USA > Maine > Piscataquis County > Historical collections of Piscataquis County, Maine, consisting of papers read at meetings of Piscataquis County Historical Society, also The north eastern boundary controversy and the Aroostook War, V. I > Part 4
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The first bridge built, where the bridge now known as Lowe's bridge is, was in the year 1830. This bridge was
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damaged seriously by the freshet in the spring of 1837. It became necessary to rebuild this bridge and it was re- built in 1843. In the high freshet in the spring of 1857 the bridge was carried away. During the summer of 1857 this bridge was rebuilt. Isaac B. Wharff did the . stonework. We wish to say that the abutments under this bridge show the thoroughness with which the work was done, and are a credit to the man who did it.
Mr. Loring, in his history, states that there have been nine bridges upon the Piscataquis River. From the statements above it can be seen that there have been three at Lowe's bridge, three at Sangerville and three at Guilford village prior to the present structure. The burden upon the town in its early years must necessarily have been large. It will be noted, however, that there must have been public sentiment in favor of them be- cause we find no record of any dissensions except possibly the one when the bridge was carried out at Sangerville in the year 1832.
Note. - The following letter of instructions to Samuel Weston, Esq., from the committee for the sale of east- ern lands, and a letter from Mr. Weston to the com- mittee, both relating to the survey of certain townships of lands in Piscataquis County, of which Guilford is one, are appended to Mr. Hudson's paper. These are not only important in so far as they relate to Guilford, but are valuable documents in considering the history of all the towns and townships in the seventh, eighth and ninth ranges. [ED. ]
Copy of Instructions to Samuel Weston, Esquire. May 1, 1794.
In behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the
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Committee for the Sale of Eastern Lands to Samuel Weston, Esquire, Surveyor-Sir you are hereby Author- ised and directed with Judicious Chainmen under oath to proceed and Survey three Ranges of townships between Penobscot River and the East line of the Million Acres located on the River Kenebeck and to be bounded West on the Said Million Acres South on the Sixth Range already Surveyed and a line to be extended east from the North East corner of township number one in the Sixth Range aforesaid to Penobscot River- Easterly on Penob- scot River- and North on unlocated lands- all the lines are to be run and well Spotted and the corners of each township marked the Ranges to extend from east to west and to be numbered the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Range progressing northerly- and the townships to be numbered in each range and to be laid out Six miles Square excepting those bordering on Penobscot River- which townships are to contain as nearly the quantity of Six miles Square as the course of the River and the adjoining townships will permit- the number of Acres to be noted on the plan in each township which contains a greater or less quantity than six miles square- And you will Survey accurately the Western bank or Water Edge of Penobscot River so far as the three Ranges aforesaid join on the same-taking proper care in the whole of this Survey to inspect the Chainmen ascending and descending the hills and dales, and make such allow- ance as to have the lines hold out horizontal measure.
And you are to make Return of the Survey with Duplicate plans representing the lines of the townships a border or margin of the adjoining lands the Rivers, Streams, Lakes, Ponds, and the most prominent heights - and to be accompanied with such notes, minutes, and a field-book as may be necessary to illustrate the Survey - Shewing the quality of the Soil-the growth of the
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timber, and the quantity of Land covered with water - Such Return to be made into our office at Boston or to either of the Committee as soon as may be after the business is completed-for which Service you shall be entitled to receive including all expense attending this business when completed twelve pounds for each township Surveyed and returned in manner as aforesaid.
DANIEL CAREY, in behalf of the Committee.
Hallowell, May 1, 1794.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Office of the Secretary, Boston, Sept. 10, 1895.
Compared with the Original and found Correctly Copied.
WM. M. OLIN, Secretary.
Mr. Weston's Letter.
Canaan, Oct. 15, 1801.
To the Committee for Sale of Eastern Lands.
Gentlemen :
In compliance with the directions forwarded on the back of the Resolve of the Genl. Court authorizing a resurvey of Township No. 4 in the seventh range north of the Waldo Patent, I have employed by Brother Stephen Weston who assisted in the Original Survey to perform that business, after first writing to the College Com. to know what was the ground of the application for a resurvey not knowing whether any error was sup- posed to be discovered in the contents of the Town- ship or only in Numbering.
I did not suppose there was any need of employing more than two persons as my Brother aforesaid had
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measured the line that divides the No. 3 and 4 ranges and found the three ranges to overrun 18 M but 6 rods only, he therefore from his own measure performed under oath has run a line West about, or nearly to the Million acre line, and consequently has rectified the error in all the Townships West in the 6 and 7 ranges.
How the mistake or error has crept into this business is at this time an absolutely mystery to me.
When the 7, 8 and 9th ranges were surveyed I employed my Brother to run the N. line and one Mr. John O'Neil to run the line between the 8th and 9th ranges with particular instructions where to leave the Million acre line. I proceeded up the Penobscot by water to the N. E. corner of Township No. 1, in the sixth ranges thence run east to the Penobscot. I then surveyed said River up and by casting the northing Easting dis I found where to make the corners of the Townships on the Range lines-until I came to the N. E. corner of the Township No. 1, 9th range- and there I waited until my brother arrived, and so true were my calculations and measure that my brother struck the River with his line within Six rods of my Station before made- and by repeated measurations said three Town- ships are honestly 18 miles wide together I have never had any reason to doubt but the Stations I had so care- fully made on the Penobscot were true and lines extend- ing from them west would be the true dividing line for the ranges- Master O'Neil met with so many obstacles from low swampy land and ponds on the line between the 8 and 9 ranges that he did arrive at Penobscot untill after my brother and I had left and gone to checking off the Towns- But he came down to the mouth of the Pis- cataquis and found me there and gave me some account of his voyage, and I rather concluded he had struck the River above my station made for him to come out at and
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concluded there might be some difference in the Com- passes w. h. in so long a line hada * * * een easily dis- covered. I then sent my own land up to the corner I had made for him and gave up my own com- pass and fitted him out for to in the dividing
line between the 7 and 8 range complained of by the trustees of Bowdoin College- under these cir- cumstances I confess I cannot tell how to account for the difference in the width of the 7 and 8 ranges as alto- gether the measure is good-and Master O'Neil has been a practical Surveyor, is called a man of ability and good understanding and the objection any person made against him when I enquired into his ability to undertake the task assigned him, was that he would be rather to nice, and curious to have the work performed Just so- which I thought would not by any means unqualify him- as the amount of the objections was that he would do the work well- but it would take the longer- But that he never would slight it nor can I now think that it is slighted-as an Instance of his faithfulness-he was so afraid lest a line be crosses and made a corner thereon which was undoubtedly the million acre line- should not prove so eventually that he continued running West until he had got within four miles of Kennebec River - and his being so much behind with the lines he ran pre- vented a discovery of the Error- Absolute exactness cannot be expected in so broken a country as that is, so many obstacles from ponds with all their arms legs inlets and outlets, swamps, bogs, thickets morasses, Mountain Cliffs and Gullies in so close a succession render it much more difficult to close lines than might often be wished for- sometimes interested persons wish to exaggerate any little errors, or rather they appear greater when found by the measure of persons influenced by interest
aWhere asterisks are inserted words are missing in the original.
------
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altho' I do not pretend this to be the case in this instance I am conscious of the most upright and honest intentions in the whole progress of the survey of those ranges of Townships and the error in the amended line must have proved from and ought I think to be consi rod as a misfortune-and I hope I shall be exc * I say that I think the expense ought rath * fall on the Government than on the Committee. most obed. Hum. Ser. SAMUEL WESTON.
State of Maine.
Land Office, Augusta, Jan. 15, 1897.
I certify the above to be a true copy of the original as filed in this office.
CHAS. E. OAK, Land Agent.
Some Facts Relating to the Early History of Greenville and Moosehead Lake
Presented by Charles D. Shaw
"Memories waking happy tears, Bringing back the yester-years."
T HE friends of other days often come before us, and then we see once more their pleasant faces and almost converse with them again. "Some moments there are that send their glad ripple down through life's stream to the very verge of the grave, and truly blest is one who can smile upon and kiss those memory waves and draw from them a bliss that never fails." To gratify a desire to review the past, we will invite the memory to bring back the scenes of other days, and write something remembered about Greenville and Moosehead Lake.
In the fall of the year 1844 Josiah Hinckley and Milton G. Shaw bought. of Charles Gower the first hotel ever built at Greenville and also the farm connected with the same. What is now Greenville Village consisted at that time of one hotel, one store, two dwelling-houses, two blacksmith shops and a schoolhouse. One dwelling- house and one blacksmith shop was owned and occupied by old Mr. Hildreth ; the other dwelling-house was built, owned and occupied by Mr. Benjamin Bigney. After Mr. Gower sold the hotel he occupied the tenement over his store. The store is still standing and owned by M.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY
G. Shaw Lumber Company. Mr. Hildreth's blacksmith shop was on the corner of the street where D. T. Sanders' store now stands; the other blacksmith shop was on the corner of the street leading to West Cove, then so called. It was occupied by John Atwood. He was then unmarried and boarded at the hotel.
The hotel was two stories high, with ell running back to the north. It had been enlarged from time to time as the interests of business demanded, and at the time it was burned (March 15, 1849) would accommodate from fifty to sixty guests. (It was rebuilt in part the next year by Capt. Joshua Fogg. ) It was not an uncommon thing during the winters from 1844 to 1849 for from thirty to forty teamsters to stop there overnight. They were called toters; their business was hauling supplies for lumbermen about the lake and its tributaries, and on the waters of the Penobscot River.
In the year 1844 there was a hotel at Sandbar kept by Mr. Ephraim Nason and one at Kineo kept by H. G. O. Barrows. There were shanties kept as follows: One at the foot of the lake near what is now Eveleth wharf by John Pollard, one at Deer Island by Gen. Capen and his son Aaron, one at Lily Bay by Hildreth Bros., one at Roach River by Deacon Ford, one ten miles beyond on the road to Chesuncook Lake by Thomas Grant, one at the head of Chesuncook Lake by Ansel Smith. There was a hotel two miles from the foot of the lake on the road to Shirley kept by B. F. Greeley.
According to tradition the first settlers came to Green- ville by a road leading from Monson Village directly north to the easterly part of the town of Greenville, and the first settlements in town were along that road. The names of those living there in the year 1844 were as follows: Mr. Wilson, William Shaw, Dea. Darling, Silas Cummings, Oliver Young, Orrin Grant, Joel
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Sawyer, Isaac Sawyer. Names of inhabitants living on the road leading from Greenville to Lily Bay were Jerry Varney, John Tyler, Rev. James Withee, Ed Scammon. Names of inhabitants living on the road leading from Greenville to Shirley were Charles Meserve, B. F. Greeley, William Connor, Hiram Mansell, Jefferson Mansell. Those on the road leading from foot of lake to the east part of the town were George Simpson, Elijah Young, Thomas Young. Those on the road leading to West Cove were John Masterman, Samuel Cole, James Nash. Mr. Cole was a farmer by occu- pation, and in connection with farming owned and operated a sawmill, the power of which was an overshot wheel. The saw was an up and down saw. As a matter of course each board had a stub-short. The mill could be run only in times of freshet, but with his mill he could supply the demand for boards in that vicinity.
At that time shingles were made by hand. They were made of cedar and pine trees. The trees were sawed into blocks and were then split and shaved by hand. It was called a day's work for a man to split, saw, shave and bunch one thousand shingles. Some shingle weavers, as they were then called, became experts, and some men claimed that after the shingles were split and ready to shave they could shave and throw them across the room where they were to be bunched and keep one in the air all the time. It may not be easy to prove such a statement now, but it is quite certain that some men could shave them very fast. Bangor was then the principal market for shingles. Pine shingles were then worth $4.00 per M.
The principal business of the inhabitants then was farming. They raised cattle, sheep and horses; sold to the lumbermen hay, grain and other products of the soil. As a rule they were industrious, prudent, discreet, honest
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and prosperous. Their land at that time, being new, yielded large returns. One farmer at one time went to Foxcroft to mill with a grist of ninety bushels of wheat. This of course was an exceptional case but it emphasizes the push and energy of the early settlers of Greenville.
In the year 1844 the shipping of the lake consisted of one steamboat called the Amphitrite. She was about ninety feet long and very wide on the beam. Her boiler and engine were of primitive make and her rate of speed was about six miles an hour. She was used in the spring of the year for towing logs, and in the fall for carrying lumbermen's teams, crews and supplies, but she was too slow for a passenger-boat. She was commanded by Capt. King. There was also a two-masted schooner commanded by Capt. George Varney. She was also used for carrying heavy freight for lumbering business. There were two smaller one-masted vessels, one commanded by Captain Fletcher Flint, the other by Captain Monroe Brown. They were both fine vessels of their kind, and did a good business for several years. There were several kinds of small boats; one was the bateau, sometimes called the Maynard boat, and used mostly for river driv- ing, the other was the birch canoe made by the Indians. It was often the case that a canoe was made of the bark of one tree, and all of one piece.
At that time there was felt a pressing need of a pas- senger-boat with steam-power; sailing vessels often required too much time. The Amphitrite was lacking in too many points to meet the demand of the times. Business men demanded more speed, tourist and pleasure parties wanted more style, stockholders wanted quicker returns. Public sentiment would be satisfied with nothing short of a new and better steamboat, and the stock raised for that purpose was sold almost as soon as it was put onto the market. In the year 1848 the
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steamer Moosehead was built at Varney's landing, Mr. Benjamin Bigney, master builder. She was built expressly for a passenger-boat, her finish and furnishings were fully up to date, a locomotive-boiler and engine with modern improvements gave her speed of fourteen miles per hour. She was very attractive in appearance, and gave general satisfaction to all concerned, as a pas- senger-boat. In early spring the Moosehead was used for towing logs, but in the summer she was used for pas- senger work, making two trips per week from Greenville to Northeast Carry, stopping at Kineo, going and com- ing, and at other points as business demanded, also one trip per week from Greenville to Kineo. She was com- manded by Captain Thomas Robinson.
At that time logs were towed from Moose River and North Bay by steamboat, and from Spencer Bay and the lower part of the lake by head works: a big raft made of logs with a small house on one end, where the men cooked, ate and slept. On the other end of the raft was the capstan. A rope one half mile long was attached to the capstan, the other end to an anchor. The anchor was carried out to the end of the rope and thrown over- board; the rope was then wound in on the capstan by twelve men with six bars. In this way a raft of twenty acres of logs could be moved one half mile an hour.
During the years from 1844 to 1854 the means of con- veyance to and from Greenville was by stage. One route was from Greenville to Bangor, the other from Greenville to Skowhegan. The last named made three round trips per week. The names of the drivers in the order named were: Warren Potter, Henry Potter, John Downing, William Young, William Blackden. Heavy freight was then hauled from Bangor to Greenville, with two, four and six-horse teams, making one trip per week.
In the year 1849 a wooden railroad was built from
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the shore of the lake to the bank of the Penobscot River at Northeast Carry, distance two miles, twenty-seven rods. As the water at the shore of the lake was very shoal, it was necessary to build a pier forty rods from the shore and continue the track to the pier, making the entire length of the road two miles, sixty-seven rods. It had a wooden track and a platform car, drawn by one horse, weight of common load about two tons, making four trips per day. The business of the road was taking lumbermen's supplies from the steamboat pier to the West Branch of the Penobscot River. The cost of building and equipping the road was about $3,000, price of freightage $4.00 per ton, length of business season about two months each year. It went to decay and was discontinued in about ten years, and a turnpike road was built in its place.
The principal fishermen during the early history of Moosehead Lake were Mr. Bard and the Cross brothers. Mr. Bard, in the winter, had a house on runners and hauled it from place to place. He lived in his house and fished in deep water. The Cross brothers fished in the thoroughfares. They were all quite successful in their line of business. The leading hunters and trappers were Uncle John Ellis and William Lyford. They both lived in the woods nearly all of their lives. Uncle John Ellis, as he was called, was a great story-teller, and when he was in company with those who liked to hear him talk he would relate his adventures with wild animals, (mostly bull moose) by the hour. He continued in the hunting business until he was an old man. His last camping place was near Spencer Bay; the smoke of it could be plainly seen from Mr. Capen's house at Deer Island. They, knowing that he was liable to fall into distress at any time, kept a close watch for the smoke of his cabin, and one day there was no smoke to be seen. Mr. Capen
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went immediately to his place and found him sick and unable to help himself. Mr. Capen, like the good Samaritan, took him to his own home (which was an inn) and took care of him. It proved to be his last sickness. He had a family and accumulated quite a good property.
Mr. Lyford was quite a fur hunter, and enjoyed telling his adventures with bears and wolves. He, too, was quite a successful hunter and trapper and followed the business until he was quite old.
Until the year 1850 there were no laws to protect large game in Maine. At that time moose and deer were very plenty in northern Maine, especially along the West Branch of the Penobscot River and around Moosehead Lake. No one seemed disposed to kill more than he needed for his own private use. In the year 1850 large numbers of St. Francis Indians came through from Canada and made great slaughter of moose, taking nothing but their hides, leaving their car- casses along the shores of the lake and the West Branch of the Penobscot and in the woods in almost every direction. So certain did it seem that large game would become extinct that complaints were made by the Penob- scot Indians, and large numbers of citizens petitioned the Legislature to pass laws to protect large game, and in response to the request of the people, laws were passed to that end and game wardens appointed, Isaac Labree being the first game warden in the vicinity of Moosehead Lake.
In the early days of game-laws the warden's duties were not always pleasant or even safe, as in the case of Calvin Graves, who killed Wardens Hill and Niles of Calais, Maine. The violators of the game-laws would shield themselves with the fact that they were in the solitude of the great wilderness of Maine and would sometimes say that there was no law where there was no
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stone wall, and their means of defense was their rifle and sheath-knife.
Notwithstanding the liabilities incident to the enforce- ment of the game-laws, Warden Labree went to the Northeast Carry to meet a party of Indians who were coming up the West Branch of the Penobscot with their canoes loaded with dried moose hides. (The Indians' method for preparing moose hides to be carried in large quantities in their canoes was to stretch them on poles, shave off the hair, dry, fold and pack them in bales. ) He read to them the game-laws of Maine and the penal- ties. They seemed very much surprised, and with much indignation assumed a very savage and threatening position, and it looked for a while as though something serious might take place, but after much parleying they were allowed to go with their booty, on condition that they were not to come to Maine again to kill moose, deer, or caribou. But large game had got such a set- back that after fifty years it has hardly recovered from the loss.
Warden Labree in making his report gives the follow- ing reasons for making the settlement before named :
1. To have seized the property, canoes, rifles and hides would doubtless have resulted in bloodshed, and perhaps in loss of life and limb.
2. The property confiscated would have been nearly worthless to the State.
3. The property would not in any way make good the loss or replace the large game that had been destroyed.
Therefore by the advice of his associates he concluded to settle as before-named.
CASUALTIES.
The first death by drowning known to white men, occurred in the fall of 1849. The circumstances were
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as follows: Three young men, viz., Downs, non-resident, Charles Stratton of Boston, Mass., clerk in the Eveleth store, and William Meserve, son of Charles Meserve of Greenville, went to Squaw Bay on a hunting excursion in a small boat, and when they returned they came through . the narrows between Moose Island and Harford's Point. The wind was blowing a gale from the north and as they came around the point their boat filled with water. Downs jumped overboard and swam ashore. He said the boat was only a few rods from the land. After reaching the shore he said he told the boys to jump over- board and swim. Stratton jumped into the water but went down when about half-way to land. Meserve was in the boat when last seen by Downs. He started immediately for Greenville by the shore of the lake, where he arrived near night. Two boats were manned and started at once to search for the boys. . The wind was blowing hard and the lake was rough. It was nearly dark when they reached the place. The boat was found on the shore of a small island, but neither of the boys were found that night. The next morning the search was renewed and the body of the Stratton boy was found near the place where Downs said he went down, but the body of William Meserve was never found. The search was continued for several days. The bottom was dragged with grapples many times over from Harford's Point to the place where the boat was lodged. Thus the tragedy was left somewhat surrounded in mystery.
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