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

358    GAZETTEER    OF    MAINE.

1880 it was $17,541. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 1_T⁵$
per cent. The population in 1870 was 156. In 1880 it was 139.

Mayfield lies on the eastern line of Somerset County, 23
miles north of Skowhegan. It is bounded on the north by Bald Moun-
tain Township, south by Brighton, west by Bingham, and east by
Kingsbury, in Piscataquis County. The town is quite hilly; Coburn
Ridge, occupying nearly the whole western side of the town, being the
greatest. It has two considerable ponds in the northern part, of which
Austin Stream, running west to the Kennebec, is the outlet. Hayden
Pond lies near the centre of the town, its outlet emptying into Kings-
bury Pond in the south-east part. The last is 2-J miles long and 1
wide. The principal settlement is at the south-east part of the town,
on the road from Skowhegan to Blanchard. The principal rock of the
town is slate. The soil is quite fertile, yielding good crops of grain.
Cedar and spruce are the most numerous woods. There are two lum-
ber-mills in the town, and one mill for preparing slate, of which con-
siderable quantities are quarried here.

This town was a part of Bingham’s Kennebec Purchase. It was
incorporated March 7, 1836. Mayfield sent 4 men to aid in preserv-
ing the Union in the late war and lost 1.

The nearest post-office is at Brighton. The town has one public
schoolhouse; this, with land, being valued at $150. The valuation of
estates in 1870 was $9,300. In 1880 it was $17,875. The population
in 1870 was 96. In 1880 it was 141.

Maysville is an exclusively^ agricultural town lying on the
Aroostook River, in Aroostook County, having Fort Fairfield between
it and New Brunswick. Caribou bounds it on the north, Presque Isle
on the south, and Mapleton and Washburn on the west. The surface
of the town is somewhat rolling, but without high elevations, May Hill
being the highest. The Aroostook comes in at the west and leaves on
the northern border making a complete oxbow about the centre of the
town. At its exit it receives Hardwood Creek, which comes in at the
west along the northern line ; and at the south-west Presque Isle River
joins it from southward. In the western part of the town, the Aroos
took flows around many islands. Maysville has one or two small saw-
mills and a stareh-factory. The factory is of 727 tons capacity, and
consumes 140,000 bushels of potatoes in a single season.

The underlying rock in this town is limestone, found everywhere,
either outcropping or under the surface, but seldom more than 20 feet
below. The soil, as might he supposed, is quite calcareous. Potatoes
are the leading money crop. Hay, wheat and oats are also largely
raised, and, like the first, yield well. The forests contains a great
variety of trees.

The town is 42 miles N.N.W. of Houlton, on the stage-route to
Caribou. The latter is 7 miles distant, and furnishes the nearest rail-
road station. Presque Isle Village, lying near the south line of Mays-
ville, is the centre of business for the latter town. Maysville was
incorporated, April 4,1859. The town-hall is a large, two-story wooden
building nearly new, with a school-room below. In the spring of 1880,
near 500 trees, mostly of rock maples, were set out along the highways