USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Gorham > History of Gorham, Me. > Part 26
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I The first house huilt on State St. was the house now occupied by Hon. Edward Harding, which was built hy Phineas Harmon, at one time a blacksmith in Gorham.
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HISTORY OF GORHAM.
course of time, however, the building of railroads and the ease with which goods could be transported over them affected the business of teaming, and soon destroyed it altogether.
Gorham village was incorporated, under the name of Gorham Vil- lage Corporation, by an Act of the Legislature passed Mar. 22, 1895.
It is probable that Uriah Nason was the first settler in the north- east part of the town, near Great Falls. Mr. Nason took up a lot in its natural state somewhere about the year 1765, and built a log house near where the house now (1874) occupied by his grand- daughter Rebecca (daughter of Uriah the second) stands, on the seventy acre lot 81. For several years the nearest neighbor the family had was about four miles off. At that time the only communication they had with the outside world was by a logging road cut and bushed out through the woods, hardly passable in the summer, other- wise than on foot. This road was only used by the lumbermen in going to and from Great Falls. Mrs. Nason said that she often remained for months without seeing the face of a white woman. At one time she did not see a white woman for six months, when she was taken sick, and her husband went out with his team and ox-sled and brought in an old lady, who remained with her a few hours minis- tering to her necessities, and then departed for home, six miles off, by the same conveyance. Indians at this time were quite common about town, hunting and fishing. Mrs. Nason found them rather annoying, and great beggars, which was inconvenient for her and her family, as they were themselves often lacking even the necessaries of life.
July 31, 1767, was a very memorable day for this section of the town, which fortunately for itself at that date was practically unin- habited. Of this day tradition has preserved the following account : The weather throughout the forenoon was unusually hot and sultry with not a breath of air stirring, when suddenly, about noon, a noise like the roaring of a mighty cataract of waters was heard, and a cloud of a dull copper color was seen rushing swiftly from the direc- tion of Sebago Pond, and making an almost due eastern course. This hurricane, which is said to have begun near the southern end of Sebago Lake, passed across this part of the town, through what is still known as the Hurricane District, and struck the Presumpscot River near Loveitt's Falls. It tore through the dense forest at tre- mendous speed, carrying all before it, and leaving a track, varying from three-fourths of a mile to a mile in width, swept as bare of
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every growing thing as if an army of sturdy pioneers had been at work clearing the land for settlement: scarcely a tree remained standing in its path. After crossing the Presumpscot it continued its devastating career through the town of Windham, passing directly over Windham Duck Pond, and from thence through Falmouth to Cum- berland where it finally spent its fury upon the waters of the Atlantic.I
As if the destruction caused by the wrath of Nature did not work harm enough to this corner of the town, it was to be augmented a few years later, in 1777, by a great forest conflagration caused by human agency. There are various stories as to where and how this fire started, but the following account, given us by a descendant of one of the earliest settlers in this neighborhood, as it had been handed down to him, is probably very close to the truth of the matter.
The early settlers were greatly annoyed at the depredations com- mitted upon their property by the wild beasts of the forest. Bears, especially, were great aggressors : they would snatch up in their fore paws pigs and sheep and carry them off, walking on their hind legs till they could get a chance to kill them; or breaking into a field of corn at night when the ears were in the milk, would gather in all the stocks their arms could hold, when they would deposit them- selves on the top of the pile and devour whatever ears might be in sight on the surface of the mass, then up and repeat the perform- ance in another part of the field, and so on; one animal in this manner destroying much more than several could eat.
One old strip-faced bear in particular proved an unmitigated source of annoyance to Uriah Nason, continuing his predatory attacks on Mr. Nason's property in spite of all efforts made for his capture by this famous hunter, who seldom needed to fire twice at the same ani- mal. All to no purpose ; spring-guns, traps, pitfalls and even the unerring rifle in the hands of the long-suffering pioneer, who spent nights and days lying in wait for a shot, were useless. The old fellow seemed to know when Mr. Nason was on the war path, and laid low, accordingly. Mr. Nason finally discovered the dwelling place of his bear-ship amongst a heap of fallen trees, overthrown and piled up by the hurricane of 1767. Amongst these trees the bear had securely
I Gorham was also visited by another small tornado or hurricane which, on the after- noon of Sunday, the 4th of June, 1865, passed over a part of the town, travelling in an easterly direction. Amongst other damage done by this gale, it destroyed harns helong- ing to Alexander Allen, Stephen Stephenson, David Moore (who lived on the place now occupied by Marshall Sturgis), Daniel Baker and William Trickey. It also started Mr. Wescott's barn from its foundations, and unroofed a house near Saccarappa. Many trees which came in its path were uprooted : as it tore its way through the Woodbury place it destroyed many of the fine trees hordering the driveways.
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entrenched himself, and all Mr. Nason's efforts failed to bring him out. At length he set fire to the mass, intending to shoot the bear when he should be driven forth by the heat and smoke, but the wind, which was blowing strongly at the time, fanned the blaze and in a moment the dried underbrush and timber was a roaring, seething mass of flame. It is said that Mr. Nason did not remain long to see what had become of the bear, but made good his retreat from the scene with all speed. The conflagration, having a supply of dry fuel already provided for it, followed the track of the hurricane eastward, crossed the Presumpscot by means of the bridge at Loveitt's Falls, and continued across Windham, until stopped by the Duck Pond, destroying a number of buildings and dwelling houses standing in its path.
Great Falls, or North Gorham as it is now called, is situated on the Presumpscot River, near the most northeasterly corner of the town. The river is tweny-two miles in length from the outlet at Sebago Pond to tide water, and bounds the entire eastern side of Gorham, being the dividing line between Gorham and Windham. The falls are about two hundred and twenty-one feet above tide water : they are three miles below the outlet of the Pond. At the foot of the Basin, so called, two miles above Great Falls, are the Head Works, where has been built a dam for throwing back and reserving the water, creating an artificial head of four feet over the whole area of the Lake, thus making the supply always equal and reliable at all seasons. The peculiar make of the banks of the river at the falls, being of solid ledge-rock high out of water, throwing the river into a narrow channel, renders it extremely easy to dam, and remarkably safe and secure, with an always abundant supply of water. Though all the water powers on the river may be called good, there is none better for all manufacturing purposes than the Great Falls. There is but one objection in the way of these falls being among the best in the State for business, and that is their location, having so near to them on the north Sebago Lake which extends easterly and westerly so far that to make a railroad to pass the falls, from the seaboard into the country, would cause a large and expensive detour from the line. This will probably be accomplished, however, before many years, if not by a steam road, perhaps by means of a trolley line. The Oxford and Cumberland Canal, leading from Lake Sebago to Portland, and running through Gorham from Standish to Westbrook, was opened in 1829. The first boat to make the passage from Port- land to the Lake was a pleasure boat called the "George Washington,"
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VIEW OF GREAT FALLS VILLAGE (NORTH GORHAM).
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NORTHEAST PART OF THE TOWN.
owned and fitted up by William A. Rice. After a while this boat was used for the transportation of freight, and was finally sunk in the canal some twenty rods or so below the lowest Kemp lock where a few of its timbers still remain. This canal, starting from the head- works, ran past the falls, and was a great help to the transportation of the place, but railroads, and the use of steamers on the Lake caused so large a falling off of the business of the canal that it was abandoned. In 1873 there was not a boat ran or any repairs made on it, and at the present time everything is in a state of complete ruin.
The first improvement made on these falls was the building of a saw mill by Zephaniah Harding, Zebulon Trickey and Solomon Mains somewhere between the years 1767 and 1770, and it is prob- able that the bridge was built about the same time, as there was a road in Windham to the falls. This first mill is said to have stood in what is now known as John Lindsay's privilege, on the Gorham side. The mill house at this time was a log house, and stood where the old Harding house stood some years since.
The road from Gorham village was a logging, or as they were then called, a mast-road, cut and bushed out through the woods, hardly passable other than in the winter. According to the best tradition that can now be had of the main road north, it had little or no refer- ence to, or connection with, the present located or travelled road, but started from near Mrs. Rufus Mosher's, ran over or near the Black Brook road, passing near Horse Beef Falls, thence northerly near Gambo, and keeping to the east of Sapling Hill, over the Hurri- cane road, passed near where Uriah Nason built his first house, and thus on to the Falls. The survey and plan of the seventy acre lots was completed in January, 1765, and the drawing of assignments to Proprietors made soon after. The drawing does not appear to have been completed until sometime after this date, which makes it evident that the planned roads could not have been opened for some years after this time.
Zephaniah Harding was a large property holder at and near the Falls. He was an owner at the falls, of what exact proportion we do not know, but probably one-third, as he built the saw mill with Trickey and Mains. The falls are on the seventy acre lots 91 and 93. At the drawing for the seventy acre lots in 1765, John Harding drew 91, William Lakeman drew 92, and James Irish drew 93. In November, 1765, Zephaniah Harding purchased of his father, John Harding, the seventy acre lot 91, which includes a part of the falls.
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HISTORY OF GORHAM.
In 1781 he bought of William Lakeman the seventy acre lot 92, this being the second lot west from the river, adjoining the Standish line. No. 93, which is on the river, and the corner lot in the town, was sold by James Irish in 1770 to Zephaniah Harding. Nov. 6, 1780, Harding sold to Zebulon Trickey two-thirds of ten acres from the seventy acre lots 91 and 93 for a mill privilege. The remainder of lot 91 he sold in 1785 to Nicholas Mains. Lot 93 he conveyed, June 27, 1791, to John Harding, reserving to himself his half of the mill and mill privilege. His share in the saw mill and grist mill he owned up to Nov. 20, 1792, when he sold all his part of said saw and grist mill to William Elwell ; Elwell giving him an obligation to keep said mill in good repair for the use of Samuel Nason, the son of Uriah Nason, who then had a lease of them, the lease being dated the 22d day of the October previous.
Mr. Trickey' lived on the Windham side, and Mr. Mains lived at the Falls. The three owners of the mills took turns in running them, each having his share. Harding, living at Gorham Corner, had to camp out in the mill house when at work in his time. He usually went up on horseback, or on foot, leading his horse loaded with such provisions as he needed, with a boy to take the horse back, as he often spent several weeks at a time at the mill.
Trout at this time were abundant in the river. Nicholas Harding, son of Zephaniah, when a young man lived from his fourteenth to his twenty-first year at the Falls, cutting timber, and sawing in the mill, and taking care of the mill much of the time. He said that they considered a hook and line as much a part of their fit-out as they did an axe, and that often he would stand in the mill and catch a dozen trout of such a size that they would be quite a load for him to take to the house. Sometimes for days he would see no person except occasionally an Indian would come along fishing or hunting.
For many years boards, selling at two dollars and fifty cents per thousand, were hauled from the Falls by way of Windham Hill to Stroudwater on ox-teams, which consisted of one pair of wheels.
The first settler in the northern part of the town, as has been said, was Uriah Nason ; following him came Thomas Snow, Lemuel Hicks, John Ward, Joseph McDonald, John Harding and Nicholas Mains.
About the year 1804 Uriah Nason and Nicholas Mains built a mill at the Falls. The first frame house built at Great Falls was raised in 1791 by Nicholas Mains. It was afterwards owned by his son David, then by John Colly and lately by the widow of Joshua E. Hall, Esq.
I Zebulon Trickey was born at Cape Elizabeth, July 20, 1736.
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MAINS HOUSE .- FIRST FRAME BUILDING AT GREAT FALLS.
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NORTHEAST PART OF THE TOWN.
John Harding, the father of Zephaniah Harding, was the first person to keep a store and trade in this vicinity. Following him came Ebenezer Proctor, William Metcalf, Samuel Nason, Samuel Whitmore, William A. Rice, Wyer Cannell, Parker & Bodge, J. & J. Parker, John Lindsay, Whipple & Carter, Charles Paine, Edward Libby, Samuel L. Nason, Parker & Hawkes, James R. Hunnewill, A. R. Hawkes & Co., M. H. Moses, Parker Ingraham, Daniel Wescott, Chamberlain & Seeley. After Seeley left off trading here, Daniel P. Parker opened a clothing store, and afterwards a grocery store; he then took a partner, Nelson Shaw. After this the firm was Shaw & Dyer. They sold out to Oliver Dole. Then came Carl W. Shaw and H. G. Parker; Parker bought out Shaw, and still continues the business. Smith Bros. have a grocery store on the Whipple road. This Whipple road was petitioned for in 1856 by Carlisle Whipple, to run from the Falls to his mills at Middle Jam. Whipple built the first mills on these falls, and used to manufacture long and short lumber, also shingles, kegs, etc. He sold these mills to Jefferson Mabry, and he to Goff and Plummer. Prince and Wescott are the present owners. There is a mill now at the Falls for the manufacture of pails from pulp, and a large electric power plant, but the railroads and fire have destroyed nearly all the business of the place.
Great Falls for a long time received its mail by way of Windham, but on Jan. 25, 1873, a post office was established here under the name of North Gorham, and Chas. D. Seeley appointed Postmaster, who kept the office in his store by the canal. Daniel P. Parker succeeded Mr. Seeley. He removed the office to his store, where it remained until the building was destroyed by fire in December, 1897. Mr. Parker in turn has been succeeded by Oliver Dole, C. W. Shaw and H. G. Parker.
This part of the town was known as the " Nason district," and the first schoolhouse built here stood opposite the house now occupied by Mr. Eben Manchester. The present district of Great Falls was set off from the old district in 1828, and the first school was kept in a building owned by Mr. Levi Hall, which had been used as a wood shed. Until the " little red schoolhouse " was built on Rowe's Hill in 1843, this building was used as a chapel and lecture room, as well as for the school. The schoolhouse on Rowe's Hill was destroyed by fire in 1877. The present structure was built in 1895. After the completion of this new schoolhouse the old building was converted into a chapel. A nice building, " Forest Hall," was built a few years since on the Whipple road. It is owned by a stock com-
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HISTORY OF GORHAM.
pany, and is occupied by the "Red Men." There is a good public library here in the village. This library a few years since received a donation of six hundred dollars from the "Walker Fund."
The locality known as White Rock, owes its name to a large boulder, which used to stand on the hill, in the field nearly in front of the present White Rock church. It was a large white rock, some ten or twelve feet in height, with a sloping top, and formed a con- spicuous object for miles around. Against this rock the Indians, stopping here to rest on their way from Sebago Pond to the salt water, used to build their fires to cook their meat. Later, when the white men had penetrated the forest, and begun to cull out the larger trees for masts, which they hauled to Stroudwater, there was a "mast camp" built here around the rock. Still later, when lumber- ing had become more of a business, and the teaming began to penetrate still further back into the country, it was the custom to rest and bait the cattle on the flat top of the hill near the white rock, while their owners prepared their own food over a fire kindled in the same old place against the rock. Capt. John Sturgis, on whose farm the rock lay, finally decided to destroy it; but he said afterwards, that he never in his life was so sorry for any act of his, and that the moment after the powder exploded and the stone flew to pieces he would have given anything to have been able to put it back as it was before. But the deed was done, and the old landmark gone forever.
The inhabitants of this neighborhood for some years were obliged to attend church, and to send their children to school, at Fort Hill ; but somewhere about 1805 a schoolhouse was built, which stood nearly opposite the old Edward Libby house. About 1812 a Metho- dist meeting house was built here, which was located on the Hurricane road, a little to the east of where the present White Rock school house now stands. It was never finished, and after being used in an incomplete state for some years was taken down in 1825 and moved to the "Johnson neighborhood." The Baptist meeting house here was built in 1839.
James McCorrison was married to Deliverance Rich in 1765, and soon after made a clearing and built a house on what he supposed was the northerly half of the hundred acre lot 81. His house was then the most northwesterly house in town, and was the first to be built in this section. This was before the roads in this part of the town were laid out, and when the road, now known as "the old road " to West Gorham, running northerly from Watson's Corner to Clement's
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Corner, was opened, he found his house to be on the east side of the road and his farm on the west. His house stood where the old cellar is still to be seen, opposite the house where Joseph Gilkey lately lived.
McCorrison was followed very closely by John Watson, who first settled on the northerly half of the hundred acre lot 72. In 1769, however, after the road running northerly, between the hundred acre lots, 80 and 81, was laid out, he purchased twenty-five acres off the southerly end of 81, and built his house on the spot where his son, Capt. Greenleaf C. Watson, afterwards lived. Isaac Skillings built his house in 1767. This same house is now occupied by his grand- son, George Skillings. About two years later, Jonathan Sturgis came here and cleared the farm and built the house where his great-grand- son, Frederic O. Sturgis, lately lived. It is said that a clearing was made and a house put up on the farm now owned by Lewis Files. Ithiel Blake made a settlement in this part of the town, on the farm lately owned by his grandson, Timothy Blake. This farm he bought of Nathaniel Bacon. Mr. Bacon first settled on the seventy acre lot 114, of which this farm formed a part. The locality in which these two men settled has always been known as the "Blake neighborhood."
The road running westerly from the Fort Hill road known as Pendleton's lane and formerly extending through to the saw mill, which stood on the falls below what is now known as Stephenson's bridge, (see Mills) is a very old road and is said to have been used before the road (now discontinued) running northerly from where Samuel Cressey lately lived to the saw mill was laid out. The swale from the river to Sturgis's hill was covered with such a dense growth of heavy hemlock timber that the road through it was dark, even in the day time, and it was known as "the dark hole."
Besides the families already mentioned, others soon began to settle in this neighborhood, among whom were the Lewises, Clements, Lin- colns, Fileses, Stephensons, etc., and in the course of time a small hamlet, called " Clement's Corner," made its appearance. This vil- lage is now known by the name of West Gorham. A post office was established here Jan. 13, 1829, on which date Simeon C. Clement was appointed postmaster. He was succeeded on the 6th of Feb., 1841, by Greenleaf C. Watson. Following him came Naaman C. Watson, appointed Aug. 6, 1841, and Daniel B. Clement, May 17, 1844. Mr. Clement was postmaster till his death in 1859, when Jonathan Eastman received the appointment. He has been followed by Edward Hasty, Thomas J. Hasty, Kimball Eastman, H. R. Coles-
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HISTORY OF GORHAM.
worthy, Geo. C. Jordan, C. E. Crockett (who received the appointment, but did not serve) and George C. Jordan.
West Gorham was most prosperous in the thirties. At that time, before the building of the railroads in this vicinity, it was a busy, thriving little village. It was a stopping place for the stages which ran on the Portland and White Mountain mail route, and for the teams which at that time carried on a large transportation of lumber and country produce from Coos County, N. H., down through the White Mountain Notch to Portland. There were two large tav- erns here which, with their great stables, were designed especially to meet the wants of this travel. Quite a coopering business was car- ried on here by the Watsons. There was also a hat shop, shoe shops, blacksmith shops, stores, and a post office.
The first man to engage in trade at Clement's Corner was Jacob H. Clement, who opened a store in a little building which he built for that purpose, and which stood on the eastern side of the Standish road, just on the brow of the hill, and has only lately been removed. Samuel Lincoln traded in the building in which the post office is now located, and which he built. The store next to the post office, on the other corner, was built by Theophilus Dame and Samuel Baker, and was afterwards traded in by Daniel B. Clement. Edward Hasty put up the building, next south of the post office, in which his father Thomas J. Hasty traded, and he himself ran a coat shop. Samuel R. Clement built the store located next to the hotel, where Sawyer & Ridlon at one time, and Mr. Clement himself afterwards, were in business. Mr. Clement sold out to Frank Hamblen and Fred Hanson of Buxton, who traded there. Naaman Watson and James Lewis, Jr. kept store where Stackpole's blacksmith shop now stands. This store was burned in 1844, but was afterwards rebuilt and Samuel Sturgis traded there, dying while in business here. Arthur M. Drown then used the building for a wheelwright's shop, and was himself burned out in 1851. James L. Drown, brother of Arthur, was also a wagon maker here for a time, moving later to Gorham village.
Of the taverns, already spoken of, the larger one was built by Jacob H. Clement and kept by him for years. He afterwards let the stand to Peleg Barker, who was followed by Reuben Lowell. George T. Clement then kept it for some ten years, when the building was remodeled and Samuel R. Clement took it. After him came a Mr. Sands of Massachusetts, a Mr. Brackett from Limerick, J. Hanson Clement and Jedediah Graffam. The other tavern was
CHAPEL AT WEST GORHAM.
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GAMBO.
built, and kept for some years, by Reuben Lowell. He then moved to Standish, but afterwards returned to West Gorham, where he built the house south of his former residence. Lowell's tavern, after he left it, had various landlords, among them, Frost, Shaw, Seth Douglass, and Sadler.
Seth Higgins was a blacksmith here, and built the brick house which stands on the road which leads to Fort Hill.
A handsome and commodious chapel for religious worship has just (1898) been erected here, built by the United Christian Endeavor Society.
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