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

WATERBOROUGH.

have all the lands they would settle, and all the islands within 3 miles
of the coast. In 1760 a similar proposition was made to Massachusetts
by tbe Earl of Castlereagh and Francis Vassal in regard to lands upon
Machias River, but nothing was done. About this time the Kine
authorized the General Court of Massachusetts to make free grants of
land to those officers and privates who had served in the French and
Indian wars, just terminated. A captain was to receive 3,000, a
subaltern 2,000, and a private 500 acres.

After the downfall of the French power in the north, in 1760, the
Indians manifested a disposition to maintain peace and amity with
the settlers, and to the present time this friendship has not been in-
terrupted.

The rivers of this county are noted for their falls, and their ample
lake reservoirs, forming abundant water-power. They were heavily tim-
bered to their sources, and their extensive areas have been diked and
reclaimed from the waters and made valuable hay-producing lands.
The bottom lands are rich, and there are many large tracts of fine
arable soil, which are bearing heavy crops of corn, wheat, hay and
potatoes. The rivers are prolific in pickerel, trout, togue, perch, and
salmon. The sea fisheries are extensive and profitable, employing a
large capital and great numbers of men and boys. The granite business
is receiving increased attention, and excellent quarries are being
wrought at Addison, Jonesborough, Marshfield, and Red Beach in
Calais.

Machias, the shire-town of this county from its inauguration, is also
k."    the    oldest town. By an act of Congress in 1789, all the coasts and

ports of Maine were classed in nine commercial districts, in each of
which a collector and other customs officers were appointed by Pre-
sident Washington. Machias was made a port of entry, Stephen
Smith being appointed first collector. From the earliest settlement of
the county’its people have been largely engaged in building vessels,
mostly of a small size, suitable for coasting and fisheries. In 1873,
9,482 tons of shipping were built in the Machias district. In 1856, 17
vessels, ranging from 100 to 1000 tons each, were built at Robbinston.
Pembroke, ^Calais, East Machias, Lubec, Millbridge, Columbia Falls
and Addison are ship-building towns.

Washington Plantation is situated in the southern
part of Franklin County. It is bounded north by Perkins Plantation, east
by Temple, south by Wilton, and west by Perkins Plantation and
Carthage. The dimensions of the territory are three miles north and
south by one and one half east and west. There is one lofty hill in the
western part of the township, the termination of a range approaching
from the south-west. The outlet of a pond in Perkins Plantation runs
southward through the eastern part of the township. The plantation is
6 miles north-west of Wilton, on a stage-fine. Washington Plantation
was formerly township No. 4. The organization is now given up.
The valuation in 1870 was $6,000. The population at the same date
was 62. In 1880 it was 32.

Waterborough, in York County, is twenty-eight miles
from Portland, on the Portland and Rochester Railroad. The town
of Hollis forms most of its eastern boundary, Limerick and Limington