USA > Maine > Gazetteer of the state of Maine > Part 55
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The nucleus of this town was a grant of two miles square, made by Massachusetts, to Merrill Knight, Daniel Lunt, William Brackett and a Mr. Bradish of Falmouth. Mr. Knight was the first settler, coming in with his family in 1793. William Walker, Osborn Trask, and Brady Bailey, also of Falmouth, soon followed. Subsequently, the remainder of the township was granted or sold in tracts to E. Fox, Lunt, Thomp- son and Peck. The settlement was organized as a plantation in 1812, and incorporated in 1821.
Samuel R. Thurston, the first delegate from Oregon Territory to Congress, was a native of this town. Timothy Ludden, Jonas Greene,
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Sumner R. Newell, Benjamin Lovejoy and James H. Withington were also esteemed citizens or natives. There is one person living in town above 90 years of age, one about 88, two about 79, and ten that are 75 and upwards. Peru sent 108 men into the army of the Union during the war of the Rebellion, and 30 were killed or had died by sickness prior to Nov. 8th, 1865. There is a very good church edifice in the town, and societies of Baptists, Methodists and Universalists. Two high schools are sustained during a portion of the year. There are eleven public schoolhouses, and the school property has a value of $6,000. The population in 1870 was 931. In 1880 it was 825. The valuation in 1870 was $272,864. In 1880 it was $247,160. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 16 mills on the dollar.
Phillips is situated near the middle of Franklin County, and is bounded by Madrid and Salem on the north, the latter and Freeman on the east, Avon and Weld on the south, and Number Six on the west. The town is about nine miles in length and five in width. The original area was 22,490 acres, but a section at the north-eastern corner was set off to form Salem in 1823. Sandy River runs south-eastward across the middle of the town. The surface of Phillips is not greatly varied with hills and valleys. French Hill, in the eastern part of the town, is a broad but not a high elevation. Bald Hill, marking the western angle of Avon on the southern line of Phillips, is probably the highest eminence; its summit being nearly 800 feet above the sea. The prevailing rock is mica-schist, with some granite, and one bed of azoic limestone. The Mammoth Rock is one of the curiosities of Phillips. It is situated on Daggett's Farm, on the side of a hill. The rock is an immense bowlder, variously estimated from 35 to 50 teet high, 100 feet through, and 200 to 300 feet around the base. The trees found in the woods are chiefly rock-maple and beech, with some poplar, spruce and hemlock. The soil on the uplands is a strong loam, but rocky. There are broad, rich intervals along Sandy River; a belt of light sandy land runs through one edge of the town. The occupation of the people is chiefly agricultural. Hay is the largest crop. The principal village is situated on Sandy River near the south line of the town. On the falls here are a saw, grist and carding-mill. The manu- factures of the place consist principally of woollens, furniture, boots and shoes, carriages, harnesses, lumber, meal and flour.
A few years since, it might have been said that there were two flourishing villages in the town, between which there was a considerable rivalry. Now, however, the three-fourths of a mile which separated them is occupied by an attractive school-edifice, a costly church, a large new public house, and neat and showy private residences, so that the traveller is unable to find any dividing line between them. The united villages should flourish more than ever now, being the terminus of the narrow gauge Sandy River Railroad, which connects with the Maine Central Road at Farmington. Around the village, too, is a larger territory naturally dependent upon it as a business centre than about any other village in the county. Its water-power is capable of many times the development it has already attained. This village is also the headquarters of extensive lumbering operations in the Rangeley Lake region. It is already the location of a large amount of profes- sional and business ability, and of culture and refinement. A printing
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press has been established here, and the energetic, newsy and spicy " Phillips Phonograph " is regularly issued every Saturday. It is pub- lished by O. M. Moore, and is well worthy of the patronage of the best citizens of Franklin County. Another literary institution of private ownership is a circulating library of about 400 volumes.
The township of Phillips was granted by Massachusetts to Jacob Abbott, Esq., in 1794. Some improvements were made in the town- ship as early as 1790 or 1791. Among the early settlers were Perkins Allen, Seth Greely, Jonathan Pratt, Uriah and Joseph Howard and Isaac Davenport. The plantation was first called Curvo, a name ap- plied by Captain Perkins Allen, because of a resemblance to. a port of that name which he had visited. It was incorporated in 1812, under the name of a former principal proprietor.
A natural curiosity is a huge bowlder about 80 feet in diameter. Another is the nearly dry bed of a pond in the upland, and the gorge through which its unloosed waters ploughed their way toward Sandy River. This action arose from the insertion of a plank flume, with bulkhead and gate, for the purpose of increasing the power for the grist mill of the Messrs. Noyes on a neighboring stream. A slight leak increased, so that the flume was pressed out, when the whole con- tents of the stream swept down the incline, ploughing up the soil, moving great rocks, sweeping away the buildings of a Mr. Shephard, the mill and every vestige of the improvements which had been made at such cost.
There are two church-edifices in Phillips, one of which belongs to the Methodists, while the other is a Union church. The town has fifteen public school-houses; which, with other school property, are estimated to be worth $4,000. The estates in 1870 were valued at $375,576. In 1880 the valuation was $447,905. The rate of taxation in the latter year was fifteen mills on the dollar. The population in 1870 was 1,373. In 1880 it was 1,437.
Phipsburg constitutes the southern point of Sagadahoc County. It lies between the Kennebec River on the east, and New Meadows Harbor and West Bath, on the west. On the opposite side of this harbor is Great Island, a part of Harpswell. On the eastern side are the island towns of Arrowsic and Georgetown. Bath lies at the north-west. Phipsburg is very nearly 12g miles in extreme length and of an average width of about 3 miles. Bays and inlets mark its entire circumference. Following the shore north-eastward from Cape Small Point, we pass the inlet known as Sprague's and Morse's rivers, succeeded by Hunniwell's Beach ; north which Hunniwell's Point and Sabino peninsula form the eastern shore of Atkins' Bay. On its north- ern side rises the lofty bluff of Cox's Head, upon which, in 1814, an earthwork was erected; beyond which is Wyman's Bay. At the north looms Parker's Head, and at its south-western side is the inlet basin forming the tide-power known as Parker's Head Mill Pond. Next succeed the harbor at Phipsburg Center, with Drummore Bay two miles above, with inlet and tide-power. Through Fiddler's Reach, a curve of the Kennebec around the northern end of Phipsburg, we pass to Winnegance Creek, nearly three miles in length, and a basin at its extremity, forming two unsurpassed tide-powers, and separating Phipsburg from Bath and from West Bath except for a neck 200 rods
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in width, the Winnegance Carrying Place. South of this we have the Western Basin, Horse Island Harbor and Small Point Harbor. Several others we have no space to mention. There is some salt meadow in the northern part. The insulated ponds are Cornelius, Water Cove, Parker's Head, Rooks and Popham. The surface of the town is rough and ledgy, but without high hills, except the long ridge of Morse's Mountain which rises some 50 feet above the plain. A little south-west of the middle of the town much of the soil is a mixture of clay and sand. The lower part has red loam. The principal crops are potatoes and hay. Near the Basin on the western side is plenty of granite and a good lime quarry. Slate and felspar are also found in town. The depth of water is sufficient for vessels of considerable size to come quite up to the mills on several of the powers. On the Win- negance Tide-Power, three miles from Bath post-office, and four miles from Phipsburg Center Village, have been sixteen mills, nine on the Bath side and seven on the Phipsburg side of the line. Some of these, however, were burned several years since. There are now ten saw- mills and one grist-mill operating in the town. There is at the Center a ship-yard where vessels of 2,000 tons are built. There are also five ice companies in the town. The post-offices are Phipsburg (Center), Parker's Head, Small Point, Winnegance and Hunniwell's Point. The nearest railroad station is at Bath, about seven miles from Phips- burg Center. All steamers on the lines connecting the Kennebec with Portland and Boston, take and discharge passengers at this point.
Phipsburg contains the site of the earliest English colony in New England. The peninsula on the eastern side at the southern part, that bears on its north-eastern point the lofty granite walls of Fort Popham, still bears the marks of its occupancy by Popham's colony in 1607. West of the fort rises a long hill running southward, and marking on the shore the western extremity of Hunniwell's Beach. A short dis- tance in from the beach, at the foot of a grassy slope on the eastern side of the hill, is a pretty fresh-water pond. At Small Point Harbor, on the south-west side of the town, is the site of a fishing settlement established by the Pejepscot proprietors in 1716, with the name of Augusta. Dr. Oliver Noyes, one of the proprietors, was the principal director and patron. Captain Penhallow, son of the author of a history of the Indian Wars, in 1717, resided here. Dr. Noyes, in 1716, erected here a rude fort 100 feet square, for the purpose of protecting the settlers, who were coming in rapidly. A sloop named "Pejepscot" was employed as a packet between this Augusta and Boston, carrying out lumber and fish, and bringing back merchandise and settlers. The settlement continued until Lovewell's War, when the houses were burnt and the fort destroyed by the Indians. In 1737 an attempt at re-settlement was made. Among those who came at this time were three families of Halls, Clark, Wallace, Wyman, James Doughty, David Gustin, Jeremiah Springer, Nicholas Rideout and John Owens. Phipsburg was included in the Pejepscot grant to Purchase and Way, and after Wharton's purchase their lands were confirmed anew to some of the purchasers. The south part of the town was bought of the Indians by Thomas Atkins, the remainder by John Parker, jr., in 1659, and the northern part was assigned to his brother-in-law, Thomas Webber, who also obtained an Indian title. Silvanus Davis, widely known in his day, owned and improved a farm south of Webber's
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In 1734 Col. Arthur Noble built a strong garrison on the north side of the peninsula near Fiddler's Reach. The first house of worship known in this settlement was erected near this garrison in 1736. Some thirty- five years later an Episcopal church was erected on the site of this first house. The present Congregational church at the Center was built about 1802.
The extension of the North Yarmouth Line direct to the ocean brought the southern part of Phipsburg into that town ; but the whole, for convenience to the inhabitants, was, in 1741, annexed to George- town. In 1814 Phipsburg was separated from that town and incorporat- ed under its present name, which was adopted in honor of Sir William Phips.
Eminent names among the citizens of this town in days that are past are Mark L. Hill, Andrew Reed, Parker McCobb, James Bowker, William M. and Thomas M. Reed. The fact that there are some 25 persons above seventy-five years of age speaks well for the salubrity of the climate. Two of the churches in the town belong to the Free Baptists and one to the Congregationalists. Phipsburg has fourteen public schoolhouses, and the total school property is valued at $2,500. The valuation of the estates in 1870 was $427,303. In 1880 it was 8371,836. The rate of taxation in 1880 was three and a quarter per cent. The population in 1870 was 1,344. In 1880 it was 1,497.
Pine Point, a post-office in Scarborough, in Cumberland County.
Pinhook, a small village in Bridgton, Cumberland County.
Piscataquis County is the central region of Maine. Penobscot County bounds it on the east and south, Somerset on the west and south, and Aroostook on the north and east. On the western boundary lies Moosehead Lake. and opposite, on the eastern side, are Pemadumcook and Millinoket lakes. This county also constitutes a large part of the most elevated region of Maine, lying on an average upwards of 1200 feet above the sea. Midway of its eastern border rises Katahdin to a height of 5,385 feet above sea level. Several others rise many hundreds of feet above the surrounding region, and to thousands of feet above the sea. The greatest height of land appears to be about midway between Moosehead Lake on the west and Pemadumcook on the east, Chesuncook on the north and Sebec Lake on the south,-and again in the region of Mount Katahdin and north-west thereof. From these tracts the streams flow off in all directions; and between them runs the west branch of the Penobscot. There is not known to me any other tract of equal extent with this in the world having so many lakes and ponds. On Pleasant River, in the eastern township of the Bowdoin College grant, and some 20 miles above the Katahdin Iron Mines, is a marvellous glen, through which the little river makes its wild course,-now leaping down stupendous cataracts, and anon shoot- ing between towering walls,-forming a passage which is the dread of lumbermen, and quite enrapturing to visitors. In Elliotsville, a town- ship adjoining Greenville on the south-west, is a natural curiosity which has yet received little attention. It is a fall on a stream called the Little Wilson, of 80 feet perpendicular. Clapboard bolts have sometimes been driven over this fall, but many of them would be
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PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
split and quartered from end to end. The whole of this county is on the north side of the 45th parallel of north latitude. Frosts come early, the winters are long and snows deep; yet even in the northern part wheat and the other farm products, excepting corn, ripen abundant crops. When first entered by settlers, this territory was included in Hancock and Kennebec counties, but when (in 1809) Somerset County was incorporated, the western portion, amounting to three tiers of townships, was embraced in this new county. In 1816, Penobscot County was incorporated, and all but the three western tiers of town- ships above mentioned were included in that county. In 1838, Pis- cataquis County was incorporated, taking four tiers of townships from Penobscot, and three from Somerset county,-the most western tier being included in the Bingham purchase. It then extended in full width to Canada, but in 1844 its northern portion, embracing about 60 townships, was annexed to Aroostook County. In its present extent it contains more than 100 full townships, with an area of 3,780 square miles. The townships are generally 6 miles square, lying in regular ranges ; the latter was numbered from the north line of the Waldo patent (now constituting a part of the north line of Waldo County) the southern tier in Piscataquis County being the sixth range in this enu- meration. In its length north and south, it includes 16 townships, and in its width, 7. Nearly two-thirds of these townships are now covered with forests, and wholly unoccupied, except by the lumber men in their annual pursuit of logs.
The county abounds in water-power, slate, granite, limestone; while there are some valuable mineral deposits,-the chiefest yet known being the Katahdin iron mine.
The most important river is the Piscataquis, which gives its name to the county, and upon which the first settlements were made. The pioneer settler of Piscataquis County was Eli Towne, who moved his family from Temple, N. H., Into Dover in 1803. Sebec was the first town incorporated in the county, the act having been passed February 28, 1812. The next was Foxcroft, which was incorporated on Feb- ruary 29, 1812. Dover, though the first settled, was not incorporated until 1822.
The principal occurrences of wide-spread effect in the county were the cold seasons of 1815 and the following year, when the crops suffered to such an extent as to produce great hardship,-and the great fires of 1825, which began in August and continued until the middle of October, in which much timber land and quite a number of dwellings were destroyed.
The only railroad in the county is the Dingor and Piscataquis railway, chartered from Oldtown to Moosehead Lake. The Piscataquis Observer, is the only paper in the county. It was started in 1838 by George V. Edes as the Piscataquis Herald, but this was changed to the Piscataquis Farmer, from this in 1848 to its present name. The present proprietor is Mr. S. D. Edes, who still maintains its character as an excellent county paper. In the war of the Rebellion, Piscataquis County furnished its full proportion of gallant soldiers who did battle for the Union. Colonel C. S. Douty and Major C. P. Chandler, of our fallen heroes, were natives of Piscataquis County.
The public schoolhouses of the county number 140,-valued at $44,- 200. The valuation in 1870 was 4,845,880 ; in 1880, $3,342,236. The
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GAZETTEER OF MAINE.
number of polls at the same date was 3,355. The population, accord- ing to the census of 1880, was 14,873. Of these, 7,715 were males, 7,158 females. The natives numbered 14,247; the foreign born, 626; the colored, 54.
Pishon's Ferry, a post-office, ferry and railroad station on the Kennebec River on the northern line of Fairfield and Clinton.
Pittsfield lies in the south-eastern part of Somerset County, 20 miles east of Skowhegan. The Maine Central Railroad passes through the south-eastern part, having a station at East Pittsfield. From the form of this town, it appears to have been what was left after all the towns about it had taken what land they wanted. Yet it has a productive soil of sandy loam, though in a few places. Along the Sebasticook, which runs southward through the eastern part of the town, there are many granite bowlders. The surface in general is very level, but lies principally on a large swell juclining to the east and west. The town is well wooded with all the trees common in the region except pine. The farmers have given much attention to fruit-growing, and consequently there are many fine apple orchards. Sibley Ponds lies on the western border of the town at the north. The streams are small except the Sebasticook, on which at East Pittsfieldare the prin- cipal manufactories. There are here a saw-mill for long and short lumber, a shingle-mill, a woolen-mill, a grain-mill, etc. The Maine Central Institute, near this village, has an elegant building, with suitable appointments, and is an excellent and flourishing school. It. fits many students for Bates and other colleges.
This town was formerly known as Plymouth Gore, and was a part of the Kennebec Purchase. The first settler was Moses Martin, from Norridgewock, who in 1794, took up his residence at a bend of the Sebasticook about 2 miles below the village. In 1800 came George Brown, of Norridgewock, William Bradford, and a Mr. Wyman from Vassalboro. Messrs. Brown and Wyman built the first mills. In 1804 John Sibley and John Spearing removed hither from Fairfield, settling on the westerly side, east of Sibley's Pond. In 1806, John Merrick, from Hallowell, settled here. Dominicus Getchell removed hither from West Anson in 1811 ; Joseph McCanslin, from Hallowell in 1813, and John Webb from Waterville in 1815. About the same time came Timothy McIntire and Stephen Kendal, both of whom were prominent in the affairs of the town in its early period. Pittsfield was organized as the plantation of Sebasticook in 1815; but on account of difficulty in collecting the taxes the organization was abandoned. On June 19, 1819, it was incorporated under the name of Warsaw. The first town meeting under this name was held at John Webb's dwelling, July 19, 1819. Stephen Kendal was elected delegate to a convention to frame a state constitution ; and in the same year the town gave 19 votes-the whole number-for the new constitution. In 1824, the name was changed from Warsaw to Pittsfield in honor of William Pitts of Boston, who was then a large proprietor of land here. In 1828, a portion of the " Ell of Palmyra" belonging to Joseph Warren of Boston, and con- taining 4,200 acres, was annexed to Pittsfield.
The town lost 35 men of the number sent into the Union army during the war of Rebellion. There are societies of Free Baptists,
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PITTSTON.
Universalists, Methodists and Christians in the town, and the three first have churches. The number of public schoolhouses is eleven,- which are valued at $5,000. The population in 1870 was 1,813. In 1880 it was 1,909. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $518,515. In 1880 it was $560,709. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 16 mills on the dollar.
Pittston is the south-easterly town of Kennebec County, lying on the eastern bank of the Kennebec River, 6 miles south by south- east of Augusta. It is bounded on the north by Chelsea, east by Whitefield and Alna, south by Dresden, and west by Gardiner. The first settler is supposed to have been Alexander Brown ; who built his house on an interval then known as " Kerdoormeorp," cleared up a lot for tillage, and was employed for several years in procuring sturgeon for the London market. In 1676 he was killed by the Indians and his house burned. In 1716 Dr. Noyes, agent of the Kennebec proprietors, built a fort near Nahumkeag Island, which was also destroyed by the Indians. Captain John North, assisted by Abram Wyman, laid the town out in lots in 1751. Soon after the conquest of Canada a number of persons from Falmouth settled in Pittston. The town was in- corporated in 1779, being named in honor of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, the friend of the American colonies. The corporation included Gardiner and West Gardiner until 1804. General Henry Dearborn was the first representative to the General Court, in 1799. The first list of town officers extant is as follows : clerk, William Wilkins ; selectmen, Seth Saper, Samuel Berry, and Thomas Agry ; treasurer, Samuel Oakman ; constable, Henry Smith. Some of the names of other prominent citizens in the modern period are Eliakim Scammon, Stephen Young, John Jewett, George Williamson, Nicholas Cooper, William Stephens, John Scott, and John Blanchard. The town is somewhat remarkable for the longevity of its inhabitants, there being twenty-two persons in town who are eighty years of age and upwards, several being over ninety.
Pittston as at present constituted contains an area of 21,300 miles. It is about seven miles long from north to south, and five miles from east to west. The surface is well diversified with hills and valleys, ponds and streams. Beech Hill, estimated from 500 to 600 feet above tide water is the highest eminence. The "Pebble Hills" on the " Haley Farm " in the south-western part of the town, consist entirely of small pebbles drifted into eminences ; and although excavations have been made to the depth of about 80 feet, nothing else has been found. The usual forest trees flourish ; but when the town was first settled, a large proportion of the timber was of white oak. The soil is a clay loam, and yields good crops of hay and potatoes. Nahumkeag Pond, situated near the centre of the town, has an area of about 400 acres ; Joy's Pond, at the north-eastern corner, has an area of about 100 acres. The Togus stream passes through the north-western part of the town to the Kennebec. On this stream, near the river, on a substantial stone dam, is a saw-mill capable of turning out 500,000 feet of long lumber, 1,000,000 shingles, and clapboards and laths in proportion. 'The Eastern River, having its principal reservoir in Joy's Pond, runs south- ward through almost the entire eastern part of the town; furnishing at East Pittston the power for a saw-mill and a grist-mill.
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GAZETTEER OF MAINE.
The principal village-which bears the name of the town-is beauti- fully located on the Kennebec ; having a connection with Gardiner and the Maine Central railway by means of an excellent wooden bridge 899 feet long.
Aside from agriculture, the principal business is connected with ice. Along the Kennebec River are numerous houses for the storage of this product, nearly a dozen different companies and firms carrying on the business in town.
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