2023 Greater Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys

3 It Makes No Never Mind

James Nalley 4 Pilgrims Venture To Maine In 1625 Beaver trade proves valuable John Murray 9 The Brakes Went Bad In Augusta

Two drivers get a scare during July 1951

Brian Swartz 14 A Female Student’s Life At Bates Dormitory rules in the early days Barbara Adams 16 Franklin Simmons Of Sabattus

The sculptor who memorialized the Civil War Charles Francis 21 General Seth Williams Of Augusta

Twice-forgotten hero Charles Francis 24 Skowhegan’s Louise Helen Coburn Pioneer for women’s higher education James Nalley 28 Livermore’s Elihu Benjamin Washburne From destitute to diplomat James Nalley

Mercer’s Frank Munsey The king of pulp fiction Charles Francis

Carrabassett Valley’s Welsh Ponies A history of strength and service Charles Francis

The Fabulous Count Von Rumford

A man of many talents Charles Francis 46 The Gulf Stream Trestle

A reputation as a killer Brian Swartz 48

The Somerset Railway Comes To Rockwood

The birth of north woods tourism

Charles Francis

Maine’s History Magazine

It Makes No Never Mind

by James Nalley

At the time of this publication, Mainers will be — in no particular order — shopping for the upcoming holidays, planning the related feasts, and trying to stay warm. Regarding this issue’s region, there are several events that can make this time of year a bit more fun for your friends and families.

First, there is Kringleville, located in downtown Waterville. Dating back to 1969, when volunteers brought in a little unheated log cabin to Castonguay Square and lit up a young spruce tree, the following years brought a new house for Santa (built by the employees of Keyes Fiber), a candy cane garden, gingerbread people, talking reindeer, an elf workshop, and a holiday parade. In 2017, the Children’s Discovery Museum took over the reins. In a typical year, Santa visits families in his cabin every weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas. While waiting, there are carolers, hot chocolate, and ice skating on a mini-rink. There are, of course, outdoor heaters to keep people warm. It is no surprise that Travelawaits.com named it one of the “Eight Charming Small Towns in Maine that Feel like a Hallmark Christmas Movie.”

Second, there is the Winter Wonderland open from November 26 to Jan-

uary 1, 2023. Located in the Augusta West Kampground in Winthrop, it is a state-of-the-art drive-thru holiday lighting display that is approximately one mile in length. The drive-thru experience occurs Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights, while the walk-thru experience occurs Friday and Saturday nights. There are also food trucks, a campfire, and hot cocoa to warm you up.

Third, to really get into the holiday spirit, there is getting outdoors and heading to a choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm. In this regard, there is the 15-acre Ledge Hill Farm in Readfield. Open from Thanksgiving weekend to Christmas, this family-owned business specializes in balsam and fraser firs, with breathtaking views of Mt. Washington and the Western Maine mountains. There is also Frederickson’s Tree Farm in Monmouth. Specializing in premium balsam firs, it is open Friday, Saturday, and Sundays from Thanksgiving through Christmas. Moreover, there is Trees to Please LLC located in Norridgewock. This business is also a nursery and garden center, growing and selling Maine native evergreens, annuals, perennials, and fruit trees. For the holiday season, they offer choose-andcut as well as pre-cut Christmas trees.

At this point, I want to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a prosperous and healthy New Year! Normally, I close with a joke. However, in light of this time of year and all that we have endured, let me close with the following poem by Christina Rossetti:

In the bleak mid-winter, Frosty wind made moan Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, Snow on snow, In the bleak mid-winter, Long ago. Enough for Him, Whom cherubim Worship night and day, A breastful of milk And a mangerful of hay; Enough for Him, Whom angels Fall down before, The ox and ass and camel Which adore. What can I give Him, Poor as I am?

If I were a Shepherd I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man I would do my part, Yet what I can I give Him, Give my heart.

Pilgrims Venture To Maine In 1625

Beaver trade proves valuable

by John Murray

The promise of life in a new land prompted the Pilgrims to migrate to Plymouth in 1620. Unprepared for what awaited them, they struggled with surviving their first hard winter along the Atlantic coast. The human will to survive is strong, so the Pilgrims applied determined perseverance and would ultimately establish a permanent settlement. Along with honing the skills needed to harvest wild game and fish, forest land was cleared for agricultural purposes, and the required farming skills gradually improved in the new land. By the early fall of 1625, the Pilgrims managed to procure a substantial harvest of corn, and it was the first time since arriving that the Pilgrims had an excess of a resource. The Pilgrims were

in large debt to the London Merchant creditors, who had previously funded their voyage to North America, yet the corn was of little value to ship back to England as payment of the outstanding debt.

As the creditors in England grew more impatient with the Pilgrim’s inability to repay their owed debt, the

Pilgrims formulated a new strategy to deal with this issue. With previous foresight, the parts of a small sailing boat called a shallop was stored within the hull of the Mayflower. This shallop was assembled the following spring after arriving in the new land, and the boat was initially used for fishing the local coastal waters. Five years later, it was decided that the shallop would be put into service for a different mission. A plan was laid out where a few men would sail along the coast to search for tribes of native Indians who might be willing to trade more valuable local resources for the Pilgrim’s harvested corn. The little sailing boat was filled to capacity with corn, and with Edward Winslow as the skipper, set sail in a

northward direction up the coast.

With fair weather conditions, a few days passed uneventfully after sailing north along the then unnamed coast of Maine, and the shallop entered the mouth of a large river. This large coastal river was called the Kennebec. The small crew of Pilgrim men sailed upriver on the Kennebec until they were hampered in their efforts by the fast river current. Unable to progress further upriver because of the strong rapids, the boat was brought to the shore, and it was here that the Pilgrims encountered the resident inhabitants. The native Indians in the Plymouth region were friendly, but the cautious Pilgrims did not know what to expect when encountering other Indian tribes. Fortunately, these Native Americans that resided along the Kennebec River basin were also of a good disposition. The Indians had a large established village near the shoreline, and curiously greeted the oddly dressed pale skinned men who

spoke with a different tongue.

Although there was a restrictive language barrier between the Pilgrims and the Indians, a rudimental dialog was established between the two parties, and the Indians soon understood that the Pilgrims wanted to trade. With a large natural resource of fish and game in the Kennebec River basin region, the resident Indians were a tribe of people that specialized in fishing and hunting. Very little farming was done in the heavily forested area, so only a small amount of corn was grown by the Kennebec Indians. Quite excited about the large amount of corn that the Pilgrims possessed, the Indians gladly took all of the corn that was stored within the shallop, and readily traded seven hundred pounds of beaver fur pelts for the harvested corn.

When Edward Winslow and his small crew returned to the Plymouth settlement, the beaver fur pelts were loaded onto the next ship that was

scheduled to sail to England. Upon arriving in England, the beaver furs prompted a multitude of excited interest with the London Merchant creditors, and a land grant was given to the Pilgrims which gave them sole rights to the land along the Kennebec River basin. This land grant had specified language that allowed the Pilgrims to have full control of the beaver fur trade that had been established with the Indians. With this land grant bestowed upon them, Edward Winslow was eager to continue trade relations. Upon returning to the Kennebec River to conduct additional trade for the valuable beaver fur pelts, the Pilgrims became fully aware of the huge profit potential of beaver in the region. It was on this return trip that the eager Indians so many pelts they couldn’t fit into the boat. The Pilgrims took all the beaver pelts that could fit in the boat for the journey back to Plymouth, and upon arriving in

(cont. on page 6)

(cont. from page 5)

Plymouth, the colony carpenter set to work and enlarged the size of the sailing boat. This was accomplished by cutting the existing boat in half, and then it was lengthened by an additional six feet with attached lumber. The modification of the boat provided additional deck space and would allow for the transport of many additional beaver fur pelts. Ultimately in the year 1628, a trading fort was constructed on the eastern bank of the Kennebec River close to the Indian village so the Pilgrims could establish a more efficient trading system with the Indians.

The Indians were quite proficient with capturing beaver, and harvesting large numbers of these animals was important for the welfare of the tribe. Nutritious beaver meat was quite delicious, and the dense fur hides were used extensively for clothing, footwear and blankets. These skilled native Indian hunters traveled extensively to

acquire this valuable resource, and they would hunt beaver all along the 150-mile length of the Kennebec River. During these hunting trips, groups of Indians would regularly travel the long distance upriver to Moosehead Lake. Moosehead Lake was the fertile source of the Kennebec River, and home to large populations of beaver.

Efficient skills required to capture beaver had been practiced by the Indians for hundreds of years. The Indians used a variety of methods to capture beavers, including spears, nets and snares. Beavers feed on the bark of trees, so the Indians would use cut willow and poplar branches as bait and wait in concealment for the beaver to arrive. As the beaver approached to eat the bait, the Indian hunter would use a long spear to dispatch the beaver. Nets were constructed from sinew, and these nets were placed under the water at the entrance of the beaver’s den. The net

was tied to a stout pole, and multiple sets of moose hooves were attached to function as a sounding bell. When the beaver became entangled in the underwater net, the moose hooves would rattle together from the shaking of the net, alerting the hunter who was waiting nearby with spear. Handcrafted snares were also used to capture beaver. These snares were fashioned from animal skins that were partially tanned and twisted together to form a loop. The functional snares were placed at the entrances of beaver dens, and at known beaver travel routes.

Within five years after constructing the trading fort on the shore of the Kennebec River, the Pilgrims would ship a total of 12,500 pounds of beaver fur pelts to England. To the relief of the creditors, these shipments of beaver fur pelts would fully repay the debt owed to the London Merchant creditors. With the outstanding debt paid

off, all beaver fur pelt profits thereafter would immensely benefit the Plymouth colony. Pilgrim beaver trade with the Kennebec Indians would continue for nearly thirty years. By this time, the French were well aware of the valuable beaver that were coming from the area and had also established trade with the native Indians.

With other competing traders that were dealing with the Kennebec Indians, the margin of profit was decreasing for the Plymouth Pilgrims. In 1661, it was decided to sell the Kennebec River trading fort to businessmen of the nearby Massachusetts Bay Colony. As it turned out, this was a wise business choice for the Plymouth Pilgrims. Beaver populations along the Kennebec River basin were beginning to noticeably decline due to overharvesting of the animal. For example, during the year 1646, the French would export 33,000 pounds of beaver fur pelts.

Shortly thereafter, with increasing hostilities from the French, the new owners of the Kennebec River trading fort would abandon the area after the start of the French and Indian wars.

For nearly a hundred years afterwards, the Kennebec River would have no European settlers in the area. The ancestors from the Massachusetts Bay Colony finally reclaimed the tract of land where the previous trading fort once stood, and in 1754 constructed a new garrison called Old Fort Western. This fort would encourage settlement, and the area would continue to grow and prosper, until ultimately becoming modern day Augusta.

Pass on a tradition that will last a lifetime.

The Brakes Went Bad In Augusta

Two drivers get a scare during July 1951

by Brian Swartz

Two drivers in Augusta received nasty (and fortunately almost pain-free) lessons about brake maintenance just 16 days apart in July 1951.

After dark on Wednesday, July 11, Joseph Yebas started down Western Avenue east-bound at the wheel of a 25-ton truck. In that era when extending Interstate 95 north of Augusta was primarily a Maine State Highway Commission pipe dream, Yebas was using the best of local highways (on this night Route 201) to haul 14 tons of bricks from the Morin Brick Co. in Danville to a construction site at a new Air Force base being built in Limestone.

The 38-year-old Yebas, who lived

in Auburn, anticipated spending a long night driving to the far end of Maine.

As he descended Western Avenue and approached an Esso station (a landmark for local drivers), Yebas pressed the truck’s brake pedal; it “went right to the floor — nothing happened,” Yebas said later.

The truck accelerated toward the traffic circle west of Memorial Bridge as Yebas laid on the horn. Even today, this circle — and its counterpart in East Augusta — challenges drivers in bright sunlight; what Yebas thought while watching headlights enter the traffic circle at night remained unspoken.

A cool customer, Yebas gripped the steering wheel and aimed his truck at

the traffic circle’s grass-covered bulls eye. Motorists got out of the way along the Western Avenue approaches; traveling at a Yebas-estimated 40 miles per hour, the cab bounced over the island’s granite curb.

Its speed should have carried the truck across the island, where cars approached from East Augusta. “I was afraid I’d go right through those cars and clear to the bridge,” Yebas explained his decision to yank his steering wheel as if entering a tight turn.

The truck cab plowed a farmer-perfect furrow through the traffic-island grass before tipping over and taking its trailer with it. “She sure went over fast,” Yebas said in classic Yankee un(cont. on page 10)

(cont. from page 9)

derstatement. “I just started to swing and over she went.”

Witnesses could not believe what they were seeing. “It was like a duststorm of bricks when those things flew up,” one person commented.

Gawkers quickly filled the sidewalks and hindered traffic. Augusta Police Capt. Archie Humphreys arrived and took charge as rescue personnel checked out the scene. Assisting Humphreys were police officers Byron Hart and Benoit Douin and Henry Douin.

Joseph Yebas walked away essentially unscathed, except for the bruises and cuts appearing on both arms. A local physician, Dr. Arch Morrell, treated Yebas at the accident scene before an ambulance took the truck driver to the Augusta General Hospital for observation.

Déjà vu occurred on Friday, July 27 when Elizabeth Dearborn of Winthrop

drove into Augusta with her 3-year-old daughter. Dearborn pulled up on Rines Hill, where she planned to park before heading out on foot to run some errands.

Dearborn stepped on the brake pedal; a la Joseph Yebas’s situation, her brake pedal went right to the floor board. The quick-thinking Dearborn pulled hard on the vehicle’s emergency brake — which also failed.

So down Rines Hill the car went, aiming for busy Water Street and whatever targets of opportunity presented themselves. Coming the other way were Augusta Police Capt. Edward Arbour and Office Harry Crockett in a police car; seeing Dearborn’s car zip past in the opposite direction, Crockett thought, “There goes a speeder!” “Speeder” accurately described the runaway car, not its driver.

Just about as cool as Yebas in a sim-

ilarly frightening situation, Elizabeth Dearborn tried to steer the car out of harm’s way. The car missed a lucky pedestrian near the Augusta railroad station before being struck a glancing blow by the left rear fender of a car that Augusta resident Joseph Paquette happened to be driving downtown near the Augusta Post Office.

Paquette may have been in the right place at the right time, albeit not by his willful choice. The hard “bump” and “thump” with the runaway car occurred as Dearborn attempted to steer it to the left; the collision sent her car into a pickup truck owned by the Lathe Fuel Co.

That secondary collision slightly slowed the runaway car, which smashed almost head-on into the grille, headlights, and engine — and just everything forward of the fire wall — of a vehicle parked outside Partridge’s

Drug Store on Water Street. Stationary in her seat until this moment, Dearborn’s daughter flew onto the floor. She and her mother emerged uninjured from the wreckage.

Meanwhile, Arthur Hawkins of Gardiner folded his arms and surveyed what was left of his car and Dearborn’s. He had parked his car at Partridge’s perhaps five minutes earlier.

Speaking a few minutes later with Captain Arbour, Hawkins commented about the figurative bull’s-eye painted on his car: seems it had been parked elsewhere about a month earlier, and another vehicle had struck it then, too.

Whether the two accidents sparked a run on Augusta-area brake repair shops, no one bothered to learn.

A Female Student’s Life At Bates

Dormitory rules in the early days

by Barbara Adams

It was 1865 when Mary Wheelwright, the first woman to graduate from Bates College in Lewiston, entered the freshman class. In that sole instance the “dormitory question” was solved when she lived with President Cheney’s family. By 1905 the number of young women in the college had increased to fifteen, necessitating a change in accommodating them.

It is interesting to go back to the time of the Maine State Seminary which preceded the college. Girls were educated at the same location and received board and room at what was and is still known as Parker Hall. After 1864, however, the building supplied housing for young men. For many years the young women studying at Bates were so few

that the problem of dormitory facilities was not even confronted. Dormitory life for women only dates back to 1895. In 1890 there were only about thirty females in all the classes. They boarded in homes throughout Lewiston and Auburn. Around 1895 President Cheney vacated his house on College Street and gave the use of it to the college for the housing of out-of-town girls. Other young women “from away” secured rooms wherever they could, until in the period of 1903-1904 when the facul-

What’s going on in there?

ty, for the first time, required all girls from out-of-town to reside in the houses provided for them under the care of Dean Caroline Libby. The houses used were Milliken, Cheney, and a new brick building to be completed. The girls made their choice determined by the cost of board. The cost in the new dormitory was $2.76 a week, and in the two smaller houses it was $1.75.

The freshmen girls had rooms on the fourth floor of the new building, with Miss Mary Bartlett, a senior, as proctor. The sophomores and juniors lived on the second and third floors, with proctor Miss Maud Thurston, and later, Miss Daisy Downey. Dean Caroline Libby had her new suite on the third floor. The new building had quarters for

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entertaining. Inside the large reception hall, which accommodated hundreds, were chairs, tables, and a piano. There was also a small adjoining reception room in which the young women could entertain.

Proctors for the Milliken and Cheney Houses were Miss Jessie Pease and Miss Lillian Osgood respectively. The duties of proctors were many, as they had general oversight of the work done by the girls under their supervision. They attended to the signal bells and had many other duties. Each day each of the students had the responsibility of some of the sweeping and dusting, or of tending the telephone, or the door.

Among the rules were the following: rooms were rented by the year, a third of the year’s rent to be paid before the beginning of each term. One dollar additional was charged for each week or fraction of a week for non-compliance unless special arrangements for the delay were made. Young women were

required to pay for any breakage of furniture or defacement of rooms. No nails or tacks were to be driven into the walls. Rude or noisy conduct, such as running up and down the stairs, whistling, or shouting names from one floor to another, was strictly forbidden. Study hours were from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., and 8:00 to 10:00 p.m., and during this time the women were refrained from playing musical instruments, talking and laughing in the hallways, telephoning unnecessarily, and visiting each other’s rooms except to study.

A warning was given at 10:00 p.m., and overhead lights were turned out at 10:15 p.m. without special permission to leave them on longer, and lamps were provided for this purpose. A charge of $1.25 was made each term to cover telephones, kitchen, dining room, piano rent, and hospital room and medicines. Each girl had to supply her own pillowcases, blankets, sheets, bed coverings, and towels. Laundering

of these items was covered by the room rent. No toilet articles were to be left in the bathrooms. Bathtubs were to be carefully washed and dried after each bath. Young women were requested not to walk in the halls in garments less conventional than wrappers.

In the dining room, a young woman could not have a visitor at her table more than twice during a term. She had to give five hours’ notice and obtain a ticket from the head of her house. Breakfast was ten cents, dinner twenty cents, supper ten cents. Young women were requested not to appear in the dining room in dressing sacks (bathrobes). Each woman was required to bring a napkin ring plainly marked with her name. No rules were located regarding the young women’s association with young men. Perhaps they were too lengthy, but as late as 1948, freshmen were required to make and wear a bib with their name on it and not to talk to any male for a week after arrival.

Franklin Simmons Of Sabattus

The sculptor who memorialized the Civil

by Charles Francis

Our Lady of Victories is one of Portland’s best-known landmarks. Situated as it is just off of Congress Street in Longfellow Square, it has been a familiar sight to Portland residents and visitors alike since its dedication in 1888.

As familiar as Portland’s Our Lady of Victories is to Mainers, few know that its creator was a Maine man. Those few that do know the name Franklin Simmons would undoubtedly be surprised to learn that he was born in Webster, Maine. There is, of course, a reason for this.

Today if one were to look at a map of Maine for the town of Webster, they wouldn’t find it. The closest they would

come would be Webster Plantation in Penobscot County. There is, however, no connection between the birthplace of Franklin Simmons and Webster Planta-

War

tion. But there was once a town named Webster, Maine. It ceased to exist on Maine maps in 1972, when the name of the town was changed to Sabattus. Regardless, Franklin Simmons was probably born in Webster in 1842, just two years after the town incorporated. I say probably because both Auburn and Lisbon have been cited as Simmons’ birthplace. The possibility that Simmons was born in Lisbon is most likely due to the fact that Webster had been a part of Lisbon prior to its incorporation.

Today the greatest concentration of Simmons’ work is found in Portland. Besides Our Lady of Victories, Simmons did the bronze Soldiers and Sailors and Longfellow monuments

there. Simmons also willed a number of his works to Portland at the time of his death. The city passed them on to the Portland Society of Art. They are marble, the last medium that Simmons worked in. The Portland Museum of Art also has several of his works, including profiles of Ulysses Grant and Abraham Lincoln and a life-size statue of Grant.

Much of Simmons’ early years were spent with the family of his cousin James Simmons, an attorney who practiced in the Bath-Brunswick area. James Simmons secured a position for his young cousin in a Bath mill, where the teenager was taken with the possibilities he saw in working with metal. This, coupled with a natural gift for portraiture, led him to Boston, where he began a formal study of sculpture with John Adams Jackson. It was Jackson who introduced Simmons to bronze as a medium, especially for producing

busts.

Following his study with Jackson, Simmons returned to Maine where he opened a studio in Lewiston. While he made his living at this time painting portraits, he did begin to establish a reputation for his bronze busts. One of his first was a bust of William King, Maine’s first governor. It was commissioned by the State and is still in Augusta.

In 1863 Simmons went to Washington where his work caught the attention of President Lincoln. Among other commissions, Simmons produced a series of medallions of Lincoln’s cabinet, as well as some of the foremost army and naval officers of the Union Army. Most of them are the property of the Union League of Philadelphia.

During the two years Simmons spent in Washington, he made a collection of sketches of virtually every important figure that crossed his path.

These sketches were to serve as the basis for his later and best-known work, which was done in Europe.

In 1868 Simmons moved to Rome, Italy. He would make the eternal city his permanent home for most of the rest of his life. Italy would also be the country where Simmons would receive his greatest honors. Included in them was a knighthood bestowed by King Humbert of Italy. The King also presented him with the Cross of Caxilere. He was the first American artist to be so honored. Italy was also where Simmons created what are now viewed as masterpieces of American sculpture.

Besides Lincoln and Grant, Simmons produced busts of William Tecumseh Sherman and Maine’s own James G. Blaine, as well as an almost uncountable number of lesser-known figures. Today, however, he is most famous for his large works done on a scale akin to that of Portland’s Lady of (cont. on page 18)

(cont. from page 17)

Simmons’ large-scale works include Washington at Valley Forge, Grief and History, the relief atop the Naval Monument in Washington, and Jochebed with Moses. In addition, he did the Roger Williams statues in Providence and Washington, and that of Governor Oliver P. Morton in Indianapolis.

Franklin Simmons died in Rome in 1913. When news reached Portland, a ceremony of remembrance was held at the Our Lady of Victories memorial. Recently both the Soldiers and Sailors and Longfellow monuments were refurbished through the fundraising efforts of Greater Portland Landmarks, Inc. Few in Maine know that these statues were the work of a Maine-born sculptor who, almost incidentally, was knighted for his accomplishments as an artist by the King of Italy and is considered by some as the man who memorialized the Civil War.

Canal Street in Lewiston, ca. 1900. Item # 6739 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

General Seth Williams Of Augusta

Twice-forgotten hero

by Charles Francis

He served with distinction in the Mexican War and the Civil War. As Adjutant of West Point he was held in the highest esteem, and was remembered with affection by all who attended the institution during his period of tenure there. His superiors remembered him for his leadership in the major campaigns of the Army of the Potomac and at Gettysburg. He was brevetted major-general for gallant and meritorious service in the field. He was one of the officers who served as a witness at the surrender of Robert E. Lee. Five weeks after that historic event he died. He was Seth Williams.

Seth Williams came from good stock. He was a member of one of Augusta’s most prominent families of the

nineteenth century. An uncle and a first cousin were both United States Senators. He was connected to the Cony family. His father was a power in city and state politics and served as Augusta’s mayor and as Maine State Treasurer. Yet, as well known as the Williams family name once was, it is now virtually forgotten. This is especially so of Seth Williams, even though his name was twice memorialized in Maine.

In part because of his untimely death at the very end of the Civil War, Seth Williams’ name was chosen by Augusta area veterans for the name of their Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) post. The post’s formal name was Seth Williams GAR Post #13. Much later, in 1899, Maine’s most significant military

installation was named for him. This was Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth. Fort Williams’ most important years were in World War II, when it served as the command post for the defense of Portland harbor, the headquarters of the North Atlantic Fleet.

Today, the GAR post named after Seth Williams is little more than a footnote in Augusta history. Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth was decommissioned in the early 1960s. Though it still exists as a park and memorial to those who served there, little mention is made of the man for whom it was named. Moreover, what little mention is made of him in official Fort Williams park brochures is a bit misleading and preemptive. In short, Seth Williams (cont. on page 22)

(cont. from page 21)

serves as an all-too-familiar, and therefore, sad commentary on how quickly we forget the past.

Seth Williams was born in Augusta in 1822. His parents were Daniel and Mary (Sawtelle) Williams. Williams was named for his grandfather, who came to Augusta in 1799 from Stoughton, Massachusetts. At the time, Augusta was still a part of Hallowell. The first Seth Williams was a Kennebec Valley pioneer. His sons, Reuel and Daniel, were self-made men who rose to prominence in the early years of Maine statehood. Reuel was a United States Senator, and is largely credited with establishing the first rail connection between Portland and Augusta. Reuel’s son Joseph went on to become a Maine governor as well as a United States Senator.

Seth Williams never married, although it was said on at least one oc-

casion that he was “married to the military.” That sentiment would seem to serve as the guiding principle of Williams’ life. If so, there were other sides to his character.

Seth Williams was described as a man whose “personal magnetism, inextinguishable cheerfulness, genial nature, and almost feminine gentleness endeared him to everyone.” For all of this, however, Williams was “an able officer, a manly man, a firm patriot, and a brave soldier.” At the time of his passing his immediate superior, General George Meade, eulogized him as a man who “was especially endeared [to his officers and men] by a never-failing patience and kindness of heart that made no labor irksome that could promote their interest and welfare.” In short, Seth Williams was a soldier’s soldier.

Seth Williams entered West Point in 1838. This was the era when such no-

table figures as Robert E. Lee, John C. Fremont, and George Armstrong Custer also went there. Like them, Williams would go on to greater glory on the field of battle. Williams’ career as an officer began in the artillery. Following his West Point graduation, he was stationed at a number of minor posts, including Hancock Barracks in Houlton. Then, in 1845 he saw his first wartime duty in Mexico. In 1847 he was brevetted captain for gallant and meritorious action at the Battle of Cerro Gordo.

Following the Mexican War, Williams continued his former pattern of being assigned to minor military posts until he was named Adjutant at West Point, a position he held from 1850 to 1853. From West Point he moved on to staff administrative positions, first as a major and then as a lieutenant colonel.

During the War Between the States, Williams’ service alternated between

the field and administration. He was in the field for much of the Virginia campaign and at Gettysburg, where he was brevetted colonel for gallant conduct. He went on to serve on Ulysses Grant’s staff as Inspector of the Army, which explains how he came to be one of the officers at Grant’s surrender. Williams was serving as Adjutant-General of the Military Division of the Atlantic when he died on March 23, 1866 in Boston. The cause of his death is given as congestion of the brain, a nineteenth-century term for such things as stroke and brain embolism.

Today Seth Williams lies beside his parents in Augusta’s Forest Grove Cemetery. With the decommissioning of Fort Williams, the simple marker in Augusta stands as his most permanent memorial.

by James Nalley

Prior to the mid-19th century, single-sex education was based on the idea that women did not need higher education to pursue their accepted roles as homemakers, mothers, and domestic servants. Despite the social pressure of colleges to accept women, they had two choices: enroll at the limited number of co-ed institutions that opened their doors to women or enroll at a women’s college (of which there were more than 50 that opened between 1836 and 1875). However, according to historian Helen Horowitz, “even women’s colleges treated higher education for women as dangerous experiments.” Meanwhile, men slept in dorms and crossed the quad to attend classes

in various buildings, whereas women lived, studied, and attended classes in a single building. In other words, the men’s arrangement was modeled after “academic villages,” while that of the women was modeled after seminaries.

As for Maine, Colby College, in Waterville, became the first New England college to admit women along with men. Mary Caffrey Low Carver became the first female student (and for two years remained the only one), after which she was joined by four other women, Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Ida Fuller, Frances Elliott Mann Hall, and Louise Helen Coburn, the latter of whom became the second female graduate and the first female trustee of the

Louis Helen Coburn was born in Skowhegan on September 1, 1856. She was the daughter of Stephen Coburn and Helen Sophia Miller. As stated in the biographical article by Colby College Special Collections, “Coburn’s family was deeply tied to Colby College. Her father Stephen graduated in 1839, and the Coburn family was critical to Colby’s early development as benefactors.” She was also the niece of Abner Coburn, who served as the Governor of Maine from 1863–1864. Despite such connections, 18-year-old Coburn was immediately scrutinized for admission to Colby. In fact, a professor tested her for eight hours on her skills in Latin and Greek to see if she could “measure up” to Colby’s standards.

During her time at Colby, Coburn did not simply attend classes, but was extremely active in promoting wom-

en’s education. For example, being the only women in the college, the five women were frequently seen together. In 1873, they formed a literary and social society, after which they were instructed by the college administration that they would need to present a constitution and bylaws. They subsequently requested permission to establish the Sigma Kappa Sorority. On November 9, 1874, they received a letter from the faculty approving their petition.

Even after graduation, Coburn worked tirelessly as an advocate for the equal treatment of women at her alma mater. For instance, according to Colby College Special Collections, “In 1890, she helped draft a letter, with Mary Caffrey Low Carver, to President Albion Small in protest of his plan to end co-education at Colby and create a separate women’s division. Although Small’s plan for a separate division went into effect anyway, Coburn was

appointed to the committee on the new Women’s Division of the College.” In addition, “she helped to ensure that women were still being educated to the highest level possible.”

Throughout her life, Coburn continued to push for increased or equal representation of women in all aspects of the college. Meanwhile, she became the first woman trustee of the college, the first President of the Colby Alumnae Association, and she pushed for adequate housing for female students. As stated by Colby College Special Collections, she also “encouraged President Roberts to appoint a woman as full professor. Dean Ninetta Runnals was the first woman to have full professorship, through Coburn’s efforts.”

As for her personal endeavors, Coburn was trained as a botanist and was an accomplished writer and poet. Among her most well-known publications are “Skowhegan on the Kenne(cont. on page 26)

(cont. from page 25)

bec” and “Kennebec and Other Poems.” She was also the editor of the Maine Naturalist and was extremely active in various organizations, including the Daughters of the American Revolution, The Maine Writers’ Research Club, the Coburn Classical Institute, the Skowhegan Town Improvement Society, and of course, the Colby Alumnae Association.

On February 7, 1949, Coburn died. She was 93 years of age. She had lived the longest out of any of the founders of the Sigma Kappa Sorority. According to Colby College Special Collections, “Although Coburn did not live long enough to see Colby return to a co-educational system (1969), she had a profound effect on the improvement of women’s education at Colby.”

Finally, it is important to note that in 1939, Coburn purchased a vacant cottage on the south side of Elm Street in Skowhegan. There, she added a wing

1856.

as a museum room and a repository for all of her writings and research papers as well as relics from her life such as a doll house that her father made for her.

Upon her death, she deeded the Skowhegan History House Museum to the Bloomfield Academy Trust, under the stipulation that the property be maintained and kept open as a museum for the public during the summers.

First known photograph of Colby College in

Livermore’s Elihu Benjamin Washburne

From destitute to diplomat

by James Nalley

In early 1861, as Abraham Lincoln traveled to Washington, D.C. to begin his presidential term, his supporters feared an assassination attempt. In response, a Maine-born politician (as well as a trusted friend of the president) immediately consulted Winfield Scott (the commander of the U.S. Army), who not only increased security in the city, but also in the surrounding region. When Lincoln safely arrived (incognito) on February 23, his friend was there to greet him. The same man eventually played a prominent role in Ulysses S. Grant’s life and the Republican Party. Moreover, he helped draft the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which was in response to the issue regarding former slaves after the

U.S. Civil War. He even advocated that large plantations be divided up to provide compensatory property for freed slaves, which was considered highly radical at the time.

Elihu Benjamin Washburne was born on September 23, 1816, in Livermore, when Maine was part of Massachusetts. The third oldest of 11 children, Washburne was also the grandson of Israel Washburne, a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and a descendant of John Washburne, the Secretary of the Plymouth Colony in the early 17th century. As for Washburne’s father, he settled in Maine in 1806 and established a shipbuilding trade on the Kennebec River in 1808. Based on the family’s Puritan

heritage, his father was a strict disciplinarian who adhered to the Bible and put his children to work in the fields, with no time for leisure.

In 1829, Washburne’s family faced difficult financial times and his father was forced to sell his business. The family then became destitute, only relying on farming for food. Meanwhile, according to the book Dictionary of American Biography, Elihu Benjamin Washburne (1936) by Ethan Ellis, “Washburne and several of his brothers had to fend for themselves. In this case, 14-year-old Washburne “added the letter ‘e’ to his name, as was the original ancestral spelling, and left home in search of an education and career.”

After attending various public schools, Washburne worked for the Christian Intelligencer in Gardiner, Maine (1833-1834), and the Kennebec Journal in Augusta (1835-1836). He then attended Maine Wesleyan Seminary, studied law with Judge John Otis,

and completed his legal studies with one year at Harvard Law School (18391840). After passing the bar exam, Washburne moved to Galena, Illinois, where he entered a law partnership with Charles Hempstead.

In 1844, Washburne became actively involved in politics as a Whig. He even served as a delegate for the Whig National Convention in the same year. Four years later, he ran for Congress, but was unsuccessful. However, in 1852, Washburne was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and was subsequently re-elected eight times (1853-1869). In 1854, Washburne became a political ally (and close friend) to Abraham Lincoln, after which he supported Lincoln’s unsuccessful candidacy for the U.S. Senate. After the Whig Party dissolved approximately a year later, the Republican Party was founded as the major anti-slavery party. Washburne immediately joined the party and supported its first presidential

candidate, John C. Fremont, in 1856. In 1858, Washburne again supported Lincoln’s unsuccessful candidacy for the U.S. Senate. Naturally, when Lincoln ran for president in 1860, Washburne enthusiastically supported his successful campaign.

Washburne’s support also had a significant effect on another man and fellow resident of Galena: Ulysses S. Grant. According to the book Grant Takes Command (1969) by Bruce Catton, “Washburne was one of only a few men in Washington, D.C. who had known Grant.” Until that time, Grant was simply a West Point graduate who had served in the Mexican-American War. After the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War, Grant recruited a company of volunteers in Galena and shared with Washburne his hope that his West Point education and military experience would lead to a field command. As stated by Catton, “Washburne then discussed the matter with Governor (cont. on page 30)

(cont. from page 29)

Richard Yates, who quickly offered Grant a militia commission as mustering officer.” In June 1861, through Washburne’s continued sponsorship, Grant was commissioned a colonel and appointed to command the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. In September of that year, Washburne sponsored Grant’s promotion to brigadier general as well as his subsequent promotions to major and lieutenant general, respectively. Eventually, he assumed command of the entire Union Army during the U.S. Civil War.

Meanwhile, during the first months of the war, rumors spread that a “horde of pirates” under General John C. Fremont’s Western War Department was defrauding the army and federal government by awarding his California associates with lucrative army contracts. According to the book Responses of the Presidents to the Charges of Misconduct (1974) by Stephen Oates, “Wash-

burne’s investigation revealed that Fremont had favored sellers who were given exorbitant contracts for railroad cars, horses, mules, tents, and equipment that were inferior in quality.” In October 1861, Lincoln relieved Fremont of command based on corruption charges and insubordination.

During the war, Washburne continued to provide unwavering support for both Lincoln and Grant. He even became a leader of the Radical Republicans, who unequivocally opposed slavery and believed in racial equality. He also served on the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, which drafted the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

When Grant was elected as the 18th President of the United States in 1869, he naturally appointed Washburne to succeed William Seward as Secretary of State, with the understanding that he would briefly serve in the position and

then become the Minister to France. Interestingly, Washburne became ill after his appointment and resigned after just 11 days. To date, his term remains the shortest of any Secretary of State in history.

However, as the Minister to France, Washburne played a major diplomatic and humanitarian role during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). In this case, the United States agreed to be the protecting power for the North German Confederation and several German states. Washburne even arranged for railroad transportation to evacuate 30,000 German civilians living in France at the time. Although he was advised to evacuate the American Legation in France, he chose to remain in Paris, making him the only diplomat in the French capital during the Siege of Paris. As stated in the article Elihu Benjamin Washburne (1921) by Francis Reynolds, “Washburne’s tireless ef-

forts set a precedent for the role of protecting power in future wars.” For such efforts, he received special honors from German Emperor Wilhelm I and German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck as well as French Minister Leon Gambetta and French President Adolphe Thiers.

After the end of Grant’s term in 1877, Washburne left France and returned to Galena, Illinois. In 1880, when Grant decided to run for an unprecedented third term, Washburne again agreed to support him. However, Washburne’s supporters (despite his resistance) made him a contender for president at the 1880 Republican National Convention. According to the book Campaign of ‘84 (1884) by Benjamin La Fevre, “With 379 votes required to win the nomination, he consistently received support from 30 to 40 delegates. Meanwhile, Grant had been the early frontrunner, with 300 to 315 votes. After recognizing that all the

contenders lacked the necessary votes, they searched for another ‘dark horse.’

As a result, 16 Washburne delegates from Wisconsin cast their votes for James Garfield without warning. This action started a groundswell of support for Garfield, and he was eventually

nominated.” At that time, Grant was furious at Washburne, believing that he did not fully support his candidacy. According to Ellis, “Grant and Washburne never met each other again and their friendship ended.”

In 1884, Washburne moved to Chicago, where he served as President of the Chicago Historical Society for three years. In 1887, he published a memoir about his time as a diplomat titled, Recollections of a Minister to France. In October of that year, following a twoweek illness, Washburne died at his son’s home in Chicago at the age of 71. He was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Galena. Aside from his political efforts for the Republican Party in particular, and the country as a whole, Washburne was certainly a prime example of how one man’s loyalty changed the lives of two prominent figures in U.S. history.

Washburne, a political ally, welcomed president-elect Abraham Lincoln upon his 1861 arrival in Washington D.C.

Discover Maine

Mercer’s Frank Munsey

The king of pulp fiction

by Charles Francis

n the gay 90s one of the most popular magazines in America was Munsey’s Magazine, the creation of Frank Munsey, the Mercer, Maine native who did more to revolutionize the magazine industry in the country than any other person. Munsey’s Magazine, along with some of Munsey’s other publications like The Argosy, introduced Americans to the world of pulp fiction. And it was a world like no other which had gone before it.

Munsey magazines were peopled by larger-than-life heroines and heroes. Heroines engaged in romances that the feminine reader of the day considered just spicy enough to be risqué. In fact, readers of today’s Harlequin romances

would find Munsey’s 1900s era love stories just as satisfying as their 21st century counterparts. Then, of course, there were westerns as well as adven-

ture stories and science fiction. In the pages of a Munsey publication one could enter into the imaginative mind of Edgar Rice Bourroughs and swing through the trees with Tarzan of The Apes or walk the sands of the Red Planet with John Carter of Mars.

Frank Andrew Munsey was born in Mercer in 1854. Today Mercer is a quiet community of just over two hundred whose major claim to fame is that the largest elm tree in New England once graced the lawn of the town’s little church ― and that Frank Munsey, the father of pulp fiction, was born there. However, at the time Frank Munsey was growing up there, Mercer was a prosperous lumbering community of

some 400, and the Munsey family was one of the more prosperous in the community.

Frank Munsey grew up reading everything he could get his hands on. What he loved best, however, were adventure stories by Sir Walter Scott and dime novels of the west like those of Ned Buntline. It is easy, in fact, to picture Munsey as a young boy sitting under that old Mercer elm and dreaming of becoming a writer himself.

Frank Munsey began his career in writing and publishing by trying to write for the already dying dime novel market of the late 1870s and 1880s. Having little success, however, he decided to launch his own publication which would feature adventure stories in an entirely different format. This was The Argosy which began publication in 1883 and was the first really successful pulp magazine.

The Argosy, which Munsey edited

and published, started as a magazine for juveniles. Within a short time Munsey changed its format to appeal to adults by printing adventure and love stories and finally just adventure stories. As the content in The Argosy changed so did the covers, which came to emphasis heroes with exaggerated muscles who almost invariably were about to rescue a damsel in distress. The Argosy helped to introduce Edgar Rice Bourroughs to America and served as the prototype for other pulp magazines which featured characters like The Shadow and Doc Savage.

In 1889 Munsey founded Munsey’s Weekly. It was a thirty-six page quarto printed on the cheapest material available, the highly acidic paper known simply as pulp. Munsey would later say of his various magazines’ stories “This story is worth more than the paper it is printed on.”

The editor of Munsey’s Weekly was

John Kendrick Bangs, an 1883 graduate of Columbia, who was in charge of the humor department of Harper & Brothers Magazine. Bangs, who would go on to rank with Mark Twain as a humorist and be compared with Oliver Wendell Holmes, was a descendent of a long line of Mainers including Commodore Edward Preble. Under Bangs’ management Munsey’s Weekly quickly attained a circulation of 40,000. In 1893 Munsey decided to make the magazine a monthly and rename it Munsey’s Magazine. He also began pricing it at ten cents an issue. By 1895 the circulation was 500,000 a month. However, when it began printing illustrations of “half dressed women and undressed statuary” it began to attract criticism and some news dealers refused to carry it. Nevertheless, by 1897 the circulation reached 700,000 a month.

One of the reasons Munsey had decided to hire an editor for his second (cont. on page 36)

(cont. from page 35)

magazine was that he was writing a series of Horatio Alger style novels, each of which was more successful than its predecessor. Moreover, he was in the process of entering the cutthroat world of newspaper publishing, competing with the likes of Pulitzer and Hearst.

In 1887 Munsey wrote the highly popular Afloat in the Great City. This was followed by The Boy Broker in 1888, A Tragedy of Errors in 1889 and Under Fire in 1890. While he would write the extremely popular Derringforth in 1894, Munsey’s writing dropped off in 1890 as he devoted more and more time to his burgeoning newspaper empire.

Among the newspapers Munsey owned or controlled were the Washington Times, the Baltimore News and a score of New York papers including the New York Sun, Herald, Globe, Mail

and Telegram. One of his editors on the Sun was another Mainer by the name of James Otis Kaler. Kaler would later become famous as the creator of the highly popular Toby Tyler series.

By the time Frank Munsey died in 1925, the circulation of Munsey’s Magazine had declined to about 60,000 and was losing money. Munsey had continued to publish it and a series of Argosy related magazines in memory of his start in publishing. Munsey, however, was a very wealthy man living in a $2,000,000 estate on Long Island.

Today Frank Munsey, the boy who read dime novels in Mercer, Maine, and perhaps dreamed of becoming a writer in the shade of the town’s great elm, is best remembered as the father of pulp fiction and as one of the chief benefactors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to which he left the bulk of his fortune.

Frank Munsey, ca. 1919

Carrabassett Valley’s Welsh Ponies

A history of strength and service

by Charles Francis

Ahundred or more years ago it was not uncommon to see a doctor or minister making his rounds in the isolated communities of the western mountains of Maine on horseback. Roads, especially in the spring, were virtually impassable for wagons and pungs, and a solitary horse was the only dependable form of transportation. Just before 1900, a new breed made its appearance on the byways of communities like New Vineyard, Temple, Strong, and Caratunk. It was the Welsh Pony, which was introduced to the region by an enterprising hotelkeeper from Anson by the name of Benjamin Hilton.

Today, when one thinks of ponies,

Jim Wilson Valley Crossing Building Carrabassett Valley, ME 207-235-2642 83 Main St., Kennebunk, ME 207-985-3361

the image that first comes to mind is a child with his or her arms around the neck of a little horse not much taller than he is. For children, ponies are gentle creatures with none of the size and

accompanying intimidating characteristics of a full-grown horse. Ponies are meant to pull them in two-wheeled carts or carry them at a gentle trot around the yard under the gaze of doting parents.

While those images can be applied to the most popular breed of pony of all time, the Welsh Pony, it does not begin to say why this remarkable little horse has stayed true to breed for century after century. In fact, Welsh Ponies have another side, one that includes chariot racing in ancient Rome, and going off to war in the Middle Ages.

Welsh Ponies were introduced into America in the 1880s. While there is some conjecture as to who first raised them here, there is a good possibility

that it was Anson’s Benjamin Hilton. It is known that Hilton had several in the stable of his Anson hotel as early as 1887, and possibly before. The only other person credited with introducing them to this country any earlier is George Brown of Aurora, Illinois. The earliest date associated with Brown’s involvement with the breed is 1884. Both Brown and Hilton are known to have ventured into raising Welsh Ponies in a big way, and both sold them throughout much of the United States and Canada. Both Brown and Hilton are also known for being extremely concerned with maintaining “purity of breed.”

The Welsh Pony is indigenous to the rough, hilly terrain of Wales. The fact that the breed has survived for generations in this sort of environment is one of the reasons that made it a popular form of transportation in the mountains of western Maine in the late nineteenth

and early twentieth centuries.

The Welsh pony is just that, a pony. Most stand twelve or thirteen hands high. In the early 1900s, four distinct types of Welsh Ponies were recognized. Those of the most diminutive section were under twelve hands. The largest went some fifteen hands. Today, a single type identifies Welsh Ponies. Traditionally, the larger ponies were bred for work, while the smaller were for show or for children’s pets. Benjamin Hilton bred most of his ponies for work.

The exact origins of the Welsh Pony are lost in the mist of time. It is believed they were already in Wales when the Romans, under Julius Caesar, invaded Britain. The Romans brought a few back to Rome with them and, after breeding them with Arab stock, used them for chariot racing.

The Welsh soldiers following Henry Tudor, who established the Tudor line of English kings, are said to have gone

into battle riding Welsh Ponies. Henry VII once issued an edict condemning to death any horse under fifteen hands high. In response, Welsh Pony owners hid their animals far back in the hills.

Just why Benjamin Hilton first imported Welsh Ponies to western Maine has been lost in the passage of years. It is known that the first ones were kept in the stable behind his Anson hotel. Later, when he started raising them as a business, he moved his operation to North Anson. Hilton shipped his livestock from that location.

The heyday of the Welsh Pony was during the first three decades of the twentieth century. By 1907 the United States Department of Agriculture had established a breed registry. At about this same time, the American Welsh Pony and Cob Society was founded. Both actions served to establish standards for Welsh Ponies in this country. In part, Benjamin Hilton’s ponies were (cont. on page 40)

(cont. from page 39)

In the early 1900s Hilton’s ponies were a favorite at country fairs throughout New England. Ben Phillips gave driving wagon demonstrations pulled by Welsh Ponies. Because of their diminutive size, the ponies were instant attractions. The standard for sale was their durability.

During the Depression, interest in the ponies fell off here in the United States. In Britain, however, the army used them to haul artillery and wagons, a practice that continued as recently as 1960.

Today, there is a resurgence of interest in Welsh Ponies. According to the registry of the American Welsh Pony and Cob Society of America, there are almost 3500 of the breed in this country alone. Many of them trace their lineage back to the North Anson farm of Benjamin Hilton.

www.VintageMaineImages.com

Log cabin camps at Heald Pond near Caratunk, ca. 1900. Item # 15319 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and

The Fabulous Count Von Rumford

by Charles Francis

A man of many talents

he majority of the first settlers of what would become Rumford came from the area around what is now Concord, New Hampshire. The Reverend Timothy Walker, Jonathan Keyes, and eighty-three others from there had been given a grant of land around what was then known as Pennacook Falls in 1779 because they had been deprived of their rights in New Hampshire when the boundary lines separating New Hampshire and Massachusetts were established. Originally the area they came from had been known as Rumford, and the settlers chose that name for their new town in its memory. One of the original Pennacook Falls proprietors, Benjamin Thompson, who had also lived there, had accepted the

title of Count while living in the Holy Roman Empire.

Today Count von Rumford’s name and features are a household commonplace because of Rumford Baking Powder, which was actually named after the Rumford Chair, which Rumford designed. While less well-known, the Rumford Fireplace which he designed is still one of the premier fireplaces of choice for discerning homeowners. Then there are Rumford kitchens, coffee pots, and roasters, to name just a few of the other innovations the man who was born Benjamin Thompson is associated with.

Beyond the above accomplishments, Count von Rumford is also known as a physicist and an innovator in the field (cont. on page 44)

(cont. from page 43)

of munitions. In fact, in 1981 the MIT Press published a work on Rumford entitled Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, and in 1992 Physics Today magazine featured an article on his work with heat, which compared his insights into that subject with those of Newton and gravity. Seldom, however, is Rumford’s name ever linked to Rumford, Maine in any of the publications dealing with him. Yet, Rumford’s connection to this colorful figure clearly exists.

Benjamin Thompson was born in Woburn, Massachusetts in 1753. Because his father died when he was two years old, Thompson’s early life was spent fending for himself. Fortunately, he made a number of right choices, including apprenticing himself to a doctor. Eventually, he found employment as a teacher, moving to Rumford, New Hampshire in the early 1770s, where another Woburn resident, none other

than the Reverend Timothy Walker, had settled and had become a substantial landowner. In short order, Thompson married Walker’s daughter, thus establishing himself as one of the more substantial members of the community. It was this marriage which led to his interests in the Pennacook Falls grant because his father-in-law was the same Reverend Timothy Walker who was one of Rumford, Maine’s original settlers.

With the advent of the Revolution, Thompson became an avowed Loyalist, so that he was forced to flee to England. While he would return to America for several brief visits, he was to make Europe his home from this time on. Benjamin Thompson’s first scientific research had military applications. He researched the nature of gunpowder and developed a system of marine signaling for the British Navy. These and other similar endeavors led to his be-

coming Sir Benjamin Thompson.

In the late 1780s Thompson traveled to the Continent, where he first made a name for himself with the Krupp Arms Company. His work in boring out cannon led him to postulate a theory of heat exchange which was in direct contradiction to the current caloric theory. While it was virtually ignored during Thompson’s lifetime, it came to be viewed as a major advance in the science of physics.

While he was in Bavaria, Thompson proceeded to involve himself in the field of agriculture. Among other things, he introduced the then-revolutionary practice of crop rotation and persuaded farmers to begin growing turnips, which had, up to then, been viewed as poisonous. For his efforts in this area as well as for designing a sumptuous English-style garden for the Elector of Bavaria, he was made a count in 1792. It was at this time he chose Rumford as

part of his title.

It was also at this time that he began writing some of his more important papers on physical phenomena and made some of his most practical inventions. The latter included his stove and roaster, as well as the first drip coffee pot. About 1800, Thompson came up with a design for the first modern kitchen. He is credited with developing the restaurant kitchen by designing a brick stove with separate compartments for combustion in which the heat could be regulated by controlling individual drafts.

Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count von Rumford, spent his last years living in Paris and traveling to London, where he founded the first research institute in the world, the Royal Institution. He died in Paris in 1814, never having visited the Maine town that was named, in part, in his honor.

The Gulf Stream Trestle

A reputation as a killer

by Brian Swartz

Amistake could cost one dearly on the Gulf Stream Trestle, the steel railroad trestle that spanned a deep valley outside Bingham.

The Somerset Railway once linked Oakland with Rockwood on Moosehead Lake. The line reached Bingham in 1890. Fourteen years later, a major construction project drove the railroad northeast to the Rockwood Yard. Beyond Bingham, the Boston Bridge Co. leaped Gulf Stream Valley by constructing a steel trestle measuring seven hundred feet in length and one hundred and twenty-five feet high.

Unfortunately, the well-built trestle developed a reputation as a killer.

One cold winter morning, two lumberjacks decided to hike into Bingham by following the Somerset Railway from their logging camp. The excursion would take them downhill. They could catch the train back to camp later that day.

They started across the Gulf Stream Trestle, partially covered by new-fallen snow. Sheer terror gripped the lumberjacks moments later as they reached the halfway point. The southbound plow train, making its morning run, whipped around a curve and rumbled onto the trestle.

The lumberjacks panicked. One man threw himself outside a rail and lay with one shoulder and leg dangling over the edge. His companion leaped to his death.

“Leaving paint on the man’s sleeve,” the train missed the surviving lumberjack. The engineer apparently did not see the incident because the train did not stop. The frightened survivor climbed onto the deck and ran to Bingham to find help.

Yet another day, an engineer named John Vigue ran a northbound freight, Number 49, from Bingham toward Deadwater. The train, straining to handle the steep grade, swung into the trestle approaches.

“There’s a bear on the tracks!” Vigue suddenly shouted.

The startled fireman thrust his head out the window and saw a large black bear standing at the centerpoint of the trestle. Vigue was laying on the steam whistle. Confused by the ear-splitting whistle and probably frightened by the oncoming freight, the bear reviewed its alternatives and jumped to its death. As the bruin went overboard, Vigue felt his heart pounding in his throat. If the locomotive had hit the solidly built bear — well, bruin and train both might’ve

gone off the trestle together.

One Saturday some years after the plow train swept a logger off the Gulf Stream Trestle, a depressed logger assigned to the camp at Deadwater bought a rope at Whitney’s Hardware in Bingham. On Sunday morning a rail inspector spotted a coat left neatly folded at a step-out built on the trestle after the first fatality had occurred there.

The inspector saw the coat again 24 hours later. He contacted a section crew that took a handcar to the trestle. Stepping gingerly onto the ties, the railroaders examined the coat, then found a knotted rope tied to the cross-brace. Someone tugged on the rope and discovered no resistance. Carefully hauling the rope upwards, the section crew found it broken. A glance over the parapet told them why.

Sometime during the night, the depressed logger had walked to the trestle from Bingham, bound his rope to the cross-brace, tied a knot around his neck, and jumped into the darkness. The rope had snapped and the logger smashed onto the rocks below the trestle. He was still breathing when the section crew reached him. A medical crew, a doctor, and a nurse drove a car from Bingham after the crew telephoned for

help. Fashioning a rough stretcher, the doctor and section crew carried the suicide uphill to the track.

He soon died.

Sometime later, heavy runoff threatened to loosen a pier supporting the trestle. The Somerset Railway dispatched a repair crew, who brought bagged cement with them on a section car from Bingham. As two men lowered cement bags to the workers pouring cement at the pier footing, everyone moved slowly and carefully. Work was almost done when the crewmen stationed atop the trestle knotted a rope to the last cement bag.

As one man tried to move the sidecar, his companion leaned out to lower the bag. The rope apparently slipped in his grip. Desperately trying to snag the rope as the bag fell, the man probably leaned too far.

He screamed as he fell to his death.

In July of 1933 the Somerset Railway abandoned its Bingham-Rockwood track. Gulf Stream Trestle stood until 1976. Log trucks often crossed the span which had been subsequently decked with planking. No one else ever died on the cursed trestle, for it was torn down to not tempt fate again.

The Somerset Railway Comes To Rockwood

The birth of north woods tourism

by Charles Francis

Maine did not really become Vacationland until most of the state was crisscrossed by railroads. It was the railroad that made it possible for tourists to access the state’s coastal communities and inland lakes and mountains, and it was the railroad that made it possible for the Ricker family and other hoteliers to develop their posh resorts.

Two rail lines dominated the tourist trade in Maine during the heyday of the railroad. One was the Boston and Maine, and the other was the Maine Central. It was the Boston and Maine which made the coast of southern Maine accessible to the middle-class summer visitor by providing reasonably-priced transportation to such seaside communities as Old Orchard Beach, while the Maine Central served downeast and much of inland Maine, including Moosehead Lake and Rockwood. Although the two tourist railroads had much in common as common carriers, they were also very different, especially in the way they developed. The Boston and Maine evolved by building its own rail system.

The Maine Central was created through the consolidation of small lines. Before the Maine Central could begin its ferry service to Mt. Desert Island, it first had to acquire the Maine Shore Line Railroad. In like manner, before the Maine Central could access Moosehead Lake it had to acquire the Somerset Railway.

The reason why the Maine Central wanted to access the Moosehead Lake region is simple. There was money to be made there. It could make money by competing for business with the log-driving companies of the Kennebec and it could make money by carrying tourists to the lake, especially to the Kineo House on Mt. Kineo. Moreover, it could even develop its own resort. In fact, around 1900 a railroad summer

subdivision was proposed for Rockwood by William Ayer of the Somerset Railway Company, who saw it as a complement to the development of Mt. Kineo and the Rockwood-based steamships that ran to Mt. Kineo and Northeast and Northwest Carries. Ayer’s idea was somewhat unique for the time, and almost unique to Maine.

Mt. Kineo and Rockwood are usually considered inseparable due to their close proximity. Kineo, the first area of upper Moosehead to develop as a tourist attraction, was one of the township divisions that passed to Maine from Massachusetts in the fall of 1827. Tax records indicate that some sort of public house was operating there in 1844. For the next twenty-five or so years there was a succession of taverns catering to log drivers, lumberjacks and occasional hunting parties. Then, in 1871 the first Kineo House was built. From that time on the fame of Kineo as a summer resort continued to attract more and more tourists. Several times fires destroyed existing structures, but each time they were rebuilt on an even grander scale.

The big problem, however, was getting there.

In 1860 the Maine Legislature approved a resolution that eased restrictions on the incorporation of rail lines. A short time after that an Oakland businessman by the name of John Ayer came up with a plan to run a rail line from Oakland along the Kennebec to Solon. This idea would eventually result in the Somerset Railroad Company with John Ayer its president. However, it would be his son William who would lay out the line which would eventually extend to Rockwood. But that would happen only after a great many trials and tribulations, including a lawsuit that reached the United States Supreme Court. William Ayer would also be the first Maine railroad man to propose a railroad subdivision — one for Birch Point in Rockwood.

The Somerset Railroad Company was organized in 1871 to build a line to Solon. Money for the line was raised

through the sale of bonds. The survey work for the line was done by an engineering crew that included William Ayer, a civil engineer. Construction of the line reached Anson in 1876 when the money ran out. In 1883 the Somerset Railroad reorganized as the Somerset Railway Company. (The name change and creation of the new company was a legal maneuver to avoid foreclosure on the assets of the original line.) The new company then raised additional money by selling more bonds. Eventually, the line was extended to Bingham. However, when the Somerset Railway did not make good on the bonds of the Somerset Railroad, it was taken to court. In 1898 the case was heard before the United States Supreme Court. The Court, however, ruled that it had no jurisdiction in the matter. While the court hearings were going on, the Somerset was slowly extending its line toward Rockwood and the site of William Ayer’s proposed railroad summer

subdivision.

The Somerset railroad subdivision (as proposed) was to be adjacent to the railroad terminal at Birch Point. The terminal grounds had actually been purchased with the subdivision in mind. Altogether, there were to be two hundred and sixty-six lots. The design shows roads and walkways. Odd-sized leftover parcels where roads intersected or where the shoreline was irregular were designated as parks or common areas. One reason for the location of the subdivision was its easy access to the steamboat dock. Another was the spectacular view of Kineo across the lake.

The Maine Central took over the Somerset in 1907. In 1911 it purchased the Kineo House which was run by the Ricker Hotel Company. One can only wonder, however, how Rockwood might have developed if William Ayer had been around to carry out his subdivision plan.

Discover Maine

1890 Primitives.................................................................................42

A-1 Seamless Gutters.......................................................................20

ABC Pool & Spa Center.....................................................................17

ADA Fence Company, Inc. ................................................................24

Affordable

All Points Transportation...................................................................38

American Awards Inc. .....................................................................22

Archie’s Inc. Rubbish Removal...........................................................43

Asian Café.........................................................................................22

Asian Noodle Bowl............................................................................22

Augusta Fuel Company.....................................................................22

Back Office Solutions Maine.............................................................24

Bean Maine Lobster..........................................................................12

Beaulieu Garage Doors.....................................................................42

Best Western Plus - Rumford Falls...................................................31

Bingham Motor Inn & Sports Complex..............................................40

Blanchette Moving & Storage Co. ....................................................4

Bob’s Cash Fuel..................................................................................46

Brick House Kitchen..........................................................................25

Buen Apetito Mexican Grill................................................................28

Cantrell Seafood 2.............................................................................17

Capital Area Tree Service...................................................................10

Chalet Moosehead Lakefront Lodging..............................................41

Chuck Wagon Restaurant..................................................................30

Clark Auto Parts................................................................................47

Cole Harrison Insurance....................................................................38

Collins Enterprises.............................................................................36

Colonial Valley Motel........................................................................36

Conlogue’s Building & Property Management...................................34

Country Corner Inn...........................................................................39

Country K9 & Cats............................................................................11

Countryside Auto Body & Repair.........................................................7

Cushing Construction........................................................................29

D.B. Industries.....................................................................................8

Damboise Garage..............................................................................23

Dan’s

Design Architectural Heating...........................................................19

Dirigo

Elmer’s

E-Z

Farmington

Feed Commodities

Harris Drug Store..............................................................................41

Harvest Time Natural Foods................................................................8

Hilton Garden Inn Auburn Riverwatch.............................................16

Hog Heaven Bar & Grill......................................................................46

Home Auto Group.............................................................................35

Hungry Hollow Country Store............................................................5

J.P. Clarke Plumbing Services...........................................................38

J.T. Reid’s Gun Shop.............................................................................5

Jackman Auto Parts..........................................................................49

Jean Castonguay Excavation Trucking & Logging..............................30

Jimmy’s Shop ‘N Save........................................................................48

Johnny Castonguay Logging & Trucking..........................................28 Jordan Lumber Co. ...........................................................................38

Judd Goodwin Well Company...........................................................41

Kay Museum.......................................................................................6

Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce..........................................21

Kersey Real Estate.............................................................................31

Kirkpatrick’s Service & Repair............................................................10

Kramers Inc. .....................................................................................28

Kyes Insurance..................................................................................34

LaFleur’s Restaurant..........................................................................30

Lakeview Lumber Co. ......................................................................11

Langlois’ Auto Body & Auto Sales......................................................15

Larsen’s Electric.................................................................................44

Lavallee’s Garage...............................................................................49

Law Office of Brian D. Condon, Jr, Esq. ............................................21

Lewiston-Auburn Metro Chamber of Commerce...............................19

Lincoln Street Radiator Shop...............................................................7

Linda Bean’s Maine Kitchen & Topside Tavern..................................12

Linda Bean’s Maine Wyeth Gallery...................................................12

Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine Vacation Rental....................................12

Linkletter & Sons, Inc. ........................................................................6

Luce’s Meats & Maple.......................................................................39

Macomber, Farr & Whitten Insurance.................................................9

Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife...............................7 & 27

Maine Family Federal Credit Union.....................................................7

Maine Historical Society.....................................................................5

Maine Instrument Flight...................................................................22

Maine Pellet Sales LLC.......................................................................5

Mainely Puppies Plus, LLC...................................................................7

Mama Bear’s Den..............................................................................41

Marston Industrial Services Inc. ......................................................24

Mattson’s Flooring & Window Treatments.........................................21

McAllister Accounting and Tax Services............................................43

McNaughton

Oxford

Oxford

Patterson’s

Penobscot

Phil

Pine

Pitcher

R.E. Lowell Lumber Inc. ..................................................................21

R.J. Energy Services, Inc. ....................................................................9

Rare Woods USA................................................................................32

RDA Automotive.................................................................................8

Record Building Supply, Inc. ...............................................................6

Redington-Fairview General Hospital...............................................25

Rick’s Repair......................................................................................42

Rolfe’s Well Drilling Co. ....................................................................23

Ron’s Transmissions.............................................................................9

Roopers Beverage & Redemption.....................................................18

Rottari Electric....................................................................................6

Route 26 Antiques & Flea Market....................................................14

Russell & Sons Towing & Recovery...................................................15

Sackett and Brake Survey Inc. .........................................................24

Smile Again Dentures, Inc. ..............................................................19

Smokin’ Good Times..........................................................................42

Solon Corner Market.........................................................................26

Spillover Inn at Stratton Brook..........................................................37

Spillover Motel..................................................................................37

Sprague & Curtis Real Estate............................................................21

Sterling Electric.................................................................................34

Stevens Electric & Pump Service Inc. .................................................4

Strong Hardware & Building Supply.................................................45

Sturdy Hardware...............................................................................20

Styling Dog Grooming Boutique.........................................................7

Sun Auto & Salvage..........................................................................45

The Cote Corporation........................................................................15

The Meadows......................................................................................8

The Raven Collections.......................................................................15

The Sterling Inn Bed & Breakfast......................................................40

The SugarBowl Family Entertainment..............................................37

The Wood Mill of Maine....................................................................46

Thomas College.................................................................................27

Todd’s Discount & Gift Shop..............................................................32

Tom Finn Shoe Repair.........................................................................9

Town of Carthage.............................................................................44

Town of Farmington.........................................................................37

Trail’s End Steakhouse & Tavern........................................................45

Trailside One Stop.............................................................................41

Trash Guyz.........................................................................................14

Tri-State Staffing Solutions.................................................................8

Twin Town Homes, Inc. ......................................................................6

V&G Home Improvements................................................................20

Vasvary Electric.................................................................................10

Vintage Maine Images........................................................................5

Weber Insurance Group.....................................................................31

Weeks & Sons Well Drilling..............................................................43

Whittemore & Sons Outdoor Power Equipment...............................25

Wilson Funeral Home.........................................................................3

Windsor Preventive Dental Care.......................................................23

Winslow Supply, Inc. ........................................................................11

Woodlawn Rehab & Nursing Center..................................................24

Wood-Mizer of Maine.......................................................................45

Woody’s............................................................................................41