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

f-

"*•    ELLS w ORTH.    219

College grant, east by township Number Seven, Ninth Range, west by
Shirley, and south by Howard and Monson. Within its limits are two
lofty eminences, Boarstone and Peaked Mountains; in its south-eastern
part lies Ship Pond; Wilson’s Stream crosses its south-west corner,
there receiving the Little Wilson. On these united are some good
mill privileges; while above on Little Wilson is one of the most re-
markable cataracts of the east. This is a fall of 80 feet perpendicular.
Clapboard cuts have sometimes been driven over this fall, but many of
them would come up in the stream below, split and quartered from end
to end. The township has still a fair amount of pine and spruce tim-
ber, and some good agricultural soil; but there is much waste land.

The first grant in this town was a mile in width on the west side to
the Massachusetts Medical Society. The next grant was of half a town-
ship to the heirs of William Vaughan (a leading officer of the Louis-
burg expedition of 1745) for services rendered the State by him, the
heirs selecting the northern half of this township on the east of the
Medical Society’s tract. Four thousand acres being granted to the
Saco Free Bridge Company, this also was located in the township
south of the Vaughan tract. Two other small parcels in the south part
on either side of Ship Pond were purchased by Elliot G. Vaughan and
a Mr. Watson. Eventually, E. G. Vaughan became chief owner of the
territory of the heirs of that surname in town. Joseph Sawyer, from
Buxton, was the first to move his family in. E. G. Vaughan built a
saw-mill on the Little Wilson Stream, and E. T. Bridge built a grist-
mill on the Wilson. Hoping to hasten settlements thereby, he pro-
cured a town incorporation for the township in 1885, giving it his own
Christian name. A county road was opened to Monson, school dis-
tricts established, and a school fund secured by the sale of the reserved
lands, but the incorporation proved premature. The inhabitants de-
creased, and in 1858, in response to their petition, the act of incorpo-
ration was repealed; since which time the township has been without
an independent civil organization. The population in 1870 was 42.
In 1880 it was 55. Valuation in 1880, $11,020.

ELLSWORTH, he shire town and only city of Hancock
County, is situated at the head of Union River Bay, and near the
centre of the county. The territorial area is between 60,000 and 70,000
acres. Union River passes southward through the middle of the town.
Branch, Beech Hill and Reed’s are the principal ponds. The
surface of the land is generally broken, especially on the western side
of the river. Mountain Rock is reported to be the greatest elevation.
The stage-road, the main thoroughfare of the town, passes through a
section of metamorphic ledges, on which rest many erratic boulders,
pi*    Those    found    between Falls Village and the “ Craigs ” are said to sur-

pass all others in the county for size. The land would be regarded as
generally better suited for sheep-ranges than for the cultivation of
crops.

The business portion of the town is situated about the Falls. These
cover a distance of 2 miles, extending from the upper and business
portion known as “Falls Village” to the Bridge, having in that space
a total fall of 85 feet. The holding capacity of the supplying ponds is
estimated at 5,500,000,000 cubic feet, and the water annually discharged
over these falls at 17,500,000,000 cubic feet. The mills and factories con-