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

^    THE STATE OF MAINE.    27

^    There    are on these roads within the limits of the state, 188 stations.

Several of the roads operate- a telegraph line in connection with their
stations. The Atlantic and St. Lawrence (Grand Trunk) Railway own
and operate 149^- miles of line; the Belfast and Moosehead Lake,
Boston and Maine, and the Bucksport and Bangor railroads operate 195
i    miles of line, of which, however, they own but 29. The European and

¹    North American Railway operates 114 miles ; the Maine Central, 216;

t    the Portland and Rochester, 52£; an/1 the Rumford Falls and Buck-

field road, 27| miles. The total miles operated by the railroads of
the State is 757£ miles. There is in the State about 40 telegraph sta-
’    tions, having a continental connection, beside those on tbe railroad

lines. Of the lines having a general connection, the Western Union
Telegraph Company is tbe chief proprietor. There are also numerous
Telephone lines in the State; but these rarely exceed a few miles in
j    length. The Portland Railroad was the first horse-railroad in the State

run for the use of the public. Lewiston and Auburn now have a horse-
!    railroad.

j    CIVIL DIVISIONS AND POPULATION.

]    Maine    is divided into sixteen counties ; viz.: Androscoggin, Aroos-

•>    took, Cumberland, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln,

i    Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo, Wash-

ington and York.

The cities in the order of their population are,—Portland, Lewiston,
Bangor, Biddeford, Auburn, Augusta, Bath, Rockland, Saco, Calais,
*"*    Belfast, Ellsworth, Gardiner and Hallowell. The cities are governed

by a mayor, a board of aldermen, and a common council, who are
chosen annually by the people.

The whole number of towns, exclusive of the fourteen cities, as
given in the State valuation report, 1880, is 412 ; and the number of
organized plantations 56. The towns, like the cities, choose their
officers annually. The principal officers are three selectmen, a
treasurer and collector, a clerk, a supervisor or a committee to super-
intend the schools, and usually a number of citizens as overseers of
the poor, a road surveyor, and other minor officers. At the annual
meeting in tbe spring when the officers are elected, it is usual also to
fix upon a sum of money to be raised by taxes upon the property owned
in the town, in addition to the usual head tax, for the payment of the
town’s part of the State and National tax, for the salaries of town
officers, the payment of school teachers, the support of the indigent,
and other expenses. For school purposes the towns are sometimes
divided into districts ; and for voting purposes, the cities are divided
into wards. The town or city is, however, the unit of civil authority ;
.    the lesser divisions being dependent upon it, and the town or city only

being responsible to the State. Our town municipal system allows
more freedom to the citizen than any other form of government in ex-
istence. The officers of a plantation are the same as the principal ones
of a town, with the exception that there is a board of three assessors
instead of selectmen ; but the powers of a plantation are more limited
than those of towns.

At the time of the admission of Maine as an independent member of
the National Union, it had a population of 298,335, and 59,606 taxable