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 5
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Upper Flagg Island, having 15 acres of good land, one house Island. and a rocky shore ; Horse Island, of 6 acres, a mere sheep-pas- Island. Horse ture ; and Little Birch Island, of 10 acres ; all lie not far from Island. Little Birch each other at the south end of Harpswell-peninsula, neither of which is inhabited.
Great and Little Whale Boat Islands lie two miles east of G. & Little the northeast end of Great Gebeag. The former, a mile and Islands. Whale Boat 1-2 long and a few rods wide, contains 100 acres and exhibits a bold rocky shore ; northwest of which, 1-2 mile, is the latter, of 15 acres, with a dangerous shore.
Northwest of these is French's Island, rocky and ragged, con- French's taining 30 acres, and having at its N. E. end an extensive reef of rocks. Still further north, near Flying-point, 1 mile and point. Flying- 1-2 east of the mouth of Harraseeket river, is Bibber's Island, Ribber's , Island. of 80 acres. The waters are met by rocks on the southerly side of it; but the margin of the residue is a mere mud-bank to the main shore. It has for its near eastern neighbours the two little Silver Islands of 6 acres each, environed by ooze. Silver Islands.
From Flying-point to Mare-point in Brunswick, the distance Mare-point. is 2 and 1-4th miles, between which there are two small Islands, The two one of 15 and the other of 6 acres, whose names are unknown. Islands.
UpperFlagg
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THE WATERS AND COAST
[INTRODUC.
Casco bay 4 Goose Istands.
The four Goose Islands lie within a league S. W. of Mare- point, one contains 75, another 60, and the third and fourth 10 acres each, and all of them are surrounded by sand banks.
Shelter Island.
Midway of the entrance into Middle bay is Shelter Island, which is equidistant from the Goose Islands and Harpswell neck, containing 6 acres
Birch Island. 5 others.
Birch Island, still further northeast and opposite to Mare-point, contains 150 acres of excellent land ; northeast of which are 5 others, towards the head of Middle bay, the largest contains 40 acres, and the three others from 3 to 6 acres each.
On the easterly side of Harpswell-peninsula are several large Islands of very irregular and various shapes.
Baily's Island.
We begin with Baily's Island, a mile from the S. E. extrem- ity of the peninsula ; which is 2 miles and 1-2 long and 1-2 mile wide. It has a good harbour, called Mackerel cove, on the west- erly side, near the south end. The face of the Island is fair and adorned by some trees; though the soil is not of the first quality and the shore is rocky. There are upon it ten dwelling- houses.
Jaquish Island. Turnip Island. Orr's Island.
Only a few rods south is Jaquish Island, full of trees, embrac- ing 12 acres of poor land, surrounded with rocks and uninhab- ited. Turnip Island is very small and very near.
Orr's Island, or Little Sebascodegan, separated from Baily's Island by a narrow strait, stretches up N. E. 3 miles and 1-2, parallel with the peninsula, within a few rods of Sebascodegan, with which it is connected by a commodious bridge, 100 feet long. Upon this Island, which has a tolerably good soil, thirty families are settled. The eastern end is full of trees ; the S. E. a rocky, and N. W. a sandy ascent from the water ; and this Isl- and makes the S. E. side of Harpswell harbour.
Sebasccde- gan.
Of all the Islands in Casco bay, Great SEBASCODEGAN,* is the largest and most irregular, its shape being a curiosity. It forms the west bank or shores of New Meadows river, and more than a mile it is separated from the peninsula by a narrow strait of a few rods in width. Though the length of this Island is only 6 and 1-2 miles, and 3 miles, mean width ; yet such is its irreg- ularity, that the circuit of it at the water's edge, exceeds 50 miles. The northern end is within 7 rods of the main land in
* Spelt on Mr. Moody's Chart, " Jebaskadiggin."
41
SECT. II.] OF MAINE.
Brunswick ; and here a commodious bridge is erected. This Casco bay. Island, which has a good soil and 450 inhabitants, is a principal constituent of the town of Harpswell ..
Between Baily's and Orr's Islands on the west and Phipsburg on the east, are several small Islands southerly of Sebascodegan. These are, 1. Pond Island of 10 acres, 3-4ths of a mile S. E. Pond Island. of Baily's Island ; northerly and southerly of which are extensive ledges ;- 2. Ram Island, 1 mile N. E. small, rocky and barren ; Cedar : Ram Island. -3. Cedar Island, east, a mere reef of rocks ;- 4. and 5. two Island. Elm Islands, farther N. E. little and poor ;- 6. Ragged Island Islands. 2 Elm of 50 acres and poor soil, is high and full of trees, has a ragged Island. Ragged shore and is without inhabitants. Westward of it are dangerous ledges :- 7. White Bull ;- 8. Bold Dick and Brown Cow are Bold Dick, White Bull, south ;- 9. Little Bull, east ;- 10. the Sisters, N. E. and 11. Brown Cow, Little Bull, Sisters, Snake Snake Island, are north of Ragged Island, and all of the latter are small indeed. The White Bull is 80 yards in diameter and Islands. 12 feet above water. East of the last, 1 and 1-4 miles, is the noted Mark Island, of 6 or 8 acres, high, round and full of trees. Southerly of which are dangerous ledges. Between Mark Island and the White Bull is the usual passage into New Meadows river.
Near the Phipsburg shore are the Gooseberry, two Wood, Gooseberry Burnt-Coat, Horse, Malaga and Bear Islands, neither of which 2 Wood Island. is large, though some of them are of considerable extent : viz. Islands. the first is low and rocky, of 2 or 3 acres, having at its south end rugged, projecting rocks. The Wood Islands at the entrance of Small-point harbour, 1-4th of a mile from the main, are connect- ed by a rocky bar, on either side of which vessels may pass : both may contain 40 acres. Burnt-Coat, of 7 acres, is rocky Burnt-Coat. and barren. Horse Island, of 30 acres, is connected to the main Horse. Island. shore by a sand bar and flats, and is full of trees. Malaga has Malaga also many trees and is rocky ; embracing about 10 acres, and Island. lying between the main land and Bear Island. This last is at Bear Island. the entrance of New Meadows river, 3-4ths of a mile long, and contains 50 acres. It is full of trees and exhibits a few houses. N. W. on the shore of the Sebascodegan, 3-4ths of a mile dis- tant, is Condy's well-known harbour. Condy's
harbour.
At the entrance of Quaheag [Cohawk] bay, in the mouth of Sebascodegan, is Yarmouth Island, which, though irregular, is Yarmouth Island.
about 3-4ths of a mile in diameter. It has one resident family Von. I.
42
THE WATERS AND COAST
[INTRODUC.
Casco bay. and a good soil, and is favoured with a safe harbour. Farther Pole Island. north is Pole Island, of 8 acres, with a rocky shore. It is cov- ered with spruces ; and though uninhabited, it is a beautiful Island. 12 Islands. Above this, in the bosom of the bay, are a dozen small poor Islands, whose names are unknown. But we may mention four little Islands, S. E. of Yarmouth Island, viz. Jenney's, Rogue's and Flagg Islands, and Long Ledge, all of which are ledgy .*
Middle Coast. Heron Island. Pond Island. Wood Island. Salter Island. State Island. 2 Forts.
THE MIDDLE COAST.
Between Cape Small-point and Seguin, which are four miles apart, are Heron Island and Jacknife Ledge : and north of Se- guin, near two miles, is Pond Island, on which there is a Light- house. Pond Island, above the mouth of the Sagadahock, has Wood Island west, Salter Island east, Stage Island 1-2 mile N. E., and the Sugar Loaves north ; each of which is small. Above Pond Island, on the western shore, are two Forts; one a mile and 1-4th, and the other 2 miles distant.
Seguin Island.
Seguin Island,t situate E. N. E. from Cape-Elizabeth, dis- tant 25 miles, lies at the mouth of Sagadahock river, about two miles from the southeast corner of Phipsburg and 3-4ths of a mile further from the United States' fortification. The Island is said to contain, by admeasurement to low water mark, 42 acres, though estimated much more. On the 19th of Feb. 1794, the jurisdiction of this Island and ten acres of its territory was ceded to the United States, and the next year the National Government erected a Lighthouse at the expense of $6,300, with a lan- tern 200 feet above the level of the sea, and in 1797 became the owner of the whole Island. The Lighthouse was rebuilt in 1819, at the additional charge of $2,248 ; and the United States have given $300 annually to the keeper, besides the fruits of his toil upon the land of the Island.
Sagada- hock.
Sagadahock loses its name twenty miles from its mouth, at the Chops, where its constituents, the Androscoggint and Kennebec
* The survey and bearings of these Islands are retained in the ancient records of North-Yarmouth, but unfortunately more than half of them have since changed their names .- Gen. Russell .- There are Green Islands, not far from the southwesterly entrance into Portland harbour ; and still others northeast of Matinicus.
t Anciently " Salquin."
# Anciently " Aumoughcawgen."
43
OF MAINE.
SECT. II.]
rivers in their junction, form Merry-Meeting bay, and are now to be considered.
The Androscoggin rises in the northwest section of the State, Androscog- only about an hundred miles from the Chops, in direct course, gin. though it actually runs, in its flexuous meanders, more than 160 miles.
The rise of its eastern and (considered its) principal branch is in the vicinity of Sunday mountain, about ten miles east of the dividing line between Maine and New-Hampshire, and on the south margin of the highlands, which form the boundary between this State and Canada. This source of the Androscoggin has for its immediate neighbours a head-pond of Dead river, which empties into the' Kennebec, and the southernmost spring of a stream, which runs northerly and contributes its waters to the Chaudiere. This branch of the Androscoggin runs about 25 miles south and discharges its waters into lake Mooseetocmagun- tick, a most singular body of water, connected with Umbagog lake, by a strait; and it empties all its waters into the latter, which lies on both sides of the western boundary line of Maine. On the western side of it, in New-Hampshire, issues the Andros- coggin, 40 miles south from the upper end of the line which di- vides that State from Maine.
Three miles westward of the outlet, the main river receives the Magalloway, which is 12 rods in width at its mouth. This riv- Magallowa river. er's head is about as far north as that of the Androscoggin, runs a southerly course in Maine, more than 30 miles, and is distant from three to five miles from the line, which it crosses 120 miles north of the Piscataqua mouth.
The Androscoggin, shortly after it receives the waters of Ma- galloway river, and another river from the northwest, runs south- erly in New-Hampshire 25 miles, almost parallel with the line, and five or six miles from it; and then turning, crosses it, and runs the remainder of its course in Maine. In reentering the State it runs through the town of Gilead, and forms a fine inter- vale on both sides, overlooked by rugged lands on the north, and is fed in that town by Wild river .* The main river runs four- Wild river. teen miles in the next town, Bethel, forming an elbow in its west- ern quarter, and flowing northerly in a gentle glide, towards New-
* MS. Letter of A. Burbank, Esq.
44
THE WATERS AND COAST
[INTRODUC.
The An- droscoggin. ry ; then eastwardly, over a smooth bottom of rounded pebbles, embosoming in the town a number of fertile and delightful Isl- ands of various extent, the largest of which contains 100 acres. The alluvion skirting the banks of the Androscoggin, from ten to an hundred rods in width, is highly productive and beautiful land ; rising in many places by regular banks, one above another, and forming two or more bottoms. Of these, the highest is about 25 feet perpendicular above low water ; and they are all evidently formed by the efflux of the river-changing its bed and banks ; so that the people feel safe in building on those more elevated bottoms, some of which were not covered in the time of the great freshet, October 22, 1785, when the water rose twenty-five feet.
Along northward of the river, three or four miles distant from it, and nearly parallel with its banks in many places, are the " nucleus of the mountains" which, rising in ridges, stretch along from the west line of the State towards the falls, just above the northernmost bend of the river in the east line of Rumford, and shelter, in some measure, these extensive intervales from the northwest winds. In these parts it is to be remarked, that the hills rise with a gradual ascent from the northwest to their summits, and then fall off abruptly on their southeast sides, and frequently into deep precipices. So inviting is this section of country, that the Northern natives resolved to hold it ; and therefore committed depredations on the scattered settlers thereabouts in the last years of the Revolutionary war .*
Great falls.
After the river receives several small streams and a consider- able one through the mountains from East-Andover, it rushes down the Great falls [of Pennacook] at Rumford, 50 feet perpendicular and 300 feet within a mile.
Lewiston falls. Twenty mile river.
From these falls the river runs in a southerly direction through Dixfield into Jay, where it forms various windings ; and leaving the town in a southern course, passes through Livermore, between Turner on the west, and Leeds and Green on the east, and de- scends Lewiston falls, 60 miles below the Great falls. In Turner it receives Twenty mile river, which rises principally in Sumner and Hartford, and runs through Buckfield and Turner, forming almost every accommodation for mills and machinery. Over this
* MS. Letter of J. Grover, Esq .- MS. Letter of Luke Riely, Esq.
45
OF MAINE.
SECT. 11.]
river there are four large bridges in the town of Buckfield, and The An- several in Turner. This part of the country has been exceed- droscoggin. ingly injured by fires, particularly in 1816, when the flames spread and raged to a very alarming degree.
At Lewiston, 20 miles above Brunswick, the cataract is called the Upper falls of Pejepscot; where the water tumbles over massy rocks, and rushes through narrow passes, about 100 feet perpendicular, from the surface above to the bed below. These falls are not abrupt as over a mill-dam, but descend on an in- clined plane, broken with ledges. Here are mills, and one is supplied with water through a channel sunk in solid rock. The river below the falls is 50 or 60 rods wide, and seldom so shoal as to be fordable by a man and horse, even in the drought of sum- mer.
As you stand on an elevation, one mile below these falls, you see the rapid river, called the little Androscoggin, flow in from Little An- the westward, shooting its current across the bed of the main Androscoggin, forming a channel on the eastern shore, and adding a fourth to the main river. It rises in Woodstock and Norway ; and receives waters from Moose and Gleason ponds in Paris, as it passes between the swells of that town, and also those of Thomp- son pond on the southerly side, turning many mills, especially in Minot and some in Poland, which two towns it separates. It has generally high banks, though lined with intervales or strong land.
droscoggin.
Its sources.
On the east side of the great Androscoggin, there is one tribu- tary river above Lewiston falls, which deserves to be mentioned for its peculiarity. This is the Thirty mile or Dead river, which Little Dead is the natural and only outlet of great Androscoggin pond, 3 and river. 1-2 miles long and 3 broad, between Leeds and Wayne ; and of small ponds 15 miles in extent northwardly .* Dead river, from the outlet in Leeds to Androscoggin river, is six miles in length, 8 or 10 rods in width and deep ; and its bed is so level and ex- actly horizontal, that the rise of the great river eighteen inches, will invert the current of Dead river its whole length. In great freshets, much water is forced into the pond, which becomes a
* Other ponds are, little Androscoggin pond, Muddy pond, Wilson's pond, and Hutchinson's pond.
46
THE WATERS AND COAST
[INTRODUC.
The An- droscoggin.
reservoir ; greatly soaking, however, and hurting the lands on its borders .*
Below the mouth of little Androscoggin, the water rapidly ripples : and the upper falls [at Lewiston,] were formerly said to be the northwestern limit of the Pejepscot purchase.
Pejepscot Lower falls.
The cataracts of Pejepscot, or Brunswick falls, are contracted from a quarter of a mile in some places, to forty and possibly to thirty rods, in width. Here the water pours over falls of fifty feet, barred or checked in different parts by three grades of dams. On the lower grade the dam is semicircular, embattled near the centre with an Island which thrusts off the waters on each of its sides, though mostly on the west, under arches of the winding bridge in two parts, which rests its approximating ends on the Island. Below the bridge the river expands to the width of an hundred rods, and the tide at high-water, rises four feet. Above the head of the falls, the river is spacious and glassy; and to secure floating logs, and stop flood-wood, piers are sunk at great expense, and large timbers in joints so fastened to them with irons as to form an impassable boom.
On these falls are 25 saw mills, each of which will on an aver- age, annually cut 500,000 feet of boards. They employ about 300 men. Here also were carding machines, fulling mills, and factories ; 1,488 cotton and woollen spindles, and 24 looms whose warping and sizing machines were moved by water power.t
The water in the freshets not unfrequently rises in the river, 20 feet : and in 1814, immense damage was done by the uncommon flood, which brought down mills, barns, masts, logs and trees, over the falls, in undistinguished ruin.
Merry- Meeting bay.
At the falls, the river formerly had the name Pejepscot, till it lost itself in Merry-Meeting bay. In the middle of this bay are sand-beds bearing a species of reed, upon whose roots feed wild geese and other seafowl. These sands, often changing their drifts, greatly injure the navigation toward the falls.
Merry-Meeting bay, from the falls to its outlet, may be 10 miles in length, winding round towards the north, till it meets and
* MS. Letter of Thomas Francis, Esq .- " On Norris' Island, in the pond, is an Indian burying-ground."-MS. Letter of A. G. Chandler, Esq. Destroyed in 1825, by fire.
47
SECT. II.] OF MAINE.
embraces the Kennebec waters, receiving on the northwesterly The An- side, as it glides forward, 1st. Muddy river, which is a long arm of the sea, collateral to the bay ; 2. Cathance, which is mostly a salt water river, and navigable 3 miles to Cathance landing ; and, 3d. Abagadusset, whose mouth is near Kennebec, at which is a point of that name, where was once a small fort, and where the Sachem Abagadusset had his residence, about 1665.
On the southerly side of Merry-Meeting bay, near the extreme of the Chops, is Wiskeag or Wisgig Creek, which extends south into the land two miles ; from the head of which to that of Stev- ens' river, the neck is only one mile in width, across which Mr. Peterson, in 1800, cut a canal eight feet in breadth, suffi- ciently deep to float logs at highwater. Stevens, the ancient Indian trader, lived on the northerly side of where the canal now is, two miles above the turnpike bridge, which leads from Brunswick to Bath, and which is at the head of navigation over Stevens' river. Here was the Indian carrying place between Casco and Merry-Meeting bays.
The next river to be described is the Kennebec, which is some Kennebce longer, larger, less rapid, and less serpentine than the Androscog- river. gin. Its length from its sources to Merry-Meeting bay, in direct course, may be 130 miles, and its actual run 40 miles more. It is formed by two principal branches, viz: the North Branch and Dead river, called, where they meet, the forks, and are said by travellers to be 48 and 1-2 miles above the south bend at Norridgewock village.
The North Branch issues from Moosehead lake, which is the Branch. largest body of fresh water in the State, or in New-England. It Moosehead is twelve leagues in length, from north to south ; and its upper Lake. rills head within twenty rods of the Penobscot. It receives Moose river from the west, which rises among the highlands. In this lake there are four kinds of fish :- 1. One kind, which is from 1 and 1-2 to 3 and 1-2 feet in length, has teeth, fins, and a head larger than that of a salmon, weighs from 5 to 16 pounds, and is good for the table. 2. There are two sorts of trouts, one has a white belly, a beautifully spotted back, and is ex- ceedingly good for food ; the other, which is without scales, not so large and hardly fit to eat, is of a brown colour with a black head, weighing from 1 to 2 and 1-2 pounds. 3. Another kind
North
droscoggin.
48
THE WATERS AND COAST
[INTRODUC.
Kennebec of fsh which is found in shoals, 's from 12 to 18 inches in length, river. scaled, and in shape somewhat resembling a mackerel, and is called " white fish." When taken (though seldom with a hook,) it is very palateable .- 4. In the lake is also found the fresh water cusk, very much resembling that of the salt water, weighing from 2 to 7lbs .- 5. There are also lobsters, not much unlike in form those taken in the salt water, though smaller, as these are only fro n > to 5 inches in length.
The length of the North Branch from the outlet to the forks, where it meets Dead river, is about 20 miles. The traveller from this place to Canada, finds the road well cleared, bridged, and passable for wheels ; crosses Moose river 28 miles from the forks, thence at intervals of 7, 8, and 10 miles, he passes over the three branches of the Penobscot, and five miles further, reaches the " MILE TREE" before mentioned, on the heights .*
Dead river.
Dead river rises among the boundary highlands, three leagues from the northwest corner of Maine, near those which rise and run north into the Chaudiere. It descends in a southeasterly direction till it has passed Mount Bigelow on the south, where it turns towards the north, and then to the east, and joins the North Branch, yielding more than a third part of the water which constitutes the river below the crotch or forks. Dead river is rapid ; its mouth is about 60 rods wide, though its water there is usually, quite shoal.
Carratunk falls.
The course of the Kennebec, below the forks, is nearly south. It runs through a fine country of wild land 12 or 15 miles ; it then passes the " carrying place rips," half a mile in length ; and 26 miles below the forks, it descends the Carratunk falls, which have Solon on the east and Embden on the west. Here the river, which is 30 rods wide, is contracted to 40 feet only and pitches over the rocks in a beautiful sheet of water 35 or 40 feet, though the carrying place by them is about fifty rods, to be prevented by a canal on the eastern side. The appearances of the falls are commanding ; while the eye as it chases down the current 50 rods, is relieved in view of spacious smooth waters. Anciently
* From Mile Tree to Quebec is 94 miles, viz : to the mouth of Chaudiere 29, thence to St. Marie's 35, and thence to Quebec, 30 miles .- Holden's house is situated one mile north of Moose river bridge.
49
SECT. 11.] OF MAINE.
these falls were a place of great resort by the Indians in fishing Kennebec time, where they took salmon in abundance .* river
work falls.
From Carratunk falls to Norridgewock falls, which are just Norridge- above the mouth of Sandy river, the distance is called 14 miles. Here the water does not descend in a cataract ; its whole fall in the length of near half a mile would not exceed probably fifty feet. In dry times the river is fordable here, and sometimes also at Norridgewock village, six miles below.
Sundy River, after watering several townships, runs circuitous- Sandy ly through Farmington, and taking the little Norridgewock, pro- ceeds northeasterly to the Kennebec. No part of the State is more justly celebrated for its beauty and fertility than the lands on this river, particularly in that town. Here were the Indians' old cornfields, in the deep intervales which spread wide from the river enriched by its annual overflowings.t
River.
In the bend of the Kennebec, on its east bank opposite to the mouth of Sandy river, at Norridgewock point, is the site of the " Norridge- Indian ancient village of the Canibas Indians, so famous in history. The WOK." land is a level and fertile intervale, and its natural situation beautiful. The area contains 250 acres, and is the spot where the old catholic chapel stood. Its bell, weighing 64lbs., was lately found and presented to Bowdoin College.
From Norridgewock point, the Kennebec takes a turn and runs southeast to the village, 6 miles, and then northeast, five miles, descending through narrows, and down Scouhegan falls, Scouhegan falls. 12 or 15 feet, and the rapids below, in all half a mile. Here it receives, through Cornville from the north, the river Wesserun- Wesserun- sett, a large and most pleasant stream. At Scouhegan falls are sett river. about ten mills and machines, and also villages on both sides of the river connected by a bridge. The north or upper line of the Plymouth patent runs east and west a couple of miles above the mouth of the Wesserunsett river, though the proprietors claim- ed six miles at least further north.ยง
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