USA > Maine > The history of the state of Maine; from its first discovery, A. D. 1602, to the separation, A. D. 1820, inclusive, Vol. I > Part 18
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Granite.
1. Granite, composed of feldspar, quartz and mica, is in its structure granular, and its usual colour is gray. It is a very val- uable and handsome building stone; and in Bowdoinham the graphic variety is peculiarly beautiful.
Gneiss.
2. The Gneiss is constituted of the same minerals as the granite ; though the former has less feldspar and more mica than the latter. Its structure is slaty, its colours more delicate than those of the granite, and is more easily split into regular-formed massess. Mountains of it are more rounded and less steep.
* Shells and other organic substances petrified are called Fossils.
t The ancients supposed the exterior of the globe, was a fluid; and transferred the idea of water crystalized to ice-to primitive rocks which are below all others and are more or less crystalline. Secondury rocks were evidently formed afterwards as they often exhibit marine shells, and other petrifactions.
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3. Mica-slate is composed essentially of mica and quartz, the Mica-slate. former of which usually predominates. Of course it exhibits a bluish-gray hue, and in the sunbeams reflects a dazzling lustre. It is not plenty like the other two, and when all occur together, it is uppermost, and in point of originality supposed therefore to be secondary rock.
4. Argillite covers all three when they occur together; and Argillite. its colour and formation are both slaty. It never possesses a chrystalline structure. It is used, when sufficiently soft, for writing-slates, and also for roof-slating when it splits well. It is found on the banks of the Kennebec river at Winslow and Waterville.
5. Limestone is a mineral rock which abounds in this State, Limestone. at Thomaston, and will be hereafter described.
6. Greenstone is composed of hornblende and feldspar, either Greenstone in grains or small chrystals; and, because the hornblende pre- dominates, it assumes a greenish tinge. It is sometimes so very hard and fine grained as to admit of a beautiful polish.
Upon the mountains about the heads of Kennebec river, the Greenstone presents itself in prisms of several sides and straight edges, and an aspect not unlike bricks standing endwise. In Harpswell it is found to contain numerous balls, or globules, ap- parently of garnet, as large as bullets, and easily separated from the mass. Greenstone, when a secondary rock, is observed to be in detached masses, abounding or marked with fossils. It occurs on the height of land between the Kennebec and Penobscot, and also at Belfast and Brownville. This may be useful in building, and when pulverized, it may be employed to form a water-proof mortar for cellars, docks, and piers.
Besides these various kinds of rocks, a large portion of the Alluvial earth's crust is constituted of Alluvial Deposites, in which are found clay, sand, gravel, pebbles, fragments of rocks, loam, coal, bog-ore, intermixed with organic remains, shells, bones, and even trunks of trees. Among these have appeared precious stones and precious metals, which through their hardness were found little affected by attrition. Alluvial appearances are very mani- fest in many places, upon the banks of the Androscoggin and Kennebec, and particularly in Pittston.
Deposites.
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Mines and Minerals.
Minerals,* are inorganic substances as they naturally exist ; and large quantities of them are commonly called Mines. Such of each as are found among us, are now to be mentioned ; ac- cording as they have been arranged by Mineralogists, and made to submit to a fourfold classification, and subordinate orders, genera and species. They class minerals according as they par- take materially of an ACID-an EARTHY-a COMBUSTIBLE-Or a METALLIC-ingredient or integral property.
The Classi- fication.
1st CLASS.
The first Class embraces the different Acids ; also the Alkalis -Ammonia, Potash, and Soda; and the five primitive Earths- Barytes, Strontian, Lime, Magnesia, and Allumine .- But we have to remark only upon Lime and its species; for we have no native beds, or mines of the others ; nor of common Salt ; nor of Nitre, or Saltpetre, so necessary in medicine, in chemistry, in the man- ufacture of gunpowder, and in the cure of the heavy meats. A spontaneous production of Nitre might however be easily effect- ed, by artificial layers of earth in a dry atmospheric air, with ani- mal or vegetable substances embedded in a state of decomposi- tion.+
Lime. Apatite. Gypsum.
Of Lime, a primitive earth, there are several species. Apa- tite, in pale green crystals, is found in Topsham, disseminated in granite ; and Gypsum; or plaster, has been found and extensive- ly used by husbandmen, in manuring their grounds.# It is im- ported in large quantities from Nova-Scotia for that purpose.
Limestone:
Limestone is abundant in this State, especially in Thomaston and Camden, and also in Brunswick, and on Johnson's moun- tains. Like all the stratified rocks in the vicinity, its general di= rection is from southwest to northeast, and inclined at an angle of 45°. This mineral is both foliated and granular; the grains are sometimes very fine and compact ; and if whole, the mass resembles loaf sugar. It is commonly white or gray, shaded often with blue, green or yellow. It is found in large masses,
* In compiling this section, a particular acknowledgment is due to PAR- KER CLEAVELAND, EsQ., Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philoso- phy; and Lecturer on Chemistry and Mineralogy in Bowdoin College, and to his excellent Treatise on Mineralogy and Geology.
t There were once, Salt works, on the Isle of Shoals.
# Its action on the soil and the plant, is not satisfactorily explained ; when put on a piece of earthen near the vegetable, its effect has been the same as when laid on the ground at its root.
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and usually in primitive rocks. It occurs with hornblende, mica, and quartz, and sometimes gneiss. When burnt into Lime, it is in great demand for plastering rooms. Thomaston lime com- mands a higher price and quicker market than that of Camden, owing probably to a superiour granular fineness, in the rock of the former place.
The Marble is exceedingly fine grained, its predominant col= Marble: our is a grayish, or bluish-white, diversified with veins of a dif- ferent colour, enlivened by silver clouds or deepened with blue shades, and exhibits the beauties of a well finished engraving. It receives an exquisitely fine polish, and is already used exten- tensively for gravestones, for the tabulars of side boards, for chimney pieces and other ornamental works.
' In 1809-10, Col. William Dwight built, in Thomaston, a ' mill for sawing blocks of lime-rock into slabs for the manufac- ' turer's use. Another mill was afterwards erected, and in ' them about 200 saws are kept constantly going; 10 or 12 ' hands are employed in the works, and between 4 and 5,000 ' feet of marble are annually prepared for market .*
The second Class of Minerals, which embraces principally 2d CLASS: curious Stones and Clays, exhibits a greater list than all the three CLAYS. STONES. others.
A little Cyanite has been found at Brunswick, in primitive 1st STONES! rocks, crystalized and in a prismatic form. It scratches glass, Cyanite. is sometimes transparent; its colour ranges between sky and Prussian blue, and its lustre is pearly.
Staurotide occurs abundantly, in mica-slate, at Winthrop, and Staurotide. is also an inhabitant of Sidney and Hallowell. It is hard, though it will not strike fire with steel. Its integral parts are prismatic crystals, either opaque or pellucid ; its colour is a reddish brown, and its lustre somewhat shining.
Quartz is a celebrated mineral, common in this State. It ap- Quartz. pears in amorphous or indefinite masses, as well as in beautiful crystals. It scratches glass, elicits sparks with steel, is not quite so hard as flint, and in its varieties exhibits itself differently. Sometimes it is limpid as " Rock Crystal" and transparent as the purest glass ; or smoky and rose-red, both of which have
* Limestone is found in Buckfield, Foxcroft, &c.
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been found in Topsham, and the Amethyst, which is violet-blue. Quartz is used for watch seals and ornamental jewelry.
Flint.
Few minerals are better known and more necessary, especially in time of war, than Flint : for, though it is employed in the manufacture of glass and porcelain, its greatest use is in the locks of firearms. It has been found in beds of chalk, and even lime- stone ; but Mount Kineo, on the eastern margin of Moosehead lake is said to be composed entirely of massy flint. It is found also in Orono. So easily are gun flints made in England and France, by hammering and striking the broken pieces with repeat- ed small blows upon the edge of a chisel, that a skilful artisan will give to 300 a finished form in one day.
Hornstone.
Hornstone is a rare mineral ; a little mass was found near Bel- fast ; also in Topsham. It is not so hard as quartz ; its colour is a dull-white, shaded, or clouded with blue, green, or yellow. When thin, it exhibits transparent curves, like horns, and thence assumes its name.
Basanite.
Some rolled pieces of Basanite, a species of the Silicious Slate, have been found on the banks cf the Androscoggin, black, and as hard as quartz. It ranks among the best touchstones to test the purity of gold.
Mica.
Mica, [commonly called Isinglass, *] appears in thin, flexible, elastic lamina, or leaves, with high polish, and glassy lustre. Dr. Belknap mentions its abounding appearance in Grafton, N. H .; + and it is seen in different parts of Maine.# Anciently it was much used for window glass, particularly in war-ships, as being proof in the discharge of cannon.
Schorl.
Common Schorl in this State, is abundant, especially in Hal- lowell, Gardiner, Bowdoinham, Litchfield, and Parker's Island. It appears in long prismatic crystals, scratches glass, is very brittle, and exhibits a shining velvet-black. It is often transparent, es- pecially at the edges.
Andalusite.
A specimen of Andalusite was found in Readfield ; its colours vary between red and brown.
Fel 'spar
Feldspar, which is an important mineral, is nearly as hard as quartz, and its structure is distinctly foliated. When in crystal
* Acipenser Sturio-Ichthyocolla .- Dr. Thacher.
+ His Hist, of New Hampshire, 3d vol. p. 141.
Į In Rumford, Paris, and Topsham.
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masses, it may be easily divided at natural joints. Only that of an apple-green colour has been found in this State.
Axestone took its name from the circumstance of being used Axestone. by the natives in lieu of iron, for edge-tools, such as axes, chis- els and gouges : several of these articles are in my possession. The fracture of the mineral is somewhat splintery ; and its col- our is of a greenish hue, but it is opaque and hard as quartz. Emeralds.
Several Emeralds have been found in Topsham and Paris, which in the lively and beautiful green they exhibit, are almost equal to the finest Peruvian. They are exceedingly pleasing to the eye, and when set in gold, form the richest jewels.
Of the same rich and beautiful family, is the Beryl ; found in Bery !. coarse grained granite, in and between the towns of Bath and North-Yarmouth. Its crystals are large and its green paler than the precious emerald. It exhibits hexedral transparent prisms, perfectly resembling the Siberian Beryl.
At Topsham have been found both the precious and common Garnet. Garnet ;* its crystals are variable from the size of a pin-head to that of an apple ; and in colour, varies from an opaque reddish- brown, to a pellucid lively red.
Two varieties of Epidote occur upon the banks of the An- Epidote. droscoggin ; it is commonly granular, sometimes crystalline : and frequently found in primitive rocks ; it is some shade of green, and as hard as quartz. This is a rare stone.
Hornblende is frequently found ; two varieties of which occur Hornblende in Brunswick, contiguous to a bed of primitive lime-stone. With difficulty it gives a few sparks with steel; and its prevailing col- ours are black and green, frequently intermixed.
The Macle, a curious mineral is found in small quantities at The Macle. . Georgetown and Brunswick. It occurs in chrystals, whose forms are four-sided prisms, with natural cracks or joints. Its colour is either gray or white, shaded with green or red. It is not so hard as quartz.
But Talc is altogether softer than any of the preceding, and Tale. may be scratched with the finger-nail. Rubbed on cloth, it leaves a whitish trace which is often pearly. Its prevailing col- ours are apple-green and silver-white with intermediate shades ;
* The Carbuncle of the Ancients was probably a Garnet .- Cleaveland. Garnet is found in Bath, Brunswick, New-Gloucester, and Paris .- Robin- son.
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as a specimen of it found in Brunswick appears. It may be used as chalk.
Chlorite.
Common Chlorite is considerably harder, and may be formed into inkstands; the old Indians used it to make their pipes, though it reluctantly yields to the knife. Its colour is a shade of green. It is found in veins or cavities of feldspar.
Slate.
Slate appears to be the result of decomposition, for it never possesses so much as a chrystalline structure. Its uses and ap- pearances are well known. It is found on the branches of the Kennebec, at Houlton, at Williamsburgh, at the Grand falls of the river Penobscot,* and other places.
CLAYS. Potter's Clay.
Our Clays are common and various ; they have been arranged into twelve varieties.
One is potter's clay, whose colour is grayish-white, shaded with blue, green, or yellow. It is smooth, a little unctuous to the touch, and when moistened, forms a ductile tenaceous paste, call- ed "long paste ;" and the purest of this clay is called " pipe clay."
Loam.
Loam is only potter's clay mingled with sand and the oxide, or rust of iron, and, perhaps, the carbonate of lime. Mixed with particles of decomposed, or rotted vegetables, it is denominated Mould. Both of these are found abundantly with us.
Mould. Clay arti- cles.
Domestic vessels and other articles are moulded of Clay ; and when washed and made into paste, and baked, they are enam- elled, or glazed, to preserve them from soiling, or absorbing the inward liquid. But the oxide, or rust of lead with which this glazing is done, is often perilous to health ; because acids and oils easily act upon it, to poison the contents of the vessels, such as porcelain, stone-ware, common earthen-ware and crucibles. Stone-ware, however, is formed of pipe-clay and pulverized flint intermixed. A great manufacture, particularly of bricks, tiles, and some earthen-ware, has been long and successfully pursued in this State.
Fuller's earth.
Fuller's earth, another variety of Clay, is a very useful in- gredient in fulling cloth, as it thoroughly cleanses it of all grease. It is easily diffused in water without forming a paste. It occurs in Newfield, in veins, twenty feet below the surface of the earth.
* J. Bennock, Esq. produced to me a mineral, soft as Talc, in globular forms, large as bullets and pigeon's eggs, of a dull white colour, tinctured with yellow-and each one appears to have been perforated.
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Umber is of a brown colour, with a lively tinge of yellow. Umber. Its texture is fine and compact, feels dry, and receives a polish from the finger. When heated it becomes reddish .* The na- tives paint with this ; and a quantity was found in Bangor, buried with an Indian's spears, and other implements of flint and axe- stone. By way of experiment, it was used as paint, and exhib- ited a lively red, of a shade between vermilion and Spanish- brown.
The third Class embraces such minerals as are susceptible of 3d CLASS. combustion. They are seldom crystallized, and in their specific BLES.
COMBUSTI- gravity, they are light.
The species to be mentioned are only four,-Anthracite, Gra- Anthracite. phite, Coal, and Peat; and hitherto these have been found among us in small quantities. Anthracite occurs at Hebron and Thomaston, entirely opaque and grayish-black, strongly resem- bling coal, though harder and heavier. It burns slowly without flame, smoke or odour. Graphite is found at Bath, Gorham, Graphite. Paris, and Freeport, in granite ; at Brunswick, in limestone ; and alluvial, on the banks of the Androscoggin. It consists of minute grains, is nearly iron-black, and is easily scraped with a knife. Pulverized, mixed with oil, and applied to stoves, it se- cures them from rust and gives them a gloss ; and compounded with clay, it is formed into the best crucibles : The purest kind is manufactured into lead pencils. Coal and Peat, though sup- Peat. posed to be abundant in our swamps and bogs, have not yet been the objects of much search, inasmuch as they have not been needed for fuel,
The fourth Class embraces metallic substances, or Ores, t of METALS. 4th CLASS. which, few species have been yet discovered among us.
A species of Copper has been found at Brunswick-a metal highly useful in ship building and brass foundries, as well as in forming a very necessary and convenient currency. Alloyed with zinc, it becomes brass and pinchbeck ; and compounded with tin it is the principal ingredient of bronze. The oxides
Copper.
* Red Ochre is found in large quantities on the west branch of Penob- scot, Pleasant river, and in Buckfield.
t A mineral spring, 16 miles from Stillwater, on and near the Bennock road, has been discovered ; it is evidently impregnated with iron.
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and salts of copper are quite poisonous, and therefore vessels made of that metal ought not to be used in kitchen cookery.
Iron.
Iron is the hardest, the most common and useful, of all the metals. Different species of it have been found at Hallowell and Winthrop : and the native magnet, or loadstone, has occurred, it is said, at Topsham. The magnetic oxide of iron, found at Paris, Clinton, Sunkhaze, and Buckfield, yields the best bar-iron-the ore from which the Swedish iron, so much esteemed, is forged. Bog-ore is not rare among us, in low grounds, and will produce 333 per cent. of cast iron.
Bog-ore.
Lead.
One species of Lead has been found at Topsham and Exeter ; it is a mineral much used : but it is unsuitable for aqueducts ; for when constantly wet, or moist, it is gradually oxidated and poisons the water.
Molybdena.
Molybdena is silver-white, brittle, and so hard as to be melted with difficulty in a furnace. Specimens of it occur on the banks of the Androscoggin.
Although the precious metals were among the principal objects of the first voyagers to this country ; it is certain neither gold nor silver has been discovered in this State ; nor yet mercury, tin, zinc, nor platina. Indeed, no minerals have been extensively wrought among us, except the limestone.
NOTE .- According to the treatise on American Minerals and their Lo- calities by SAMUEL ROBINSON, M. D., there has been found at Phipsburg, Chalcedony ; at Belfast and on the Penobscot, Jasper ; at Paris, Rubellite, Lepidulite, of great beauty, and Tourmaline, green and blue; and at Rum- ford, yellow Ochre.
HISTORY OF MAINE.
CHAPTER I.
The Spaniards, English and French in America-Gosnold's and Pring's Voyages-The claims of the English and French-Pa- tent of Acadia to de Monts-His visit to Port-Royal, Passama- quoddy and Penobscot-Weymouth's View of Penobscot and oth- er places-North and South-Virginia Patent and Council- Chalon's and Hanham's Voyages-The Settlement of a Colony attempted at Sagadahoc-The Government-Intercourse with the Natives-Difficulties with them-Disasters-The Colonists re- turn to England.
AT the close of the 16th century, the northern coasts of the A. D. 1600 American continent, had become generally known to the nations of Europe ; several parts having been frequently visited for the purposes of discovery, fishing and traffic ; and attempts made at a few places, to establish settlements. Newfoundland, about this Newfound- land Fishe- ry. time, was attracting particular notice. Its surrounding waters, were already, in a single season, visited by three or four hundred fishing vessels, under English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese flags ; and on the shores were seen more than one hundred hab- itations, or stages, constructed for the accommodation of Fisher- men .*
The Spaniards had selected the region about and below the The Span- equator ; and were acquiring rich and extensive possessions in and Englis those parts of the hemisphere. Its northern sections very early ers. Adventur- attracted the attention of the French ; and their adventurers had long since explored the St. Lawrence, and taken formal posses- sion of its borders. Yet the project of forming permanent settlements upon its banks, which had been delayed fifty years,
* These were not permanent settlements : the first birth on the Island, of European parents, was March 27, 1613 .- Prince's Annals, p. 37.
ish, French
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A. D. 1600. by the civil wars, appeared, at this period, merely to be reviving. Certainly that people had hitherto done nothing more, than to engross its lucrative trade, and make extensive claims to its terri- tory. The intermediate Latitudes presented strong invitations to British enterprize ; several Englishmen, influenced by hopes of discovery, and motives of gain had been already concerned in expensive voyages hither ; and some of them, particularly Sir Walter Raleigh, having been assiduously labouring for several years, to plant a Colony in the vicinity of Chesapeake-bay. But this and all the other efforts and expeditions were productive of no considerable benefits to the adventurers, nor lasting good to their country ; otherwise than being promotive of the political establishments which have since risen into independent States. For, as a correct writer says, though " 110 years had elapsed since the new world had been known to the old ;" and though a few emigrant fishermen had a temporary residence at Newfound- land ; "neither the French, the Dutch, the English, nor any but Spaniards had made the smallest effectual settlements in the new-discovered regions."*
No Colonies in N. Amer- ica.
'The geog-
All knowledge of the interiour country, its geography and re- raphy of the sources was exceedingly limited ; and all acquaintance with its Country un- known. bays, inlets, shores, rivers and highlands, was quite imperfect. The best charts, then extant, were rude sketches of the coasts and harbours ; and few men were bold enough to explore a land clothed with heavy forests, and filled with ignorant savages. Therefore in compiling the History of this State, it is necessary to commence among the shades of nature; and thence trace the progress of that improvement, which has gradually laid deep and strong the foundations of our present liberty and prosperity. -In the several adventures and voyages, to this Continent, we find no account of any one, who visited the waters or shores of Maine, before A. D. 1602.
B.Gosnold's Voyage, 1602.
Bartholomew Gosnold, an English navigator, of skill and ex- perience, who had previously crossed the Atlantic in the usual route, by the Canaries and the West-Indies, entertained a belief, that a course direct from England was practicable, and would probably shorten the distance an hundred leagues, Furnished
* Prince's Annals, p. 1, 2, 5, 11 .- Canada and Nova Scotia, were under the English crown till A. D. 1600; when the French did possess themselves of L'acadia .- 1 Coll. M. Hist. Soc. p. 232-3d series.
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with a small bark to try the experiment, he sailed from Falmouth, A. D. 160%. March 26th, 1602, attended by 32 persons, of whom eight only were mariners ; and proceeding west by the compass, as directly as the winds would permit, made land, May 4th, at or about the 43d degree of north latitude. It is not fully ascertained what Jand he first discovered .- It might have been Mount Desert or Agamenticus ; for a skilful navigator, three years afterwards, found that Capt. Gosnold had marked places in this region, at half a degree below the true latitude ; and it is certain that the central Isle of Shoals, which is in lat. 42º 29 *- is south of the land he first saw. 'Meeting with a shallop of European fabric, ' in which were eight savages, and seeing one of them dressed in ' European clothes, Gosnold and his associates were led to con- ' clude, that some unfortunate fishermen of Biscay, or Brittany, ' had been wrecked on the coast,' They immediately sailed to the southerly side of Cape Cod ; and on the 18th of June, re- embarked for England.+
But though we have doubts, whether Gosnold ever saw any Martin lands of ours ; it is certain our shores were actually visited the Voyage, Pring's following year, by another voyager, Martin Pring. Through 1603. the influence and generosity of the city-officers and several mer- chants of Bristol, in England, Richard Hackluyt, Prebendary of St. Augustine Church, Robert Aldsworth, and others; £1000 sterling were raised, and two vessels procured, equipped and victualed for a western voyage of eight months. The Speedwell, one of them, a ship of 50 tons, with a crew of 30 men and boys, was commanded by Pring himself. The master of the other, a bark of 26 tons, called the Discoverer, carrying 13 men and a boy, was William Browne; and Robert Salterns, who had at- tended Gosnold to America three years before, was appointed supercargo, or principal agent of the expedition. The adven- turers were furnished with various kinds of clothing, hardwares,
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