2024 Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties

Volume 33 | Issue 3 | 2024

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Maine’s History Magazine

Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties

Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission How the Maine woods changed after World War II

Beal College In World War II

Bangor college guaranteed jobs for graduates

The Foxcroft Academy Ponies

Basketball team faced challenges during the Great War

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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties

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Inside This Edition

Maine’s History Magazine 3

I t Makes No Never Mind James Nalley

4

Weston’s James Moody Letters from a Civil War soldier Kenneth Alton Clark

7

Beal College In World War II Bangor college guaranteed jobs for graduates Brian Swartz

18 Rebuilding History In Bangor The 1994 covered bridge building project Brian Swartz 24 The Bucksport And Bangor Railroad Connecting railroad built in the early 1870s Brian Swartz 30 The Foxcroft Academy Ponies Basketball team faced challenges during the Great War Brian Swartz 34 History Of The White Pine The enduring symbol of Maine’s North Woods Jeffrey Bradley 38 How Shall Yea Plea?

Trial Justice Roy Gardiner Doug Tibbetts

PENOBSCOT-PISCATAQUIS-HANCOCK COUNTIES

Publisher Jim Burch Editor Dennis Burch Design & Layout Liana Merdan Field Representative Don Plante Contributing Writers Jeffrey Bradley Kenneth Alton Clark Charles Francis Dan Moscovici John Murray James Nalley Brian Swartz Doug Tibbetts

Published by CreMark, Inc.

10 Exchange Street, Suite 208 Portland, Maine 04101 Ph (207) 874-7720 info@discovermainemagazine.com www.discovermainemagazine.com

41 Lincoln’s Ernest Holmes The founder of Religious Science Charles Francis

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.

44 Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission How the Maine woods changed after World War II Dan Moscovici

NO PART of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from CreMark, Inc. | Copyright © 2024, CreMark, Inc.

46 Teddy Roosevelt Pays A Debt To Maine A young man’s memories put to paper Charles Francis 49 Union River Eels A fascinating resident of Ellsworth John Murray

SUBSCRIPTION FORM ON PAGE 48

Front Cover Photo:

The A.W. Littlefield Co. store in East Newport.

Item # LB2007.1.105514 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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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com

It Makes No Never Mind

by James Nalley

A

t the time of this publication, Mainers will be experiencing another winter and most likely finding ways to be entertained. Although many sources suggest “beating the winter blues” by attending some well-known event/festival, there are also some cool and unusual things to do in this part of Maine. Needless to say, bundle up before heading out into the cold and snow.

First, in Hancock, there is a walking trail that was once part of the Maine Shore Line Railroad Company. In the late 1800s, this spur of the Maine Central Railroad connected the main trunk line to a ferry, which took tourists/summer residents to the popular Victorian town of Eden (renamed in 1918 to Bar Harbor). These tracks were laid in 1884, while the ferry terminals at both McNeil Point in Hancock and the Eden wharf were constructed. Instead of a long (and sometimes nauseating) sea voyage, wealthy Americans, including the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers, took comfortable Pullman cars to catch the ferry. Evidence of this line can be found on this 2.9-mile trail, with actual rails at several spots. There are two entrances, one on Point Road and another on Old Route One, both in Hancock.

Second, in Stephen King’s 1989 film Pet Sematary, a father loses his two-year-old son and attempts to bring him back to life by burying him in an old pet cemetery that was once Native-American sacred ground. Most of its scenes were filmed in Hancock and Bangor. For example, the red-roofed, yellow house still looks the same at 303 Point Road in Hancock, while the human cemetery is Mount Hope Cemetery at 1048 State Street in Bangor. The exact spot where King himself stood (as a minister presiding over a funeral) is on the State Street side, against a steep hill with a stone staircase.

Third, for a slightly warmer environment, there is Northeast Historic Film (NHF) in Bucksport. In 1985, two television producers from Boston attempted to start their own business.

After it initially failed, they decided to preserve an old industrial film, From Stump to Ship: A 1930 Logging Film.

According to The Bangor Daily News, when they premiered this version, more than 1,000 people showed up, which greatly exceeded the number of seats in the theater. Today, NHF includes 10 million feet of film, the majority of which is irreplaceable. Its home base is the Alamo Theater on Main Street,

which was built in 1916, abandoned by the 1990s, and renovated in 1992.

Finally, there is the cursed memorial of Colonel Buck in Bucksport. In the early days of the town, founder Jonathan Buck had a witch executed. Before she was hung, she cursed Buck to always bear the mark of this act. When this monument was created to honor him 75 years after his death, this witchboot-shaped water stain appeared with no explanation. The monument is located at the Buck Cemetery on US-1.

At this point, let me close with the following jest: There was once a prince who had been cursed by a witch. In this case, his curse was that he could only say one word a year. One day, the prince met a beautiful princess, decided that he loved her, and stayed silent for 3 years so that he could save up the words, “I love you.” Then, after saying the words, he remained silent for another 4 years so that he could ask, “Will you marry me?” When the day finally came, he kneeled by the fountain and said the four words. Stunned by the silence, he looked up, after which she said, “Sorry, what was that?”

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Weston’s James Moody Letters from a Civil War soldier

by Kenneth Alton Clark

“

I always had a good home. I hope that I will see the day when I will return to it if it is God’s will.” On August 30, 1862, Private James Moody of Weston penned these heartfelt words soon after enlisting in the Union Army.

Still in camp near Augusta, he and a group of new recruits were ready to head south to fight the rebels. Eight recently discovered letters to his father and mother, James Sr., and Jane Moody, reveal that Aroostook County was never far from his mind during his time in Company I, Eleventh Maine Infantry.

James Moody grew up on a 100acre farm in Weston, just south of the current town office and bounded on the west by present-day Route One and

on the right by a stretch of East Grand Lake. As the eldest son, he was a key wage earner for the family by 1862, the year of his enlistment, making the decision to fight the Confederates a more complicated one. “I am glad that I enlisted…we have plenty to eat…I don’t find any fault yet,” he wrote in his first letter, offering what seemed like a final sentence to what had been an emotional conversation with his parents and siblings.

While away from 1862 to 1864, James’s thoughts stayed connected to the farm back in Weston. “I want you to have my sheep and lambs’ mark so you can tell them (apart),” he told his parents on September 8, 1862. “How

(are) the crops in Weston this summer (?),” he asked on July 14, 1864, and continued, “You spoke about buying a threshing machine…I will buy one with you if you think it will pay.” He even prodded his aging father in a letter from Beaufort, South Carolina on May 19, 1863: “You made a good winter’s work. I am glad of that. I hope that you will have good luck driving. But don’t neglect your farming.” Perhaps having second thoughts about his preachy tone, he added later in the same correspondence, “You said that you had not used my colt much this winter. You can use (him) when you want.”

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com seeped into the letters, especially later in the war. George B. Weymouth, a first lieutenant in Company I from nearby Bancroft, may have helped enlist James. Joe Butler lived with the Moody family in Weston before the war and became an orderly sergeant in the company. Arthur Vandine was an old acquaintance who enlisted from Houlton and who also rose to be a sergeant. In one letter on June 29, 1864, James worried over all of them: “Joseph Butler is sick…I hope (he) will be back before long, but it is hard telling when…G.B. Weymouth is sick. He looks bad and he is failing every day…A.V. Vandine was wounded. I tented with him…they (Vandine and Butler) are both gone now.” Sadly, Sergeant Vandine did not return to the regiment, passing away two weeks later.

James Moody’s letters reveal how financially impactful his time in the army was for his family. Every few months, he sent most of his wages back

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to Weston. Just weeks after enlisting, he reported, “I have sent you fifty dollars and I want you to write as soon as you get it. And I will send you one hundred dollars more as soon as I hear.” This was a considerable amount of money

for the time. Some of his pay returned to Maine with fellow soldiers going on furlough. Often, he sent it through the “Express Office” all the way back to Houlton, where it needed to be collected in person by a family member.

He worried his hard-earned money was not reaching Aroostook County.

From Fernandina, Florida on June 20, 1863, he fretted, “I am sorry that you have not got that money yet. It has had time to get there…If I was in Beaufort (SC), I could go to the Express Company and get it…Do you know what day of the month that you (were) out to Houlton (?) Perhaps it has come before this time. It may be at Houlton now.”

Still, traveling from Weston to Houlton in the early 1860s, nearly thirty miles, was no simple task for his family, and finding out that the Express Office did not have the anticipated money would have been deeply disappointing.

The war did offer young James Moody a chance to see a wider coun-

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(cont. from page 5) try. Heading south from New England, he had nothing good to say about Baltimore, but thought Washington, D.C. was a “pretty place.” His regiment sailed past Charleston, South Carolina and went as far as Fernandina, Florida before heading back north. The Eleventh Maine encamped near Fort Wagner just weeks after the 54th Massachusetts made its deadly, futile assault, chronicled in the movie Glory. In the summer of 1864, months of relatively quiet duty came to an end. They were ordered inland, far up the James River in Virginia, where Union forces were beginning a prolonged siege of Petersburg. In contrast to the intense fighting soon to come, on July 14th, James, now a corporal, noted the beauty of the country: “We had a beautiful shower last night, the first rain that we have had for a long time…there is a splendid field of wheat and oats here.”

Not long before, again thinking

Postcard image of Weston, courtesy of Kenneth Alton Clark

of his family nearly a thousand miles away, he longingly imagined what Independence Day was going to look like back home. “What is going on there (for) the Fourth of July (?) I suppose (there) will be something doing in Weston. Well, I hope you will have a good time.” On August 16, his regiment took part in a costly assault on Confederate positions at Deep Bottom, Virginia. Tragically, James received a bullet in his right lung and died from

his wound two days later in a Union Army hospital near Fort Monroe. Today, he and Arthur Vandine lay buried in the Hampton National Cemetery in Virginia, very far from their homes in Aroostook County. The discovery of these Civil War letters, however, resurrects the details of James Moody’s short life and reminds us of the sacrifices that soldiers and small towns such as Weston made for this country.

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Beal College In World War II

Bangor college guaranteed jobs for graduates

by Brian Swartz

O

nly seven months after America declared war on Germany, Italy, and Japan, Beal Business College in Bangor could all but guarantee jobs for its women graduates in the spring of 1942.

Businesses offices formerly staffed by men hollered for qualified female employees as volunteerism and the draft hauled men into the military. “A ‘Golden Door’ of opportunity stands open to YOU at this time since both Business and Government continue to expand their forces!” the June 1942 issue of The Beal Buzzer proclaimed on page 1 under the heading “Queens and Generals.”

“We can’t all be Queens or Gener-

als!” the article exclaimed. “However, this is a young people’s war, because the services of all young people are needed to help keep our world and our way of life from being destroyed!”

Until recently checked by the U.S. Navy at the Battle of Midway, Imperial Japan had run amuck in East Asia and the western Pacific, and Nazi columns punched deep into the Soviet Union.

Everywhere the Allies looked, the news was bad.

But on the home front, jobs abounded. The “Civil Service and the F.B.I. are calling for thousands of young men and women trained as secretaries, accountants, stenographers, typists, machine operators, file clerks, and other

r o g n a B

specialized individuals,” the Buzzer’s front-page article stated.

“It is a patriotic privilege to seek business training at once, not only because it will make you a more valuable citizen during our country’s great emergency, but also because it offers you the chance to take your rightful place in life,” students learned.

Beal Business College was then located in the four-story sandstone building at 9 Central Street, adjacent to the intersection of Central, Hammond, Main, and State streets in Bangor — right across the way from West Market Square. Tuition was only $16.40 per month and J.M. Hamlin was the principal. (cont. on page 8)

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(cont. from page 7) Although its “52nd Regular School Year” would start on Tuesday, September 8th, Beal College had geared up with the war effort. “Intensive training for Civil Service examinations” for “beginning and advanced students” would continue through the summer of 1942 with new students invited to start their classes “any Monday during May, June, and July.”

“You’ll Have To Take Over,” a Beal Buzzer headline informed female students. “Thousands of young men are saying to young lady assistants — actually substitute employees — ‘I’ll show you the routine and tell you as much as I can about some of the fundamental principles that run through the work in this office,’” the accompanying article began.

“You’ll have to take over and do the best you can,” the article warned from a man’s point of view. “As part of our effort for human freedom, the work of

business must go on.”

And the Beal Buzzer highlighted recent graduates now working locally or far afield. Virginia Pelkey, a 1940 grad, was working in the accounting department at the Bangor-based Rice & Miller Company. Alice Guidmore, class of 1941, now worked at the War Department in Washington, D.C. Justina Bridgham, a 1941 Beal graduate, worked at Eastern Trust and Banking Company, located just beyond the bridge carrying State Street over the Kenduskeag Stream in Bangor. A 1940 graduate, Mary Mahaney, was employed in the Federal Bureau of Fisheries, Department of the Interior, Ketchikan, Alaska.

After graduating from Aroostook Central Institute in Mars Hill, Lenora Sanborn had moved to Bangor to attend Beal Business College before the war. Named the “graduation queen” for the class of 1941, she now worked at

the Federal Civil Service Commission in the nation’s capital. Her predecessor as the 1940 graduation queen, Priscilla Huff of Skowhegan, was the secretary for the American Woolen Company superintendent in Skowhegan.

Brewer High School had sent women graduates to Beal. A 1939 Brewer graduate, Barbara Little graduated from Beal College a year later and by the spring of 1942 worked as a bookkeeper for the venerable Cortell-Segall Company in Bangor.

Another class of 1939 Brewer graduate, Corinne Campbell, had also graduated from Beal in 1940. The first spring of America’s involvement in World War II found her employed as secretary to Dr. Carl Ruhlin at the Bangor-based Federal Infantile Paralysis Foundation.

After taking Beal classes, Joyce MacKinnon of Brewer now worked as a typist for the Selective Service in

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com Bangor. She would later work at Dow Army Airfield on Bangor’s outskirts before joining the Coast Guard.

As its Buzzer indicated, Beal College needed women applicants. Recent male graduates were already going into the military. A page 4 photo depicted John “Jack” Ambrose, class of 1939, standing proudly in his Army dress uniform as the secretary for the commanding officer at the Boston Army Base. Below Ambrose’s photo spread the photos of Beal graduates Merle Hichborn (’41), Jack Mann (’39), and Rodney Page (’39). “These three boys are with the U.S. Armed Forces somewhere,” the caption noted.

The June 1942 Buzzer informed potential students they could earn good wages upon graduation. “Salaries for beginning stenographers range from $1440 to $1620 a year” and could rise in time “to $2,000 or above.” A Beal College course could “equip you to

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For young Mainers raised during the Depression, such pay was generally un-

imaginable. The students kept coming during the war — and afterward — as Beal College continues educating students in Bangor to this day.

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Main Street in Ellsworth during the late 1940s. Item # 26122 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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Aerial view of Newport and the Sebasticook River, ca. 1956. Item # 5574 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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Fay & Scott Machine Works in Dexter. Item # LB2007.1.105286 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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Longtime lawyer Hiram Judson Preble and Eliza Trueworthy Preble at their home in Bangor, ca. 1925.

Item # 18061 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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Bangor firefighters outside W.F. Whiton’s Carriage Repository on Harlow Street, located next to the Central Fire Station. Item # 29279 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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Rebuilding History In Bangor The 1994 covered bridge building project

by Brian Swartz

A

Bangor businessman stepped into history when he built a bridge in Bangor in 1994.

In the 1800s, covered bridges abounded in central Maine. A historic photograph taken in Hampden about 1900 indicates the trolley system linking Hampden and Bangor crossed the Souadabscook Stream on a covered bridge attached to the highway bridge.

The covered bridge and the trolley are long gone, although the railroad ties that formed the trolley roadbed remain buried beneath the Main Road North in Hampden. In fact, a road crew excavated some half-rotted ties while rebuilding a driveway entrance near the Souadabscook in September 1997.

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Period photographs also reveal that the Penobscot Bridge, which spans the Penobscot River between Bangor and Brewer, was a covered bridge as recently as the early 1900s. The first bridge built at the site in 1833 was also a covered bridge, claimed by winter ice in 1846. Bangor and Brewer residents raised money to replace this bridge with another covered bridge, which incorporated the Howe truss system patented by William Howe in 1840. Many Vermont covered bridges bear signs indicating they were engineered with the Howe system (Vermont has more than 110 covered bridges, while Maine has less than a dozen).

In March 1902, a freshet ripped

out the center span of the Penobscot Bridge. Classic photographs displayed by the historical societies in Bangor and Brewer show people standing on the surviving spans, apparently shouting to each other across the gap. The bridge was replaced with a steel span that was demolished in October 1997, after another Penobscot Bridge was built slightly downstream.

Covered bridges also spanned the Kenduskeag Stream in Bangor (one covered bridge still stands some 20 miles upstream in Kenduskeag). The survivor was the Morse Covered Bridge, which carried Harlow Street over the stream near the former Morse’s Mill. The Maine Department of Trans-

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com portation built a new bridge on the site in the 1960s and rolled the covered bridge downstream near the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building. Until a young arsonist torched it years later, the bridge served as a crossing point for a walkway that borders the Kenduskeag Stream from downtown Bangor to Kenduskeag Avenue.

In 1993, Galen Cole considered building a covered bridge near the Cole Land Transportation Museum on the Perry Road in Bangor. Cole, long interested in Maine history, had previously opened the Cole Land Transportation Museum, located across from Cole’s Express on the Perry Road in Bangor.

He contacted Dr. Habib Dagher, a civil engineering professor at the University of Maine, and asked if he could help design the bridge. The timing was perfect. Two years earlier, Dagher had convinced the MDOT to support the Timber Bridge Initiative, sponsored by

Construction of the Cole Bridge, which became dedicated as the Lowell G. Kjenstad Memorial Bridge in in 2014. (courtesy of the Cole Land Transportation Museum)

Senator George Mitchell. The initiative provided some federal funding to determine if timber bridges could viably replace traditional concrete-and-steel

bridges in certain situations. Dagher and the MDOT had built a few demonstration bridges in southern and western Maine; the covered bridge that Cole (cont. on page 20)

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(cont. from page 19) proposed for Bangor would be the first timber bridge constructed in central Maine.

In December 1993, Dagher submitted a proposal to the United States Department of Agriculture, which approved a $24,000 grant in March 1994.

Dagher then asked the seniors enrolled in his Design of Wood Structures to design the bridge, which he insisted must incorporate the Howe truss system. He also designed a jointing system which carpenters inexperienced in covered-bridge construction could use to assemble the Cole bridge.

Divided into three teams, the students submitted their proposals for review, discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each, and blended the best concepts into a final plan. Cole approved the design and designated a small brook near the museum as the place where the bridge would go.

Cole then hired two carpenters to

Construction progress on the bridge (courtesy of the Cole Land Transportation Museum)

assemble the bridge, which measured 72 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 18-1/2 feet high. Construction started on July 6, 1994.

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com truss, reinforcing its truss joints with quarter-inch steel gusset plates. The second truss took only two weeks to assemble, and by late August, the bridge started to take shape next to the stream.

Sidewalk superintendents gathered in the museum parking lot to watch the project. While a contractor poured concrete for the two piers, the carpenters carefully assembled the interior roof system from 2-inch-by-8-inch beams, sheathed the exterior walls with boards and battens, and covered the roof with cedar shingles. Once the bridge was completed, a crane was used to help roll it on steel I-beams over the stream; the crane held the bridge in place until it was safely lowered onto the piers.

Access ramps were extended from the stream banks to the bridge openings.

The bridge opened to the public in October 1994. Compared to many Vermont covered bridges and to such Maine covered bridges as the Watson Settlement Bridge in Littleton, the Cole

The Lowell G. Kjenstad Memorial Bridge (courtesy of the Cole Land Transportation Museum)

(cont. on page 22)

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bridge is longer than many. Its narrow width matches some covered bridges in Vermont, particularly those bypassed by modern bridges or located on obscure country roads. The Cole bridge was dedictated in 2014 as the Lowell G. Kjenstad Memorial Bridge, named after the long-time curator of the Cole Land Transportion Museum.

Although the bridge is the newest covered bridge built in Bangor, another covered bridge was built several years ago at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum at Leonard’s Mills in Bradley.

In the late 1700s, Leonard’s Mills was a small community centered on sawmills operating along the outlet of Chemo Pond. The settlement was abandoned by the mid-19th century; until museum supporters began restoring the site, only a dam and foundations remained.

A covered bridge now spans the outlet; visitors cross the bridge to reach the reconstructed sawmill and other 18th­ century buildings.

Morse Bridge in Bangor, ca. 1948. This covered bridge was built in 1872.

Item # LB2010.9.118380 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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The Union River overflowed its banks, flooding downtown Ellsworth in 1923. Item # 25053 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society / MaineToday Media and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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The Bucksport And Bangor Railroad Connecting railroad built in the early 1870s

by Brian Swartz

T

he approximately 19-mile railroad line that a Bucksport native surveyed and built from Bangor to Bucksport could become a recreational trail.

Born in Bucksport in July 1842, Parker Spofford attended Bucksport schools and graduated from Dartmouth College (1865). After working several years as a railroad-employed civil engineer in the Midwest, he returned home in 1872.

Bucksport boosters envisioned a railroad line connecting their town with Bangor, where the Maine Central Railroad dominated land-based transportation. Steamboats connected Penobscot River ports from Bangor to Bucksport

with Rockland, Portland, and ports beyond, but railroads were all the rage.

Spofford surveyed a route to Bucksport in fall 1872. Brewer’s flat terrain rises abruptly at the Orrington line; from there bluffs and steep terrain extend almost to the Bucksport waterfront. Spofford found a suitable route

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keeping the railroad away from the hilly shore.

Chartered in 1873, the Bucksport & Bangor Railroad started building its line in spring 1873, with Spofford overseeing construction. The project entailed building a steel-girder bridge with granite-block piers between Bangor and Brewer, grading the railroad bed, and installing rails and ties. The first train ran the line’s full length on Monday, December 21, 1874.

The line was renamed the Eastern Maine Shore Railway in 1882, then leased to the Maine Central Railroad a year later. The MCR later acquired the line, which became the Bucksport Branch. It started at Milepost 0 in Ban-

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com gor and crossed the bridge to Brewer, where a wye junction with the Calais Branch was later constructed between Parker and Wilson streets. The Bucksport Branch ran south, sent a spur to Eastern Manufacturing in South Brewer, and crossed South Main Street before entering Orrington. Crisscrossing the state highway (later Route 15) through South Orrington and Bucksport, the branch ended at Milepost 19.3 on the Bucksport waterfront.

During its latter 20th-century heyday, the Bucksport Branch served three major businesses: Eastern Fine Paper in South Brewer, the Holtrachem plant in Orrington, and the Bucksport paper mill. Horn-blaring locomotives hauled boxcars and tank cars south through Brewer, and the slow-moving trains backed up traffic on busy State and Wilson streets.

The MCRR delivered baled pulp and chemicals to Eastern Fine Paper and hauled away boxcars laden with

Train and construction crew at the completion of the railroad line from Bangor to Bucksport, ca. 1874. Item # LB2013.21.2143 from the Coffin Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

(cont. on page 26)

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(cont. from page 25) boxed paper products. The mill’s enclosed warehouse could accommodate three or four boxcars, depending on their length.

Passersby on Route 15 could not see the railroad activity at the Holtrachem plant. The sidings bordered the highway at the Bucksport paper mill, however, and long lines of railroad cars often stretched beside Roue 15.

Business slowly diminished on the Bucksport Branch by the early 21st century. Holtrachem closed tits Orrington chemical plant in 2000, and the privately owned Eastern Fine Paper closed in 2005. The train traffic dropped substantially — and events involving the Bucksport mill did not help.

Operated by the Maine Seaboard Paper Company, the Bucksport mill opened in November 1930 and initially made newsprint, 250-270 tons per day.

Adding specialty papers by the early 1940s, the mill changed hands with

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Retained by Time to operate the mill, the St. Regis Paper Co. bought it in 1947 and ran it until merging with the Champion International Corp. in 1987. Trains continued running on the Bucksport Branch as the mill’s annual output reached 482,000 tons in 1999.

International Paper bought the mill a year later and then sold it to Verso Paper Corp. in 2006. Verso gradually shuttered paper machines and cut the workforce — and stunned Bucksport residents with an October 1, 2014 announcement that the paper mill would close.

Except for specific buildings, the mill’s site resembles a vacant lot today.

Most mill-related buildings were torn down as the 2010s transitioned into the 2020s; ironically trains hauled scrap metal from Bucksport, and blowing locomotive horns still echoed across the Penobscot River to Hampden and

Bucksport. Pam Am, the successor to the Maine Central Railroad, runs a weekly train to the former Holtrachem plant to support clean-up operations there.

The last Bucksport Branch derailment occurred at the State Street crossing in Brewer on Tuesday, September 7, 2021. Today, discussion is ongoing in Bucksport about converting the Bucksport Branch to a recreational trail, similar to efforts elsewhere in Maine. Pan Am recently merged with railroad powerhouse CSX, which has not indicated its future plans for the allbut-abandoned branch. Its restoration as an active railroad would require a major manufacturer to build a plant somewhere in Orrington or Bucksport.

Whole Oceans has started constructing its onshore Atlantic salmon facility at the former Bucksport mill site, but that company has announced no plans to use the railroad line.

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School house in Exeter. Item # LB2007.1.117446 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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The Foxcroft Academy Ponies Basketball team faced challenges during the Great War

by Brian Swartz

T

he boys’ varsity basketball teams from Foxcroft Academy faced various challenges as the Great War raged across Europe and elsewhere, and as the United States finally plunged into the fighting.

Founded in 1823, Foxcroft Academy lacked a basketball court when the Ponies’ 1915-1916 season “opened … with rather gloomy prospects for an effective team,” according to The Academy Review. For reasons not cited, the privately owned halls in Foxcroft and Dover that were usually used for practices “were closed in our faces,” and prospects looked dreary. Manager Earle “Bird” Wingate lobbied Dover officials, who let the Ponies play their

home games at Central Hall — but they could not practice there.

George W. Sanford was the FA captain as the Ponies opened with a 47-24 win at Brownville High and a 23-15 victory at Greenville, where the teams played “on an extremely small court.”

Injuries then plagued FA at Milo, where “we were handicapped” by fielding “barely a team,” including a Pony who “played through the game with a severe [knee] injury.”

The Ponies then caught the train to Old Town, which had a “fast … team.”

Today, few people realize that a railroad line directly linked Old Town and Dover a century ago; some traces of the rail bed remain, particularly in Alton

and Lagrange.

“Old Town’s players completely overwhelmed F. A. in the first half” and led 22-5 at the buzzer. “But in the last half F. A. showed an exceptional amount of ‘pep’ and played basketball — real basketball.” While losing 3220, the Ponies went home with their pride intact.

Their first home game occurred on January 26, 1916 against Greenville (a win), followed by a February 8 home game against Guilford (another FA win). Played against Milo, the next home game “was slow and uninteresting and marred by roughness,” but the March 5 home game against Dexter went better, with FA winning, 51-21.

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squad at Central Hall. Looking to defeat “the team which had trimmed us on their home floor,” the FA boys won, 20-7.

The Maine Central Institute basketball team traveled by train from Pittsfield and, “after a somewhat one-sided game,” lost 40-12 at Central Hall. Then the Millinocket Independents came to town but the Ponies emerged victorious, 48-30. Additional games came at Island Falls and Millinocket. (cont. on page 32)

1918 Foxcroft Academy basketball team (courtesy of Foxcroft Academy)

The season ended with a game against Presque Isle, “the Aroostook Co. champions” who “came south with a reputation.” The PI boys defeated FA at Central Hall, 56-11.

Foxcroft opened the 1917-1918 season with a 20-16 win against Guilford and a one-point loss at Hartland. After spending the next two weeks practicing, the Ponies welcomed the Hartland

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(cont. from page 31) Unlike modern Maine basketball with its four eight-minute periods, the 1918-1919 season usually featured three periods per game: 15, 10, and 15 minutes apiece. An armistice had ended the Great War only 24 days before the Ponies opened the season with a 12-6 victory over Dexter on December 5, 1918.

When “the ‘flu’ broke up” the regular season’s schedule, the Ponies played “the 2nd D. & F. team” on January 9, 1919. Against the second-string squad, the Ponies’ “passing was much speedier, and we kept the ball in our territory most of the time.” Played across two 15-minute periods, the game was a route, with the Ponies winning 58-2.

Foxcroft’s regular season resumed with a January 22 game against Milo at Central Hall. Going down to a 56-6 defeat spread across three periods, “the Milo boys played clean basketball and were the best losers we met for the season.

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1919 Foxcroft Academy basketball team (courtesy of Foxcroft Academy)

“We played the same kind of a game against Guilford High at Dover” on January 24. Guilford “retarded the game by stalling for wind in the last [15-minute] period,” but went down in flames, 30-14.

On January 31 the Ponies caught the train to Old Town, where the hometown squad had lost no games “on their own floor for a number of years.” Playing two 20-minute periods, the Ponies handed Old Town a 6-4 loss and went home bragging about snapping the Indians’ home-court winning streak.

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outclassed”) visited Dover and suffered a 54-8 loss. The score was so lopsided that Foxcroft sent in three substitutes “in the last period.” The Ponies then traveled to Dexter (likely by train) on February 14 “and played one of the best basketball games of the season. It was real basketball all the way through” and saw FA win, 34-10.

Milo handed Foxcroft its “first and only defeat of the season” at Milo on February 28. The score was 14-10.

Then, “Houlton High came to Dover [on] March 6 expecting to double the score on us.

“They received an unexpected surprise party” and lost to the talented FA squad. This game particularly emphasized the “dirty playing” often exhibited on the court. O’Donnell, Houlton’s left forward, sent FA’s right forward, Wiley, “out of the game with a sprained knee” and later tried to inflict “a sprained wrist” on another Pony, Noyes. He evaded the attempt.

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History Of The White Pine The enduring symbol of Maine’s North Woods

by Jeffrey Bradley

T

he noble Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) has been vital to the State of Maine since even before its inception. So essential, in fact, that tussles over who owned the trees sparked events that lead to the Revolutionary War. The “Pine Tree State” motto, the state seal, and the official state flower — white pinecone and tassels — all reflect its significance. Fittingly, bald eagles nest in their crowns.

This classic conical conifer of the bushy spreading limbs is literally the stuff Christmas trees are made of. And unlike sharp edgy needles of spruce, the white pine produces a soft silvery-blue flexible cluster they hold onto all win-

ter. Integral to the ecosystem, they also provide food and shelter under even the harshest conditions. As the tallest trees in northeastern forests, white pine once

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covered millions of acres with some attaining heights of 200 feet that lived for a half-thousand years. But by the mid1800s most had gone the way of the axe to become ship masts, houses, and paper. Hundred-footers with impressive crowns still exist but the giant ones were taken decades ago in a frenzied orgy of logging. Now reforestation and sheer tenacity have retained it as part of the landscape and one of America’s most-planted trees.

Found at altitudes up to 4000 feet, white pine grows wherever the soil is favorable. They thrive in sandy conditions too, that hardwoods tend to avoid.

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com they put down heavy roots deep into the soil and disperse myriad seeds.

In struggling to establish themselves seedlings fall victim to fungus, insects, and drought but in ten years’ time will put on a growth spurt in a tremendous race to the upper canopy. Those failing this crucial competition are doomed to languish and die.

Britian early cast covetous eyes on these pines. Lacking forests to outfit its fleet the Crown reserved ramrod straight “single mast” trees for use by the Royal Navy by enacting the infamous Broad Arrow Policy of 1691. A mast hewn from a single tree was infinitely more serviceable than a composite of two or more fastened together with pegs for braving the ocean’s tempests. Best suited were those topping 130 feet — the height of an eight-story building — with trunks five feet across at the base, although any with a 24inch diameter within three miles of a

navigable waterway were notched with the “broad arrow” mark, three slashing blows from an ax, the untouchable King’s Arrow Pines. Frustrated colonials denied their access proved pivotal in time to the Pine Tree Riot of 1772 and later the American Revolution.

Permission and an expensive royal license were needed to chop down these trees even on private property and “poachers” faced prison and land confiscation. This obdurate policy also rousted the Native Americans and saw authorized deputy surveyors tramping the woods to mete out the fines and punishments. The ensuing riot predated the Boston Tea Party by a year and was the first instance of flying the famous Pine Tree Flag, a banner still honored today by American patriots who fiercely oppose government repression.

This adaptable fast-growing pine of the robust seed crop has been a staple to the economy for 250 years, and Maine

remains the nation’s top producer of white pine lumber. The clear, easily worked wood is harvested from stands mostly planted before World War One, although nowadays mills turn out twice as much product of spruce and fir. In an industry that generates $100 million annually, each 100-foot tree with its turpentine, wood tar, rosin and charcoal by-products is worth an average of $1,400. Production peaked in 1909 although white pine is still a valued commodity and the parts not making log grade are turned into pulp.

Established saplings can grow at the rate of a foot a year and assume a generally symmetrical shape. Older trees look splendidly irregular, and the gnarly oldsters turn picturesque. Young bark is smooth and green but ages to dark fissured shingles. Pinecones are cylindrical, curved, non-spiky, up to 8 inches, hang on long stalks, and gummy. (cont. on page 36)

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(cont. from page 35) New woody material that forms in the sapwood eventually hardens to heartwood, the spine of the tree and the part preferred by woodworkers for texture and durability. Extractive compounds lend it unique hues and characteristics and bonded fibers give it the strength of tensile steel. Layers of phloem and xylem within move nutrients and fibers around, while cambium, a thin living layer just under the bark, adds the annual growth ring that can be counted for aging the tree and indicate years of rainfall or drought.

Resinous and vulnerable to fire, the white pine’s habit of shedding large branches from the lower trunk lessens the danger of spreading flames.

Only a tiny percentage of old growth forest is left in Maine but where mud, snow, and raging water make wilderness travel nearly impassable there are still trees rumored to carry that broad arrow scar made centuries ago.

On a hillside of sprills and crunchy leaves you might encounter a hushed cathedral-like grove of massive old trunk-buttressed giants under magnificent spreading canopies. A whiff of resin will hang in the air as you tread softly among trunks that two people could not easily span with their hands. Tiny Reed is rife with such soaring mud-brown columns that tower against the skyline with high-flung raggedy branches 120

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feet up in the air, and to walk in their august presence will forever etch awe into your psyche. One vestige of that distant time remains. A venerable pine felled in the 1960s in Aroostook County that still faintly carried that relic of history now resides as a faded plaque in a logging museum in Ashland. Only the two outer slashes remain, and they point to the right.

37

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How Shall Yea Plea?

by Doug Tibbetts

Trial Justice Roy Gardiner

O

ne night in 1971 as I was riding through Smyrna with my supervisor, Virgil Grant, on our way to a stakeout for night hunters, he directed my attention to a large white house on the corner of routes 2 and 212. He said “that’s where Roy Gardner lives; he was a “Trial Justice” up to the time they were all discontinued.” I asked, “what is that?” Virgil said when we get situated down on the Town Line Road I will tell you all about it.

A few minutes later we had our vehicle secluded, gotten some coffee and settled in. Virgil began to explain how, in years past, the state appointed some people to the title of Trial Justice, and they were empowered to hear misde-

meanor crimes, civil violations and perform various minor judicial functions but after the formation of the district court system in 1961 they were phased out. I was intrigued with this as I had never heard of such a thing and urged Virgil to tell me more about this. He explained that he used to summon people

to court there but would always gave them the choice of going there or to the municipal court in Houlton, whichever they preferred. So, as the night wore on, I heard many stories about Virgil going to court at Roy Gardiner’s house in the late 1950s.

Roy always held court in the evening, after supper, so Virgil would show up early at Roy’s to give him time to pick out a complaint on an ancient typewriter and usually Roy would ask Virgil, “what are we going to allege on this one.” Also, Roy would hand write the case details in a logbook which he sometimes pointed to with a certain degree of pride and would tell Virgil, see that book, we never lost a case. Roy

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com took a lot of pride in his court and always had on a tie and long-sleeved shirt with elastic bands on the upper arms to keep his sleeves in place. Court was held in the living room where Roy had a small table that he sat behind with his gavel. Sometimes local people or friends of the respondents would attend if they had an interest in the case. Also, if everything went smoothly Roy’s wife sometimes served up dessert for everyone when court was finished. There was one major problem that often arose as the Gardners had a challenged adult daughter that lived with them, and she delighted in teasing the accused about the fact that they had gotten caught.

In those days Warden Aubert Burnham lived in Bridgewater and had in his patrol area Howe Brook Village, located on the shore of St. Croix Lake in T8R3. The Bangor & Aroostook Railroad runs right along the east side of the lake that was inhabited by only

four full time residents for many years.

There were no roads into Howe Brook so when Warden Burnham went there from Bridgewater he would walk about half-way there, to Number Nine Lake in T9R3 where there was a warden camp and spend the night. The next day he would walk on, westerly, to St. Croix Lake and return to Nine Lake that evening; making it about a twenty mile walk that day.

On one winter day when Aubert had snowshoed to Howe Brook, he happened upon a snowshoe trail that led him to a snare, set to entrap a deer. He followed the trail the other way until he came to the camp of a crusty trapper by the name of “Jake”, one of the four residents of Howe Brook.

I would point out that I knew this man as he still lived there years later when I patrolled that area. I had tagged some fur pelts for him and could attest that he was a rather “hard case.”

At any rate, trying to snare deer is quite illegal and Aubert summoned Jake to Roy’s court in Smyrna as that was where Jake opted to go instead of municipal court. Jake would have to take the train from Howe Brook down to Smyrna and Aubert told him he would meet him at the station on the day set for court.

So, on the scheduled court day Aubert and Virgil were at the train station waiting for Jake but he was not on the train. They returned the next afternoon and to their surprise Jake arrived. He was in a rather foul mood as they made their way to court at Roy’s residence which was only a stone’s throw from the station. Once there it took some time to get the paperwork all in order and in the meantime Roy’s daughter started in on Jake; she would go “ha ha ha the wardens caught you, you have to pay a fine, shame on you.” Roy had to send her to another room and tell her to (cont. on page 40)

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(cont. from page 39) be quiet but by that time Jake was all worked up and agitated.

Finally, they all went into the living room to hold court and everyone got into position with Roy behind his table and his daughter back in the picture as a spectator. He asked Jake to please stand, and he did so, but now clearly acting quite defiant. Roy read the allegation and then sternly inquired of Jake “how shall ye plea.” Jake had now changed his mind about which court he would rather go to and loudly proclaimed “I’m not going to plea a GD thing in this court.” Roy took that outburst as a horrific afront to the proper etiquette of his court which he took great pride in.

His face turned red and with a quivering voice replied, “by Jesus you’ll plea $100.00 worth” and banged down the gavel stating, “this court is adjourned.”

There was no dessert served that evening.

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Lincoln’s Ernest Holmes The founder of Religious Science

by Charles Francis

E

rnest Holmes of Lincoln founded a religious movement. The word movement is used here because that term seems in common use by a large number of Holmes’ followers today. Holmes himself used the terms Religious Science and Science of the Mind in identifying his movement. The designations are often shortened to RS and SOM. Holmes used the abbreviations too.

RS and SOM are significant today.

The movement flourishes today, even though Ernest Holmes died in 1960.

The word ‘died’ is probably inappropriate here. An official RS biography of Holmes states that” Ernest Holmes made his transition to the next experi-

ence on April 7, 1960….” These points, as are those which immediately follow, are made to serve as a brief introduction to Ernest Holmes and the movement he founded. They are made to introduce those who know nothing of RS and SOM to the subject of this little essay.

RS and SOM are sometimes mistaken to be one and the same as Christian Science. They are also sometimes mistaken as elements of Scientology. Both or either are matters of understandable confusion. The names are similar but the similarity stops at this point. RS is best designated as its own entity. RS is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical religious movement with its own unique and particular set of prin-

ciples and goals. This is not to suggest that Ernest Holmes was not influenced by other thinkers and traditions. He was — and they will be touched on in due time.

The movement Ernest Holmes founded is international in scope. It extends beyond the borders of the United State to Canada and beyond North America to Europe, Asia and Africa. A worldwide movement is what Holmes wanted. He said “We have launched a Movement which, in the next 100 years, will be the great new religious impulsion of modern times, far exceeding, in its capacity to envelop the world, anything that has happened since Mohammedanism started.” (cont. on page 42)

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(cont. from page 41) There are centers for the study of RS and SOM. Some of the centers are referred to as churches, some as communities. There are International Centers for Spiritual Living. The latter designation is trademarked. The International Centers for Spiritual Living are described as “an organization of spiritual communities that honors all paths to God....” Today the movement Ernest Holmes founded identifies itself as the United Church of Religious Science. “Religious Science” is generally considered as applying to the organizations of the United Church. “Science of Mind” is considered as applying to the teachings of the United Church.

What kind of man or woman founds a religious movement, in particular a movement “that honors all paths to God?” What kind of a man was Ernest Holmes? What was his mindset?

Ernest Holmes grew up in a Congregationalist family. He had nine brothers. One of those brothers, Fenwicke, was a Congregational minister for a time. Fenwicke eventually followed Ernest’s road to God. The Holmes family has been described as poor. Poor can mean destitute, possessing nothing or little. In Lincoln, when Ernest Holmes was growing up, poor meant not having money, or much of it anyway. The Holmes family were not destitute. They had land. Ernest grew up on the family farm. That meant he was often outdoors. There,

as he said, he spent a lot of time asking, “What is God? Who am I? Why am I here?” In short, Ernest Holmes was a thinker, a questioner. And what he most often questioned was religious and philosophical belief. In the words of Fenwicke Holmes, Ernest “mentally tangled with all the local preachers and doubted the answers he got in church.”

Ernest Holmes’ formal education ended when he was eighteen. That doesn’t mean his education stopped, however. From the age of eighteen on, “He,” as brother Fenwicke says, “set out on his lifelong course of independent thinking.” Ernest Holmes was a voracious reader. Among others, Ernest read that epitome of independent thinking, Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was Emerson who said “Let me admonish you, first of all, to go alone, to refuse the good models.” The quote is the heart of Emerson’s philosophy of self-reliance.

One can see it as a touchstone of Ernest Holmes’ life and thought.

Ernest Holmes was born in 1887.

He was a teenager in the first decade of the twentieth century. In many ways that decade was one of hope for a better world. Holmes found that better world in the writings of Emerson and others who were similarly minded. Then the Great War happened.

Ernest Holmes founded his Religious Science in 1927. The Roaring ‘20s were a frenetic decade. The hopes of the first years of the century were,

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for many, drowned in oceans of bathtub gin. A good many ministers and preachers spoke to the times. Their message was one of pessimism. In part, the pessimism related to the failure of Prohibition. Pessimism was a dominant theme of America’s isolationism. The Great War had not made the world safe for democracy. Europe and the rest of the world meant trouble for America.

Europe and the rest of the world bred anarchists and Communists. They were everywhere, threatening everyone and everything American.

From Buddha to the German Schopenhauer, there is a long philosophical tradition of positing that life is not worth living. Buddhism posits reincarnation. Reincarnation goes on until individual consciousness unites with the infinite. Buddhism has annihilation as its goal. Schopenhauer was the ultimate pessimist. He believed one’s desires can never be fulfilled. For the United States of the ‘20s the tradition that life was worthless set a tone. This means there was an ocean of suffering and confusion where previously there was none. The Roaring ‘20s was a time when Americans seemed driven to seek pleasure and joy, and to avoid pain and depression. This is some of the background for the founding of Religious Science.

Ernest Holmes spent most of his adult life in California. He moved there when he was in his mid-twenties. It was

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com California where Holmes developed the statement of beliefs that serve as the base of RS. The most unique aspect of RS might be said to be summed up in the name.

Religious Science combines religion and science, often seen as being at odds.

For Holmes there was no contradiction in terms, though. Science was a path to God. He said the “manifest universe is the body of God.” This is similar to Paul Tillich’s “God is the ground of being.”

Tillich is regarded by many as the most important Protestant theologian of the twentieth century. The Dalai Lama has said he apprehends God as the ground of being. Ernest Holmes approached his beliefs as the scientist approached his work. Holmes said “We have to have the same faith in what we teach and practice that the scientist has…”

Holmes expanded that thought saying “when that great simplicity shall have plumbed and penetrated this density of ours, this human stolidness and stupid-

Holmes Memorial Chapel in California, named after Ernest Holmes.

ity, this debauchery of the intellect and the soul, something new and wonderful will happen.”

Human beings have been trying to find pleasure and joy for centuries.

They have done it pharmacologically with drugs, or through adopting belief systems. Why, in general, have they not succeeded? Ernest Holmes offered a reason. The reason is that most do

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not value plain happiness as such, but want it grounded in truth, virtue, artistic achievement, or some sort of higher good. In short, we want to be happy for a reason. We want insight into reality, into moral value or beauty as objective facts.

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Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission How the Maine woods changed after World War II

by Dan Moscovici

M

aine is the most heavily forested state in the nation, with almost 90% of the state covered. While these forests of Maine were extensively used for resources for hundreds of years, they remained safe from development. The sheer distance and slow back roads would keep the majority of visitors — coming from the big cities and sprawling suburbs along the Northeast Corridor — away from the Maine woods.

However, all of this would change after World War II. Big pressures were mounting, and it was because of the automobile. In 1947, the first section of the Maine Turnpike from Kittery to Portland was built. In 1955, the Portland Augusta section was opened and then in 1956 the United States Congress created the Interstate Highway System.

Maine would officially have a highspeed highway from the southern border with New Hampshire all the way to Canada. This new level of accessibility ushered in an era of vastly increased national interest in nature and the outdoors. With the completion of the highways, thousands of east coast urbanites drove north to hike peaks, to camp, or downhill ski in the big and beautiful mountains. The forest was now accessible to an exponentially greater number of people, who could, in a half day’s drive, access these remote areas from New York, Boston, Connecticut, and even further. Development pressure was mounting as building lots were carved out and second homes were being built. Maine had to act and act fast.

A regional plan for the North Woods, known as the McKee Report, was de-

veloped in the state legislature in 1967, and with it the state became a stringent controller of land and water resources in the unorganized territories in the northern and heavily wooded part of the state. The Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) was created in 1971 to plan for these 10.4 million acres of the unorganized territories. Since then, LURC has been the primary authority on planning, zoning, land management and subdivision regulations for 450 state plantations, unorganized areas, islands, and a few organized towns. The jurisdiction includes more than half of the state and one quarter of all of New England. Historically, this expanse has been known as the “Wildlands” or the “North Woods” of Maine, yet this vast area is certainly not wilderness.

The region is a managed forest. Logging roads, active timber harvesting, and recreation are the primary uses.

However, the natural world, filled with mountains, lakes, and wildlife dominates the region and still generates a powerful mystique for the visitors and residents who frequent the East Coast’s last great-forested area.

LURC is a seven-member, independent board appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the legislature. Four of the commissioners must be knowledgeable in one of the following: forestry, fish and wildlife, commerce and industry, and conservation, with at least two members being active residents of the jurisdiction. The group has independent policy and decision-making capabilities from the government. Legal authority includes adopting new rules and amendments to the compre-

hensive plan, acting on zoning and permit applications, considering appeals of administrative decisions, and setting other agency policies. This commission is similar to a local planning board and strives to plan regionally and implement locally. The language granted LURC through the state statute makes it clear that they regulate “in the public interest, and for the public benefit and the good order of the people of this state.” They are furthermore charged with “encouraging appropriate uses of these lands by residents of Maine and visitors, in pursuit of outdoor recreation activities.” This unique and differing language has historically given the Commission the ability to view its constituency very broadly. After all, many property owners with second homes do not actually reside in the jurisdiction.

Since its inception in 1971, the Commission has successfully completed four Comprehensive Land Use Plans.

The first one, in the mid-70s, the second in the mid-80s, the third in 1997, and the most recent published in 2010.

The comprehensive plan developed a planning, zoning, and subdivision framework, established the natural resources and development policies, and implemented interim zoning throughout the jurisdiction. Three major zoning types, with subsequent subzones, were created during these early days: Management Zones, Protection Zones, and Development Zones.

LURC has both thrived and struggled to maintain a land area of this magnitude. Successes abound and their scorecard has been extremely impressive. Very little of their region has seen

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Power Expedited Plan in 2008. This put significant pressure on Northern Maine and on the mountain tops. Historically, according to LURC rules there was no development allowed over 2,700 feet without a permit, and those were rarely granted. Other big projects have been proposed including huge developments, transmission lines, and dams on wild rivers. Some of these projects are still being discussed or are in some phase of litigation.

Overall, LURC has been the protector of more than 10.4 million acres of primarily forest land in northern Maine for 50 years. As our climate continues

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to change and new pressures abound, it is important we know about LURC, what they do, and that we continue to hold them accountable. We must ensure that the Wildlands aka the North Woods remain forested for a long time. This way we can continue to sustainably harvest resources and know that future generations will always have a place to go for amazing recreation opportunities for centuries to come.

K

development pressure. In addition, big conservation deals both government and non-governmental organizations (ngos) have been created. Some include Baxter State Park, the St. Johns waterway, Katahdin Iron Works, the Pingree Forest Partnership, and protections in the Downeast. Millions of acres have been protected in LURC’s jurisdiction – deals that safeguard lakes and rivers, maintain habitat for wildlife, and continue to bolster the logging industry. Forest related manufacturing accounts for a significant number of jobs and manufacturing jobs in the region, as does recreation and tourism. It is the perfect place to blend nature and opportunity.

However, LURC has historically had a passive approach to planning.

It is difficult for them to be proactive when the majority of the land in their jurisdiction is privately owned and they have such a large jurisdiction.

Nevertheless, this has resulted in the inevitable fragmentation of ownership with increased land sales, smaller lot creation, and the diminishment of viable timber operations if properties get too small or there are too many homes.

They have also had to deal with major project proposals that push LURC beyond its expertise and capabilities. One was the Plum Creek Development Proposal in 2005 around Moosehead Lake, which would have been the largest development in the state’s history. Another was when Maine adopted the Wind

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46

Teddy Roosevelt Pays A Debt To Maine A young man’s memories put to paper

by Charles Francis

P

resident Theodore Roosevelt owed a debt to Maine. He said so.

His exact words were “I owe a personal debt to Maine.”

President Roosevelt paid his debt to Maine. He paid it in the best way possible. He paid it to Maine’s school children, to Maine’s young people. He paid it by writing something specially for them. He wrote of his stay in Island Falls in Aroostook County and of the people there who influenced him.

President Roosevelt titled his piece My Debt To Maine. It was included in Maine My State. Maine My State is sometimes referenced as “The School Reader.” I placed the latter title in quotation marks because it was never a formal title. My sense as to why it was used at all is that it was an early or sometime working title.

As a former Maine secondary school teacher, one who taught Maine history, I can’t imagine a better way for an individual of Theodore Roosevelt’s stature to pay what he considered his debt to the State of Maine. Back when Maine

My State came out and was issued to students Teddy’s name alone would have been enough to interest young readers in the book and subject matter.

The initial publishing date of Maine My State was 1919. In 1919 you couldn’t find a better-known figure in the country than “Teddy” Roosevelt. It wasn’t just that he was a former President. Roosevelt was a hero, the hero of San Juan Hill. He had ridden up it

at the head of the Rough Riders. At least that was the image in the popular imagination. And if you think that young children might not have known “Teddy,” nothing could be further from the fact. The “Teddy Bear” was named for him. In short nothing could have done more to interest school children in the history of their state than to have “Teddy” Roosevelt write about it. Try to imagine what it was like when your great grandmother or great grandfather was issued the book by a teacher and when opening it, they saw on the title page “With Contributions by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and other Famous Maine Writers”. And then there was Roosevelt’s piece itself.

Theodore Roosevelt was a seasoned and popular writer. He knew how to appeal to a young reader. Consider the following: A young Roosevelt camps out in “... delicious nights, under a leanto, by lake or stream, in the clear fall weather, or in winter on balsam boughs in front of a blazing stump ...” Roosevelt was a very good writer. Though

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47

DiscoverMaineMagazine.com he came from a well-to-do family he had to support himself as an adult. He did so by writing. He wrote histories that are still respected in academic circles. And he wrote for popular mass markets. He is generally credited with writing the first western. Zane Grey paid tribute to him as an influence and inspiration.

As a young man Teddy Roosevelt stayed in Island Falls. He visited there three times. He stayed with the Sewall family. Bill Sewall and his nephew Wilmot Dow were Roosevelt’s guides and wilderness mentors. Roosevelt hunted, fished, and camped with Sewall and Dow. With them he climbed Katahdin.

It’s all in My Debt To Maine. So too is the fact that Sewall and Dow worked on Roosevelt’s cattle ranch in the Black Hills. Teddy Roosevelt was a wild and wooly ranch man. He wouldn’t have been but for Sewall and Dow. He makes the latter point clear in his piece in Maine My State.

Theodore Roosevelt made his first trip to Island Falls in 1878. He was twenty-one and a student at Harvard.

Pictures of the future President taken at this period of his life and a bit earlier show a dandy. A dandy he did not remain. Teddy quickly learned that Sewall and Dow had something to impart to him. He found that like them he wanted “to treat with indifference whatever hardship or fatigue came his way. In their company I would have been ashamed to complain!” This, then, is a part of Teddy Roosevelt’s debt to Maine.

Roosevelt visited Island Falls twice in 1879, in March and in August. It was on the August trip that he climbed Katahdin. This trip also included an expedition up the Aroostook River by pirogue. Travel upriver by pirogue meant poling. Roosevelt’s expeditions with Sewall and Dow hardened him. It is difficult to imagine a task more challenging than poling a flat-bottom pirogue

upriver for fifty miles.

Teddy Roosevelt’s knowledge of the Aroostook woods comes out in My Debt To Maine. It is hard to imagine a young person not appreciating the work. For example, Roosevelt tells a story about the difference between a mud and water swollen spring road and a stream. He asks a local the difference. The difference is that streams have beaver dams.

Roosevelt also writes about Sewall and Dow on his Black Hills ranch. His descriptions there are food for any young mind, be that mind of the 1920s or the twenty-first century.

Bill Sewall became Roosevelt’s lifelong friend. (Unfortunately, Wilmot Dow died a young man.) Sewall taught young Roosevelt to respect nature. Remember that Roosevelt visited Island Fall three times. In the forests surrounding Island Falls the future President came to appreciate solitude as one can only do so, in a natural setting.

About a quarter of a mile below (cont. on page 48)

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(cont. from page 47) the island that gives the town of Island Falls its name there is a spot that was a particular favorite of Roosevelt. A plaque was placed there in 1921 by the Roosevelt Memorial Association. In 1970 it was designated a State of Maine Historic Site. The surrounding area is a twenty-seven-acre nature preserve. Today the location that was Roosevelt’s favorite is known as Bible Point. The young Roosevelt had a habit of going there to read his Bible.

In the late 1920s Lillian Hill Smith visited Island Falls to gather material about a piece on Bill Sewall. She visited Bible Point where she found the actual Bible read by Roosevelt more than forty years earlier. The Bible had specific passages marked in it.

Smith also visited the Roosevelt School for Boys on Mattawamkeag Lake. The school, open only during the summer months, was devoted to

teaching an appreciation of nature. Bill Sewall was one of the nature teachers there. Smith described him as “Tall and spare, his yellow beard streaked somewhat with white, and his curling hair somewhat thinned by age.” Sewall, Smith said, had “a nobility of character” and “a hearty handclasp.”

Whoever it was that came up with the idea of asking former President Theodore Roosevelt to contribute to Maine My State is owed a debt of gratitude.

Of course, they would have known that the likelihood of Roosevelt declining the request was almost nonexistent.

Today first editions of Maine My State are rare. However, it was reissued in 2010 and is readily obtainable. To hold a copy in one’s hands is to take a step back to the days when our great grandparents were learning Maine’s history.

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Union River Eels A fascinating resident of Ellsworth

by John Murray

H

istorically, the eel species that would ultimately become known as the American eel was a very important part of the diet of the native Wabanaki tribes of the region.

Considerable numbers of these eels were harvested from the Union River.

A concentrated mass harvest of eels was undertaken during the fall season.

Members of the Wabanaki would gather along the banks of the river and spear the eels as they swam nearby. Considered delicious by the Wabanaki, freshly captured eels would be immediately cooked over open fires and consumed in huge quantities during the weeks of the harvest. Large numbers of captured eels would also be preserved by subjecting the eel flesh to hot smoke for many hours then stockpiled to be used as a nutritious food source during the harsh winter months. The Wabanaki used virtually every segment of the eel. Medicine healers used eel oil as a remedy to cure several different ailments. Eel skin was found quite durable and was incorporated as a binding material for spears, clothing, footwear, and sleds.

This knowledge of using the eels as a food source was shared by the native Wabanaki with the arriving European settlers and this knowledge helped the settlers survive the brutal winters when other food and game was scarce. Embracing the traditional method of spearing eels, the European settlers would modify the spear to make it more efficient, and created a long spear that resembled a barbed rake at the tip of a wooden pole. The barbed rake design enabled the settlers to capture multiple eels with a single thrust of the spear.

With the aid of a torch to provide light, the majority of eel spearing was done during the nighttime hours when the

eels were most active. Eels would scatter after being alarmed by the light of the torch so the person wielding the spear had to be quick and agile.

Along with the spear, the European settlers also used a trap called an eel pot. These eel pots were constructed from strips of black ash wood that were woven together to form a large basket with a funnel-shaped concave entrance at the end. Pieces of cut fish were placed as bait in the center of the eel pot and it was weighted down to the bottom of the river with rocks. When the eel smelled the fish in the pot they would enter through the concave hole entrance and would not be able to exit back out of the funnel-shaped hole.

This basic functional design would also be used for the construction of lobster traps where it is still used to this day.

The Union River of the past had large numbers of eels in its waters, as did most other coastal rivers throughout the state. As dams were constructed on the Union River and other rivers in Maine the numbers of American eels were dramatically lowered, but eels are still present today. An unobstructed link to the ocean is very important because American eels are an ancient species of fish that is catadromous — which means they spend the vast majority of their life in freshwater, then migrate downriver into the ocean to spawn.

American eels are a long-lived species that can survive for more than twenty years. Snake-like in appearance, an adult eel can grow to a length of four feet and weigh upwards of seventeen pounds. The long slender body of the eel is covered in a slimy mucous layer which is a protective coating for the eel and hampers predators from achieving a firm grasp on the slippery body. Eels are bottom dwellers and forage for food along the rock-strewn or murky river bottom. Hunting for food is aided by the eel possessing an excellent sense of smell that functions quite well underwater. When not actively hunting for food an eel will take refuge in concealed locations, including areas with thick underwater vegetation and alongside sunken timber. Eels are primarily nocturnal and considerable feeding is done during the evening hours. An opportunist feeder, eels will consume virtually every species of aquatic life forms that inhabit the same water, including other fish. During the very cold winter months, eels become completely inactive in the frigid water and burrow underneath the mud as a survival mechanism.

When compared to other species of migratory fish, the journey of the American eel to the ocean had always been a mysterious event. Fishery biologists knew that the adult eel would migrate downriver during the fall season into the Atlantic Ocean after being a freshwater resident for nearly two decades and were aware of the tiny juvenile eels that would migrate back up into the river when the water warmed during the spring. American eels were rarely seen in the Atlantic Ocean and the exact destination of the eel was a complete mystery that wasn’t determined until recent (cont. on page 50)

Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties

50

(cont. from page 49) years.

What was finally learned with the aid of miniature tracking devices was that the American eel has a truly epic journey during its time in the Atlantic Ocean. When an adult eel migrates downriver into the connecting Atlantic Ocean, the eel will begin a swim to an ancestral spawning area that other eels have visited for hundreds of years.

Traveling sometimes twenty miles a day, the American eel heads southward into the open ocean where it will swim at depths of two thousand feet to avoid potential predators. After traveling 1500 miles and many months later, the American eel will reach its final destination — a section of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Sargasso Sea. The Sargasso Sea is legendary with seafaring mariners. Unlike other seas that are bordered by land masses, the Sargasso Sea is a large mass of water influenced by four different ocean cur-

rents and lies within the confines of the Atlantic Ocean. Linked to its name, the area of the Sargasso Sea is covered with miles of floating vegetation called Sargassum seaweed. Underneath the floating seaweed is ocean water that is blue in color and has exceptional clarity.

Throughout hundreds of years, sailors have told tales about sailing ships entering this area and becoming trapped within the tangling vegetation due to the complete lack of wind.

Shortly after the American eel enters the Sargasso Sea the female eel will deposit thousands of floating eggs directly below the mass of floating seaweed.

It is believed that the adult eels die after spawning because the adult eels have never been documented to return to the freshwater rivers. The eel eggs hatch rapidly and the tiny juvenile eels will not linger long in the Sargasso Sea. After migrating out of the Sargasso Sea, the tiny eels will be transported west and northward by the Gulf Stream currents of the Atlantic Ocean. This 1500mile journey of drifting with the ocean current is lengthy and the juvenile eels will not reach the coast of Maine until nearly a year has passed.

Upon reaching the coast of Maine, the juvenile eels will enter the freshwater rivers where they will grow and live for the next two decades. This is the historic cycle of life for the American eel of the Union River. The eel has been a unique and fascinating resident of Maine since the last ice age.

In Memory of

Charles Francis

October 1, 1942 - June 10, 2023 Charles "Charlie" Laurance Humphrey Francis, age 80, of Lower Wolfville passed away June 10, 2023, in the Valley Hospice, Kentville. Born October 1, 1942, in Portland, Maine, USA; he was the son of the late Henry Russell Francis and Marguerita (Woods) Francis.

Charlie was first and always a teacher. He grew up in the Unitarian Church. He was also a voracious reader in the fields of science, theology, literary critique, and popular history. Genealogy was a strong interest. He became a regular contributing writer for Discover Maine Magazine, sharing articles on the popular history of Maine for over 20-years until his death.

Charlie earned degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, where he obtained a degree in Canadian Studies; and University of Maine at Orono, where he earned a Master of Science Degree in Education. After his studies, Charles taught first in Mars Hill, Maine, USA. He then continued teaching at NYA in Yarmouth, Maine, USA, and at Searsport District High School where he taught history and English, was involved in curriculum development and coached cross-country.

Following retirement in 1990, Charlie moved to Monroe, Maine, USA, where he served as Chair of the Selection Board. In the early to mid-1990s, he served aboard the light ship “Nantucket”. His interest in the history of his community was shown in his leadership in restoring the Civil War statue in Monroe. His fascination with Canadian history led him to Halifax and his Howe family connection.

Charlie fell in love with his wife’s country and became a proud and fervent citizen of Canada in 2002. Together they were the owners of his “Shangri-la” near Annapolis Royal. He delighted in living in the heart of Canada's birthplace. Nature and the environment were his sources of spiritual connection. Gardening, daily runs, which in later years became daily walks, fed his joy.

Charlie is lovingly remembered by his wife, Mary Lou Rockwell of Wolfville; daughter, Sarah Francis of Gray, Maine, USA; grandchildren, Curtis Austin and Margaret (Maggie) Austin of Gray, Maine, USA; special first cousin, Jack Woods, Peapack, New Jersey, USA; and Jetta the Cat of Wolfville.

Cremation has taken place and in accordance with Charlie’s wishes, there will be no service. Memorial donations may be made to the Valley Hospice in Kentville or The Lodge That Gives in Halifax (1-888-939-3333). Arrangements have been entrusted to Serenity Funeral Home, 34 Coldbrook Village Park Dr., Coldbrook, NS, B4R 1B9 (902679-2822).

Courtesy of Serenity Funeral Home

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Palmer Lumber Co. ...................................................................31 Eagle's Lodge Motel..........................................................................24 Ellsworth Moose Lodge......................................................................9 Elwood Downs Incorporated.............................................................41 Engstrom's Auto Service....................................................................32 ERA Dawson Bradford Realtors.............................................back cover

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Moosehead Motorsports...................................................................32 N.C. Wyeth Research Foundation and Reading Libraries...................15 Natural Living Center.........................................................................21 Newport Glass...................................................................................28 Nickerson Construction Inc. ..............................................................43 North Country Auto...........................................................................38 Northern Maine Minerals..................................................................33 North Woods Real Estate...................................................................38 Parker Ridge Retirement Community................................................24 Patterson's General Store..................................................................12 Penobscot County Federal Credit Union............................................19 Penobscot Marine Museum...............................................................14 Perkco Supply....................................................................................29 Pine Grove Crematorium.....................................................................4 Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce...................................................30 PJ's Plumbing, Heating & Drain Cleaning LLC...................................16 Plumbline Carpentry LLC...................................................................35 Plymouth Village Store & Café...........................................................12 Rainwater Solutions..........................................................................10 Ray Builders Inc. ...............................................................................10 Red's Automotive..............................................................................26 Reefer Red’s Cannabis Shop..............................................................28 Reubens Market................................................................................34 Richardson's Hardware......................................................................39 Rocky Shore Realty..............................................................................8 Roof Systems of Maine........................................................................8 Rowell’s Garage Car Wash..................................................................13 Rowell's Garage Sales & Service........................................................13 Russell, Johnson, Beaupain Attorneys at Law.................................17 Sackett and Brake Survey Inc. ..........................................................29 Savage Paint & Body.........................................................................39 Sebasticook Valley Federal Credit Union...........................................28 Shaw Financial Services....................................................................45 Sturdi-Bilt Storage Buildings LLC......................................................37 Summit Sound Home Audio & Theatre...............................................8 Sweet Seniors Assisted Living...........................................................39 Swett's Tire & Auto..............................................................................3 T.G. Dunn Plumbing, Inc. .................................................................11 Tate Brook Timber Company..............................................................35 Taylor's Two Rivers Canoe & Tackle....................................................46 The Co-op Cafe..................................................................................11 The County Federal Credit Union.......................................................38 The Merle B. Grindle Agency Insurance............................................24 The Pioneer Place, U.S.A. Country General Store.............................43 Town of Lincoln.................................................................................36 Tucker Auto Repair..............................................................................6 Vacationland Inn...............................................................................22 Vancil Vision Care..............................................................................11 Varney's Newport Ford......................................................................12 Vintage Maine Images.........................................................................4 WS Emerson......................................................................................21 Wardwell Construction & Trucking Corp. ..........................................25 Ware's Power Equipment..................................................................41 WCL Carpentry...................................................................................40 West's Coastal Connection................................................................20 Whited Truck & Auto Center...............................................................19 Whitney's Family Supermarket.........................................................29 Whitten's 2-Way Service, Inc. ..........................................................23 Williams & Taplin Well Drilling Service..............................................10 Williams Family Farm..........................................................................7 Winter Harbor Provisions...................................................................23 York’s of Houlton...............................................................................42

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