Gazetteer of the State of Maine With Numerous Illustrations, by Geo. J. Varney

BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL. 1882. Public domain image from

ISLE Au HAUT.    287

Patent, or Kennebec Purchase. The first settlements were made by
James and John Thompson, Zoe Withe, Thomas Johnson, and Wil-
liam Allen, about 1793 or the following year. Benjamin Cottle, Daniel
Luce, Peter Daggett, Jabez Norton, Peter West, James Winslow, John
Gowner and Lemuel Howes were also early settlers. The lands were
first taken up where each individual chose, and held by possession, but
afterward purchased of those claiming proprietorship under the original
grant. The town was incorporated in 1803.

The Methodists, Free Baptists, Congregationalists and Baptists
each have a church edifice. Industry has ten public schoolhouses, and
the school property is valued at $3,200. The valuation of estates in
1870 was $148,252. The population in 1870 was 725. In 1880 it was
609.

Island Falls is a town in Aroostook County, 27 miles
south-west of Houlton, on the stage road from that place to Patten.
Dyer Brook Plantation bounds it on the north, and Crystal Plantation
on the west. The form of the town is a square, and the area 22,040
acres. Maple, beech, birch, hemlock, spruce, fir, pine, cedar and juniper
are abundant. The prevailing rock is of a granitic nature. The soil is
chiefly alluvial, with some rich intervals. Wheat, oats and potatoes
are the crops principally cultivated. The most notable elevation is a
precipitous mass of rock known as “ Granite Bluff.” On the eastern
border of the town are Mattawamkeag Lake—8 miles long and 4 wide;
and Pleasant Lake, of about one half this size. Smaller Caribou Lake
is on the southern border. The streams are Mattawamkeag River, Fish
Stream, Dyer, Sly and Alder brooks, tributary to the river, w^rhich
empties into Mattawamkeag Lake. The longest bridge yet built in the
town is 200 feet; the roads are very good. The powers are on the west
branch of the river, and on Cold and Dyer brooks. The two first are
improved. In all, there are three mills for the manufacture of long and
short lumber, and two grist mills. Corn brooms are also manufactured
and the town has a stone cutter, a boat-builder, and a painter. There
is a circulating library of 150 volumes.

Island Falls was first settled in 1843, by Levi Sewall and Jesse
Craig, from Farmington. It was incorporated in February, 1872,
taking its name from the principal fall, which has an island at the verge
midway of the stream.

There is a Congregationalist society here which sustains a clergyman.
The town hall has a school on the first floor, and a pretty hall on the
second, used for town and religious meetings, and social entertainments.
Island Falls has three public schoolhouses ; and the school property
including lands is valued at $2,700. The valuation of estates in 1870
was $37,904. In 1880 it was $47,229. The population in 1870 was
183. In 1880 it was 236.

Isle an Hant, the most south-westerly portion of Hancock
County, is situated at the eastern entrance of Penobscot Bay, and one
league directly south of Deer Isle. It was incorporated in 1874, having
been taken from the town of Deer Island. It is composed of the Isle
au Haut, the two Spoon Islands, York’s, Fogg’s, Burnt, Merchant’s,
Kimball’s, and all other islands south of Merchant’s Row. The aggre-