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Other states may have as good mineral water as the State of Maine, but they have none better, purer, clearer, or more conducive to good health and long life. Our mineral waters, like our granite, slate and lime, are inexhaustible. We have enough to supply the world.
BRICK MAKING
Brick Making Maine is fortunate in possessing an abundant supply of clay for brick making. In the early days the most fam- ous yards were located at Sheepscot, Portland, Bowdoin- ham, Hallowell, Bangor and Brewer. In 1880 there were 35 yards with an output of 4,500,000 bricks. In 1885 machinery was introduced; this led to a great increase in the business. In 1855 about 50,000,000 bricks were manufactured. This increased until in 1880, 80,000,000 bricks were made, and by 1889 there were 95 yards making 93,000,000 bricks, valued at half a million dollars. Since 1900 the industry has been decreasing, so that today not more than 45 yards are operated.
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I
Maine rocks of present, or possible future, commercial value: Rock Uses Distribution
Granite.
Building, foundation, curbs, roads, Every county, coast from Kittery
monuments.
to Calais, all mountain regions.
Every county, particularly Knox.
Limestone. Building and agricultural lime, ce- ment, buildings, monuments, sulphite pulp, foundries.
Sandstone .. Building
Washington county.
Slate. .
Roofing slabs, etc.
Piscataquis and Somerset counties.
Trap.
Roads, etc ..
General, needs investigation.
Serpentine.
Ornamental stone
Deer Isle.
Clay.
·
Bricks, tile, pottery.
General, needs investigation.
Sand.
Building, molding, glass, blast, etc.
General, needs investigation.
Peat Fuel, fertilizer, litter.
General.
II
Maine minerals of present, or possible future, commercial value.
a) Metallic Ores
Containing
Uses
Distribution
Gold.
Swift and Sandy Rivers, etc.
Silver
Lubec, Concord, Cherryfield.
Copper .Sullivan, Bluehill, Brookville.
Lead.
Lubec, Dexter, Concord, Cherryfield.
Zin
. Lubec, Cherryfield, Concord.
Iron ..
. Katahdin Iron Works, etc. Bluehill, Winslow, etc.
Manganese. . Alloy with iron, etc.
Molybdenum.
Alloy with iron, etc.
Tungsten Alloy with iron, etc.
Boron . Alloy with iron, etc.
Tourmaline localities.
Greenwood, Winslow, Verona, South Thomaston.
Antimony . . . Babbitt, Britannia, etc
Carmel.
Tin. . Plating iron, etc ..
Winslow, Paris.
Rare metals, (lithium, caesium, beryllium, uranium ? radium ?).
b) Commercial non-metals
Uses
Distribution
Graphite ... Pencils, lubricants, etc. . Canton, Bethel, Dixfield, Paris.
Sulphur. ... Sulphuric acid, etc. General, in varying quantities.
(from Pyrites)
c) Gems
Distribution
Tourmaline
Paris, Auburn, Buckfield, Hebron, etc.
Beryl
.Buckfield, Albany, Auburn, Paris, etc. General.
Topaz
. Stoneham.
Garnet
Rumford, Paris, Georgetown, etc.
Spodumene
.Auburn, Paris, Peru.
Amazon Stone
Southwest Harbor.
Apatite
Auburn.
d) Miscellaneous minerals
Uses
Distribution
Feldspar ... Pottery
. Topsham, Auburn, etc.
Quartz .... Iron alloy, abrasive . Auburn, Brunswick, etc.
Corundum. Abrasive . Greenwood.
Mica.
Electrical purposes
. Hebron, Peru, Waterford, etc.
Calcite.
..
Optical purposes
. Rockland, Thomaston, etc.
Barite ..
... Paper glaze, etc.
Deer Isle, Sullivan, etc.
Talc. . . Toilet powder, etc.
. Vassalboro, Auburn.
Fluorite ... Smelting flux
Bluehill, Winslow.
Quartz
Tunk Pond, Cooper, Augusta, etc. Bluehill.
Arsenic.
Poisons, etc.
CHAPTER XLV
SHIP BUILDING
"The building of a ship is both a symbol and instrument of man's social nature and need. It stands for outreaching interests beyond the narrow limits of the solitary self; it implies the recognition of relationship in human affairs, of reciprocal benefit in the ready interchange of all goods of heart or hand-the best product of each being given in return for the best of others, so all availing for the common good. This provision for intercourse is the most marked among the manifestations and means of that associated human effort out of which all civilization grows, and by which the whole world is made kin."
First Ship Built in Maine The first ship built by European hands on the American continent was "The Virginia of Sagadahock", launched from the banks of the Sagadahoc, now the Kennebec, River by the Popham colonists.
In the year 1631 John Winter established a shipyard on Richmond Island off Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Some time in December, Winter began to build there a ship for merchants in Plymouth, England. She was prob- ably the first regular packet between England and America. She carried to the old country lumber, fish, oil and other colonial products, and brought back guns, ammunition and liquor. Other ships had been built in America by Europeans for European use, but Winter's work may be called the begin- ning of the American business of building ships for export.
First Ship Builders One of the earliest ship or boat builders was a man named John Bray, who came from Plymouth, England, about 1660, bringing with him his family, among whom was his daughter Margery, afterwards wife of William Pepperell. He settled at Kittery Point where he engaged in a profitable and flourishing business of building and repairing boats for the fishermen. The Pepperells, father and son, were large ship owners and builders. Master William Badger was a noted shipbuilder. He launched from a small island at Kittery, which now bears his name. He built a hundred ships during his life. Sir William Phips, born in Woolwich in 1651, farmer, blacksmith, shipbuilder and shipmaster, knighted by the English king and first governor of Massa- chusetts under the Provincial Charter, was one of a long line of mighty men who laid the foundations of Maine's prosperity.
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The building and use of ships were employments which the founders of the American colonies and their descendants may be said to have adopted naturally, and from the middle of the seventeenth to the middle of the nineteenth century, shipping and ship building were two industries whose competition England especially dreaded. In fact, in 1650, the English Parliament felt it necessary to enact a statute for the purpose of protecting English shipping against her colonies of America and no less than twenty- nine other similar statutes were passed during the following one hundred and twenty years.
Salute to
First Naval It was in the "Ranger"-a Kittery built ship-on the fourteenth of February, 1778, that John Paul Jones American Flag received the first formal recognition ever given by a for- eign fleet to the United States of America in a salute to the American flag, and it was just seven months before, on July 4, 1777, that Captain Jones had hoisted on the "Ranger" the first Stars and Stripes that ever flew from the peak of an American man-of-war.
The "America", built under the direction of and placed under the command of John Paul Jones at Kittery in 1782, was at that time the largest vessel constructed in the colonies. She was later presented to the French government in payment for a French vessel which had been destroyed in Boston Harbor.
The Boxer Captured
An encounter between the British brig "Boxer" and the American brig "Enterprise" took place September 5, 1813, in the vicinity of Portland. The action lasted only thirty- five minutes when the "Boxer" struck her colors, having lost forty-six men, killed and wounded, while the American ship lost fourteen. The "Boxer" had been a source of great annoyance to the coasting trade and the "Enterprise" was hailed with great joy when she arrived in Portland Harbor with her prize.
Caleb Cushing Destroyed On the night of June 29, 1863, the officers and crew of a Confederate privateer entered the harbor of Portland, captured the revenue-cutter, "Caleb Cushing" and fled to sea with her, sharply pursued by two steamers manned by armed volun- teers. Finding they could not escape with the cutter, they blew her up, and, taking to their boats, were soon made prisoners.
Kearsarge ing the Civil War, the "Kearsarge"-built at Kittery, On June 19, 1864, in the only sea fight of importance dur- Built in Maine Maine,-sunk the Confederate privateer "Alabama" off the harbor of Cherbourg, France.
Three of the twenty-one ships. of the United States Navy, built in Maine from 1797-1913, were in service and under fire during the Spanish- American War, in 1898 :- the "Vicksburg" at Havana, May 7; the
Copyright, 1898, by Edward Moran
THE RANGER LAUNCHED FROM BARTER'S ISLAND, KITTERY, MAINE, MAY 10, 1777
Under command of John Paul Jones the Ranger sailed for France November 1, 1777, with dispatches of Burgoyne's surrender. On February 14, 1778, Captain Jones fired a salute of thirteen guns to the French fleet in Quiberon Bay and received in return a salute of nine guns from Admiral La Motte Picquet, "the same salute authorized by the French court to be given an admiral of Holland or of any other republic." The illustration depicts this first acknowledgement of American independence by a European power and is one of the famous marine paintings by Edward Moran now in the National Museum, Washington. It is reproduced through the courtesy of Hon. Theodore Sutro, New York.
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"Machias" under fire off Cardenas, Cuba, May 11; and the "Castine" at Mariel, Cuba, July 5.
First Ship And Maine offered the first American sacrifice to Prussian
Destroyed in
militarism on the high seas-the good ship "William P.
World War Frye", built and owned by Arthur Sewall & Company, sunk
by the German cruiser "Prinz Eitel Friedrich" January 28, 1915.
When the world war came to America it was found that coast patrol boats were needed at once, much more quickly than they could be secured through the usual department channels in Washington. In this emergency the State of Maine purchased a fleet of patrol boats of its own, turned them over to the government together with the boats used ordinarily by the state sea and shore fisheries department, and then secured, largely from wealthy summer residents of Maine, the offer to the government free of charge for the period of the war of about twice the number pur- chased. Thus an adequate fleet was promptly at the government's dis- posal and an efficient patrol of Maine's coast line was immediately installed. The extent of this service on the part of the state is unequalled in the country in proportion to resources and population.
Period of In 1802 Maine built 14,248 tons of shipping. In ten years Prosperity it had increased to over 40,000 tons, valued at more than $1,000,000. This was equal to a third of all the tonnage of the United States. The next twenty-five years saw a great develop- ment in ship building. In the fifty coast towns of Maine this was the chief industry and supported 200,000 people. The panic of 1857 and the Civil War, lack of materials and steam ships of steel struck
Reason
for Decline a fatal blow at ship building in Maine from which it has never recovered. However, American shipping has never forsaken its birthplace. Up to 1900 more than half the ocean vessels of the nation were built in Maine, but, whereas in 1826 American ships car- ried 92.5 per cent of our foreign commerce, in 1900 they carried but 9.3 per cent. In 1916 only about 10,000 tons of merchant shipping was launched in Maine.
Ship Building
. Revival
The World War of 1914 created an immediate demand for increased ship building. Maine ship builders were the first to respond to this call. At once many of the old yards were opened. The master builders and expert workmen, long since retired from the work of building, seeing the nation's need, returned to the yards. The result was that 1917 saw 40,000 tons completed and double that amount in 1918. The principal places of business under the present revival are Stockton, Belfast, Rockland, Camden, Thomaston, Wiscasset, Bath, South Portland, Biddeford, Freeport and Calais. The demand for new ships will undoubtedly continue for some time. The destruction of so
WILLIAM P. FRYE-BUILT IN BATH, MAINE First American Ship Sunk by the Germans
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many ships by the submarines during the war and the outlook for a large foreign trade will probably lead to ship building in Maine. It also is evi- dent that in the end this industry will not be very considerable in Maine, owing to the change to steel bottoms and the distance of Maine from raw materials used in their construction.
-
By permission Mrs. H. A. Colby, Plainfield, N. J.
MOOSE
CHAPTER XLVI
SUMMER HOMES
Vacationland
Hundreds of miles of indented seacoast, swept by the
fresh and invigorating breezes of old ocean; hundreds of square miles of peaceful and odorous forests ; hundreds of laughing lakes and wimpling streams ; innumerable prosperous farms where the rest seeker can enjoy the "simple life" and the most ideal of all vacations for a most moderate outlay. This is Maine.
You may sleep under blankets at night, lulled by the surge of the North Atlantic, and be pleasantly sun-baked in the day time, taking your pleasure without being enervated. There is tonic in the air that sweeps in from the ocean; there is scent of pine needles in the breezes that blow down from the mountains. The atmosphere makes you sleep, and you grow plump and brown, and become contented, forgetting all the worries of city life.
Maine is plentifully supplied with bathing beaches, ranging from the magnificent stretch of sand as hard as asphalt at Old Orchard to the small resorts like Crescent Beach in Knox County and Bowery Beach on Cape Elizabeth. Old Orchard has been a big resort for lovers of surf bathing and cool ocean breezes for many years and has lost none of its charm since swept by fire. In fact the new Old Orchard is much more attractive in many respects than was the old.
At the mouth of the Kennebec is Popham Beach, one of the best on the coast. Its development has not been as extensive as that of Old Orchard, but doubtless in the near future its beauties will be better appre- ciated. All along the coast there are smaller beaches which offer as fine, though more limited, bathing facilities, as do Old Orchard and Popham, while nearly every mile of coast line contains a sandy cove or little beach among the rocks.
Investments Maine property used wholly for recreation, that is, sum- in Summer mer cottages, hotels, club houses and camps, with their contents, has a cash value of approximately $50,000,000.
Property This great investment, which demands little in the way of municipal improvement, pays taxes on a valuation of about $16,000,000. Compensation for the valuation lies in the fact that whatever taxes are paid, are very largely a net profit to the townspeople.
Leading officials of transportation companies estimate that the aver- age yearly income from summer visitors and tourists is $30,000,000. This
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DINNER IN THE OPEN
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great sum is brought into Maine and spent freely, in many instances lav- ishly, in order that the spenders may be well housed, fed and entertained ; and the sum is constantly growing larger.
Every foot of shore front from Kittery to Eastport can be sold today for a price that would have astounded our grandfathers. Every island, regardless of its isolation and exposure to storm and gale, is looked upon as the site of a summer home. There is hardly a lake or stream among our inland hills and valleys that is not laying claim to distinction as a summer resort. As one approaches the centers of population the cottages on the nearby lakes increase in number, but in attractiveness and ability to satisfy the craving for peace and health-giving rest, they are not supe- rior to these found on the shores of the remote lakes and streams of the great northern wilderness.
Automobiles Automobile traffic has repeated history to the extent that and its meteoric rise in popularity has been similar to that of the bicycle, and with the automobile has come the Good Roads garage, which offers employment to hundreds of skilled mechanics. Every large town has at least one public garage and in cities there are more garages than livery stables. The automobile, therefore, has done much to stimulate good road building and increase summer travel in Maine.
Motor Boat Travel
Motor boats have made thousands of new converts to Maine vacation life, for her 2,000 miles of coast line, 1,500 lakes and 5.000 streams constitute a paradise for aquatic sport of any sort. In other years the owner of a power driven yacht capable of negotiating port to port voyages along the Atlantic coast was at least a millionaire. Now any mechanic can own and drive a boat capable of run- ning from Boston to Portland in perfect safety. The number of vacation- ists who pass their period of rest cruising along the Maine coast and up its navigable rivers is increasing by leaps and bounds.
Hunter's Paradise As a hunter's paradise, Maine is pre-eminent on this con- tinent. The moose, deer, bear and other large game animals are numerous, but yet not so easily captured that the tang of the sport is lost. It is possible for the business men of New York to be in as good hunting ground as can be found anywhere, within 48 hours travel from his office. The Rangeley, Kineo and Aroostook lines carry the hunter into the heart of the big game country, in Pullman cars, if he cares to travel that way.
Home
The Anglers' Maine fishing lures the great anglers of the country to its lakes and streams every year. Wise protective laws prevent the fish from being exterminated or their num- ber from being appreciably reduced. so that the sport does not suffer as the number of anglers increases. Some of the finest cottages and camps
LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK
Frenchman's Bay from the Summit of Champlain Mountain (formerly Newport Mountain)
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THE MAINE BOOK
in the state are occupied only during the best of the fishing season. Hatch- eries at strategic points keep the ponds well stocked with young fish, so that some of the lakes fished the most persistently continue to offer the best sport.
The fish and game resources of the state are among the greatest assets, from the standpoint of the business man who caters to tourist guests. The visitors bent on sport are the first to come in spring, when the ice "goes out" of the lakes and the last to go in the fall, when the law closes the big game season.
Winter
Within a few years experiments have been made in keep- ing "open house" throughout the winter at one or two of
Resorts the hotels in order that Maine's beautiful winter season may be enjoyed also. Snow shoeing, skiing, skating, sleighing, winter photography, etc., offer a continuous round of pleasure for those who tarry with us throughout the year.
Lafayette National Park The Lafayette National Park on the island of Mount Desert, about a mile south of Bar Harbor, is the first National Monument created east of the Mississippi River and is the only one of the parks bordering on the sea.
In 1916, through the generosity and patriotism of the owners, lands to the extent of five thousand acres were donated to the government. On July the eighth of that year, by proclamation of President Wilson, the tract was created the Sieur de Monts National Monument. This area included four lakes and ten mountains. Since that time the gift has been increased and now comprises about ten thousand acres. In February, 1919, the name was changed by act of Congress to Lafayette National Park.
The region is peculiarly adapted to the purpose for which it is used by reason of its remarkable diversity of scenery, including forests, lakes, seashore and rugged granite mountains. It is the highest eminence on the Atlantic Coast, south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Within its borders may be found two or three hundred varieties of plants, an accumulation that cannot be duplicated in a similar area. It is also unique as the first national bird reserve east of the Mississippi and the first upon the Atlantic seaboard north of Florida. Its geographical location and climatic charac- teristics make it an ideal bird sanctuary.
The establishment of the Monument commemorated the founding of the first European settlement in America north of the Gulf of Mexico, by Sieur de Monts, the French explorer. This settlement was included in the territory then known as Acadia. The name of L'Isle des Monts Deserts, the Island of the Lonely Mountains, was given by De Monts' companion, Champlain. The change of name to Lafayette Park was determined by the desire to honor the memory of the French general of Revolutionary fame and to perpetuate the kindly feeling toward France, our ally in two great wars.
CHAPTER XLVII
HIGHWAYS
History Maine first undertook road improvement through state aid in 1901 by providing for the payment of half the cost of permanently improving a section of the main thoroughfare in any town which should be designated by the county commissioners as the state aid road. The amount to be paid in any town in any year was limited to one hundred dollars. This limit was raised to two hundred dollars in 1903 and to three hundred dollars in 1905. The supervision of work under this arrangement was left with the county commissioners of each county.
In 1905 the legislature created the office of State Commissioner of Highways, and imposed the duty of investigating the whole highway prob- lem and making recommendations.
In 1907 the legislature on recommendation of the Commissioner of Highways, created a State Highway Department under a State Highway Commissioner and established the principle of paying state aid more lib- erally to towns of small valuation than to the wealthier towns. At this time all state aid work was put under the supervision of the State High- way department. The appropriation for the payment of state aid was fixed at this time as one-third of a mill on the valuation of the state. In 1909 this appropriation was increased to three-fourths of one mill. In 1911 the principle of the mill tax was abolished and the appropriation of $250,- 000 per year was made to carry on the work. This appropriation was con- tinued until 1913 and since that time the appropriation has been $300,000 annually.
The legislature of 1913 passed a new state highway law reorganizing the state highway department under a commission of three members. This law directed the highway commission to lay out a system of state highways which should be the principal thoroughfares of the state and a system of state aid highways which should be feeders to the state high- way system. The law also placed in the hands of the commission the main- tenance of all state and state aid highways as fast as constructed and directed the commission to take for maintenance certain portions of state aid highways already constructed.
This law provided for the issue of $2,000,000 bonds to be applied to the construction of state highways and made an appropriation of $300,000 annually for state aid construction and provided that automobile license
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and registration fees should be used for the payment of interest on all state highway bonds issued, to retire state highway bonds, and for the maintenance of state and state aid highways.
The legislature of 1915 supplemented the maintenance provision of the state highway law by providing that towns should place under the direction of the commission for maintenance a certain mileage of un- improved sections of state and state aid highways and made possible the carrying on of maintenance work by the employment of patrolmen.
In order to provide funds to meet the Federal aid offered by the government, the legislature in 1919 proposed an $8,000,000 bond issue for state highway construction. This was approved by the voters at a special election in September by a five to one vote, and in November the legisla- ture in special session authorized the issue of $2,000,000 of these bonds for state highway construction work in 1920. This will be supplemented by an equal amount of Federal aid. A large construction program is expected for each of the next few years.
Types of The following types of construction have been used: Port- Construction land cement concrete, bituminous macadam, water-bound macadam, gravel. The higher types have been used where traffic is the heaviest and most severe. About eighty per cent. of the entire mileage has been constructed of gravel. Each year substantially 150 miles of state aid road is constructed at a cost of approximately $1,000,- 000, said cost being borne in round numbers, one-half by the state and one-half by the cities and towns.
Maine Maine's state highway system is laid out to serve the largest number of people with the smallest mileage.
Road System
Mileage of all roads in state
25,530
Mileage of all state highways
1,400
State highways constitute of total road mileage
51/2%
Number of cities and towns in state having roads
578
Number on state highways 238
Population of state (1910 census) 742,371
Population in cities and towns on state highway system
547,111
Per cent. of total population on state highways 73.7%
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