A History Of Deerfield Leathers Made

by Pat Cassier

The year was 1959, when as a young man of 17 years old, I took my first trip to Maine. Traveling with my French-Canadian uncles and cousins, we voyaged to Maine’s Unorganized Territories just west of Stacyville (T3, R7) for a week of deer hunting. At that time our lodging was an abandoned logging camp, two buildings with an outhouse (doorless), about one mile east of Whetstone Falls (Swiftbrook Road) on the east branch of the Penobscot River. The Swiftbrook Road took us to the logging camp and at that time was a very narrow dirt road good for one-way traffic.

I was so impressed with the aura of the hunting camp, and the madness of it all that some of those memories are

in Maine

well preserved in my brain yet today. That trip continues for me today at the age of 80 and this fall of 2023 will be my 64th year of deer hunting in Maine’s Unorganized Territories. Oh yes, I’ve seen many changes and have had to adapt plenty over the decades.

During these past 64 years, I earned a living working with leather and leather chemicals. My job with Rohm and Haas was to sell chemicals to Maine tanneries for tanning and finishing leathers. And yes, Maine had some huge tanneries. There were about 6 of them located in Howland, Hartland, Dover-Foxcroft, South Paris, Saco, and Berwick. There were numerous others, smaller ones, located in various townships. The larger tanneries processed cowhides and the smaller tanneries processed sheepskins. Irving Tanning Company, located in Hartland was the biggest, processing about 6,000 cow sides per day (3,000 cows) as well as sheepskins and cowhide splits.

Thus, from working in Maine to deer hunting and trout fishing there every year, I have found a second home. As tanneries faded from the scene, lives changed, and businesses changed. I went from being a chemical salesman and full retirement at age 56 to being the founder of a leather products manufacturing and distribution company called “Deerfield Leathers” located in scenic south Deerfield, New Hampshire.

Our connections to the Maine people with our leather products business have fostered the manufacturing of key leather items in the State of Maine to this very day. “Katahdin Belts,” “Katahdin Holsters,” the Maine “Barnbag,” and pet accessories are all produced in

Sherman, Maine. Our “Crazy Horse” wallet display boxes are made in New Hampshire and Maine out of northern white cedar or white pine. Every box has a different hand-painted scene of the wild west or the Unorganized Territories of Maine. An artist from Sherman, Sharon Sirois, paints the scenes and numbers and signs every box. To date, we are pushing 400 boxes that display our 30 plus styles of men’s “Crazy Horse” wallets, RFID protected, all across New England and as far as Alaska. One can find Deerfield Leathers’ goods in trading posts, hardware stores, general stores, barber shops and travel centers across Maine, plus others as well. Likely locations to find our goods are Old Town Trading Post, Maine Military Supply, Ames True Value Hardware, Paris Farmers Union stores and S.W. Collins lumber yards to mention a few.

Over the years, I have several stories of the annual fall deer hunt and written a book entitled Unorganized Territories, which can be found at some of those retail locations. This book has enjoyed robust sales and a second issue is due out later in 2023.

To carry Deerfield Leathers’ Mainemade products, one can contact Deerfield Leathers at (603) 463-5591.