Dexter High School - Signet Yearbook (Dexter, ME)

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14 THE SIGNET Massachusetts, purchased, and induced settlements upon it. During the year 1800, Cragie sent Samuel Elkins from Cornville to locate a suitable site for a mill. Mr. Elkins chose the outlet of the body of water which was later named Lake Wassookeag and beganat once to hew timber for the structure. The mill proved an attraction, for the same year Ebenezer Small and John Tucker came here to secure locations for future homes. Mr. Small made a clearing, put up a log cabin, and raised a. crop of corn 9 the next spring he returned to New Hampshire for his wife. There was no road further than Harmony so, ,with their necessary household goods loaded on a -hand sled and with Mrs. Small seated on top, they continued their journey. There was not even a foot path to guide them through the forest and it was with great difiiculty that they found their way, by means of spotted trees and at last reached their destination. In the year 1802 a saw- and gristmill was completed, soon after it was sold to Jonathan Snow, who in 1804, built the first frame house, on the present site of the late Mrs. Hortons residence. These early settlers were greatly in- convenienced by the difiiculties of transportation. The story of the advent of the first mill crank is a good illus- tration of these difficulties. There was a road from Corinth to Bangor and a winter road to Garland, but only a foot- path connected Dexter with these tdwns and it was over this footpath that the crank was brought, on horseback, two men balanced the crank and a third man led the horse. They lost their way and in their wanderings camped two nights f in the forest, about noon of the third day they reached the home of the Small's, the only family in town, where they were cordially welcomed and given a hearty meal of the best the town af- forded-pounded corn boiled tin milk. After dinner they went back to rescue the horse and mill crank which had been left in the woods g at dark they had not returned and Mrs. Small, fearing that they were lost again, took the dinner horn and going to the top of Bryant's hill blew blasts which guided the men to the opening. The hardships endured by these early immigrants seem almost incredible. At onetime food was so scarce that people traveled forty miles to Norridgewock on horseback and bought corn for two dollars per bushel, and a certain young man went to Athens to work in a hay- field for a peck of corn per day. It was some time during these early years, while her husband was away one day working for a neighbor, that Mrs. Small upon going to the bear trap near the south shore of the lake, found a half-grown cub securely caught. She killed it, dragged it home, dressed it, and cooked some of the tenderest por- tions for Mr. Small's supper. About the year 1807 the settlers laid out a road from Garland to Dexter and also built a schoolhouse which served as townhouse, church and schoolhouse combined. The affairs of Elkinsville as the town- ship was called before its Incorporation, soon began to prosper. The settlers worked together with a cordial spirit of cooperation, they had quiltings, al- though there were not enough Women to sit around a quilt, and barn raisings

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THE SIGNET 13 this time Hannibal Hamlin, was a Maine man. He was a close friend of Lincoln. Later he was minister to Spain. We, as citizens of Maine, should be extremely proud of its history and should take pride in helping to make it live up to its motto I lead. But let ug not forget ,in our love for our native state and our pride in her history that our first duty and our greatest love is due to that of which Maine is only a part, the United States of America. CHAPTER TWO IX score years ago the site of our S present thriving town of Dex- ter was a trackless forest. Wild animals roamed over its hills and valleys. Indians built -- their wigwams and planted their corn on the shores of Lake Was- sookeag. The only means of transpor- tation was the pack horse in summer and the hand sled in winter, as the wil- derness was broken only by trails or footpaths. Today the citizens are hap- py and prosperous in their homes, rear- ing their children in plenty and peace, and enjoying all modern pleasures and conveniences. This great change is due to the sturdy courage and persist- ent vigor of the first White settlers. After the Revolutionary war, Mas- sachusetts had no money to pay her war debt, but she did have plenty of Wildland, so she granted to every man who had served three years in the war, the choice of twenty dollars in money, or two hundred acres of land in Maine, which was then a province of Massachu- setts. By the year 1785, although many grants had been made to deserving in- dividuals and land had been sold to sol- diers for one dollar per acre, only twelve towns had been laid out east of the Penobscot river. To promote other settlements and to raise money for her treasury Massachusetts in 1786 con- trived a land lottery, 2,720 tickets were issued at Q60 each, entitling each holder to a prize consisting of tracts of land lying between the Penobscot and'St. Croix rivers and varying in extent from one-half mile to six miles square. A large number of tickets remained un- sold after the drawing and these were bought by William Bingham of Phila- delphia, who in a short time owned above two million acres of land in Maine, which had cost him on an aver- age of twelve and one-half cents per acre. These results being unsatisfactory to Massachusetts she had the land survey- ed and laid out into twenty-one town- ships among which was the present township of Dexter. These townships were put into the hands ofthe commit- tee for the sale of Eastern lands, for the purpose of selling them and increasing their population. In March 1794 James Bridge of Au- gusta purchased from the Common- wealth of Massachusetts the present township of Dexter. He soon sold it to Charles Vaughn, who was acting for a -company in Massachusetts. Vaughn was unable to meet the conditions in- volved in the purchase of this land and Dexter passed through several hands before Andrew Cragie of Cambridge, I

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MAIN STREET, DEXTER, 1849