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

WESTON.    585

is 54 miles north by north-west of Skowhegan, on the Canada road and
stage-line from Skowhegan to Quebec.

The plantation has a schoolhouse ; and the school property is valued
at $500. All the able-bodied men of this plantation joined the Union
forces during the war of the Rebellion, and seven were lost. The area
of this township is 17,800 acres, and the wild lands are valued at $6,000.
Neither population, polls, nor valuation of estates are given in the pre-
liminary report of the census of 1880, nor in the state valuation report
of that year.

WOSt Gardiner is situated in the south-western part of
Kennebec County. It is bounded on the east by Gardiner, north by
Farmingdale and Manchester, west by Winthrop and Monmouth and
south by Litchfield. Cobbossee Contee Great Pond lies on the north-
western line ; and from it the Cobbossee Contee Stream flows south-
ward, forming the south-western line of the town, then turning, forms
the south-western line also. The territory of the town was set off from
Gardiner and incorporated in 1850. In 1859 a small part of Litchfield
w^ras added. Its early history is incorporated with that of Pittston and
Gardiner.

The principal manufactures of the town consist of two saw-mills
and a tannery. It is about six miles from Augusta, and is on the
daily stage-line from that place to South Litchfield. Farming is
the principal occupation of the inhabitants, and the land is generally
under good cultivation. Orcharding has also been followed with much
success. There are churches of the Baptists, Free Baptists and Friends.
West Gardiner has nine public schoolhouses, valued at $8,300. The
valuation of real estate in 1870 was $359,029. In 1880 it "was $325,220.
The population in 1870 was 1,044. By the census of 1880 it was 977.

West Great Works, a village and post-office in Orono,
Penobscot County.

Weston is the south-eastern town of Aroostook County. It
lies on the westernmost part of Grand Lake, which separates from the
soil of New Brunswick. Bancroft adjoins it on the west, and Orient
on the north. It is on the stage-line between Houlton and Danforth.
The nearest railway station is at the latter place, near the southern
line of the town. The surface of the country is uneven, but the high-
est elevation is only about 400 feet. Birch, maple, hemlock and spruce
are found in abundance at all elevations. The enclosed bodies of water
are Brackett, Longfellow and Sucker Brook lakes. Baskahegan River
passes through the south-western part of the town, and the Mattawara-
keag across the north-west angle. The eastern part of the town has
several large coves; and a well-enclosed harbor midway of the south-
ern shore affords a good steamboat landing but a short distance from
the main road of the town. Granite is the most numerous rock, and
the soil is a sandy loam. Potatoes, wheat and buckwheat are princi-
pally cultivated, and yield well.

This town was formerly known as the Hampden Academy grant,
but was incorporated under its present name March 17,1835. William
Butterfield and Dr. Otis Smith, who settled here soon after 1820, ap.