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

550    GAZETTEER OF MAINE.

field and to Fort Kent. The New Brunswick Railway follows the St.
John on the opposite shore.

This town was incorporated in 1881, being named for a former pre-
sident of the United States. There are here a Roman Catholic and an
Episcopal society. Thefe are eight public schoolhouses, and the school
property is valued at $2,500. The population in 1870 was 922. In
1880 it was 1,110. The valuation in 1870 was $46,233. In 1880 it was
$111,670.

Vanceboro is the extreme north-eastern town of Washing-
ton County. It is bounded by First Lake of St. Croix or Chiputnet-
icook series, and has the river on the east and south. On the west is
Eaton and No. 1 township, the lake’s end and St. Croix River; the
outlet being at the north-eastern corner of the town. The St. Croix
Log-driving Company have a dam here holding a 15-feet head of water.
The manufactures in this town consist of leather and a clothes-pin and
spool factory. The tannery is owned by the great tanning firm of F.
Shaw & Brothers. Its capacity is 500 tons annually of dry sole-
leather.

The surface of the town is only moderately uneven. There is a
great variety of rocks, and the soil also has this characteristic. Pota-
toes and oats are the crops chiefly cultivated. Beech, maple, elm,
hemlock and spruce are the forest trees.

The European and North American Railway passes through the
town; the road passing from it into New Brunswick over St. Croix by
a bridge about 200 feet in length. At the station here is a convenient
eating-house.

The settlement has a public library of 75 volumes. The Methodists
here have a society and a resident minister. The public schoolhouses
are two in number, and the school property including land is valued at
$1,130. The population in 1870 was 327. In 1880 it was 381. The
valuation in 1870 was $40,000, In 1880 it was $129,528. The rate of
taxation in the latter year was 7 mills on the dollar.

Vassalboro, in Kennebec County, lies on the east side of the
Kennebec River, north of and adjoining Augusta. It is bounded by
China on the east, Sidney on the west, and Winslow on the north.
Webber’s Pond, having an area of 2.10 square miles, lies a little south
of the centre of the town; a portion of China Pond projects into the
eastern side, and Three-mile Pond forms a portion of the boundary
between it and China at the south-east. The Kennebec River separates
it from Sidney, which constituted a part of Vassalboro from its incor-
poration in 1771 until 1792, when its territory west of the river wms
set off and incorporated as an independent town. The first settlements
were made along the river about 1760 ; but they increased so slowly
that eight years later this extensive township contained but ten fam-
ilies. Dennis and John Gatchell were among the earliest settlers.
Both were guides to Arnold’s expedition up the Kennebec in 1776.
Dennis was chosen captain of the town in 1775; John was a noted
hunter, and a man of great strength. Once when a full-grown moose
which he had wounded turned upon him, he seized the animal, threw
him down and cut his throat with a jack-knife. John’s house was sit-
uated on the bank of the Kennebec, and had an underground passage