose Rock Lighthouse, located off North Haven. Dissatisfied with the job, he returned to Eden and built and operated the three-story Atlantic House, “situated in a park [on Atlantic Avenue], and free from dust,” according to a period advertisement. Located a five-minute walk from the “Steamboat depot,” the hotel offered “croquet and other grounds” and represented a “superior chance for Surf Bathing, and all the privileges found at
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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com the other Hotels,” the ad noted. The hotel opened on July 4, 1873. Unfortunately, a “fire … said to have been caused by children at play with matches in the stable” flattened the Atlantic House in late August 1873,” reported The New York Times. “Two sick guests were removed to safety,” and “the exertions of the guests and islanders” prevented the fire from spreading to “several adjoining houses.” The loss was calculated to be $3,000. Douglass had $1,500 in insurance coverage. According to the January 6, 1917 edition of the Bar Harbor Times, Douglass “was one of the pioneer hotel keepers in Bar Harbor.” He rebuilt the Atlantic House “on the site of the present Louisburg [Hotel],” the paper indicated, and the newer Atlantic House “is part of the Louisburg structure at the present day.” Margarette Douglass died in Bar Harbor on March 2, 1887. John Doug-
lass married Lorinda “Rena” Anderson in Ellsworth on April 13, 1888, and two of their five children reached adulthood. A Mason and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Douglass moved with Rena to Longmont, Colorado in 1906 and died there on Monday, January 1, 1917. He was survived by Rena and seven children.
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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
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Newport’s Vic Firth Company Worldwide drumstick manufacturing began in 1963 by Brian Swartz
T
he world’s top timpanist saw something special in Newport, where the company that he incorporated in 1963 now manufactures 70 percent of all drumsticks purchased worldwide. Vic Firth “was the Larry Byrd of that instrument, the timpani, and he was a great person to work for,” said Neil Larrivee, vice president of drumstick and mallet innovation for Zildjian|Vic Firth|Balter. A drummer himself, Larrivee “started working for Vic in 1986” in Boston “and thought I was going to be there for three months.” He has worked for the company ever since.
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Although born in 1930 in Winchester, Massachusetts, Firth moved with his parents to Sanford while young. His father, a trumpet player, “was a band director and taught in the Sanford schools,” and Firth “grew up in
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a musical home,” Larrivee said. Exposed to the clarinet, drum, piano, and trombone, Firth was “mostly interested in playing drum sets and the vibraphone,” according to Larrivee. While attending Sanford High School at age 15, Firth adopted the nickname “Vic” and booked his 12-piece big band into venues across New England. He studied percussion in Maine with Salvy Cavicchio and then in Boston with George Lawrence Stone and Larry White. Firth studied at the New England Conservatory after graduating from Sanford. Winning an audition to join the Boston Pops Orchestra at age 20,
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he successfully auditioned for Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Charles Munch and joined that organization in 1952. Four years later the BSO named Firth its principal timpanist. “Renowned as the greatest timpanist of his time,” Firth provided “rhythmic precision” and “consistency in sound … different ways to make the music sparkle,” Larrivee said. “He had this imagination for sound. He developed sticks and mallets to improve his own sound, to explore different colors of sound.” Fellow NEC students and “orchestra colleagues are hearing him play” and “are wanting similar sticks and mallets,” Larrivee said. “The first real order from a retailer came from Frank’s Drum Shop in Chicago. Vic tells him, ‘I’m not in business,’” but the owner of Frank’s “ordered the first dozen pairs” of sticks.
The Vic Firth Company “started that simply,” Larrivee said. Firth “realized the real business is in drum sets,” so he started manufacturing drumsticks “for the drummer playing in his own garage,” Larrivee noted. “Leveraging his fame,” Firth connected “with drum-set artists to play his products. “A true Mainer” who “hunted and fished in Maine when he was growing up,” Firth lived in Boston, but “knew the experienced wood-turners were up here,” Larrivee said. Seeking to “provide an opportunity for people to work in Maine,” Firth acquired the former Banton Brothers property on High Street in Newport in 1994. “There were wood-consumer products being made here” in the seven-building complex along the Sebasticook Lake shore, according to Larrivee. “We had experience in how good they made our sticks for us.”
Firth expanded manufacturing in Newport, and today the company averages around 150 employees there, “depending on the time of the year,” Larrivee said. The company purchases wood in 1-by-1-by-17-inches “squares” and kiln dries the wood on site “so we can control the moisture content to what we want,” Larrivee said. “How we control the drying process” is vital to manufacturing sticks and mallets. The wood is about 70-percent hickory, with “a very straight grain and very durable” and grown in the Southeast, he noted. The Vic Firth Company also uses hard rock maple, persimmon, and “some laminated product.” As a tour through the plant revealed, the company produces an incredible array of drumsticks and mallets in many styles and colors, in diameters ranging from 5/16th’s of an inch to 1¼ inches. (cont. on page 32)
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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
32
(cont. from page 31) “Considered the premium drumsticks in the world,” Newport-made products “are sold to the end of the earth,” Larrivee said. The Newport plant also makes the Zildjian Company line of drumsticks and some custom products. “Seventy percent of the world’s drumsticks are coming out of Newport,” Larrivee said. “By far we have the largest market share for drumsticks in the world.” He worked many years for Firth, who retired from the Boston Symphony in 2002. “He treated people who worked for him so very, very well,” said Larrivee. “‘You don’t work for me; you work with me’ is what Vic would say.” Earlier this century, Firth sold his company to Zildjian, a 395-year-old, family-owned company that makes cymbals and saw its brand made famous by Beatles’ drummer Ringo
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Starr. Zildjian is investing heavily in Newport; the company transferred the manufacture of Balter Mallets there after acquiring that brand in 2018. Today, the Newport facility also produces Vic Firth and Balter keyboard mallets, plus such percussion accessories as drum pads and drum mutes. Zildjian will “completely refurbish” a newer building located in Progress Park off Main Street in Newport, Larrivee said. Some operations have already moved to the new facility, and “we expect to move everything there in two or three years.” The move “allows us to upgrade our products, and own our workplace,” he said. “People really love making great product here. There’s a great pride” among the employees, Larrivee said. Vic Firth died in Massachusetts in late July 2015.
DiscoverMaine Magazine has been brought to you free through the generous support of Maine businesses for the past 29 years, and we extend a special thanks to them. Please tell our advertisers how much you love Discover Maine Magazine by doing business with them whenever possible. Thanks for supporting those businesses that help us bring Maine’s history to you!
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Mayo’s Mil and view of bridge in Dover-Foxcroft. Item # LB2008.19.116126 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
BROOKS TIRE & AUTO “Sitting right on the 45th parallel for over 50 years”
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And Hearing Aid Sales Christopher Clukey, Audiologist, MA, CCC-A
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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
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Dover’s Colonel Calvin Douty by Paul Emerson
C
alvin Sanger Douty resided in the quiet village of Dover, the shiretown of Piscataquis County. In April of 1861, after the firing on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln made his call for 300,000 men. Calvin S. Douty had passed the fifty-year mark in his life. He was enjoying the modest competency acquired by the honorable toil of his earlier years. He had an excellent reputation among his fellow citizens and had just been elected High Sheriff of his county for the third time. He was just beginning to serve his first year in that term. Being a patriotic and honest citizen, the sense of duty was calling him to serve his country in its time of peril.
Civil War hero The pleadings of his wife, Emily, and not wishing to leave his children, restrained him for a time. But with the disaster at the 1st Bull Run, which extinguished the thoughts of a speedy resolution to the outbreak, he notified the state authorities of his readiness to resign his office and serve as a soldier in the war of the Union. On the 24th of October, 1861, he was commissioned Major of the First Regiment Maine Cavalry and devoted himself with his accustomed energy to the cause for which he was well-qualified to command. In November the regiment went into camp at Augusta, and the Major familiarized himself and his men
with the tactics and drill of the Cavalry service. On December 22nd, 1861, his youngest boy, age 15 months, fell a victim to diphtheria, and eight days later his nine-year-old son died of the same disease. Of the six children who had blessed his happy home, all but one had passed away. On the 20th of March, 1862, Major Douty left Augusta in command of a detachment of 400 men. Their destination was Harpers Ferry, and they were acting as a guard to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. On the 9th of May, he received a commission as Lieutenant Colonel of the Regiment. The next day his command was ordered to join General Banks at Strasburg, Virginia.
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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com About May 20th, word was sent that Stonewall Jackson was making his way to Winchester by the Front Royal Turnpike with a large force. With General Banks only having 5,000 men, an immediate retreat became necessary. Col. Douty was ordered to reconnoiter with his small force towards Winchester. After arriving in Middletown, he detoured on a crossroad leading to the Front Royal Turnpike to seek out the strength and whereabouts of the enemy. After a few miles march, he encountered a woman at a wayside farmhouse. Protesting herself a Unionist, she informed him that Jackson had routed Col. Kenley’s 1st Maryland Cavalry at Front Royal, and was advancing with an immense army, a portion of which had gone forward to Winchester, while the main body was marching down the same road to intercept Banks at Middletown. Col. Douty’s quick instinct defined the rebel plan. Jackson was known to
have 25,000 men. He had dispatched 10,000 men to Winchester, while he himself led the remaining 15,000 toward the Strasburg Turnpike. The situation was critical. If the 10,000 men reached Winchester before Banks, his men and supply trains would likely be captured, especially with Jackson and 15,000 men coming up the rear. Col. Douty saw at once that the only hope consisted in diverting General Jackson from his purpose. To this he devised a scheme. After listening to the woman’s story with perfect composure, he informed her with an air of assured confidence that General Banks was then advancing on the crossroads with 40,000 men. He told her he was overjoyed at the prospect of meeting the rebel army. The hilly nature of the country aided in his deception, and feigning to be the advance of Bank’s Army, he gave his men orders to form a line of battle.
The ruse worked precisely as he anticipated. The woman, whose loyalty was to Virginia and the Confederacy, hastily dispatched messages to the rebel chief to inform him that Banks was closing with 40,000 men. Jackson was puzzled, but it appeared to him that Banks must have been suddenly reinforced by General McDowell. A change of orders was deemed necessary, and General Elwell’s force of 10,000 was ordered back from Winchester. As soon as Col. Douty became aware that his plan had worked and saw the rebels advancing, he ordered a retreat. By doing this, General Banks made his way to Winchester and safety, but Col. Douty and his men, to ensure the safety of General Banks, held back the rebel advance inch by inch. They held their position against 2,000 infantry and a battery of six guns for four hours with the loss of only 16 wounded. (cont. on page 36)
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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
36
(cont. from page 35) The rebel General Ashby afterward remarked that “Col. Douty’s cavalry was as obstinate as a mule.” It would only move as it was shelled from pointto-point. They had saved Banks’ Army. Col. Douty had been in the saddle 48 hours, and sleepless for 60 hours. In the following days, his opportunities for rest were brief and infrequent for his detachment had to cover the retreat from Winchester to Williamsport. Because of this he became ill and was sick for several weeks with typhoid fever. Upon his recovery, he resumed active service and fought in the several campaigns of Pope, Burnside, and Hooker. From September 1862 he was in actual command of the Regiment, but his promotion to the rank of Col. did not take place until January 5th, 1863. In March of 1863, a furlough of 15 days was given to him by his commanding general. He made a brief visit
to his home, and on his return, his wife accompanied him to New York City. It was here they parted for the last time. He was in good health, full of hope and courage, proud of his regiment and happy with military life. Shortly after the return to his post, General Stoneman’s raid upon Richmond was projected. This enterprise was suited for his love for adventure, and he embarked on it with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, General Hooker’s repulse at Chancellorsville rendered the expedition unavailing, but history will accord a merit of praise to those daring soldiers who rode to the very gates of Richmond and stood ready to open them to the advancing Union Army. The battle of Aldie, in which Col. Douty fell, was fought on the afternoon of June 17th, 1863. The Regiment had marched for 25 miles that day and arrived as the battle was already in progress. This was to be an important en-
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gagement, and the object was to find the position of Lee’s Army. General Stuart was in command of the rebel force and had the advantage in numbers and artillery. The Union Army was at a standstill, and the events of the day were turning against them. In this crisis, the commanding General summoned Col. Douty’s Regiment to his aid. Weary as they were because of the long march under burning sun, the veterans rallied at the call of their leader and dashed up the road in the face of terrible fire from carbines, rifles, and cannon, sweeping everything before them. They ended the fight with a decisive victory. The happiness of triumph which heralded their success was soon hushed by the sorrow of the loss of their Colonel who had fallen dead in the extreme advance. He had shown his country glory and devotion with his life. Col. Calvin Sanger Douty was sent home to Dover to be buried with a sol-
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37
DiscoverMaineMagazine.com dier’s honor. In a peaceful graveyard in Dover stands a tasteful marble column of beautiful workmanship where inscribed is a tribute to him.
In memory of Calvin Sanger Douty, Col., First Maine Cavalry, U.S. Volunteers, killed in battle, At the head of his regiment At the victory of Aldie, Virginia, June 17, 1863, In the third year of the war for the Union aged 50 years
Sid Young’s residence at 26 East Road in Greenville, ca. 1900. Item # LB2007.1.106703 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
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Harris Drug Store Serving the Moosehead Lake Area since 1896
FULL PRESCRIPTION SERVICE Registered Pharmacists:
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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
38
That Never Again Summer Working at Moosehead Lake
I
by John Redden
t was 1,000 years and 54 summers ago that I left home and experienced 3 special months that could never happen again. During the summer of 1966 I worked as a bucker in the north woods of Maine next to East Outlet in the Moosehead Lake area and took a few steps into adulthood. The story begins at the Swarthmore train station platform in early June. Jim Wire, Hank Simmons and I had just graduated from Nether Providence High School in Wallingford, PA, and along with Sam Caldwell, who had just graduated from Swarthmore High School, were waiting for the local commuter train to take us into Philadelphia. From there we would
Left to right: John Redden, Mike Isgro, Hank Simmons and Jim Wire. Photo taken at Squaw Mountain Camp
board a bus for Waterville, Maine. At the time, I took it for granted that my dad, Clarence Albert Redden, was a respected mechanical engineer at Scott Paper Company in Chester, Pennsylvania and in the 1940s and 1950s was the chief engineer at the old Hollingsworth &
Whitney paper company in Waterville. So, via his connections, my dad got all four of us jobs as buckers in northern Maine. We would work out of a logging camp that was in the vicinity of Squaw Mountain, Indian Pond and East Outlet of Moosehead Lake. Looking back on it, it’s amazing the arrangements were ever made because my dad was very safety conscious and understood that the job had its inherent dangers with chainsaws in an environment of moving logs and heavy diesel equipment. My dad also understood that his then arrogant son had the maturity level of any invincible 18-year-old. But he must also have calculated that I needed
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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com to be out of the house that summer and learn some life lessons that can only be acquired through hard physical labor. What mattered to me was that I would be far away from home and making $2.42 an hour, which was big money at the time. When we arrived in Waterville, we met two other recent high school grads: Mike Isgro and Charley. The six of us piled into Mike’s car and we arrived at the Scott Paper Squaw Mountain logging camp approximately 10 miles northwest of Greenville at around 2 AM on a Monday morning. The enormous bugs buzzing around the outside light bulb were profuse as Pete the camp cook opened the door and told us where our bunks were. Pete stood about 6’ 6”, was skinny as a rail and soft spoken. I’ll never forget his greasy donuts. The next morning, we met the logging men who worked year-round for Scott Paper at the camp. We were is-
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sued hard hats, work boots with steel tipped toes and synthetic patches that we sewed into our pants at the knee areas to prevent injuries. Hearing and eye protection were not part of our personal protection equipment. Avon Thompkins of Greenville was the Squaw Mountain camp foreman, and nobody doubted he was in charge. I’ll never forget his piercing blue eyes, bald head and broad shoulders. But it was Jesse Johnson of Greenville who patiently taught us to use and maintain our bow chain saws and sharpen their chain teeth correctly at the proper file angle. Jesse was already in his mid-fifties with plenty of grey hair but worked alongside us each day and was always pleasant. Chet Pinnetti of Jackman also was a good instructor. Everyone helped us manage the black fly problem and “no see ems” that were part of our daily lives. Cursing was a fully integrated staple in their communication, and
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each had his own colorful phrases that I had not heard before. Herby Clark of Greenville was Pete’s assistant in the kitchen. Herby had just graduated from Greenville High School where he was the quarterback on the football team. He amazed me when he said they played their November games in the snow. Herby always had a laugh and cheerful temperament. Jack was the friendly truck driver from Greenville who hauled the long logs from the woods to the river. The Squaw Mountain logging camp was located about 4 miles east of Route 6/15 and ½ mile from Indian Pond. It had a dining room, kitchen, bathroom with showers and a bunk house. We buckers even had our own room in the bunk house. The beds had mattresses and we were issued sheets. A diesel generator powered the electricity for the lights and the pump for the water well. Things were very comfortable. (cont. on page 40)
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(cont. from page 39) Our job as buckers was to cut up the felled logs into pulpwood. We arose at 5 AM each day for breakfast and were driven in the back of Jesse’s pick-up truck to the worksite located on the west bank of East Outlet approximately ¼ mile south of Route 6/15. East Outlet was a river that began at the nearby dam on the south end of Moosehead Lake and ended at the north end of Indian Pond. Our work began promptly at 6:30 when the big logging trucks began to haul in de-limbed trunks from the forest to the river worksite. A skidder operator would wrap a large cable around the 40 +/- foot long logs and pull them off the truck into a big noisy, messy pile. The logs were supported off the ground by larger diameter logs that were established perpendicular to the river. We buckers, in teams of two, would then begin to unravel and roll the logs using “cant dogs” so that they abutted each other and were orientated
The bowsaw, a chainsaw used in the 1960s and designed for cutting pulpwood.
parallel to the river. After this large raft of logs was assembled, we would cut the wood into 4-foot lengths with our gasoline powered bowsaws that had a plastic rod attached to help us quickly gauge the correct pulpwood length. A Scott official from Waterville showed up one day and barked out, “Send them home if they cut pulp more than four feet.” The loggers used chainsaws, like
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you see today with the straight bar, to fell trees in the woods. But we buckers next to the river were issued bow chain saws to cut the logs into pulpwood. The looped bar was somewhat like an oval with a maximum radius of approximately 6 inches. They are made for a plunge type cut and their compact design made it easy on your back. They had a guard on the top portion of the bar for safety and a spur on the bottom of the bar to prevent kickbacks. You simply start your cut with the spur engaged against the bottom of the log and push through. From a maintenance standpoint, the clutch and sprocket on a bowsaw seldom got clogged with sawdust, since all the chips exit down by the spur. Cleaning the bowsaw was easy and quick. However, accidents can happen, and Mike gashed his hand and was placed on light duty until it healed. After we had reduced the logs into pulpwood the skidder operator with his
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big blade would push the pulpwood into East Outlet. The current would then carry the pulpwood on their 3-mile journey down East Outlet into Indian Pond. In Indian Pond the floating pulpwood was corralled within a large boom that was hauled by a small tugboat to the south end of Indian Pond. A sluice allowed the pulpwood to pass around the dam and enter the north end of the Kennebec River for its slow free ride to the Scott Paper mill in Winslow. Once I was given a ride in Indian Pond in a small boat with an outboard engine. When the operator wanted to get inside the boom with the pulpwood, we would shift to the back of the boat to lift the bow out of the water and he would speed up. At the instant the boat passed over the log boom he would pivot the propeller out of the water! His timing was always perfect, and we never experienced having the engine ripped off the stern.
Back at East Outlet the logging trucks arrived incessantly all day and we buckers had to keep up with the pace. Day after day it was constant unraveling and rolling the pile of logs and then cutting them into pulpwood. Any available time was spent filing your chainsaw teeth to keep them sharp. Once Hank bent over and gasped in pain, saying “I think I have cancer.” Jesse knew what was going on. Hank only had heat exhaustion due to dehydration, and a little time in the shade and water brought him back. After this we were careful to drink plenty of water and take the salt tablets they gave us. Sometimes Jesse would let us take his truck to Wilson’s Cabins next to the dam where there was a Coke machine. We worked shirtless and, after our sunburns healed, were well tanned. We traveled back to camp, approximately 15 minutes each way, for lunch and then returned to East Outlet
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for the hot afternoon work session. Our breakfast consisted of pancakes, eggs and toast; lunch was a good variety of sandwiches with soup, and dinner fare was steak, potatoes and pies for dessert. Always, there were Pete’s donuts and lots of other carbs at every meal, but we burned up the calories next to the river and never gained a pound. There was also a big diesel electric saw at the East Outlet work site that mechanically fed the long logs into its cutting zone to cut pulpwood. It was operated by only one man and so there was an under-current of competition between this job-eliminating machine of the future and us sweat-drenched, hardworking buckers. So, one day while maintaining the 3-foot diameter blade, the holding nut rolled down the wooden sluice and into the water. The big saw production stopped and we buckers basked in momentary victory. I mentioned to Avon (cont. on page 42)
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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
42
(cont. from page 41) that I had brought a snorkel mask from home, so Jesse drove me back to camp to get it while they shut the gates at the East Outlet Dam. At first, I fished out a long-lost picaroon. But after a few tries, I managed to come up with the missing nut from the bottom of the river and was a hero for about one minute. Then it was back to the routine of bucking pulpwood and the endless competition of man vs. machine. During weekends Mike and Charley would always drive back to Waterville. Someone would always give Jim, Hank, Sam and me a ride into Greenville after work on Fridays to deposit our paychecks and do laundry. While there we would explore the pretty little village of Greenville. There was the Indian Store with a wide variety of things to check out. And we went to the movie theatre and saw “The Hallelujah Trail” starring Burt Lancaster and “Sands of the Kalahari” starring Stuart Whitman.
Somehow, we met a local elderly gentleman that invited us to stay in his barn during our weekends in Greenville. We made the best of it although there was no water or toilets, which made necessities challenging in the morning. We had noble intentions to paint his barn to reciprocate his kindness but never did. I regret we never adequately thanked that man for his hospitality. Toward the end of the summer Scott Paper moved us over to the Lily Bay logging camp for one week to cut pulpwood. Scott Paper boomed the acres of pulpwood from Lily Bay across Moosehead Lake to East Outlet with their boat called the Katahdin. During one weekend we were required to pick stranded pulpwood from the banks of East Outlet down to Indian Pond and were paid overtime for it. Scott Paper had also rounded up some local guys to help pick the river and one would be going to St. Louis Uni-
versity that fall on a soccer scholarship. The gates at the East Outlet dam were opened to raise the water level and we waded along the riverbanks to drag the stranded pulpwood back into the moving current using picaroons. Some skilled boatmen were in a bateau that contained our lunch and snacks. This small boat followed us down river. We waded in the water all day and were dog tired when it ended. One Friday night, when checking into our “econo-barn” motel, our elderly benefactor knocked on the door and said “Boys, I have a bone to pick with you. My daughter saw you using the area behind the barn for a toilet.” So, from then on, we had to be more discreet in how we conducted ourselves in that routine human endeavor. One solution to the problem was to volunteer to be weekend camp watchmen at the Squaw Mountain logging camp which also earned a little extra
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43
DiscoverMaineMagazine.com pay. We could go into the refrigerated food locker and cut off huge hunks of meat from the hanging carcasses. We also went swimming in Indian Pond, which was warmer than Moosehead. I learned quickly that there is nothing in the world that imparts such true satisfaction as swimming over your head in a clear Maine Lake. It is one thing that lures me back each summer and I must obey. We would also try standing up on a big old boom log to see how long we could keep our balance before falling into the water. However, our biggest kick, which was not allowed, was to hop on the big diesel skidders and race them around the endless logging roads that encircled Squaw Mountain. It was a unique amusement park ride and fortunately we never overturned or crashed. My father’s prayers for our safety were evidently being answered. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, God was watching over me in those
days when my judgement was less than fully mature. Avon would have fired us on the spot if he ever knew we were being paid overtime to hijack skidders for our Squaw Mountain joy rides. All I can say now is at 18 you do crazy things. At the end of the summer Avon’s parting words were, “You stayed with it right well.” I learned more useful skills during those 3 summer months at East Outlet than I did during my next 4 ½ years at college. Many of the institutions, characters, names of places and work practices in this personal recollection have long ceased to exist. The use of water for the transportation of pulpwood and the buckers associated with that work practice are now part of Maine history as sunken logs were determined by environmentalists in the ‘70s to be harmful to Maine’s lakes and rivers. The last pulpwood boom across Moosehead
Lake and down Indian Pond occurred in 1975. It’s also interesting that Scott Paper ceased to exist in 1995 when it was acquired by Kimberly Clark. It won’t be easy to find Squaw Mountain on a map today because it was renamed Big Moose Mountain in the mid-70s. So, before I too am noted as passing, something now compels me to document those long ago summer days when times were different in the Maine woods.” In the summer of 2016, fifty years later, I returned to Maine to show my wife Claudia the locations of the long-vacated Squaw Mountain logging camp and our East Outlet work site. We visited Indian Pond, explored the village of Greenville and took a boat ride up Moosehead on the restored Katahdin. We rented a cottage at Wilson’s near East Outlet and hiked up Mt. Kineo for (cont. on page 44)
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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
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(cont. from page 43) a spectacular view of Moosehead Lake. During an evening walk near the East Outlet dam, the breeze across Moosehead Lake was full of the shadows of Avon, Jesse, Jim, Hank and others alive and dead with my own among them. Their silent whispers confirmed what I could not know at 18 — that life is a
wonderful gift even while sweating under the summer sun cutting pulpwood at East Outlet. There I experienced that never again summer and took a few steps into adulthood. John Redden is a retired civil engineer and lives near Leavenworth, Kansas with his wife Claudia. They return to Maine each summer.
A cant dog, a traditional logging tool consisting of a wooden lever handle with a moveable metal hook called a dog at one end, used for handling and turning logs
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Jerry’s Hardware
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Museum open May 27 – Sept 30 Outstanding exhibits on cultural development from prehistory to local history Year-round programming in Hutchins Education Center www.wilsonmuseum.org for more information
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Left to right: Mrs. B.F. Colcord, Capt. B.F. Colcord (master of the vessel) and Capt. Albert Ballard on the WILLIAM H. CONNER in Searsport, ca. 1880. Item # 4195 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com
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46
Main Street in Dexter, ca. 1963. Item # 26116 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com
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North Street in Dover-Foxcroft. Item # LB2007.1.100535 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
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Main Street (west) in Dover-Foxcroft. Item # LB2007.1.100540 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
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Mattawamkeag’s “Doc” Troutt A greatly loved physician and neighbor by Jane Oliver Thompson
C
arl Ellwood Troutt was born in a home delivery at his parents’ residence in La Plata, Missouri on July 7, 1905. His parents, Martha Estelle Gilbreath and Charles Martin Troutt were born and grew up near La Plata and were married in 1900. She was 20 and the oldest of a family of five while he was 19 and the youngest of a family of 13. The Gilbreaths were of Scots-English ancestry and the Troutt family was of English and Irish ancestry. Carl was the oldest of four children. The youngest three children were daughters, Ada Ruth, Ruby Louise, and Laura Avanel. Ada Ruth died at the
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age of four of undetermined liver disease. Avanel died at the age of six from severe scarlet fever and pneumonia. Ruby Louise Troutt Middleton lived a full life in St. Louis, Missouri. Soon after Carl was born, his father went west in search of a better living than appeared to be attainable as a Missouri farmer. He obtained employment in one of the largest of many lead mines in Idaho, this one in the town of Wallace. His wife and nine-month-old son joined him there and they lived in Wallace for two years until the prospects appeared brighter at Grants Pass, Oregon. Ada Ruth was born to the family at Wallace. The family lived in Grants
Pass for nearly two years and were joined by the birth of second sister Ruby Louise. Soon after the Oklahoma Territory opened up and Oklahoma became a state, the Troutt family migrated by train to Mounds, Oklahoma, where the father owned and operated a blacksmith and wagon repair business for about two years. The lure of the open country was answered by the Troutt family taking out an eight-year lease on 80 acres. Most of it was woods which C.M. Troutt cleared. Then he built a house and barn, and entered the questionable vocation of farming. Carl started his education at a one(cont. on page 50)
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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
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(cont. from page 49) room country school shortly after he was seven. His first teacher was an intelligent half English, half Creek Indian girl named Mary Wilson. She was an inspirational teacher. Carl made three grades the first year of school. He and his sister Ruby walked about four miles to school across the Oklahoma countryside each day. Crop failures and the hot winds of central Oklahoma were too much for the Troutt family, though. When Carl was ten, they moved to Huntsville, Missouri, and soon after to a farm about midway between Huntsville and Clifton Hill. At the one-room country school which the Troutt children attended, the rotating grade system was utilized to spare the teachers having classes in all eight grades. The odd-numbered grades were taught one year and the even-numbered grades were taught the next two years, thus from the sixth grade, Carl went into the eighth grade. Midway through that
INK R D
year, the family moved to Huntsville, where he finished the eighth grade with the highest grade in a class of seventy. He was promoted to high school in 1919. No one had noticed that his seventh grade year was overlooked. Carl enjoyed high school and was very active for four years at Huntsville, graduating in early June of 1923. There were forty-nine members of the class to graduate. Carl enrolled as a Freshman in September of the same year at the University of Missouri as a pre-medical student. The University study continued for seven years. Carl received an A.B. Degree from the University of Missouri at Columbia in June of 1929. Then came a year at postgraduate study before entering medical school. There were only the first two years offered at that time. The Troutt family were never in possession of any superfluous funds, so Carl earned his school expenses by
working for his father, who at this time was a building contractor. Proficiency was learned at common labor, carpentry and later some architectural experience was attained. It became obvious that a medical education was going to cost more than available funds would permit. About this stage, Carl became interested in Osteopathy. After investigation, he learned that he could transfer to the university’s main campus at Kirksville, Missouri at much less overall expense than continuing in the medical school. In spite of finding part-time employment, it was necessary to take about two years off to work for enough money to finish the four-year professional college training. He received his Doctor of Osteopathy and Surgery in the class of 1936. After graduation, he rejoined his father in the construction business at Columbia. Near the middle of October 1936, it appeared to be the best policy to
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Whitney’s Outfitters Guns • Hunting • Fishing • Camping
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establish a professional business as a physician someplace. A love affair had been brewing between Carl and Miss Frances Opal McCowan, a red-haired young woman generally highly capable but sometimes lacking in judgement. She was born and grew up near Mexico, Missouri and was working in a beauty shop in St. Louis at the time. To make a long story short, Carl and Opal were married on October 28, 1936, and nine days later were en route to Northern Maine in a second-hand 1929 Pontiac Coupe. Neither of the newlyweds had ever been east of the Mississippi River before, but one of Carl’s school chums, Albert J. Gulesian, had moved to Lincoln, Maine to establish his first practice, and was doing well. Dr. Troutt and his bride were anxious to find a place nearby so that the two chums could work together. Mattawamkeag appeared to be the best choice of the small towns in that
MON BROO L K A
vicinity. After passing state board examinations and being licensed to practice as an Osteopathic physician, the newlyweds rented the north half of the Chisholm house, owned by Sam Lovett of Lee, with rooms on the first floor and two rooms on the second floor. That was the start of an interesting residence in Mattawamkeag. The front room served as a combination waiting room for the patients and sitting room for the family and friends. A small middle room was used as the office and the back room as a combination kitchen and dining room. A bathroom at this stage of the game was an outdoor special — with no bath. Pleasures and successes came mixed in sandwich manner with some tribulations. This was a busy time for the doctor but a lonely existence for Opal. The first O.B. delivery was on February 8, 1937, at one of the cabins in a collection known as the Smart Camps
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about three miles north of Mattawamkeag off the Houlton Road. The case was relatively uncomplicated. The baby was a fine eight-pound boy named Eugene Springer. There was never any monotony in his practice. With the variety of work and many, many babies later, time seemed to pass as if on wings — as time does when one is relatively young and busy. People were rather kind and tolerant of the new young couple who had come to live among them. Both were interested in young people and children, which attracted Opal into church work and the Doctor into community and school health work. Immunization clinics for protection of children against diphtheria, whooping cough, smallpox, typhoid, tuberculosis, and later both kinds of measles, were coming into use. For many years the doctor helped the state district health nurse conduct these clin(cont. on page 52) Airtight Cookstoves & Heating Stoves
The Pioneer Place, U.S.A. Country General Store
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(cont. from page 51) ics in Mattawamkeag, Winn, Macwahoc, Kingman, and Wytopitlock. In 1940 Dr. Troutt was a candidate for school committee and was elected. That year a long and interesting period of service for over twenty-four years ended when Mattawamkeag joined School Administrative District No. 67. The Troutts lived at the Chisholm house for four years. Paying rent was like pouring water into sand. In 1940 they bought the Chadbourne home, the next place south of Virgil Wyman’s residence and store. They moved to their new-old home on May 2, 1940. Several additions and many alterations were made to the home over the years, including a beauty shop for Opal on the back porch in 1942, a four-room office addition on the north side of the house in 1953 and 1954, conversion of the upper part of the barn into a five-room apartment in 1957 and 1958, addition of a solarium-type room on the northeast part of the office addition, and re-
modeling of the sheds. This place gave ample opportunity for the doctor to enjoy his avocation of gardening. There were also chickens and pigs for the first few years. No cows, however, as Opal vowed to leave if a cow was brought on the place to live. Sadly, the seven beautiful elm trees that for years had graced the yard had to be destroyed due to disease. With the assistance of George Tewey, Sr., a Boy Scout troop was established in Mattawamkeag in the early 1940s. Neither Mr. Tewey nor Dr. Troutt had been boy scouts as boys. They learned along with the twenty boys about scouting, nature, and life in general. Everyone had a good time for the next four years. Abandonment of the project was necessary for there was not enough time to cover all fronts. The project has been carried on by others since. About this same period, little league baseball became popular. This project
took up the slack time and some in addition. Later this work, too, was taken on by other interested citizens as well as Babe Ruth and town teams among older boys. In 1938 the Doctor and his good wife joined Floral Grange. The Doctor joined Pine Tree Lodge #172 of A.F.A.M., and later both joined the Eastern Star Lodge. The opportunity was presented for advancement in Masonry, so membership followed in Mt. Horeb Chapter, St. Aldemars, and Anah Temple Shrine. The doctor was a good joiner but was unable to attend regularly because of professional duties. A new hospital was built in Lincoln where Dr. Troutt served on the Board of Directors of the hospital as one of the two elected representatives of Mattawamkeag for seven years. He also served as local Health officer in Mattawamkeag until he was replaced by Mrs. Jean Twist in 1973. Ill health had been a deterrent fac-
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53
DiscoverMaineMagazine.com tor in Dr. Troutt’s activities for three plus years. Convalescence from surgery in August 1972 was slow and tedious. Limited general office practice had been the order of the day for many months. It was with a deep sense of appreciation that the doctor regarded the many friends and patients of Mattawamkeag and surrounding areas. There had been many fond memories and some regrets. The main regret was that no one is al-
lowed but one life to live. One of the outstanding pleasures of the doctor and his wife was the opportunity to bring up three adopted children — Carolyn Ruth, James Edward, and Brenda Elaine. They were all married, have children of their own, and live in nearby communities. Thus the process goes on, generation follows generation in a different manner, yet all in the same way seeking a way of life for themselves and some degree of
happiness. This doctor was always grateful for the various opportunities to serve the nearby communities and Mattawamkeag, but like everyone, Dr. Troutt died. Old doctors just get tired and more tired until late night calls and ringing of the doorbell will, someday, go unanswered. He always said he was not ready to quit or be pastured out but that inevitable situation probably was waiting just around the corner or over the hill.
The Patten House in Patten. Item # LB2007.1.108978 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
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Cottages on Highland Ave. in Millinocket. Item # LB2007.1.101516 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
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DIRECTORY OF ADVERTISERS BUSINESS
PAGE
A.E. Robinson Oil Co., Inc. ...............................................34 A.N. Deringer, Inc. ..........................................................51 A.R. Whitten & Sons Inc. ....................................................6 ABM Mechanical, Inc. ....................................................17 Access Auto.....................................................................50 Acres Away Realty...........................................................39 ADA Fence Company, Inc. ...........................................30 Aroosta Cast, Inc. ..............................................................3 Auto Radiator Service......................................................20 Bagel Central.....................................................................7 Baker Family Chiropractic................................................23 Bangor Floral...................................................................16 Bangor Natural Gas.........................................................18 Bangor Tire Company......................................................20 Bangor Truck & Trailer Sales, Inc. ....................................9 Bangor Truck Equipment.................................................19 Bangor Window Shade & Drapery Company..................19 Bar Harbor Grand Hotel..................................................27 Bar Harbor Inn ................................................................27 Bear Brook Kennels.........................................................10 Black Bear Media Blasting & Construction......................27 Blacks Heat Pumps..........................................................15 Blackwell Insurance Agency..............................................4 Blaze Restaurants............................................................15 Bloomer, Russell, Beaupain.............................................18 Blue Hill Co-op.................................................................12 Bowden Marine Service...................................................45 Bowers Funeral Home.....................................................52 Boyce's Motel...................................................................44 Brewer Veterinary Clinic, PA............................................21 Briarwood Motor Inn.........................................................40 Brookings-Smith...............................................................4 Brooklin General Store.....................................................24 Brooks Tire & Auto ...........................................................33 Bucksport Monuments & Sandblasting............................26 Bucksport Regional Health Center...................................26 Bud's Shop 'N Save Supermarkets ..................................30 C&J Variety......................................................................48 CARE Services Co. .........................................................31 Caron & Son Screening Company......................................4 Carousel Diversified Services..........................................14 Carroll Drug Store............................................................44 Cary Brown Trucking & Excavating.................................41 Champion Concrete Inc. .................................................24 Clouston Trucking..............................................................8 CMD Powersystems..........................................................8 Coach House Restaurant...................................................9 Cold River Campground..................................................21 Colin Bartlett & Sons, Inc. .................................................3 Comfort Shoes & More....................................................32 Complete Hydraulics, Inc. ..............................................29 Complete Tire Service, Inc. ..............................................11 Covered Bridge Motel......................................................37 Crandall's Hardware........................................................52 Crossroads Motel & Restaurant......................................51 Cummings Health Care Facility, Inc. ..............................39 Cyr Northstar Tours.........................................................14 D&D Paving, Inc. ............................................................39 Dannick Carpentry...........................................................30 Dave's Auto Repair & Towing Inc. ....................................24 Dean's Automotive & Small Engine.................................12 Designed Living Kitchen Showroom & Home Center......38 Dexter Lumber Company.................................................46 Doane Foundations & Construction.................................44 Dorsey Furniture................................................................5 Dover Audiology and Heating Aid Sales.........................33 Dover Hardware...............................................................47 Dr. Durwin Libby, DMD.....................................................39 Drinkwaters Cash Fuel.....................................................50 E.R. Palmer Lumber Co. .................................................36 Ellis' Greenhouse and Nursery.........................................48 Elwood Downs Incorporated............................................50 Engstrom's Auto Service.................................................36 Exeter Country Store.......................................................46 Fairfield Antiques Mall.......................................................4 Feed Commodities International......................................31 FFW Mechanical Services..............................................48 Foxcroft Printers..............................................................47 Foxcroft Surveying...........................................................35
BUSINESS
PAGE
Frank Landry & Sons, Inc. ...............................................53 Freedom Power Equipment...............................................7 Freeport Antiques and Heirloom Showcase....................13 Gordius Garage & Island Motors.....................................45 Greenhead Lobster, LLC..................................................25 Guagus Enterprises.........................................................22 H&R Block - Bangor........................................................17 H&R Block - Dover-Foxcroft............................................46 H&R Block - Houlton & Millinocket..................................42 Haley Power Services......................................................29 Hammond Lumber Company...........................................15 Hanington Bros., Inc. .......................................................51 Hannaford - Bar Harbor.....................................................28 Hannaford - Ellsworth........................................................11 Harold's Transmission Repairs, Inc. ................................11 Harris Drug Store.............................................................37 Hearthside B&B...............................................................28 Herrick Excavation...........................................................36 High Street Market...........................................................49 Hogan Tire........................................................................52 Hometown Health Center.................................................31 Houlton Towing Auto Salvage & Repair............................41 House in the Woods.........................................................41 Hy-Grow Organics...........................................................42 Ideal Recycling Inc. ........................................................29 Ireland's Rubbish Service, Inc. .......................................49 Island Auto Repair............................................................28 Island Fishing Gear & Auto Parts.....................................12 Island Nursing Home and Care Center............................25 J. McLaughlin Construction, LLC.....................................41 J. Wilbur Construction......................................................46 J.D. Logging, Inc. ............................................................33 JATO Highlands Golf Course...........................................49 Jerry's Hardware..............................................................44 Jerry's Shurfine................................................................53 Jimar Construction Products LLC.....................................19 J.M. Brown Construction General Contractor, Inc. .........19 John R. Crooker Agency Insurance.................................27 John Williams Construction.............................................22 Johnson Foundations.......................................................36 Judd Goodwin Well Company.........................................37 Kimball Insurance, L.L.C. ................................................47 King's Appliances & Floor Coverings..............................32 Ladd Brothers Engine Works...........................................47 Lavin Builders..................................................................29 Law Office of Charles W. Hodson II....................................7 Lawrence Lord & Sons Inc. Well Drilling..........................40 Leclair Construction...........................................................6 Levesque Business Solutions..........................................19 Lincoln Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce.................50 Linda Bean's Maine Kitchen & Topside Tavern................13 Linda Bean’s Maine Lobster.............................................13 Linda Bean’s Maine Wyeth Gallery..................................13 Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine Vacation Rental...................13 Lincoln Powersports.........................................................50 Lougee & Frederick's Florist.............................................19 Lupo's Gym......................................................................45 Lyme Laser Centers.........................................................23 Magoon Realty, Inc. .......................................................12 Magoon's Transportation & Energy, Inc. ........................12 Maine At War....................................................................14 Maine Collision Center.....................................................20 Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife......................43 Maine Energy Inc..............................................................20 Maine Equipment Company...............................................6 Maine Fuels......................................................................28 Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union............................32 Maine Historical Society....................................................4 Maritime International.......................................................17 Maynard's in Maine..........................................................38 Mayo Regional Hospital...................................................36 McKusick Petroleum Co. ................................................35 Milford Motel on the River................................................14 Moosehead Motorsports..................................................38 Moosehead Trail Trading Post..........................................31 MorWell Builders Inc. ......................................................45 Natural Living Center.......................................................16 NewGen Powerline Construction.....................................32 Newport Glass.................................................................32
BUSINESS
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Nicky's Cruisin' Diner.......................................................16 North Woods Real Estate...............................................42 Northeast Truck & Refrigeration......................................45 Oceans Edge Realty........................................................26 Ogunquit Beach Lobster House......................................13 P² Tax & Accounting........................................................30 Parker Ridge Retirement Community..............................25 Pat's Pizza - Orono, Holden & Hampden..........................15 Peavey Manufacturing Co. .............................................10 Penobscot Marine Museum................................back cover Perkco Supply, Inc. ..........................................................33 Perry O'Brian - Attorney at Law...........................................8 Pine Grove Crematorium....................................................4 Red's Automotive.............................................................29 Rideout's Seasonal Services............................................35 River's Edge Motel...........................................................43 Robinson Builders General Construction.........................39 Rocky Shore Realty..........................................................10 Rogan’s Memorials...........................................................26 Roger's Market.................................................................48 Ronnie's Truck Service....................................................24 Roots 2 Remedies............................................................43 Rowell’s Garage Car Wash..............................................48 Rowell's Garage Sales & Service....................................48 Rt. 9 Towing & Recovery...................................................10 S.O.B. Oil & Earthworks Co., LLC..................................49 Sackett and Brake Survey Inc ..........................................36 Salmon Brook Grooming.................................................51 Savage Paint & Body.......................................................42 Scootic In Restaurant.......................................................52 Sebasticook Valley Federal Credit Union.........................30 Shirley's Yarns & Gifts......................................................24 Sign Services, Inc. of Maine..............................................29 Sinclair Builders, Inc. .......................................................11 Stardust Motel..................................................................42 STEaD Timberlands, LLC.................................................51 Steinke & Caruso Dental Care...........................................5 Stucco Lodge...................................................................15 Sturdi-Bilt Storage Buildings LLC....................................41 Sullivan's Wrecker Service...............................................14 Summit Sound Home Audio & Theatre.............................8 Swett's Tire & Auto.............................................................5 T.G. Dunn Plumbing, Inc. .................................................44 Taylor's Katahdin View Camps........................................53 That Guy on 9...................................................................11 The Merle B. Grindle Agency Insurance..........................25 The Pioneer Place, U.S.A. ..............................................51 The Wilson Museum........................................................44 Thibodeau's Lawn Care....................................................16 Thomas Logging & Forestry, Inc. ....................................37 Thompson's Hardware Inc. ............................................49 Tim Merrill & Co., Inc. ......................................................35 Timberland Trucking Inc. .................................................52 Town of Enfield.................................................................49 Town of Hampden.............................................................22 Town of Lincoln.................................................................40 Town of Mars Hill................................................................3 Tradewinds Market...........................................................39 Tri City Pizza......................................................................7 Tucker Auto Repair..........................................................10 UBE Physical Therapy and Performance.........................16 U-Save Car & Truck Rental...............................................33 Vancil Vision Care............................................................44 Varney's Newport Ford....................................................46 VintageMaineImages.com...........................................4 W.S. Emerson Company..................................................21 Wagner Forest Management, Ltd. ....................................7 Wardwell Construction & Trucking Corp. .........................26 Ware's Power Equipment.................................................50 WCL Carpentry.................................................................47 Wesley's Landscaping & Seasonal Services LLC...........20 West's Coastal Connection................................................5 Wheaton's Lodge.............................................................40 Whited Truck Center.........................................................18 Whitney's Outfitters..........................................................50 Whitten's 2-Way Service, Inc. .........................................21 Willey's Sport Center........................................................24 William Landmesser Fine Art...........................................28 Williams & Taplin Complete Water Systems........................6
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