Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties

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Volume 27 | Issue 3 | 2019

15,000 Circulation

Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties

The Colbath Family’s Rat Rod Marvel

Levant mechanics win many trophies

Bangor’s Dow Air Force Base A city within a city

Ellsworth’s Fallen Hero William Rice

A “Maine at War” exclusive

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Inside This Edition

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3

It Makes No Never Mind James Nalley

4

The Colbath Family’s Rat Rod Marvel Levant mechanics win many trophies Brian Swartz

10 Ellsworth Fought Hard For County Seat Status Honors once held by Castine and Penobscot Brian Swartz 14 Bangor’s Dow Air Force Base A city within a city Jodi Hersey 18 The Ku Klux Klan Invades Brewer Catholics and Jews are dumbfounded Brian Swartz 24 Ellsworth’s Fallen Hero William Rice A “Maine at War” exclusive Brian Swartz 28 What Was The Bucksport “Whatisit?”

A maritime mystery Daniel Stewart 34 Dover-Foxcroft’s Fred E. Bailey Maker of quality fishing flies and spinners Charles Francis 39 Family Tradition Spans 100 Years At Maynard’s In Maine Brian Swartz 40 Lincoln, Maine’s Moxie Man The story of Frank Archer Patrick Ferris 42 Houlton’s Charles Foss Pioneer pharmacist Charles Francis 46 Dexter’s 1922 Abbott & Company Fire Firemen fought a massive wool and oil-fed blaze Brian Swartz 50 Howland’s Percy Lebaron Spencer Inventor of the microwave oven Charles Francis

Maine’s History Magazine

Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock

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Layout & Design Liana Merdan

Advertising & Sales Manager Tim Maxfield

Advertising & Sales Jennifer Bakst Dennis Burch Dan Coyne Tim Maxfield

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Contributing Writers Patrick Ferris Charles Francis | fundy67@yahoo.ca Jodi Hersey James Nalley Daniel Stewart Brian Swartz 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, newstands, grocery and convenience stores, hardware stores, lumber companies, motels, restaurants and other locations throughout this part of Maine.

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Front Cover Photo:

The Triangle Filling Station in Ellsworth Item # LB2007.1.100639 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

B

y the time of this publication, the temperatures should be rising and the snows should be receding. In this regard, there are two aspects to consider from the snowmelt: the deepening mud on land and the rising waters on the rivers.

As for the latter, there is an annual event held each April in which individuals dress up in crazy costumes and race their canoes/ kayaks in the freezing waters of the Kenduskeag Stream. Known as the Kenduskeag Canoe Race, this 16.5-mile race (with 10.5 miles of flatwater) begins in downtown Kenduskeag and ends at the stream’s confluence with the Penobscot River in Bangor.

The seriousness of this “fun” event, which, by the way, is one of the largest of its kind in the country, cannot be understated. According to race director Debbie Gendreau, “It is kind of like the Boston Marathon of Bangor…It’s a long race and there are people who come year after year to complete it.”

Founded in 1967 by Lew Gilman and Ed Colburn, the event has welcomed more than 36,000 enthusiastic athletes (both worldclass and casual paddlers), all with the

same purpose: to honor the coming spring and to earn bragging rights. Overall, there are 23 different classes, including the popular open class with at least three paddlers, a single-person paddleboard class, and a two-person recreational canoe class. The record times for completing the course have been impressive. For example, as stated in the Bangor Daily News, Trevor MacLean of Nova Scotia posted a 2017 time of 1 hour and 58 minutes, which, by the way, was his sixth finish of under two hours. However, he has yet to beat Robert Lang’s 1997 course record of one hour and 50 minutes.

In regard to the costumes, it is not unusual to see a team of paddlers with, for example, a giant inflatable Gumby leading the way or a team wearing flowers on their helmets.

In fact, one of the most recognized is Zip Kellogg’s tradition of standing in his canoe, dressed in a shirt, fancy hat, and bow tie.

According to Kellogg, he does not stand the entire length of the river: “I sit a fair amount and kneel a fair amount…I also stand because I’m looking at the river trying to figure it out.” Overall, these costumed

paddlers provide some humor and entertainment to those partying along the river and waiting to watch someone get dumped into the rapids. It is important to clarify that everyone is rescued fairly quickly, but it is the short amount of time in the frigid waters that take away the fun.

On this note, allow me to close with the following jest: A soldier, a philosopher, and a comedian are canoeing along a river through a remote tropical jungle. As they stop to grab a bite to eat, they are immediately surrounded by a vicious tribe, the leader of which states, “You have two choices of death. We will either kill you as a coward or you can die an honorable death by using a weapon of your choice. Either way, your skins will be used to make our canoes.” The soldier, a warrior at heart, grabs his handgun and shoots himself in the head. The second man, a philosopher at heart, drinks some poison. The third, a comedian at heart, grabs his fork and repeatedly stabs his torso while shouting, “I hope your $%*& canoe sinks!!”

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The Colbath Family’s Rat Rod Marvel Levant mechanics win many trophies

by Brian Swartz

C

larence Colbath of Levant has accomplished the goal imagined in a famous Johnny Cash song: building a car — in Clarence’s case a wrecker — One Piece At A Time.

In the 1976 hit he recorded with the Tennessee Three, Cash tells the tale of a Kentuckian who left home “in forty-nine an’ went to Detroit workin’ on a ‘sembly line.” Watching “them beauties roll by,” the autoworker “devised myself a plan” to sneak parts out of the plant “in a lunchbox in my hand.”

Cash’s make-believe autoworker would get his new car “one piece at a time” (he did in the song) — and that’s how Clarence Colbath has built (with the help of a favorite uncle) the wrecker

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known as One Piece At A Time.

And it’s certainly one of a kind.

“Born and brought up” in Levant, Clarence worked for years at Hartley’s Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge in Corinna.

He “started off in rust proofing there” in the 1970s and “pretty well covered every department” before leaving about 1996. His last position was that of service manager.

Clarence then ran his own garage and a towing service, and he still operates a cleaning service and helps run the family farm in Levant.

An experienced mechanic, Clarence bought a long-bed 1983 Dodge pickup in 2013. “I was going to run it,” but “a buddy told me he thought I was going

to build a rat rod with it,” he said.

And so, he did. During winter of 2013-2014, Clarence and his uncle, Raymond “Jr.” Colbath (now 89), started creating One Piece At A Time.

They removed the truck bed and shortened the Dodge’s frame. Clarence traveled to Houlton to buy the sides and front of a 1948 Chevrolet; “I rebuilt that and set it on there and hooked it down” on the ’83 Dodge.

“The first car I ever had was a ’54 Chevy,” Clarence said. Selling the car for junk, he removed its steering wheel and placed it in his truck.

Next, “I had an old car (a 1953 Pontiac) that had been sitting over in the woods for years,” he said. Cutting

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com the Pontiac’s “outer shell off,” Clarence “molded it onto the wrecker” as a hood. The headlights came from a 1989 Chevy pickup.

One night, Clarence “came up with the idea of building a grille for it.” The grille came from an old barbed-wire fence on the farm; to keep people from pricking their fingers when they touch the grille — and it’s certainly an attention-getter at car shows — “I grounded every barb off it,” he said.

“We didn’t do much” on One Piece At A Time in the winter of 2014-2015, Clarence said, but he and his uncle returned to work with a vengeance during the winter of 2015-2016.

“That’s when we built the wrecker boom” from “an old hay conveyor we had on the farm and hadn’t used for a long time,” Clarence said. He narrowed the conveyor’s spool by 18 inches and shorted its other components proportionally, so the “boom” could fit in the back of the truck.

The boom is not operational, as a sign on the truck indicates.

“We added the lights and all that on it” that winter, too, Clarence said. The lights on the back of the boom came from a 1965 Chevrolet Impala. The visor installed above the windshield also came from the hay conveyor; Clarence cut four holes in the visor and secured chicken wire in each hole to add an eye-appealing touch to the visor.

Clarence has added other touches, such as gluing to the visor the hood ornament from a wrecked Jaguar. Reflecting the wrecker’s qualification for Rat Rod status at car shows, he mounted a black rat atop both exterior mirrors.

“This past winter, we didn’t do anything” to change One Piece At A Time, Clarence said. He and Junior plan to replace the existing six-cylinder engine and manual transmission with a V-8 and an automatic transmission in winter 2017-2018.

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as a 1948-53-54-65-83-89 Dodge-GMFord, One Piece At A Time stands out both on the road (the wrecker is street legal and fully inspected) and at car shows.

Depending on the classes in which vehicles can be entered in shows, Clarence enters his wrecker in either Rat Rod or Special Interest. In early May 2017 he entered One Piece At A time in a pretty formidable Rat Rod class at a Waldoboro car show.

“I was surprised I pulled a second-place trophy out of there,” he said.

By late summer 2017, One Piece At A Time had garnered a first-place trophy, two second-place trophies, and one third-place trophy.

Clarence and his wrecker also appeared at car shows in Dexter, Hartland, Pittsfield, and Searsport, among other locations. Clarence missed a few shows because the Colbaths were cutting hay on their farm. The family “used to have (cont. on page 6)

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(cont. from page 5) dairy cows until the Ice Storm of ’98,” he recalled. Power outages and bad roads kept the Colbaths from refrigerating and selling “two or three tanks” of milk fresh from the cows, so the family decided to get out of the dairy business.

Clarence plans to enter One Piece At A Time at various car shows in the future. He posts information about these shows on his Facebook page.

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Clarence Colbath’s Rat Rod. Photo courtesy of Clarence “Roscoe” Colbath

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Ellsworth Fought Hard For County Seat Status Honors once held by Castine and Penobscot

by Brian Swartz

M

odern Mainers can be excused for believing that Ellsworth has always been the Hancock County shire town, but that’s not so.

That honor once fell to Castine, “but she had hard work to hold it,” a Maine chief justice intoned in mid-April 1886, and ultimately Castine lost the battle.

Where Maine has 16 counties today, colonial Maine only had a few. York County stretched as far as modern Hancock County until the Massachusetts General Court split off Lincoln County in 1760, then formed Hancock County

and Washington County in 1789.

Meanwhile, settlers already occupied land along the Union River and nearby Mount Desert Island. Townships and plantations took shape in the region. People living along the Bagaduce River formed the town of Penobscot in February 1787, and not until February 1796 did residents in that town’s western region form Castine, Maine’s 105th town.

Penobscot briefly gained status as the Hancock County shire town, but the General Court transferred that honor to Castine in 1796 and established a

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courthouse there. The federal government added a post office and assigned Customs officials to Castine.

To the east in Township No. 7 (also called Union River Plantation) along the head of tide on the Union River, settlers established a thriving community that, due to proximity to sea and forest, thrived in the late 18th century.

An initial petition filed with the General Court in 1798 sought to establish the town of Sumner, a name already taken in western Maine.

According to Hancock County historian Connee Jellison, the General

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com Court recommended naming the town New Bowdoin, but ultimately the affected residents opted to honor Oliver Ellsworth, a Connecticut delegate to the 1787 Constititional Convention.

Incorporated on February 2, 1800, “the new town encompassed all of Township No. 7, part of Township No. 6, and the northeast corner of Trenton,” Jellison wrote in Hancock County a rock-bound paradise. Laying claim to the Township 6 segment, Surry got it back with legislative approval in 1820, then lost it for good to Ellsworth in 1829.

Had that not happened, most all of Ellsworth west of the Union River would belong to Surry today.

And the battle for status as the Hancock County shire town heated up.

Speaking to a large crowd in Ellsworth during the April 13, 1886 dedication of a new county courthouse, Maine Chief Justice John A. Peters explained what had happened 50 years earlier.

The original Hancock County also encompassed the future Penobscot and Waldo counties, as well as sections of Aroostook and Piscataquis counties. Massachusetts split off Penobscot County in February 1816, and Maine set off Waldo County in February 1827.

Hancock County shrank accordingly.

Blue Hill and Ellsworth residents looked at Castine and asked, “Why not move the county seat to our town?” Petitions went to Augusta, and a harried Maine Legislature decided to let Hancock County residents vote on which town should be the shire town.

Getting rid of Penobscot and Waldo counties “did not secure a peaceable or a permanent possession of the courts for Castine,” Justice Peters said. “After a time Ellsworth started on the warpath and never ceased to prosecute the contest for the possession of the shire until it was obtained.”

Through Representative John G. Deane, Ellsworth pounded on the leg-

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islative door in 1827 and 1829, “came near success” that latter year, and continued knocking. “Castine made a vigorous resistance against removal until her strength could avail no more,” said Peters, crediting Bucksport representative Samuel M. Pond for being “at all times opposed” to moving the county seat from Castine.

“The end would have come sooner” if not for Pond’s efforts, Peters stressed.

So Maine legislators authorized a September 1836 election in which Hancock County voters would choose Blue Hill, Castine, or Ellsworth as their shire town. Blue Hill drew only 23 votes; Castine garnered 1,298 votes; and Ellsworth came in second with 1,170 votes.

“Castine supposed she had won the battle,” Peters admitted. “But the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the brave.”

Ellsworth supporters “adriotly obtained, upon petitions, the name of 143 (cont. on page 12)

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(cont. from page 11) persons who could not vote” in the referendum because they lived in “plantations which had no organization for election purposes,” Peters stated. Living in plantations 1, 8, and 15, these men “claimed that their names should be counted as votes.”

For reasons unclear, the 143 male voters were cleared to participate in the referendum, and for reasons even murkier, all 143 votes went to Ellsworth. The Maine Legislature swiftly passed a bill moving the county seat to Ellsworth effective October 1, 1838, provided the town convey its town house and an acre of land to the county, according to Peters.

When the competitive dust settled, Ellsworth paid $5 for “a triangular piece of land” on what became Bridge Hill, Peters said. Ellsworth built a town house on the site in 1834, then deeded the house and its land to county govern-

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ment in 1837.

“The brick annex was built and the records moved there from Castine” on October 1, 1838, according to Chief Justice Peters. The first county-court session took place later that month.

The Hancock County Court House stood on what became Court Street, now a short connection between Route 1 and the Surry Road (Route 172). The county government needed more space as time went by, so up went the new courthouse, opened in 1886.

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Downtown Ellsworth, ca. 1890. Item #1221 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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Bangor’s Dow Air Force Base

by Jodi Hersey

D

ow Air Force Base closed its doors 50 years ago, but the impact it made on the city of Bangor will never be forgotten. The former base is now home to the Bangor International Airport, and many of the surrounding structures built to support the base are still being used today.

David Bergquist, an author and historian, wrote about Dow Air Force Base in his book, Bangor in WWII. Bergquist said he was always intrigued by how the base got its name.

“Before the U.S. got into war, James Dow of Houlton was a student at the University of Maine in 1933. He was a football star and eventually joined the

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A city within a city ROTC, which at the time was mandatory for at least your first two years. He stayed on the last two years and then became president of the Military Honors Society,” explained Bergquist.

Dow graduated from the University of Maine with a mechanical engineering degree. But like so many others living during the Depression in the 1930s, Dow struggled to find work and returned home to Houlton.

“His father was superintendant of the northern branch of the Aroostook Railroad based in Houlton. He asked him for a job. But his father said, ‘I can’t in good conscience give you a job, if I can’t give anyone else a job.’ He

then decided to use his military training and went into the Air Corps Reserves.

You couldn’t get commissions in those days, so he had to go in as a reserve officer. So, he applied for flying and he was accepted,” said Bergquist.

Dow went to Park Air College in East St. Louis, Illinois, according to Bergquist, and from there continued his flight education in Texas, where he earned his wings. Then in 1940, Dow was assigned to Mitchell Field, just outside of Queens, New York.

“In June of 1940, he was a co-pilot in a B-18. There were four planes flying together, doing maneuvers over Queens. Two airplanes collided over a

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com residential area and he was in one of the aircrafts. One civilian was killed but all 11 airmen between the two planes, including James Dow was killed,” explained Bergquist. “They had a big funeral [for him] in Houlton, where he was a hometown hero. The Governor attended as well as the President of the University [of Maine].”

World War II had started in Europe the year before Dow died and not long after his passing, the government was searching for locations for a base.

“Bangor was selected because it had a lot of flat land. It was near a city that could provide services to men stationed here, and it was also the easternmost place closest to Europe. So, Bangor was chosen to be an army air force base,” explained Bergquist.

The base was located on Godfrey Field, a portion of land owned by longtime attorney Edward Godfrey. When the U.S. Army Air Corps took it over,

it was renamed the Bangor Army Air Base. The name was changed again to Dow Field before eventually being called Dow Air Force Base.

“I have a theory on this, but I can’t prove it. That the war department was up in the air on what to call the base, so the war department told the base commander to submit three names and he did. Then the department said to him, pick one. So, the first base commander picked James Dow,” said Bergquist.

“From February 1942 onward, the base made a name for itself during the war.

A lot of bombers would come through here. They’d stay for a few days and do some practicing. From here, they’d fly to Newfoundland and Greenland, Iceland, and then into Scotland to join the British. That’s where they’d launch all the attacks on Hitler’s Europe.”

Dow Air Force Base was bustling with activity throughout the war.

“During the second world war, 6,000

people were stationed at the base,” said Bergquist. “In the Cold War period, I remember as a kid, it was a major base.

It was a city within a city. There were 10,000 service men stationed there and anywhere from three to five thousand dependents. The base had its own commissary, its own movie theater. The government bought some farm land on Ohio Street and built these massive housing units, which was called Old Capehart. Housing was a real problem for the people in the military. There just wasn’t enough of it.”

Bangor historian Dick Shaw remembers those days vividly.

“They had a place called GI Village.

That’s what civilians would call the standard military housing,” said Shaw.

“I remember you could only go on base if there was an open house or when a president would visit.”

The Downeast School, which is still being used today, was used as an (cont. on page 16)

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(cont. from page 15) elementary school for the military kids and the Penobscot Jobs Corps, located on Union Street in Bangor, used to be their junior high school.

“All high schoolers went to Bangor High School and the government paid the tuition,” said Bergquist. “Today the term globalism is bantered about as a common term, but Bangor during that time was a representative of globalism; they had Americans who had been all

over the world. I remember a lot of those who joined in WWII. They had been stationed all over the world. So, it was really a community within itself.”

“Bangor was a fascinating place back then, it really was,” said Shaw.

Today, a lot of Bangor’s success can be traced back to Dow Air Force Base and the hardworking men and women who worked there.

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The Ku Klux Klan Invades Brewer Catholics and Jews are dumbfounded

by Brian Swartz

I

n the early 1920s, a photographer captured a historic image of Ku Klux Klansmen marching in a parade on North Main Street in Brewer.

Their identities concealed by white sheets and dunce cap-shaped white hoods, the Klansmen embodied a latent threat strikingly out of place in the somnolent Brewer of that era.

Home to a bustling Eastern Standard Packaging pulp-and-paper mill and a brick-making industry that sculpted much of the modern city’s terrain, Brewer stretched 5 miles along the Penobscot River and 3 miles inland.

Unlike its five-lane, traffic-pulsating descendant, Wilson Street was a sleepy

two-lane road pointed toward Ellsworth.

So how could enough Klansmen appear in a Brewer parade to catch a photographer’s attention? Few blacks lived in Brewer, but the marching Klansmen menaced Catholics and Jews — and the parade watchers knew it.

The Klan experienced strong growth in Maine after World War I. Since few blacks lived in the state, the Klan targeted the nearest available fears of many nativist Mainers — Jews and Catholics, the latter as represented by immigrant Irish, Italians, and Franco-Canadians.

Popping up in Portland and other large cities and towns, the national

Klan opened a klavern on North Street in Bangor. Recruiting was brisk and successful; the Bangor chapter felt sufficiently robust to deploy a contingent for the Brewer parade.

Rarely published since its creation, the Klan photograph usually contains no identifying date in its accompanying captions. The actual date was Saturday, July 5, 1924, however. People packed the Brewer sidewalks to watch the Independence Day parade sponsored by Wildey Lodge, International Order of Odd Fellows.

“Thousands of people were in the city in motor cars and all streets on the line of march were lined with cars and

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com people,” the Bangor Daily News noted.

“The weather was ideal, and visitors came from far and near to witness the day’s events.”

“The biggest event of the day” was the afternoon parade, with a 2½-mile round-trip route along North Main Street and South Main Street and back via Stone Street. The parade would last about 3½ hours, according to the paper.

The parade units “formed in three divisions and marched down North Main Street, each section falling in behind the forward division as it passed their place of waiting,” reported the competing Bangor Commercial.

Clip-clopping in the lead were “Francis Carter disguised as Uncle Sam and opposite on another horse, Mrs. Nathaniel Knowles, noble grand of Esther Rebekah Lodge, dressed most becomingly as Miss Columbia” and accompanied by other riders, the Commercial noted.

Onlookers cheered and applauded.

Behind the riders came a Dover-Foxcroft band, three motor cars transporting eight Civil War veterans, and “the float of Arcadia temple, Pythian Sisters, which … attracted a great deal of attention,” the Commercial claimed. This float took the second-prize trophy; first place — “a silver cup” — went to the float from the Colonel Brewer Lodge, named for the city’s founder, John Brewer.

The Lakeview Boys’ Band tooted and thumped along North Main Street; then came the local Baptist Pioneer boys with “a float arranged to represent a church of the Pilgrim days,” the Commercial reported.

Silence suddenly descended as “a body of men in Ku Klux Klan garb, masked and hooded,” marched behind the Pilgrim chapel float, the astonished Commercial reporter wrote. “It was their first appearance on Brewer streets

and they were watched with great interest.”

Estimates wildly varied the numbers of Klansmen from 250 to 700.

The Commercial reporter believed “the lesser is the nearer estimate.” Klan footsteps echoed as the sidewalk conversations quieted. When “a big K.K.K. float” rumbled past, watching Catholics and Jews could not believe their eyes.

A band from the Eastern Standard Packaging mill in Lincoln and “the Ardo Sancto rum drum corps” somehow “drifted into this division, too,” the Commercial reporter noted.

Other parade units passed by. Fire Chief Irving Doyle and Assistant Chief Silas Davies waved to the crowd from their perch in the car driven by Clarence Winchester. Behind that vehicle came firefighters pushing Old Excelsior, the first steam fire engine acquired

by Brewer.

Behind the firefighters “came 17 (cont. on page 20)

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(cont. from page 19) cars filled with women and children of the Klansmen, mainly the women, all enveloped in gowns and hoods,” the Commercial reporter told his readers in that evening’s edition. He estimated the women to number “some 100 or more, perhaps 150.”

Already shocked at seeing so many Klansmen march silently past them, onlookers could not believe that so many women would publicly support the organization — and without revealing their identities, of course.

Nosing around, the Commercial reporter learned the Klan contingent included “delegations from Lincoln, Milo, Milford, Dexter, Bangor and Brewer,” with Pittsfield sending “the largest out of town detachment.”

Suddenly a firecracker tossed into a South Main Street stable ignited a major fire that hauled the firefighters out of the parade line. From two Navy destroyers moored at a Bangor dock came

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Meanwhile, the Klansmen entered South Brewer, a rougher part of the city. The people standing near the Eastern Ball Park stirred angrily as the sheets hove into view. The muttering swelled into vocalized displeasure, and as the Klansmen marched by, men and women started booing.

The verbal harassment intensified while the Klan contingent went past, fell silent when the Lincoln band and the rum drum corps strode along South Main Street, and resumed when the Klanswomen and kids rode by. In time the parade units briefly disappeared as the divisions rounded Stone Street and halted on Elm Street before starting upriver.

North marched the Klansmen. South Brewer onlookers jeered as the hoods went past again.

Later that Saturday, people started asking why the Navy sailors had not

marched in the parade as expected.

The Bangor Commercial reported that “several of the jackies are Catholics and would not desire to join in a parade with the Klan.”

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Ellsworth’s Fallen Hero William Rice A “Maine at War” exclusive

by Brian Swartz

R

ather than escape when he had the chance, William H.H. Rice of Ellsworth ran toward the sound of the guns.

Ellsworth had long since supplanted Castine as the shire town of Hancock County when the Civil War erupted in April 1861. Some local men responded immediately to the call for soldiers, but Rice did not.

A post-office clerk, he was still living with his parents and siblings when Assistant United States Marshal S.B. Woodward enumerated the federal census for Ellsworth on July 19, 1860.

William Rice was 23; his parents were

49-year-old attorney Joseph S. Rice and 53-year-old Elizabeth P. Rice.

With real estate valued at $2,000 and a personal estate worth $800, Joseph Rice was a successful attorney. Besides William (their eldest child and son), the Rice’s had three other children: 19-year-old Ann, 13-year-old Maria, and 6-year-old Alfred, apparently a bit of surprise for his aging parents, since Elizabeth was 47 when he was born.

William H.H. Rice did not join the army until Maine Governor Israel Washburn Jr. called for the formation of the 11th Maine Infantry Regiment in autumn 1861. From Hancock County

(plus a few Washington County place names) came enough men to form Company G, commanded by Captain Winslow P. Spofford of Dedham.

On October 21, Rice received his stripes as first sergeant of Company G. “Before he had fairly placed his feet on the threshold of manhood, he was called to responsibilities and duties far in advance of his years,” a friend recalled. Rice officially mustered into federal service on November 4, 1861.

Six months later, Sergeant Rice was First Lieutenant Rice of Company G, now marching up the Peninsula toward Richmond, Virginia with the Army of

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com the Potomac. In late May 1862, the 11th Maine arrived at Seven Pines, a crossroads several miles east of the Confederate capital.

There the federal army formed a north-south defensive line, against which Confederate troops hit like swinging sledgehammers on Saturday, May 31. Heavy fighting engulfed the south end of the Union line, and senior Union officers emptied the regimental camps to strengthen the units battling about a mile to the west.

Probably sick with malaria or another insect- or water-borne disease, William H.H. Rice lay in a field hospital near the 11th Maine’s camp. Some shaking and shivering with malarial chills, other 11th Maine men lay around him as intense cannon fire thundered beyond the hospital’s tented walls.

Major Robert Campbell of Cherryfield ordered out the 93 available men from companies A, C, and F, the only 11th Maine companies not already on

the line. Campbell led his boys toward the sound of the guns — and behind them limped the sick Rice, a borrowed rifle in his hands and a borrowed cartridge box slung over a shoulder. Urging other sick soldiers to join him, he rose from his hospital bed and pushed hard to join the three companies, now led by the 11th Maine’s commander, Colonel Harris Plaisted.

With Rice went “several others of Co. G ,” a comrade later informed Ellsworth residents. “Their soldierly and patriotic principles forbid their continuing in camp, mere spectators of the struggle.”

Formed “about 30 yards to the right” of a Union artillery battery, the three companies lay down as Plaisted watched the battle breaking around them. At 1 p.m. he received orders to charge and drive off advancing Confederate troops; rising from where he lay, William Rice ran with his comrades to an old fence about 200-300 yards away.

Supported by two other regiments, the 11th Maine lads fired repeatedly and caught hell in the enemy’s responding volleys. Witnesses saw Rice carefully load his rifle, pick a target, and squeeze the trigger; seventeen times he did so until he “received a severe wound in the thigh from” a Minié ball, his family soon learned.

Evacuated from the field, Rice was evacuated to a hospital in Annapolis, Maryland. He died there at 11:30 a.m., July 1; a hospital chaplain had the body embalmed and sent to Ellsworth.

“His embalmed remains were met about a mile” from downtown Ellsworth “by a large procession of our citizens, eager to do honor to one who had so bravely given his life for his country,” a friend noted. Playing “sad dirges,” band musicians proceeded the horse-drawn conveyance bearing Rice’s coffin to his parents’ home.

Pallbearers carried the coffin in(cont. on page 26)

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(cont. from page 25) side the house, where “the stricken and heart-broken family” stood watch beside the fallen William until 5 p.m. the following Sunday (possibly July 20).

Mourners had already gathered outside the house to escort the coffin and family to the Congregational Church, “which was filled, with all its approaches, to its utmost capacity.”

Rice’s funeral service “consisted in singing, reading the scriptures, prayer

and brief remarks, in which all the clergymen of the village participated.”

Evidence indicates that the coffin had a glass window through which Rice’s face was visible. When the coffin and its flower-bearing entourage arrived at the cemetery, “the opportunity was enjoyed of looking on the familiar countenance of our friend [,] so peaceful in death and then it was hidden from our sight till the morning of the resur-

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“We will keep his memory green in our hearts,” said the friend of Ellsworth hero William H.H. Rice.

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What Was The Bucksport “Whatisit?”

by Daniel Stewart

A maritime mystery

O

n February 15th, 1898, the battleship Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, Cuba. This event, probably an accident, was sensationalized by publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. Hearst’s New York Journal and Pulitzer’s New York World, battling for readers, used the Cuban revolt against Spain as the setting for exaggerated stories of atrocities that today exemplify yellow journalism. The World’s February 17th headline read “Maine Explosion Caused by Bomb or Torpedo?” Although phrased as a question, it aroused excitement and suspicion, and sold papers. To its credit, the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier

featured the more cautious headline, “Blown Up! Cruiser Maine Destroyed in Havana Harbor,” noting “Spanish Cruiser Assisting in Picking up the Crew of the Ship.” The war-hysteria of these events provided the backdrop of a less-dramatic but no less interesting story 1,670 miles away and weeks later in the town of Bucksport. Like the story of the Spanish-American war, a ship is central to this story’s beginning, the schooner General Grant. Additionally, this story also unfolded in the pages of two competing local papers.

On April 16th, 1898, The Bangor Daily Whig and Courier reported a strange event in its Bucksport News

column titled “The Town Opens the Season with a Sea Serpent Yarn.” It reported that the previous night the crew of the General Grant experienced a pounding and splashing against the side of the ship, leading them to believe they were being attacked by a Spanish torpedo boat. However, in the absence of an explosion, their war-hysteria fueled supposition was replaced by the realization something else had occurred. They discovered a large aquatic creature stuck between their ship and the pilings of the Bucksport marine railway pier.

However, the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier was not the only paper to cover this story. The Bangor Daily Commer-

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com cial article “Thought he had a Whale: Captain of the Gen. Grant Captures Large Fish at Bucksport” gives a somewhat different report. In this account, the ship’s master, Captain Pendleton, heard splashing and thought someone had fallen overboard. He took a boat to look for the presumed man overboard and instead found the mystery creature.

Perhaps more accurately, it found him, as this account has the beast slamming into and nearly capsizing his boat. After recovering, he noted the creature swam under his ship and got stuck between the ship and pier pilings, as in the other story. In the Commercial’s account, the animal was later killed and hoisted aboard ship. Just as the accounts of its discovery differ by paper, so do some of the descriptions and conclusions.

Both accounts described it as black, about ten feet long, and about 800 lbs.

The Commercial’s account gives little further description beyond stating, “the fish is a powerful looking monster of

the deep…” The Whig and Courier gave a more detailed description: The tail is horizontally flattened and fluked. It is provided with four limbs and dorsal fin. The upper part is black while the belly is silvery white. The large head with abrupt snout and goodsized deep-set eyes is provided with an exceptionally small mouth which, when closed is almost entirely concealed. The small v-shaped under jaw is provided with 18 long, conical teeth which fit into openings in the upper jaw. The upper jaw contains no signs of teeth. The upper part of the head is provided with a single large blow hole.

This description sounds mammalian with regards to the tail and blowhole.

The Whig and Courier article indicated the beast was the talk of the town and subject of debate. Various “old salts” believed it was either a young sperm whale, a black whale, a black fish, a porpoise, or a sea-hog. The author of the article described it as a “great un-

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named mammal,” noting that a Captain Bennet had recently reported seeing a young whale off Fort Point, near Stockton Springs. The Commercial report, by contrast, opined that it was “some species of black fish.” Both articles hinted that there was money to be made. The Commercial article stated that Captain Pendleton was offered $5.00 for the carcass, which would be about $138.00 dollars today. However, he was not interested in selling, as the Whig and Courier article concluded, stating that plans were underway to “exhibit the monster in some of the inland towns of Maine,” Bangor being the first planned stop.

The next mention of the animal was the Commercial’s article “Big Fish Leaves Bucksport.” It related that Captain Pendleton, several crewmates, and some local citizens formed a company to take it on tour. It had already been taken to Bangor in a special box packed in

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(cont. from page 29) ice. Most of this is corroborated by the Whig and Courier’s next story, which it referred to as the “serpent whale.” The Whig and Courier article added that it was shipped on a flatcar provided by the Maine Central Railroad. It reported that an individual whose name appears to be Elijah Partridge (the first few letters of the first name were blurred) created a “proper representation” of the animal on canvas! The 1880 U.S. Census shows Elijah Partridge as residing in Bucksport with a listed occupation of sailor. Locating this painting would be a useful find indeed!

The animal next appears in the April 18, 1898 Commercial article “The Great Whatisit is on Exhibition: Nobody Can Name the Big Fish Killed in the River.” This article explained that for a dime one could view the creature in a livery stable in Bangor. The article asserted viewing it was a bigger thrill than climbing the standpipe, a reference

to Bangor’s famous water tower, and claimed nobody, “not even Fisherman Cleveland, can name it accurately.”

On April 20th, 1898, the Whig and Courier reported the promoters had closed the show in Bangor and were preparing to take it to Orono. However, this doesn’t seem to have happened based on the April 21st Commercial article “The Great Whatisit.” This article, with accompanying advertisement, stated the animal would be exhibited at Jones’ Market in Pickering Square on the 22nd and 23rd. It said, “This great fish is the puzzle of the natural and spiritual worlds. Nobody can name it.” The author listed some of the proposed species, adding that it might be an ichthyosaur, a marine reptile that died out with the dinosaurs. This article contained a bit of humor, stating that had sailors not killed it, it might have been able to explain itself, and

that a funeral would be held for it. This, sadly, is where the Great Whatisit, the Bucksport Serpent-Whale, or any other name you wish to call it, seems to walk, or perhaps swim, off the stage of history. The next day’s headlines trumpeted the news that the President had ordered a blockade of all Cuban ports and called for 100,000 volunteers for military service. Gone from both the Whig and Courier and the Commercial was any discussion of the mysterious beast and in its place was discussion of war preparations. The Bangor Daily Commercial summed this up in the “News of Bucksport” column of April 22nd, “Everything is very quiet in town at present. Everyone is occupied in discussing war news, other things cut but little figure.” And so, this delightful little mystery of the deep, this reminder that we still live in a world of wonders, was swept away from the minds and imaginations of the public and forgot-

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com

ten.

So, what was it? In the absence of physical remains or even Mr. Partridge’s painting, we can only speculate. The detailed description given in the Whig and Courier’s first article hints at a member of the whale family.

Some of the mariners who first viewed it thought it might be a young sperm whale and may not have been far off the mark. The descriptions sound suspiciously close to the dwarf sperm whale. Like the mystery animal, they often have no upper teeth, and the teeth of the lower jaws may number between 14 and 26. While not exactly black in color, they are usually described as bluish-grey on top and lighter in color on their underside. Additionally, they are in about the same size and weight range as the “whatisit.” Even today their distribution and habits are poorly understood by science, so it isn’t surprising that Maine mariners of the 19th centu-

ry might have been unfamiliar with it.

Dwarf sperm whales prefer warmer waters but have been reported as far north as the Faroe Islands, so encountering one in Maine waters is not far-fetched.

It’s believed they feed in shallower waters than their relatives, which may explain how one found its way into the Penobscot River. However, in the absence of harder evidence, this speculation is as far as we can go. Certainly, Captain Pendleton and his men caught something that April night long ago. It caused a brief sensation and a respite from the talk of war, but its fame was short-lived, its fate unknown. It doesn’t appear to have completed the planned tour, and today we are left with more questions than answers. Perhaps one of the spectators in Bangor summed it up best when he said “Pooh! I know what that is! That is nothing but a darn big fish!”

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Dover-Foxcroft’s Fred E. Bailey Maker of quality fishing flies and spinners

by William B. Krohn

I

n the 1800s, Fred E. Bailey was the third generation of Baileys residing in the Dover and Foxcroft region of central Maine. Fred was born on 9 October 1854; his parents were Erastus W. Bailey (1825-1904) and Mary C. Littlefield (1828-1895). Fred’s father and uncle owned the Bailey Brothers Planing Mill, a wood working/furniture factory.

The mill was located in Dover, on the south side of the bridge which spanned the Piscataquis River and connected Foxcroft and Dover. (The towns merged in 1922 into Dover-Foxcroft). After being educated “in town schools and at the academy,” Fred worked in the family business. Interestingly, Bailey furniture can still be found in use today, mostly in

Bailey’s Spinners

and around Dover-Foxcroft. When 21 years old, Fred E. Bailey married Mary H. Merrill of Foxcroft. Six years later, Carl R. Bailey, the couple’s only child, was born. Carl R. Bailey (1881-1943), and his wife Mary A. Hennessey (18801948), became the fourth – and last – generation of Baileys to have lived in Dover-Foxcroft.

Being of an independent nature, Fred Bailey left the family business and launched his own enterprise. In 1884, with strong interests in fishing and guiding, he started a sporting goods business out of his home. Twenty-three years later, in 1907, Bailey and C. M. Hoxie jointly purchased 77 Lincoln Street in Foxcroft. Hoxie, a

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com taxidermist, bought out Bailey in 1892, but continued selling Bailey flies and spinners even after the Bailey/Hoxie partnership dissolved. Initially, Bailey specialized in fishing flies, proclaiming in an 1898 advertisement that “Bailey’s Flies will not Last Forever, But they will outwear any other make and take more fish.” James Churchward, an outdoor writer and fishing enthusiast from New York City, thought highly of Bailey flies. In an 1898 booklet entitled A Big Game and Fishing Guide to North-Eastern Maine, Churchward wrote that “Those [fishing flies] made

by C. F. Orvis, of Manchester, Vt., G. H. Burtis of Worcester, Mass., and F. E. Bailey, Foxcroft, are as good as any to be got in America.” It must have been satisfying to Bailey to be listed with nationally recognized fly makers like Orvis and Burtis.

Bailey quickly expanded his business with the addition of trolling spinners, announcing in an 1899 ad-

Examples of Bailey’s Stamped Spinner Blades vertisement published in Carleton’s Pathfinder and Gazetteer of Hunting and Fishing Resorts of the State of Maine, “The Best Thing Yet – Bailey’s Spoon and Minnow Tackle.” These

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spinners came with four different sets of hooks, and sold from 20 to 35 cents each, depending on the complexity of the hook arrangement. Eventually, Bailey had four types of fishing lures in his (cont. on page 36)

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(cont. from page 35) inventory: Bailey’s Rangeley Spinner (invented by Henry O. Stanley of Dixfield, Maine), Bailey’s Spinner (basically a heavy duty Rangeley; this was Bailey’s “bread and butter” product), Bailey’s Moosehead Troller (designed for catching lake trout), and Bailey’s Trolling Gang (can be found both with, or without, a spinner blade). The blades on these spinners were grooved, and generally the blade’s under-side was painted bright red. As the blade spins through the water, light reflects off of the raised grooves on the blade’s topside, presumably attracting fish as the lure moves through the water. Bailey was obviously proud of his spinners as he boldly stamped, in capital letters, each spinner blade with his last name.

The lettering used in these stampings varied among blades. Today, these markings allow fishing tackle collectors to readily identify Bailey’s spinners, and their variation is an added attraction to collectors.

Bailey’s Rangeley Spinner In 1903, Carl R., Fred’s only son, joined the tackle business. Their partnership lasted for only nine years. At this time Carl, with the help of his wife Mary A., started a photography business. The Bailey Studio specialized in portrait photographs, but Carl also photographed landscapes and other

outdoor scenes. Carl’s landscape photographs were sold as post cards and as front covers on The Northern (e.g., Nov. 1926, April 1927, Sept. 1928), an employee magazine published by the Great Northern Paper Company. Carl was a member of the Dexter National Guard and during World War I saw

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com duty in the U.S. Army Signal Corp. He actively served for a little more than a year, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant. In France, Carl was a photographer under General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, ranking officer for the American Expeditionary Forces. Carl was wounded in a mustard gas attack while stationed in France, and never completely recovered. After returning home, he resumed his photography business, which Mary ran during his absence. In 1943, when only 62 years old, Carl A. Bailey died due to complications caused by mustard gas.

By the late 1930s, Fred Bailey was starting to have his own health problems. An article appearing on 9 September 1936 in the Piscataquis Observer reads: “Since the year 1888 [’84], Fred E, Bailey of Dover-Foxcroft has been actively engaged in the making of fish hooks of various kinds. He is famous for his spinners, flies, and general trolling tackle. During the past few years

his business has not been as great owing to the condition of his eyes.” Five days before Christmas of 1940, Fred E. Bailey died. He apparently continued working into his last year as the 1940 Dover-Foxcroft business directory lists him as a “manufacturer of fishing tackle.” His obituary, appearing in the Piscataquis Observer six days after his death, noted that “Mr. Bailey began the manufacture of flies and similar fishing equipment at which he became very adept, so much so that the “Bailey Flies” became well-known throughout the Eastern United States.” Bailey’s flies, especially in the initial years, were sold to out-of-state anglers staying at the Kineo Hotel on Moosehead Lake, and thus became dispersed across many states. His spinners, however, seem to have been less widely sold and distributed. Today, Bailey spinners are found mostly along the Route 15 corridor, suggesting that Bailey sold his products primarily through general stores

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While never expanding to become a national manufacturer of fishing lures, nor a maker of a great diversity of lures, Bailey fishing tackle does have one claim to fame – longevity. Fred E. Bailey started his business in 1884 and continued making flies and spinners right up until he died. But even after the founder’s death in 1940, the business continued under the leadership of his daughter-in-law, Mary A. Bailey.

With the help of Lorraine (a.k.a., Renee) Libby, whom Fred and his wife had adopted around 1934, the business went on for eight more years until Mary’s death on 10 November 1948.

By doing business for 64 continuous years (1884-1948), the Baileys set the record for being the longest surviving early Maine tackle business.

Some people seek fame and fortune; not so for Fred E. Bailey who (cont. on page 38)

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(cont. from page 37) was content living a frugal, modest life on the banks of the Piscataquis River.

As unassuming as Bailey was, he was persistent and possessed a strong work ethic, never retiring and always laboring until his body no longer functioned.

He was so confident in his work that he boldly labelled his products with his name for all to see, even those living long after his passing. So when looking at your grandfather’s old fishing tackle, be sure to closely examine any spinners you may find for the BAILEY stamp – a mark that signifies skill and hard work, justifiable pride, and steadfast independence.

This article is based on a presentation the author, a retired wildlife scientist, gave to the Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society in September 2014. Krohn continues researching Maine’s early fishing lures makers as well as other topics related to Maine’s fishing, hunting, and trapping heritages, and can be reached at: wkrohn@maine.edu

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com

Family Tradition Spans 100 Years At Maynard’s In Maine

M

aynard’s In Maine, the Rockwood sporting camp founded

by Walter Maynard in 1919, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year as his family offers guests the same hospitality and service that greeted Walter’s first guests a century ago.

An avid outdoorsman, Walter chose an ideal site for a sporting camp on the Moose River in Rockwood. Aided by friends, he constructed more than a dozen wood-frame cabins, including one “built special for the people who owned Freese’s in Bangor,” said Gail Maynard, who with her husband, William “Bill” Maynard, operates Maynard’s In Maine today. Bill is Walter’s grandson.

Around 1930, Walter acquired another cabin located near “Scott’s Pool, a fishing hole above us on the Moose River,” Gail said. Workers took that cabin apart “and floated it down the river, log by log” to be reassembled at Maynard’s.

Walter provided his guests with

first-class accommodations and meals and ensured that no matter what guests wanted to do, they would find all they needed at Maynard’s. He hired experienced local guides to take guests to the best fishing holes and places to hunt.

Walter enjoyed running his sporting camp, to which he wrote a tributary poem in 1939. Its closing line captured his passion: “Give me the Moosehead country where I never feel alone, and I always am contented where Maynard’s In Maine is home.”

Walter passed his sporting camp to Roger, who operated Maynard’s for 45 years until passing it to his son, Bill, and daughter-in-law, Gail. Their son, Billy, works full time at Maynard’s.

“When we’re open full season, it’s a family affair,” with “our daughters, the grandchildren, and Billy’s girlfriend” joining the staff, Gail said.

Today Maynard’s In Maine has 15 rental cabins, with 12 cabins dating to 1919. The cabins accommodate one to eight people. The lodge features a gath-

ering room with a fireplace, and a dining room that can seat 40 people.

Maynard’s serves breakfast and dinner for guests and the public seven days a week in season, and the staff packs lunches for guests heading out to explore the Moosehead Lake Region.

“Whatever anyone would want to do in the outdoors, we’ve got it in this area,” Gail said. Many guests enjoy fishing and hunting, and registered Maine guides are available to take guests where the fishing and hunting are best.

With Moosehead Lake only minutes away and other lakes and ponds beckoning, guests use the boats, canoes, and kayaks available at Maynard’s. Guests often go hiking, explore Greenville, or cruise Moosehead Lake on the steamer Katahdin. Maynard’s connects directly with a major snowmobile trail, and ice-fishermen can use ice shanties set on Moosehead Lake off Lawrence’s Lakeside Cabins in Rockwood.

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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties

40

Lincoln, Maine’s Moxie Man

by Patrick Ferris

The story of Frank Archer

F

rank Morton Archer was born in Lincoln, Maine, August 12, 1862.

His father, Joel, who was a blacksmith and a craftsman axe maker in Lincoln’s early days, probably around 1840, later studied medicine and became a physician. Frank, being the youngest and not quite five years old when his mother passed away, would go with his father when he made his rounds in and around the Lincoln area. In later years he would recall riding in a horsedrawn sleigh and at times having to help his father free the sleigh from the depths of a winter’s accumulation of snow. His home, the former Sturgeon residence, torn down around 1967, was located near the corner of Broadway and Katahdin Avenue, near the site of where Bob’s

Bakery was once located.

But this story isn’t about Frank Archer, the boy growing up in Lincoln, Maine. It is about Frank Archer who

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helped make Moxie the number one soft drink in New England.

The story begins in 1896 when, after a few years of pursuing several occupations, Frank Archer was hired by Thompson and Young, later becoming the Moxie Nerve Food Company of New England. This was in the spring of 1896. His first position within the organization was a clerk. However, by the turn of the century, he was responsible for most of Moxie’s advertising and sales campaigns. It probably was no coincidence that around this time Moxie’s fortunes started to, once again, gain prominence in the beverage industry, much from the enthusiasm of Frank Archer. In just over four years with the Moxie Company, Archer was receiving

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41

DiscoverMaineMagazine.com an annual salary of $4,000, and by 1905 it had increased to $6,000 per year, much different than the $400 to $500 a year wages he probably received when first employed by the Moxie Company.

In later years it was reported that he was the highest paid executive of any firm in New England.

Throughout his long association with the Moxie Company, Frank Archer continued to create a dazzling variety of promotional items depicting the Moxie name. From posters, metal signs, tip trays, cardboard cut-outs, puzzles, etc. the Moxie name was well represented from its New England birthplace to as far west as Indiana and as far south as Virginia. By 1914 he was a vice president of the company and from all accounts was the man running the Moxie organization.

By the end of the roaring ‘20s, Frank Archer had sipped the wines of fame, was a friend of numerous actors,

including George M. Cohan, and had written a book, The TNT Cowboy. His name was associated with all Moxie advertising and it was he who made Moxie a household name. Frank Archer’s philosophies also transcended to the Moxie workplace. Years before anybody had ever heard of total quality management, Frank Archer often stated, “We have no laborers, no help, no employees. Everyone here is an associate. Anyone who is with the Moxie Company is with it for life.” The company also extended liberal benefits for the period. One such benefit was each worker received a month’s holiday with full pay. Frank Archer knew the importance of safe, pleasant and efficient working conditions and the dividends it paid for the Moxie Company. One employee described him as a rare combination of Jules Verne, imagination, Rooseveltian, George Cohanized pep and energy and the spectacular ideas of

Phineas T. Barnum and Ziegfeld.

On August 2, 1928, just ten days shy of his sixty-sixth birthday, Frank Archer became president of the Moxie Company of America, which was franchised to sell Moxie throughout the United States (except New England) and foreign countries. His vision was for everyone to enjoy the unique taste of Moxie by expanding its New England base. By 1931, The Moxie Company, The Moxie Company of America and the Pureoxia Company, a producer of ginger ale, merged as The Moxie Company. At last Frank Archer achieved the corporate position of his dreams. He was chairman of the board of Moxie. His salary, already generous for the time, was set at $30,000 per year.

Frank Archer passed away April 1938, and even though Moxie continued to be successful, things would never be quite the same.

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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties

42

Houlton’s Charles Foss Pioneer pharmacist

by Charles Francis

D

o you ever really think about why people move? Why they immigrate? Why they become pioneers and why they deserve to be called by that name?

Most of us move during our lifetime. Our parents did, too. So did our ancestors. When we go back far enough in our family tree, the ancestors who moved would be called — often as not — pioneers.

For a lot of us the word pioneer elicits images of crossing the Atlantic in tiny Mayflower-sized ships, striking out across the Great Plains in covered wagons, hewing homesteads out of virgin forests with an axe and the like. Few of us equate pioneering a new communi-

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ty with a profession, be that profession doctor, lawyer or perhaps pharmacist.

Well, Charles Foss, who was born in Haynesville, is one such pioneer.

Charles Foss was a pharmacist. Today he is regarded as one of the pioneers who built the city of Sandpoint, Idaho. Sandpoint local history buffs call him “pioneer druggist.” This doesn’t mean Foss simply was the first druggist in town. It means he was one of the founding fathers of Sandpoint.

And Sandpoint was one of those sorts of towns that needed rugged individuals to establish it. Sandpoint sits high in the Rockies, surrounded by the Selkirk, Cabinet and Bitteroot ranges. It is beautiful country and it is a harsh demand-

ing country. It is pioneer country. This brings us to a question: what kind of man was Charles Foss of Haynesville that he settled Sandpoint?

There are some that leave where they live because they can’t tolerate it anymore. They find the place of their dreams and, for some unknown reason, immediately try to transform it into the exact image of the place they wanted to escape. There are others who move to a town to exploit it for everything they can get out of it without thought of contributing anything except higher property taxes. Then there are those who fall in love with a town and a region and want to become part of its history and growth. Charles Foss does

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43

DiscoverMaineMagazine.com not fit with the first group. He falls into the latter. He came from a beautiful region and he found one that was beautiful, though different. The latter region was where he chose to build a life, as a pharmacist. He chose pharmacy as an occupation because that was one of the occupations that his new town needed.

So just who was Charles Foss?

Charles Foss spent his early years in the general area of Haynesville and Houlton. He had extended family there.

And there are still those bearing the Foss name in the area.

In the early to mid-1890s Foss joined a group of Aroostook residents, which included some of his extended family, on a mass migration to Spokane, Washington. Though Spokane has a view of the Rockies, that wasn’t enough for Foss. He wanted to live in the mountains. The question was how would he accomplish this?

Charles Foss was an ambitious man.

One of his ambitions was to become

a pharmacist. To that end, he returned East to enroll in a school of pharmacy.

The school he went to was the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in Boston.

Just why did Foss choose pharmacy as an occupation? As a youngster, he visited his Houlton cousins frequently. There he discovered the local pharmacy, Monroe’s Drug Store. It wasn’t just the items on display that fascinated him, things like corn plasters, gum drops and everything else up front.

What really intrigued him was making up medicines and prescriptions. It was probably at Monroe’s that young Charles learned that to be a druggist one had to go to school. So why did he go all the way back east to learn to be a druggist? The reason is that in the West there were no institutions of the calibre of Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.

The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy (MCP) was founded in 1823. It is the second oldest school of its type

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in the country. Only Philadelphia’s is older, by two years. In 1825 MCP published the first American Pharmaceutical Library Catalogue, detailing the effects of many pharmaceuticals. In attending and training at MCP Foss was making sure he would be adequately prepared to be the best pharmacist he could be. This leads us to another question. Why did Foss as well as a large group of Aroostook residents head out to the Pacific Northwest? The answer here as to do with one of Houlton’s most famous sons, Henry Clay Merriam, who just happened to be a Foss relative.

Henry Clay Merriam was a U.S. Army general. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for action in the Civil War. Following the War Between the States, Merriam commanded troops in the West. In 1876 he was sent to the northwestern U.S. during the Nez Perce War. In Idaho and (cont. on page 44)

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44

(cont. from page 43) Washington, he managed Native American tribes and was commended by his superiors for his success in gathering the Indians on reservations and opening land for white settlers.

Henry Clay Merriam was born in Houlton. His parents were Lewis and Mary (Foss) Merriam. Charles Foss grew up hearing tales of the Pacific Northwest that General Merriam told.

Many other Aroostook residents heard the stories. That’s why some decided to leave Maine for Washington and Oregon.

In May 1900 Foss opened the first drug store in Sandpoint. His first store was located on the east side of Sand Creek. Later it moved to the west side and became the Sandpoint Drug Company. 1900 was a year before Sandpoint officially became a village. Sandpoint became a city in 1907. City here does not mean “big” city. Today Sandpoint has a population of not quite 8000.

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Today Sandpoint is known for its skiing. That says what kind of country the community is situated in. The country is alpine like Switzerland. The first settlers to the community moved there barely twenty years before Foss.

When Foss arrived, Sandpoint looked like it might develop as a lumber town. It took twenty years though for the first big timber company to arrive.

When Foss got to Sandpoint there were a few small farms. These farms were known as “stump ranches.” Primarily they grew hay because the short growing season in Northern Idaho made it difficult to grow other crops. The hay was used to feed the horses that small lumber operations used to harvest and process wood. In short, life in Sandpoint wasn’t all that different from that in Haynesville or Houlton.

Charles Foss (his middle name was Ransford) was born in Haynesville in 1875. In 1905 Foss married Nora

Workman. The couple lived in Sandpoint up to the time of Foss’s death in 1944. At the time of his passing, Charles Foss was the oldest merchant in Sandpoint.

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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties

46

Dexter’s 1922 Abbott & Company Fire Firemen fought a massive wool and oil-fed blaze

by Brian Swartz

B

rothers Amos and Jeremiah Abbott established a carding mill in Dexter village in 1836, and “as time went by, the [Amos Abbott] company grew and grew till it reached the capacity of an eight-set plant,” wrote local historian James Wintle. That mill was among several woolen mills that operated in Dexter during the 19th century.

Fire was always a hazard; according to Wintle, a three-story woolen mill owned by Lysander Cutler and Jonathan Farrar burned flat in Dexter in 1843.

The Amos Abbott & Company operated under Abbott family ownership

into the 20th century. “The mill … is one of the oldest plants in this section and for many years” had made “fine woolens,” noted a local newspaper reporter.

In summer 1922, mechanics (the term into which carpenters, electricians, and other trades people were lumped then) had undertaken “alternations and repairs” in “the dye and picker house” at the Abbott & Company mill bordering downtown Dexter, according to the reporter. As in a paper mill, dust buildup was a potential problem in a woolen mill’s picker room.

A fire suddenly erupted inside the picker room at Abbott & Company

around 12:30 p.m. on Monday, September 18, 1922. The mill employed some 200 people; most “of the mill hands were at dinner when the first flames appeared in the picker house and spread like lightning” through the picker room, recalled the stunned reporter.

The flames spread “as rapidly as a man could run across the room,” eyewitnesses standing on the streets outside the mill later told him. Arriving within minutes, Dexter firefighters directed several water-spewing hoses onto the flames that “quickly ate their way through from the brick section into the old wooden section of the mill which is covered by a slate roof,” the

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47

DiscoverMaineMagazine.com reporter noted.

He succinctly commented “that the local fire department had a real fight on its hands.” A northerly breeze stiffened into a windy ally of the fire, and Dexter Fire Chief Harry Wilkins called for help from surrounding towns.

Newport firefighters scurried to load their firefighting equipment onto a Maine Central Railroad freight train, but it lacked a locomotive. Not until later in the afternoon did the train arrive in Dexter.

Meanwhile, volunteers emerged from the streets of Dexter to help the local firefighters. As more hoses hit the spreading fire, “the dense, oily smoke choked the fire fighters and spread over the business section of the town,” the journalist observed.

Sparks ignited the nearby Grange Hall roof; firefighters pivoted and quickly doused that potential danger.

More sparks swirled around the downtown’s wooden buildings; “the outlook

was dismal … and it was only by the persistence of the local firemen and the assistance rendered by volunteers that the flames were confined to the mill,” wrote the reporter.

Workers scrambled inside the mill to save “a large quantity of wool and manufactured cloth.” In his haste to race from his office to the main floor, company president Arthur P. Abbott tripped and fell down a set of stairs. A badly injured ankle left Abbott limping as he left the burning mill.

There is the sense, almost 100 years later, that the brave firefighters waged a desperate last stand against the advancing flames. Fire was always the bane of Maine’s wooden-building downtowns, a bitter lesson learned in Portland in 1866 and reiterated at Bangor in 1911.

Firefighters connected hoses to at least a dozen hydrants and attacked the fire from every possible direction. “The water pressure was excellent,” the eyewitness reporter stated.

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Fed by greasy wool and oil needed to lubricate carding machines, “the dense and oily smoke” threatened firefighters working inside the Abbott Mill with asphyxiation. Wearing smoke masks and “water soaked handkerchiefs,” men worked in shifts “to battle with the fire which swept the interior of the mill.”

News of the fire spread by telephone, by telegram, and by mouth, and hundreds of people poured into Dexter to watch the town’s greatest excitement, well, probably since the boys had marched home from the Great War. Most spectators had the good sense to keep out of the way; swirling smoke and hot embers often thinned the crowds.

Firefighters gradually defeated the ravenous fire, which “badly gutted” everything but “the weave rooms” and burned into all the roofs elsewhere, according to the reporter. Slate covered those roofs and helped contain the (cont. on page 48)

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(cont. from page 47) flames inside the mill.

Dexter firefighters declared the fire essentially “out” around 4:30 p.m.

Abbott & Company lost wool worth around $40,000, and the final damage estimates ranged from $100,000 to $150,000. The Abbotts had insured their mill with the Skowhegan-based John C. Griffin Agency; “the loss, it is understood, is covered,” the reporter noted.

In the end no other building suffered more than minor damage. “It was the opinion of people who watched the fire that the local fire department did a fine piece of work,” wrote the reporter, hurrying to add that “the aid rendered by volunteers was valuable.”

The Abbott family immediately hired carpenters — “probably the largest crew assembled in this town,” the journalist claimed — to rebuild the damaged mill. Tar paper went over the

fire-opened roofs. As the finishing room in the undamaged section resumed operations, the Abbotts shifted the “dyeing, carding and spinning” operations to the Wassookeag Woolen Company.

Despite its economic ups and downs, the Amos Abbott & Company operated exclusively under the family’s ownership until 1975. In 1894, owner George Amos Abbott donated to Dexter the Abbott Memorial Library. Since 2004 the Dexter Historical Society has been based in the Abbott Museum, a wooden building located at 12 Church Street in Dexter.

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Harris Dam and hydro station, Indian Pond, ca. 1955. Item #74733 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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50

Howland’s Percy Lebaron Spencer Inventor of the microwave oven

by Charles Francis

T

hat the State of Maine has produced influential people well in excess of most other states given its population is an accepted fact. When one considers individuals like Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman elected to the Senate, Stephen King, the best known author in the field of popular fiction, or John Ford, whose movies include Stagecoach and who introduced such stars as Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne to the silver screen, it becomes clear that Mainers have played a major role on the world stage. Another Maineborn man who stands among those larger-than-life figures who have helped shape our lives is an inventor named

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Percy Lebaron Spencer. Spencer, who was born in Howland and didn’t even have a grammar school education, is credited with the invention and development of the microwave oven. However, it is not his greatest accomplishment.

Percy Lebaron Spencer is a member of the Inventors Hall of Fame for developing the High Efficiency Magnetron, which helped the United States win World War II. Today, of course, almost everyone is familiar with the microwave. There are over two hundred million in homes and an untold number more in restaurants, hospitals and other institutions and settings. The microwave was one of the

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byproducts of the development of the magnetron or radar tube, without which there would have been no RADAR. It was because of his work in developing the magnetron while working at Raytheon that Percy Spencer is considered a war hero and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by the United States Navy.

Percy Lebaron Spencer was born in Howland on July 19, 1894. Orphaned while still in grammar school, his life reads like a Horatio Alger story. He was forced to leave school and go to work so that anything he acquired in the way of technical training and education was self-taught. At the time of his death,

Heating Oil • Kerosene • Diesel Fuel Sales Propane • Wood Pellets • Gravel • Excavation

732-3413 • sobme.com 70 LaGrange Rd. • Howland

IRELAND’S RUBBISH SERVICE, INC.

Call For Rates In Your Area 207-794-6168 RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL PICKUP Dan Ireland 35 Park Ave., Lincoln, Maine 04457

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Silk Screening Vinyl Lettering • Banners Clothing • Team Uniforms Direct to Garment Printing

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51

DiscoverMaineMagazine.com however, he was Senior Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors at Raytheon as well as the holder of some 150 patents.

While Percy Spencer did the most to advance the magnetron and RADAR, his work was, of course built on that of others.

The theory behind the development of the magnetron was first postulated

by Nikola Tesla in 1900. Robert Watson-Waft of Great Britain is credited with the invention of RADAR in the mid-1930s. His magnetron, however, was bulky and required days to build.

Starting in 1940, however, the allies were secretly using RADAR with an improved magnetron, which had been developed by two other British scientists, Boot and Randall. This new magnetron still required too much time to construct, however, as it used copper bars and hand-soldered wire. Then Percy Spencer came up with a refinement

— Early ad for microwave after it was invented —

that was to revolutionize RADAR production.

What Spencer did was to replace the magnetron’s copper bars with lamina or thin metal plates, and the internal wires with a solid ring. These refinements

made it possible to produce RADAR on an assembly line. Within a short period, every ship and military installation was RADAR equipped. After the end of World War II, Spencer was credited by the Navy with doing more than (cont. on page 52)

Fully Irrigated, Gorgeous 18 Hole Layout

Whitney’s Outfitters Guns • Hunting • Fishing • Camping

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794-2433 175 Town Farm Rd. • Lincoln, ME

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LINCOLN POWERSPORTS Quality Vehicles for Less SKI-DOO & CAN-AM DEALER

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Our service department is open for all your major or minor repairs • Maine State Inspection •

Bill Noonan Peter Lyons Owners

accessautome.com 794-8100

h street marke g i t h Homemade Daily Specials Pizza • Calzones • Salads • Sandwiches Fried & Grilled Specialties • Homemade Desserts and so much more!

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Colonial Health Care

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Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties

52

(cont. from page 51) any other single person in bringing the conflict to a rapid finish.

Percy Spencer’s development of the microwave oven occurred by chance near the close of the war and might never have happened at all had it not been for a chocolate bar.

Spencer was working on a magnetron in his Raytheon laboratory one day when he discovered a chocolate bar he had in his pocket had melted. Realizing that it was a side effect of the magnetron, he began experimenting, using a magnetron to cook various foods. Some were a success — popcorn popped wonderfully, and some were a disaster — eggs exploded. Finally, however, he came up with a workable prototype, which Raytheon patented as a high frequency dielectric heating device.

In 1947 Raytheon began selling the first microwave, the Radar Range, for commercial use. The Radar Range was used primarily on ships and in hospitals. Because of the size and cost of its magnetron, the Radar Range was five

Ware’s Power Equipment

and one-half feet tall, weighed 750 pounds and cost $3000.

The first microwave ovens produced for home use were marketed by Tappan in 1955. These, however, were a failure. No one wanted them. They were as big as a regular range and extremely expensive. Then in 1965 Raytheon acquired Amana Refrigeration.

In 1967 Amana began marketing the Radarange. The Radarange was a compact shelf-sized microwave which first sold for just under $500. This change in size and price had been made possible by a Japanese development, the electron tube, which replaced the magnetron.

Today, thanks in part to a melted chocolate bar in Percy Spencer’s pocket, just over ninety percent of all homes in America have microwave ovens. Moreover, had it not been for Percy Spencer, the orphan from Howland who never finished grammar school, World War II might have cost even more lives and irreparable damage.

Elwood Downs Incorporated Daniel E. Downs

Serving Aroostook County and Northern Maine for over 60 years...

Standing by to meet all of your tire needs!

Your One-Stop center for tires, Quality Automotive Repairs and Maintenance!

Serving you better from 5 locations!

Houlton Lincoln Presque Isle Caribou

135 Bangor St. 267 North St. 249 W Broadway 30 Rice St. Off the Bypass

532-2211 521-2402 794-3310 764-1800 492-1500

STATEWIDE TOLL FREE

1-800-660-2212 WWW.HOGANTIRE.NET

H.C. Haynes, Inc.

Family Owned & Operated Since 1963

President

207-794-2914 We Now Have CRUSHED ROCK

794-2809 410 Main Street • Lincoln Hours: Monday - Friday 8-5 • Sat. 8-12 Leigh Ware, Proprietor

618 Main Street Lincoln, ME 04457 ehdowns@ne.twcbc.com Cell: 290-0338 Dakota: 290-0620

Chips • Pulpwood Real Estate 736-3412 • 40 Route 168 • Winn, ME

CROSSROADS

MOTEL & RESTAURANT “Where Friends Meet” ~ Great Food & Family Atmosphere ~ 270 Main Street Mattawamkeag, ME

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log home sales

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1938 ludlow road • ludlow, me lumber sales: 207.532.4293

201 Houlton Road, Danforth, ME 04424

Dr. Mark Kaplan, DO ◆ Dr. Jared Kohlbacher, DPM Matt Cowan, PAC ◆ Dawn McGinnis, FNP Mary Lake, FNP ◆ David Goodrich, LCSW MON & TUES: 8am-7pm │ WED-FRI: 8:30am-4pm

~ Walk-ins Welcome ~ Call For An Appointment

207-448-2347

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com

Early view of Main Street in Houlton. Item # LB2007.1.101048 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

Hanington Bros., Inc. A Full Service Logging Company

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48 Customs Loop • Houlton, Maine 04730

488 US Rt. 2 Macwahoc Plt., ME 04451

207-532-9431 1-800-448-8108

207-765-2681

www.anderinger.com

hanbrosinc@yahoo.com

Shaw

& Ford

Financial Services

315 North St., Houlton

1-800-427-9675 “YOU DESERVE THE BEST!”

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~ Potato Growers ~ 3 Sugar Loaf Street Houlton, ME

207-532-0065

• Asset Management • Financial & Investment Planning • Life, Disability & Long-term Care Insurance

429-9500

53 Main Street, Mars Hill, ME

Ryan.Shaw@pioneer-financial.com

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View of the Great Northern Hotel in Millinocket. Item # LB2007.1.101518 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

Crandall’s ardware HGlidden Paints

Makita & Dewalt Tools ~ Open 7 Days ~

(207) 746-5722 8 Main Street East Millinocket

www.crandallshardware.com Do You Enjoy Writing?

Do You Love Maine?

Do You Love History?

If so, give us a call.

We Are Always Looking for HISTORY WRITERS to contribute to our magazine!

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Jerry’s Shurfine

To Serve You Better!

Full line of Groceries, Fresh Meats, Produce, In-Store Bakery, Cold Beverages, Beer & Wine, Frozen Foods, Ice, Live Lobsters, Live Bait (Seasonal), Fishing Supplies, Hardware Agency Liquor Store • Beer Cave

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DIRECTORY OF ADVERTISORS

BUSINESS

PAGE

A.E. Robinson Oil Co., Inc............................................................34 A.N. Deringer, Inc.......................................................................53 A.R. Whitten & Sons Inc.............................................................3 Abbott Insulation Plus................................................................9 ABM Mechanical, Inc.................................................................19 Acadia Federal Credit Union......................................................15 Acadia Village Resort................................................................12 Access Auto...............................................................................51 Action Septic Service.................................................................29 ACV Enviro.................................................................................17 ADA Fence Company, Inc..........................................................31 All Time Towing & Recovery.....................................................47 Amherst General Store & Restaurant........................................11 Auto Radiator Service...............................................................19 Bangor Natural Gas...................................................................16 Bangor Tire Company................................................................16 Bangor Truck & Trailer Sales, Inc................................................7 Bangor Window Shade & Drapery Company ...........................18 Bear Brook Kennels.....................................................................9 Ben's Auto Body.......................................................................47 Black Bear Media Blasting & Construction.................................28 Blackwell Insurance Agency........................................................5 Blaze Restaurants......................................................................17 Blue Hill Cabinet & Woodwork..................................................27 Bowden Marine Service ............................................................45 Brewer Historical Society............................................................8 Brewer Veterinary Clinic, PA.....................................................19 Brian Billings Excavation...........................................................27 Briarwood Motor Inn................................................................41 Brookings-Smith..........................................................4 Brooks Tire & Auto ....................................................................33 Brown Funeral Home & Cremation Service Center....................47 Bucksport Bay Area Chamber of Commerce..............................44 Bucksport Monuments & Sandblasting ...................................28 Bucksport Regional Health Center.............................................26 Bud's Shop 'N Save Supermarket................................................31 C&J Variety................................................................................49 Call Construction.......................................................................15 Carousel Diversified Services.....................................................14 Carroll Drug Store......................................................................45 Cary Brown Trucking & Excavating ............................................42 Champion Concrete Inc.............................................................23 Clay GMC - Chevrolet of Lincoln..................................................40 Clouston Trucking........................................................................8 CMD Powersystems.....................................................................8 Cold River Campground.............................................................22 Colin Bartlett & Sons, Inc...........................................................4 Colonial Health Care.................................................................51 Comfort Shoes & More..............................................................32 Complete Tire Service, Inc..........................................................11 Corinna Auto Body....................................................................49 Covered Bridge Motel................................................................35 Cowan's Service Station, Inc........................................................9 Crandall's Hardware..................................................................54 Crossroads Motel & Restaurant..................................................52 Cyr Northstar Tours...................................................................15 D&D Paving, Inc.........................................................................40 Daigle & Houghton...................................................................22 Dean's Automotive & Small Engine..........................................44 Dental Associates of Ellsworth/Bucksport..................................26 Designed Living Kitchen Showroom & Home Center................37 Dexter Lumber Company...........................................................47 Doane Foundations & Construction...........................................45 Dorsey Furniture.........................................................................3 Eagles Lodge Motel ..................................................................24 East Grand Health Center...........................................................52 Ellis' Greenhouse & Nursery......................................................50 Ellsworth Chain Saw.................................................................13 Ellsworth Collision and Service Center, Inc. ...............................13 Ellsworth Self Storage..............................................................24 Elwood Downs Incorporated.....................................................52 Employee Health Solutions.......................................................19 Exeter Country Store..................................................................47 Fitzpatrick & Peabody Farms ....................................................53 Foster's Towing & Recovery .......................................................40 Freightliner of Maine Inc.............................................................5 Gordius Garage & Island Motors................................................46 Green Door Framing ................................................................48

BUSINESS

PAGE

Greenhead Lobster, LLC .................................................................28 Greenland Cove Campground..........................................................40 Guagus Enterprises, LLC.................................................................26 H.C. Haynes, Inc..............................................................................52 Haley Power Services.....................................................................29 Hammond Lumber Company..........................................................18 Hancock Cycle & Sled......................................................................22 Hanington Bros., Inc........................................................................53 Hannaford - Ellsworth.....................................................................11 Hannaford - Bar Harbor....................................................................29 Harbor View Motel and Cottages.....................................................29 Harold's Transmission Repairs, Inc..................................................12 Herrick Excavation .........................................................................36 High Street Market.........................................................................51 Hogan Tire......................................................................................52 Hometown Health Center................................................................32 HW Dunn & Son Inc.......................................................................11 Ideal Recycling Inc..........................................................................30 Insulation of Maine, Inc..................................................................26 Ireland's Rubbish Service, Inc.........................................................50 Island Auto Repair .........................................................................29 J. McLaughlin Construction, LLC......................................................43 J. Wilbur Construction....................................................................47 Jack's Air Service.............................................................................38 Jackman Hardware & Sporting Goods .............................................3 Jato Highlands Golf Course.............................................................51 J.D. Brawn Inc. .............................................................................33 Jerry's Hardware.............................................................................44 Jerry's Shurfine...............................................................................54 Jimar Construction Products LLC...................................................19 JM Brown Construction - General Contractor, Inc. ......................21 John R. Crooker Insurance Agency .................................................44 John Williams Construction............................................................22 Johnson Foundations.....................................................................35 Judd Goodwin Well Company.........................................................37 Katahdin General Store...................................................................42 Kimball Insurance, L.L.C. ...............................................................49 King's Appliances & Floor Coverings...............................................32 Ladd Brothers Engine Works............................................................49 Lawrence Lord & Sons Inc. Well Drilling........................................40 Leclair Construction..........................................................................6 Levesque Business Solutions..........................................................17 Lincoln Powersports .......................................................................51 Lone Wolf Auto Body......................................................................54 Lougee & Frederick's Florist............................................................18 Lowe's Appraisal Service................................................................16 Magoon Realty, Inc. ......................................................................13 Magoon's Transportation & Energy, Inc. ........................................13 Maine Cedar Specialty Products.......................................................52 Maine Collision Center.....................................................................21 Maine Energy Inc. .........................................................................17 Maine Equipment Company..............................................................5 Maine Forest Service .....................................................................44 Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union............................................33 Maine Historical Society....................................................................4 Maple Lane Farms..........................................................................33 Maritime International...................................................................15 Maynard's in Maine........................................................................39 Mayo Regional Hospital..................................................................35 McKusick Petroleum Co...................................................................36 Merle B. Grindle Insurance Agency ................................................27 Milford Motel on the River ............................................................14 Miller's Workshop.............................................................................8 Morrell's Hardware & Home Center ................................................49 Morris Fire Protection.....................................................................16 Narrows Art Gallery........................................................................46 North Country Auto...........................................................................6 North Pointe Farm & Garden..........................................................36 North View Farm............................................................................32 North Woods Real Estate.................................................................42 Northeast Applicators LLC...............................................................6 Northeast Truck and Refrigeration..................................................46 Ocean’s Edge Realty .......................................................................28 Off Shore Fuel.................................................................................10 Old Creamery Art & Antique Mall..................................................12 Parker Ridge Retirement Community..............................................27 Parks Pond Campground...................................................................9 Pat's Pizza - Orono, Holden & Hampden.............................................15

BUSINESS

PAGE

Penobscot Marine Museum..................................................back cover Perry O'Brian - Attorney at Law...........................................................8 Pine Grove Crematorium ....................................................................4 Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce....................................................35 Plymouth Village Store & Café..........................................................46 Prevention Works Dental Hygiene Services ......................................16 Ray Builders Inc.................................................................................13 Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. ...........................................21 Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. ...........................................42 Red's Automotive..............................................................................30 Rideout's Seasonal Services..............................................................33 Robert A. Nolan Carpentry................................................................29 Rocky Shore Realty............................................................................10 Rogan’s Memorials ...........................................................................28 Roger's Market Inc............................................................................50 Rowell’s Garage Car Wash ..................................................................48 Rowell's Garage Sales & Service........................................................48 RP Log Homes...................................................................................35 Rt. 9 Towing & Recovery...................................................................10 S.O.B. Oil & Earthworks Co., LLC.......................................................50 Sackett & Brake Survey Inc..............................................................36 Savage Paint & Body.........................................................................43 Scootic In Restaurant........................................................................54 Seal Cove Auto Museum....................................................................30 Sebasticook Valley Federal Credit Union............................................31 Select Designs & Embroidery ...........................................................50 Shaw Financial Services....................................................................53 Shirley's Yarns & Gifts ......................................................................21 Shorey Oil Inc.....................................................................................14 Sign Services Incorporated of Maine ................................................31 Sips...................................................................................................45 Snow’s Saw Shop ..............................................................................33 Stardust Motel..................................................................................43 STEaD Timberlands, LLC ...................................................................53 Steinke & Caruso Dental Care................................................................5 Stone Masters LLC................................................................................9 Stonington Lobster Co-op.................................................................27 Stucco Lodge.....................................................................................20 Swett's Tire & Auto..............................................................................4 T.G. Dunn Plumbing, Inc...................................................................46 Taylor's Katahdin View Camps...........................................................54 That Guy on 9.....................................................................................10 The Commons at Central Hall.............................................................49 The Salvation Army - Houlton.............................................................42 The Turtle Restaurant & Bar...............................................................25 Thibodeau's Lawn Care.....................................................................19 Thomas Logging & Forestry, Inc.........................................................37 Thomas W. Duff Financial Advisor - Brewer........................................21 Thomas W. Duff Financial Advisor - Millinocket ..................................42 Through the Garden Gate..................................................................31 Tim Merrill & Co., Inc. .........................................................................36 Timber Hatch Arborist Services..........................................................30 Town of Enfield..................................................................................50 Town of Hampden.............................................................................23 Town of Lincoln.................................................................................38 Town of Mars Hill................................................................................4 Tradewinds Market - Milo ................................................................40 Trailside Restaurant & Lounge...........................................................38 Tri City Pizza........................................................................................7 Tucker Auto Repair.............................................................................11 Turning Heads Hair & Beauty Salon...................................................23 Vancil Vision Care...............................................................................45 Varney's Newport Ford......................................................................48 VintageMaineImages.com ..................................................................4 Wagner Forest Management, LTD........................................................7 Wardwell Construction & Trucking Corp............................................28 Ware's Power Equipment..................................................................52 WCL Carpentry..................................................................................48 West's Coastal Connection..................................................................5 Wheaton's Lodge..............................................................................42 Whited Truck Center..........................................................................18 Whitney's Outfitters..........................................................................51 Whitten's 2-Way Service, Inc.............................................................21 Williams & Taplin Well Drilling Services.................................................6 Wilson Museum.................................................................................44 Wilson Pond Camps...........................................................................38 Wilsons On Moosehead Lake............................................................37 York's of Houlton...............................................................................53

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~ 2019 Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties ~ Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties

Own a piece of history!

Visit our collection online www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org

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