USA > Maine > Gazetteer of the state of Maine > Part 56
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The Congregationalists and Methodists have one or more churches each in the town. At East Pittston there is an excellent local academy. In addition Pittston has seventeen public schoolhouses, valued at $7,500. The valuation in 1870 was $648,353 ; in 1880 it was $669,688. The rate of taxation in 1880 was nineteen mills on the dollar. In 1870, the population numbered 2,353; which, according to the census of 1880, has increased to 2,457.
Plantation of Carrying Place, in Somerset County, lies west of the Kennebec, between that river and the southward bend of Dead River. It is a noted carrying-place on the route to or from Canada, by which the passage of Dead and Kennebec rivers is shortened. Three of the ponds in the township lie in the line of the carry and reduce the land travel. The place has been made famous by the passage of Arnold's expedition against Canada over this route in 1775. It is 40 miles from Skowhegan, on the Canada road and stage road from Skowhegan to Quebec. In the north-east and south- west are high hills. The western range is called "Carrying Place Mountains." Granite is found on Carrying Pond Stream in the south- ern part of the township. The soil is a deep, dark loam. Hay and oats are the chief crops. The business is farming and lumbering. Gold is found in small quantities in Pierce Pond Stream in the north- ern part of the township. The nearest post-office is Carratunk Planta- tion. Carrying Place Plantation sustains a public school in summer and winter. The Plantation was organized in 1871. It sent 12 men to the aid of the Union cause in the war of the Rebellion. It was formerly No. 1, Range 3, west of Kennebec River. The valuation of estates at the date of organization was $15,000. In 1880 it was $9,980. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 2 per cent. The population in 1880 was given in the preliminary report of the census with that of the plantations of Pleasant Ridge, Forks and Moxie,-altogether 981.
Plantation No. 14, a post-office in Washington County. See article on No. 14 Plantation.
Plantations in Hancock County. The inland plantations are No. 7, having in 1870 a population of 69; No. 8, 20; No. 10, 10; No. 21, 56; No. 28, 12; No. 32, 17; No. 33, 102.
ISLAND PLANTATIONS .- Hog Island, population in 1870, 6; Lunt's Long Island (in 1857-58, the town of Islandport), 177 ; Harbor Island, 13; Ber Island, 13; Bradbury Island, 6; Eagle Island, 30 ; Spruce Head Island, 22; Beach Island, 9; Butter Island, 9; Eaton Island, 1; Marshall's Island, 12; Pickering's Island, 5;' Pumpkin Island, 4; Hackatosh Island, 4; Mount Desert Rock, 6. The last Island has less than half an acre of surface, and is situated 20 miles from the
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main. Upon it is a primary sea-coast light, built in 1830. The tower of the light is 60 feet high, and the light is 70 feet above sea level. At sea in ordinary states of the atmosphere, it can be seen a distance of 12 nautical, or nearly 14 statute miles .- See Long Island Plantations and Swan Island Plantation, also article on Civil Divisions in the first part of this volume.
Pleasant Mountain. See article on Denmark.
Pleasant Ridge Plantation, in Aroostook County, was re-organized in 1869 under the name of Caswell Plantation.
Plymouth lies at the south-western angle of Penobscot County, 20 miles west of Bangor. It is bounded on the north by Newport, east by Etna, south by Dixmont, and by Troy in Waldo County, and west by Detroit in Somerset County. The space south- west of the centre of the town is pretty much occupied by Plymouth and Little ponds, which also receives the waters of a pond in Dixmont, and discharge through Martin Stream into the Sebasticook in the north- west part of the town. On this stream are five powers, all improved except one. The principal falls are at Plymouth Village, near the centre of the town. The manufactures consist of cloth, lumber, furniture, carriages, fumigators, leather, etc. The basin of the ponds which supply these powers is about one half covered by forest. The area of the reservoirs is at present some 1,800 acres. The height of dams might easily be so increased that from this storage the gross power of the series of falls, at 15 feet each, would be 486 horse-power, or 19,440 spindles for 10 hours a day, 312 days in the year. The storage could be used in six months or less, and the natural run would suffice for the rest of the year, doubling or trebling the power. As it is, the stream is very uniform on account of reservoirs. The stream at the falls runs over compact ledges.
Plymouth was incorporated in 1826. It has Baptist and Methodist churches. There are eight or ten stores and two hotels. The number of public schoolhouses is nine ; and the school property is valued at $3,600. The valuation of real estate in 1870 was $188,350. In 1880 it was $183,193. The population in 1870 was 941. In 1880 it was 828.
Plymouth Company. See article on Kennebec County.
Poland is the south-west town of Androscoggin County. It is 10 miles from Lewiston and 35 from Portland, with both of which places it is connected by the Grand Trunk Railroad, which passes across the north-eastern portion of the town. The territory of Poland is nearly square, its angles marking the points of the compass. It is bounded on the north-east by Minot and Auburn from which it is separated by the little Androscoggin River, on the south-east by New Gloucester and Auburn, on the south-west by Casco and Raymond, and on the north-west by Otisfield and Oxford. It contains 26,000 acres of land, about two-thirds of which is improved. There are six considerable ponds wholly within its limits and another in part. Thomp- son's Pond, the last mentioned and largest, is at the western angle,
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and contains 8 square miles. Tripp's Pond, lying about half a mile east- ward, has an area of one and one-fourth square miles; the Upper, Middle and Lower Range ponds, lying parallel with the last from the middle of the town southward, contains 85-55 and 50-100ths of a square mile respectively. The principal business of the town is at Mechanic
BARRELLING HOUSE'
SPRING
. POLAND SPRINGS.
Falls. Poland Corner, at the centre of the town, has steam, grist, saw and planing mills, and considerable neighborhood trade. There is a lumber-mill and sash and blind factory at Page's Mill on the river above Mechanic Falls, and lumber-mills at Hacket's Mills and Minot Post-Office below, and at West Poland. At the southern angle of the
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town the Shakers have a power used for several small manufactures. East Poland has a post-office and railway station, and West and South Poland and Shaker Village have each a post-office. The most important manufactures at Mechanic Falls are paper, and the repeating rifles of the Evans Rifle Company, and a canning factory. The Dennison Paper Manufacturing Company operates six different mills at this place, pro- ducing various kinds of paper, and employing about 225 persons. The surface of the town is in the eastern part level or gentle undulating, while in the western portion there is a combination of hill, lake and forest scenery that is very pleasing, and in some parts highly picturesque. The ledges that crop out along the hillsides show a coarse granite structure with a predominance of felspar in some localities. Mica- schist and argillaceous rock are found in other quarters. The soil in the lowlands and valleys is alluvial, having a surface stratum of vegetable origin underlaid by sand. Poland is one of our best agricul- tural towns, all the usual crops having a good yield.
The town, however, is most noted for its mineral springs. There are the Poland and South Poland and the Highland springs, the two latter just coming into notice. All are situated at an elevation which affords fine views of the surrounding country, and are recom- mended for some diseases of the kidneys and associate derangements. The Poland spring, known in the region as Ricker's, is owned by Hiram Ricker and sons, in whose family the property has been since 1794. Wentworth Ricker opened the Mansion House in 1797 and it has been kept as a hotel by his son and then by his grandsons ever since. Little attention was given to the spring until about 1858; when the valuable qualities of the water becoming generally known, the hotel (whose business had fallen off with the change from stages to railroads) soon had to be enlarged. So popular have the waters of this spring become, that a few years ago it was found advisable to build another and larger house for the accommodation of the patrons who flocked thither in the summer months. The new house bears the name of the Poland Springs House, and contains 120 sleeping rooms, and has 450 feet of broad piazza. The situation on the top of a high, extended hill, or ridge, 800 feet above the ocean, with ponds, forests and other hills on every side, is one of rare attraction. The spring runs about eight gallons a minute from a crevice in the solid granite ledge. Besides Ricker's Hill may be mentioned Pigeon, Harris, Johnson's, Megquier, White Oak, Bailey, Thurlow and Black Cat hills, all considerable eminences. The two neighboring Shaker villages, called the Upper Shaker Village, in the town about one half mile south, and another called the Lower Village in New Gloucester, about a mile south of the last, are objects of interest to visitors. The sect in this town originated in 1784 or 1785 by the preaching of an itinerant disciple of Ann Lee, from Lebanon, New York. There were at this time quite a number of set- tlers on Ricker Hill, and most of them became converted. They were joined by others from Hebron ; but exchanged their lands, and settled together in New Gloucester, forming what is now called the Lower Family, and holding their property in common. The Upper Family, orthe present Poland community, came from Gorham, Maine, in 1819. They then numbered about 50, but now less than 40. They brought with them eight oxen, three horses and twenty cows, with a variety of house- hold goods and farming utensils. They have since further increased
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their lands by purchase. They have now in addition to the dwelling. houses they have occupied for a half century, a new stone-house three or more stories in height. It contains one or two large central halls, together with a large number of lodging and living rooms. It was begun before the war, and when finished will have cost about $20,000. Beside this, they have land and other property to the value of about $30,000.
The earliest settlers were Nathaniel Bailey, Daniel Lane, Moses Emery, and John Newman, who settled at what has long been known as "The Empire" in 1768-1769. The Pulsifer family is a leading one of the town, having located here in the person of their ancestor, David Pulsifer, in 1790. The family has furnished several esteemed public men. John Nevins, who claimed to have cut the first tree felled in Poland, died in 1832, being above 100 years of age; other names are Josiah Dunn, "Captain " Davis, John Rollins, " Captain " Farring- ton, Henry Bray, Benjamin Coombs and Mrs. Woodard. The land titles are from the proprietors of Bakerton (see Auburn). The town is thought to have been named for Poland, a noted Indian chief of the region. It was incorporated in 1795. A portion was set off to Danville in 1852.
The total amount paid out by the town for its expenses in the war of the Rebellion is $45,230, and the total number of men for which it received credit, 304.
The religious societies of the town are the Congregationalists, Uni- versalists, Free Baptists, and Adventists. Poland has twenty-two public schoolhouses, valued at $16,775. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $765,960. The population at the same date was 2,436. In 1880, it was 2,443. The valuation in 1880 was $920,057.
Poor's Mills, a village in Belfast, Waldo County.
Portage Lake Plantation lies near the average centre of Aroostook, being No. 13 in the Sixth Range of townships. It is 75 miles north by north-west of Houlton, via Ashland. It is on the stage-line from the latter town to Fort Kent. This plantation was organized in 1872; receiving its name from the sheet of water that occupies a large portion of the centre of the town. The " portage " is between this and Lake Machias, in Nashville Plantation. A tract on the western side of the northern portion of this lake was granted to the Maine Female Seminary, and a tract further southward to the Somerset Academy. The population is principally along the eastern side of the lake. The plantation has one schoolhouse, and the school property is valued at $500. The population in 1870 was 124. In 1880 it was 132. The valuation in 1880 was $23,018.
Port Clyde, a post-office in St. George, Knox County.
Porter is the south-western town of Oxford County. Hiram bounds it on the east, Brownfield on the north, Parsonfield in York
RUSSELL -RICHARDSON-SD
VIEW OF PORTLAND, ME
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County, on the south, and Freedom, in New Hampshire, on the west. It is 6 miles in length by 4} in width, having an area of 18,500 acres. The Great Ossipee River forms the boundary line on the south, while on the southern half of the eastern line lies a chain of ponds, of which Stanley's, the largest, is about one mile in length. Spectacle Pond, nearly the same size, lies in the south-eastern part; Long Pond, of equal area, lies in the south-west, and Colcord Pond, the largest (area, about a square mile), lies near the centre of the town, with Bickford Pond about a mile to the south-west. In the north-eastern part are several high elevations, bearing the names of Bald Ledge, Devil's Den, Pine Hill, Burnt Meadow Mountain, and Mount Eagle. The surface is generally uneven, but the hillsides afford excellent pasturage, and many cattle are raised. The town has also long been noted for its orchards. Originally, it was thickly wooded with pine, and white and red oak. At the south-eastern corner of the town is Kezar Falls vil- lage; and on the Ossipee, at the mouth of the outlet of Colcord and Bickford Ponds, is Porter Village. The outlets of the various ponds afford several good water-powers. Colcord Pond has a saw-mill and grist-mill at its outlet ; Bickford Pond has a saw-mill ; a mile below is another, and Porter Village has a third saw-mill. At the latter place are also furniture and bobbin factories. At Kezar Falls are three saw- mills, a spool, woolen, and a boot and shoe factory. This town is 50 miles south-west of Paris. It is 35 miles from Portland, on the stage- line to Freedom, N. H., and terminus of the line to Wakefield, N. H., on the Great Falls and Concord Railroad.
The township which is now Porter was purchased of Massachu- setts, in September, 1795, by Dr. Aaron Porter, of Biddeford, Caleb Emery, of Sanford, Thomas Cutts, of Pepperellborough (now Saco) and others, for the sum of £564 lawful money. It was also provided in the grant, that they should appropriate 320 acres for schools, the same number for the first-settled minister, and a similar lot for the support of the ministry ; also 100 acres to each man who should settle in the township before the 1st day of January, 1784. This condition was met by the following settlers : Mesheck and Stephen Libby, from Rye, N. H., John Libby and James Rankins. These were all until 1787, when Benjamin Bickford, Jr., Samuel Bickford, from Rochester, N. H., and Benjamin Ellenwood, from Groton, became settlers. About 1791, David Allord, Joseph Clark, and Moses Drown, from Rochester, N. H., became permanent residents. Most of these were soldiers of the Revolution.
The territory of Porter was a part of the Pequaket territory, and extended quite to Fryeburg; but at its incorporation, Feb. 20, 1807, about two-fifths of its northerly portion was annexed to Brownfield.
Kezar Falls has a Free Baptist and a Methodist church, and Porter Village, a Union church. The number of public schoolhouses is 13; their value with lots, being placed at $2,500. The population in 1870 was 1,104. In 1880 it was 1,095. The valuation in 1870 was $275,469. In 1880 it was $279,359.
Portland, eminent for its business facilities, for the health- fulness and beauty of its situation, and for the enterprise and urbanity of its citizens, occupies the chief harbor on Casco Bay, in the southern
RICHARDSON SE BOSTON
MAINE GENERAL HOSPITAL, PORTLAND.
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part of Cumberland County. Being the nearest port on the Atlantic coast to the cities of the St. Lawrence, and having a harbor safe and convenient for the largest ocean-steamers, and open at all seasons, it has naturally become the chief seaport of the Canadas, as well as of Western Maine, and the northern parts of New Hampshire and Ver- mont. From the city proceed the Boston and Maine, the Eastern and the Portland and Rochester railways, traversing New Hampshire and Massachusetts business centres, and connecting with the roads to all parts of the continent. The Grand Trunk of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad comes down through the northern parts of Ver- mont and New Hampshire to the wharves of the ocean steamships in Portland Harbor. The Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad, passing up the valley of the Saco, threading the White Mountains, by way of St. Johnsbury, Vt., and thence to the foot of Lake Champlain, will afford a still shorter route to Canada and the great West. The Maine Central with its branches, connects with the central region of the State from the Penobscot almost to the Rangely Lakes ; at Bangor it con- nects with the Piscataquis Railroad, and by the European and North American Railway, with the systems of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. All these lines are connected in the city by the marginal rail- way. In addition to the railroad facilities, lines of steamboats give water-carriage tri-weekly to New York, daily to Boston, tri-weekly to Bangor and intermediate ports, weekly to Mount Desert and Machias, semi-weekly to Eastport and St. John, N. B., and semi-weekly to Hali- fax, N. S., direct. The Allan line of steamships ply weekly between Portland and Liverpool, from November to May, affording large facil- ities of import and export.
Most of the leading manufactures are produced in the city or in its vicinity,-many of them in large quantities and of superior ex- cellence.
The average amount of duties collected at the Portland Custom House for some years past is not far from $900,000.
The special industries in which Portland excels all other cities, are probably those of hermetically sealed provisions and the fisheries, and the preservation of fish in various forms.
In the fish business, about a dozen firms are engaged in the packing of mackerel and herring. These firms during the season of 1880, · packed a total of 80,500 barrels of mackerel and 13,300 barrels of her- ring. The market-value of these is little short of $500,000. The num- ber of vessels engaged in the mackerel fishery is 162; in the herring fishery, 75 ; making a total of 237 vessels, whose crews number 3,345. This does not include the persons employed in packing the fish. Half a dozen more firms are engaged in the curing of cod and other fish. The three which do the largest business in these, cured in the season ending with the middle of October, 1880, 50,000 quintals. The curing is done on the islands in the harbor. House Island has been in use for this purpose for more than 200 years.
Portland is the smallest town in the State in superficial area. A small peninsula jutting into the inner waters of Casco Bay, and 16 islands and parts of islands, lying at distances of from 3 to 10 miles down the bay constitute the territory of the city. This peninsula, or Neck, was called Machigonne by the Indians, which according to some means bad clay ; while others contend that its interpretation should be
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knee or elbow,-descriptive of the curving form of the peninsula. The names of the islands are Peak's, Long, Cushing's, House, Great and Little Diamond (or Hog), part of Crotch, part of Hope, Little Chebea- gue, Jewell's, Cow, Ram, Marsh, Overset, Crow, and Pumpkin Knob. Several of these islands are very picturesque and attractive, and 4 or 5 have hotels. The peninsula is about 3 miles long, with an average breadth of three-fourths of a mile. On the southerly side lies Cape Elizabeth, separated from Portland by an arm of the sea called Fore River, which constitutes the inner harbor. On the northerly side, is Back Cove ; and beyond is Deering. The peninsula has a mean elevation at the middle of more than 100 feet,-sloping gradually to the water on either side, except at the eastern and western extremities,-which rise in Munjoy's Hill at the east to the height of 161 feet; and at the west, in Bram- hall's Hill, to. 175 feet,-ending here in a bold bluff. Munjoy's Hill affords delightful views of the waters of Casco Bay and its numerous islands, and of the ocean beyond. Bramhall commands a sea view, and a broad landscape of farm, forest and village, and beyond all, the great semicircle of the mountains. This configuration of the peninsula gives excellent drainage, while from its altitude it is bathed in the pure breezes from sea and shore, rendering it one of the most healthy cities on the globe. From end to end of the peninsula runs Congress street, the backbone of the city, 3 miles in length. Parallel with this on the east for a part of its length, are, first, Middle street, devoted chiefly to the dry goods trade; second, Fore street, miscellaneous trade ; and- third, Commercial street, fronting the harbor, and occupied largely by wholesale traders in heavy goods of all sorts. On the western side, the streets are Cumberland; second, Oxford and Portland; third, Lincoln and Kennebec,-the last two running along the margin of Back Cove. The whole peninsula has above 226 streets, lanes and courts, aggregat- ing a length of 48 miles ; while 29 wharves extend into the harbor, af- fording accommodation to vessels of every size and kind. Besides the lines of steam railways, already enumerated, there are 6 avenues for teams and foot passengers. There is also projected and partly built, a Marginal Way, 100 feet in width, running entirely around the city. Horse cars furnish easy transit between the depots of the different lines of steam cars, and the principal streets ; connecting also with the suburban villages of Deering Point, Woodford's Corner, and Morrill's Corner. The business of the city centres on the southerly slope below Congress street, near the middle of the peninsula. Munjoy's Hill is almost a village by itself of middle class residences, having its own churches, schools and shops. The northerly slope, back of Congress street, along its whole length, is devoted to private residences. The western end, rising gradually to the eminence of Bramhall, is the fash- ionable quarter ; and, having been spared by the great fire of 1866, now contains the oldest mansions, as well as many new and elegant edifices. A marked feature of Bramhall is the well-kept gardens and lawn surrounding the houses, and generally open to public view through open fences, or over low hedges, or guards of stone.
The slope under Bramhall toward Deering's Oaks, is now, also, becoming an inhabited place, and many handsome residences are already erected.
Portland has several excellent hotels,-the Falmouth, situated on Middle street, being the largest. It is a magnificent structure containing
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240 rooms, and 10 large stores. Its front is of Albert-stone, and its side walis of pressed brick, with Albert-stone trimmings. The building of the first National Bank, near by, is a fine building of red-sandstone. A little farther down is the fine granite front of the Casco Bank building. The Maine Savings Bank has its rooms on the corner of Plum street. Over it is the St. Julian Hotel, a neat little house conducted on the European plan. A short distance beyond is the handsome red-freestone building of the Canal Bank. The oldest of the public houses of the city, recently enlarged and brought up to the requirement of the times, is the United States Hotel, on the eastern side of Market square, and occupying the space between Federal and Congress streets. In Stanton Block, on Exchange street, the Board of Trade has its head-quarters ; and here, also, is the Merchants' Exchange, with its reading-room. Close by is
PORTLAND OBSERVATORY.
the elegant building of the Merchants' Bank. On the corner of Middle and Exchange streets is the Post-Office, an elegant building of Vermont marble, occupying a square by itself. Among its red brick neighbors, its chaste white walls and elegant architecture give it a somewhat ethereal look. Its cost was half a million of dollars. In the second story is the United States Court room and offices. A little further up on the same street, is the fine block of the Portland Saving's Bank,-then the Printer's Exchange, where several papers are issued. On Congress street, at the head of Exchange, is the City Government
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