Hancock-Washington-Penobscot Counties
Inside This Edition
2 3
It Makes No Never Mind James Nalley
4
The First Downeast Map Historic map appraised on Antiques Roadshow Charles Francis
8
New Bucksport Fire Engine Saves The Day 1913 wind-driven blaze valiantly doused Brian Swartz
12 Blue Hill’s Jonathan Fisher The Parson who did it all James Nalley 22 Maine Remembers Her World War Veterans Remember, Honor, Teach Paul Baresel 30 Memories of the Bluenose Popular ferry service brings fond memories Terry Hamlin 34 Famed Boston Banjo Manufacturer L.B. Gatcomb Hancock native’s tale of triumph and tragedy James Nalley
Maine’s History Magazine
Hancock-Washington-Penobscot Counties
Publisher & Editor Jim Burch
Layout & Design Liana Merdan
Advertising & Sales Manager Tim Maxfield
Advertising & Sales Barry Buck Dennis Burch Chris Girouard Tim Maxfield Catrina Seymore
Office Manager
Liana Merdan
42 Coach Magoon’s Baseball Miracle University of Maine men state champs Brian Swartz
Field Representatives
45 The Great Bangor Fire The spring season of 1911 began sadly Wanda Curtis
Contributing Writers
60 East Machias’ Arlo Bates MIT’s resident poet Charles Francis 63 The 1947 Eastport Fire Fire takes million dollar toll on the town Brian Swartz 67 1912 Marine Disaster In Calais Narrowly Avoided Titanic had sunk just two months earlier Brian Swartz 70 Jazzman John Benson Brooks Houlton’s dreamer of impossible dreams Charles Francis 74 Stearns High’s 1963 Minutemen Those young men sure could play basketball Brian Swartz 79 Brewer’s Dione Polliot The girl who climbed the ladder James Nalley 81 Hampden’s Captain Alfred Rawley Jr. Skipper worked in the golden age of steam Brian Swartz 84 A Lazy Summer Weekend Memories on Sebasticook Lake Brian Swartz
Mike Pagliaro George Tatro
Paul Baresel Wanda Curtis Charles Francis | fundy67@yahoo.ca Erick T. Gatcomb Terry Hamlin James Nalley Brian Swartz Published Annually by CreMark, Inc. 10 Exchange Street, Suite 208 Portland, Maine 04101 Ph (207) 874-7720 info@discovermainemagazine.com www.discovermainemagazine.com Discover Maine Magazine is distributed to town offices, chambers of commerce, fraternal organizations, barber shops, beauty salons, newsstands, grocery and convenience stores, hardware stores, lumber companies, motels, restaurants and other locations throughout this part of Maine. NO PART of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from CreMark, Inc. | Copyright © 2014, CreMark, Inc.
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Front Cover Photo: Deer Isle Ferry #30140 from the Atlantic Fisherman Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org All photos in Discover Maine’s Hancock-Washington-Penobscot Counties edition show Maine as it used to be, and many are from local citizens who love this part of Maine. Photos are also provided from our collaboration with the Maine Historical Society and the Penobscot Marine Museum.
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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com obscurity, failing to catch the interest or attention of the historian. In America there are a few exceptions to this happenstance. Ben Franklin is one,and so is Osgood Carleton. Mathematical practitioners helped further the development of technology. They did it in the fields of technical specialties, in education and as businessmen. Osgood Carleton furthered the development of human knowledge with his contributions to the understanding of the geography of the United States as well as its economic and social development. For example, the 1795 Carleton map of the District of Maine shows not only township boundaries, but also rivers, lakes, roads, public buildings, mills and iron works. The uniqueness of Carleton maps is to be found in another of their facets, however. What makes Carleton maps valuable for the collector is the fact they are wall maps. Osgood Carleton did not
produce atlases. His maps were the first done in America by an American to be hung on a wall. The fact that Carleton maps are wall maps says something as to why it is so difficult to find one of his productions in good condition. Wall maps dating from the 1800s are among the rarest maps. Wall maps are highly susceptible to damage both from the elements and from human beings. Early wall maps often show water damage. They also show use, being pawed by human hands. The latter abuse led to wrinkling, fraying of edges and tearing. The most famous Carleton map is probably the one he did of the United States in 1791. This places it at around the same time he did the map which shows Hancock and Washington counties. Carleton’s map showing Hancock and Washington counties is extremely accurate. One reason for this is that he used surveys that were done in drawing up his map. There is another reason
for its accuracy. Carleton had first-hand knowledge of the two District of Maine counties. Osgood Carleton was a Bostonian. He lived in Boston and he had a school there. The school provided instruction in mathematics, navigation and cartography. It was viewed as the finest of its kind in the United States. One of Carleton’s Boston friends was Paul Dudley Sargent. This is the same Sargent who was one of the founders of Sullivan, Maine. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. During the American Revolution, Carleton served in Colonel Paul Dudley Sargent’s regiment. Carleton’s military service extends to a period before this, though. He was stationed in Louisburg and Annapolis in Nova Scotia around 1760. This latter experience, especially at Annapolis, introduced him to the down east region. Following the Revolution, Carleton worked as a surveyor. His work took him to New Hampshire (continued on page 6)
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14 (continued from page 13)
the right entrance to his house, he read his Hebrew Bible at five o’clock each morning, in winter by the light of his ‘blazing logs’…he taught (Latin and Greek) to four or five young men, who usually boarded with him and his own large family.” And as he studied and taught, he recorded his observations in his notebooks. These notebooks and sketchbooks are fascinating glimpses into this man’s life. They show how he was industrious during difficult times when he struggled to feed his family. They detail that he farmed acres of his own land, invented medical remedies for times of sickness, and even made buttons by sawing and carving the bones of dead farm animals. Even then, he studied and wrote about fascinating topics (with beautiful illustrations) that ranged from The Touching of Two Magnets to watercolors of The Garden Pea. For additional money he offered an exhausting list of services (for a fair price). According to
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Early view of Dirigo Hotel in Southwest Harbor. Item #102559 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
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Young boy standing next to Balance Rock in Bar Harbor. Item #106259 from the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
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Hancock-Washington-Penobscot Counties
18
1938 map of Hancock, Sullivan and Lamoine. Courtesy of John Barrows and available at Galeyrie.com
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Hancock-Washington-Penobscot Counties
68 (continued from page 67)
neer James Gray to reverse the engines and then to reverse them hard. “Instead of reversing, the steamer plunged forward and into the dredge,” the local reporter wrote afterwards. Aboard Dredge No. 4, Sugro watched horrified as the Grand Manan buried its bow in the dredge’s forward hull. He felt the dredge lurch; the river was already pouring in, leaving Sugro only moments to shout a warning to sleeping crewmembers. Staggering on deck, they leaped onto a mud scow tied to the dredge. Someone counted noses and discovered that Second Engineer James H. Carey was missing. Aboard the Grand Manan, with “the crash came a sickening sensation of impending danger passed through the passengers,” the reporter recalled. Probably everybody aboard the steamer knew the tale of the Titanic, bagged just two months earlier by a North At-
lantic iceberg. Now the Grand Manan’s crew and passengers understood the gut reaction experienced by those aboard the Titanic when they realized that their ship was doomed. Yet “although they grew intensely excited,” the Grand Manan’s passengers did not rush over each other nor did anybody attempt to jump overboard,” the reporter stressed. That was a smart decision; as a Bay of Fundy tributary, the St. Croix River runs fast, and anybody going overboard that night might have drowned. “A lot of young girls fainted, but they were properly looked after, and taken altogether the passengers behaved well under the trying circumstances,” wrote the reporter, literally the man-on-thescene as the clock reached 12 midnight. Meanwhile, Grand Manan crewmen searched their ship; they happily reported to Ingersoll that the hull had not been breached.
Dredge No. 4 sank as Ingersoll sounded the steamer’s whistle. Rescuers soon swarmed on the St. Croix; the Whitlocks Mill lightkeeper arrived alongside the dredge’s mud scow in a lifeboat, and the Canadian tugboat Thomas Yorke Jr. steamed onto the scene with two local experienced ship captains and a Canadian dredging inspector aboard. Private motorboats appeared out of the darkness, too. When Charles Carrara of St. Stephen heard about the collision, he hurled his motorboat downriver until he came alongside the Grand Manan. In the confusion Carrara shouted for his daughter, a passenger aboard the steamer. She was safe, as were all the other passengers. Carrara took her and 11 other passengers aboard and brought them to St. Stephen. The “large motor boat” operated by Canadian Theodore Holmes, who lived literally at The
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Public Library in Old Town. Item #108912 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org
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Aerial view of Newport, ca. 1956. Item #5574 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com
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