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

152    GAZETTEER OF MAINE.

yard. From that d^y to the present the place has been noted for its
lumber business. Within city limits are eight valuable water-powers,
of which five are improved. These improvements consisted, in 1860,
of saw-mills having a total of twenty-one gangs of saws, capable of
cutting annually 55,000,000 feet of long lumber; nineteen lath-maehines,
cutting 49,000,000 laths ; shingle-machines, capable of cutting 2,500,000
shingles. There are also two planing-mills, one run by steam-power,
one planing-machine factory, one saw-factory, two axe-factories, and
four grain-mills. The aggregate annual production of the last is 70,000
bushels of grain converted into meal and flour, and of the axe factory,
600 dozen axes. The value of the annual production of Calais mills is
about $2,000,000. There remains a large surplus of power unused, and
a cotton-mill and other industries are projected. Other manufactures
are bricks, bedsteads, brooms, carriages, plaster, ships, etc. There are
two marine railways and one dry-dock. Being a port on waters navig-
able by large vessels, and having a harbor open nine months in the
year, the facility of transportation enables the products to be placed in
sea-coast markets at a lower cost than those of almost any other
lumber-making place. At Red Beach are immense deposits of varie-
gated granite, which are extensively wrought, and about which quite
a village has sprung up. In 1872, besides laths, clapboard and shingle-
mills, there were in operation at Calais and Baring thirty-eight mills,
mostly owned by residents of Calais. Calais is connected with the
towns up river as far as Princeton hy the St. Croix and Penobscot
Railway, which will probably, in a few years, be extended to a con-
nection with the European and North American. A connection of
Calais with the latter road is already made by means of the St. An-
drews branch, which here crosses the river hy a bridge. There are
also three highway bridges connecting Calais with St. Andrew and St.
Stephens. Surrounding towns including Eastport, 30 miles south, are
reached by stages ; and various sea-ports, east and west, by the Fron-
tier and international steamboat lines. The Post-Offices are Calais,
Milltown at the northern, and Red Beach at the southern border. The
telegraphic connection is also good.

Calais is a small, but pleasing city. There are many tasteful and
handsome residences. Several of the streets have shade-trees of recent,
and others ancient of growth ; and some have charming vistas. There
is an odor of pine lumber about the city, with just enough of tlie pro-
vincial character accompanying to give a fresh and attractive flavor
to the place.

The first permanent white settler of Calais was Daniel Hill, from
Jonesboro, Me., wdio made a clearing on Ferry Point. He was an
athletic and fearless man, and had served in the Indian war of 1758-60.
The Indians about him knew this fact, and greatly feared him, though
he kindly aided and instructed them in their farming. Samuel Hill
came in 1781. In 1782 Daniel Hill, Jacob Libby and Jeremiah Frost
built the first saw-mill, the location being near the mouth of Porter’s
Stream. There were so few men that the women assisted in raising
the frame. Daniel Hill brought in the first oxen and did the first farm-
ing. By order of the General Court of Massachusetts, the territory
along the southern part of St. Croix was, in 1789, divided into town-
ships. In June of the same year the township which is now Calais was
gold to Waterman Thomas of Waldobrough, Me., for the sum of £672.