Sumner High School - Spindrift Yearbook (East Sullivan, ME)

Page 18 text:

THE HARBOR BEACOY YK ooster stone cutters bonded of Joseph Blals dell the Porcuplne quarry wlth a half acre shore front and rxght of way to same The Panlc of 1837 fimsheo them after they had Shlpped one cargo Soon George Hlnman and Samuel Donnell bought the property then Hlnman bought Donnell out He sublet lt to dlfferent partles for local use Wllham K Weston of Augusta ln 1838 leased the Hopewell for a New York llghthouse Job Whlle gettmg the Job the foundatlon gave way ln a gale and the contract belng cancelled Weston falled and left town Elght years later one John Duff of New York rented Hopewell for Cormlchal Sz Co to do a Brooklyn dry dock Job uslng the hghthouse stone and makmg a two years Job for a large crew wlth stone at Hopewell and Hmman quarrles Charles and Edward Leonard of New York managers for B H Sage Kr Co d1d the next let of the dock Job leasmg a quarry from the wharf and rallroad and dld a b1g busmess for two years lncludlng a large engine house for the Navy Yard E H Sz H S Dyer local storekeepers ven tured ln 1851 by leaslng the Hlnman property domg about all the stone busmess for four or five years They furmshed gramte for the Ph1ladelph1a Navy Yard and other places also the stone for the Sulhvan Hancock brldge a proJect of Col Paul D Sargent who and the xce sunk 2520 OOO The Dyers went out West In 1857 A B Sz A Slmpson got the stone bee mto thelr heads and leased a quarry and wharf of Joseph Blaxsdell engaglng Alblon Sherman as foreman to get stone for Bluehlll partles to go to Fort Carroll Baltlmore Md In Sept 1857 Lemuel Crabtree bought a small quarry of Joseph Blalsdell later he bought a large quarry of Joseph M Bragdon dolng an edgestone busmess about ten years About 1869 Peltlah Moore went lnto busmess Shipping edgestone mostly and after a few 3 ears sold to Alfred Crabtree At thls tlme Lemuel Crabtree and Vhlham H Clapham were ln company and for many years dld a large buslness In 1872 pax mg came lnto general use after sex eral years of test agamst wood lron asphalt etc Thls gate Sulllx an a new llfe lease In May 1873 the Sulhvan Quarry C0 ac qulred control of the Hopewell College land Crabtree Clapham lease of John V Gordon and the Sulhvan Granlte Co but soon pulled out Then about 1875 John and Henry Slmpson of Rockport Mass came here Soon John bought out the others and thls closes thls epoch and opens a new The firm of Crabtree 8: Havey who have the largest quarrylng business ln town has suc ceeded to the buslness begun by Mr Crabtree s father Thelr speclalty has been edge stone Among the other firms that have been engaged ln the gramte lndustry here have been Dunbar Company whose quarrles formed the nucleus of the granlte buslness at West Sull1van the Stlmpson Gramte Company Wakefield 8z Orcutt Sherman Bunker Hooper Havey Sr Company Alonzo Abbott Rovertson Kr Havey Arno Wooster Alex Taylor W T Havey Jr Blalsdell Sr Abbott Joseph Cameron Charles Hanna ln company wlth Dunbar Bros and the Benvenue Granlte Co Those now ln buslness are Crabtree Sr Havey Hooper Havey Sz Co Harvey E Robertson Arno Wooster and Dunbar Bros Several of the gramte shlppers have made fortunes out of the stone and the stores oper ated 1n connectlon wlth the DUSIDGSS Several of the quarrles are owned by Capt Van Gordon who has leased them to the several firms en gaged IH the lndustry The gramte out of WhlCh new edge stone and pax mg blocks are the prlnclpal product has been the most potent factor 1n the prosperlty of thxs w lllage 14 1 , , D , . - . . Y . v v H . V . . . f. . Y? ' 1 ' ' . 7 . . ! 7 Y Y . , , . Y . ' ' Y 7 . . - . , 1 1 1 ., . I 7 'Y ' ., Y , . . , . 7 1 7 ' . . , , . . . . ., 7 Sullivan Granite Co., of Boston. They built a Bros. and E. F. Claphamg the Sulhvan Granlte , . . . . . . 3 - I - ' - - 2 1 ' r 1 r , S S S S ' 1 - - , -Z - Z S , , -5 - , , . . , , : , - - I y -5 - . . . , , . . , . . - , . I ! ' ' ' Y . 7 . . I . Y 0 , . , 0 !

Page 17 text:

THE HA RBOR BEACON fathers were the followmg sketch of this history of the town will be especially lnterestxng to Old as well as young There were four people who came here of different names and settled on the sunny slde of this beautiful river soon after the Mayfiower came over in 1620 Some landed on Cape Cod others at York while George Gordon Rufas G Jonfs William Blaisdell and Paul Simpson located in this town Years later John Gordon came and built a house near where the K of P hall now IS thls location then was known as Capt Paul Gor don s field He was the grandfather of Mrs Lucretia Adams Next was Miller s house situated near Moose hill cove in what is now William Goodwln s lower field the old cellar can now be seen there Next was the Abner Blais dell house situated in the field above the present stone wh rves Old apple trees cellar and grave stones can now be seen there Later years P ul Simpson built a house near Havey now stands He married Miss Hannah Sullivan a daughter of Daniel Sullivan John Gordon Csecondj married Betsey Urann of Franklm In 1800 he built a stone house where Capt Gardiner D Blake s now stands This land above the rlvcr was covered with a dense forest where these four pioneers settled here For years no roads were known all convey ance being by water in small home made boats to Sorrento Hancock Barren Island and Franklm at Thomas brann s point James Miller built a house where Orville Gordon s now stands and his widowed sister the mother of Ambrose Simpson kept house for him Moose deer bears foxes beavers otters and many native wild animals shared the habitation of these woods and waters Abner Blalsdell always lived in his first house and brought up a large family they ln turn becommg the ancestors of all the present day Blalsdells ln Sulhvan and Franklm Abners son Paul Blaisdell mamed Margaret Miller sister of Capt VN llllam and James Miller Paul Blaisdell built a house where the late Hopewell quarry boardlng house was Revenue from the Hopewell quarry turned in to him a lot of money He afterward built near where the Franklm town line is now near the home stead of Arno Wooster OUR GRANITE INDUSTRY The first granite quarried to be shipped from this town was for a contract taken by William G Mosely to build a Jail at St Andrews N B about the gear 1830 The stone was quarrled from a tract of land known as the College land a quarry owned and operated by Dunbar Bros It was a new start out for Mr Mosley and he never worked any more at the business The next venture was about 1831 when Edward Rouse of Augusta bought the Paul Blalsdell farm and built the first wharf used to contract for hiartucket and cut and furnished stone for buildings in Bangor This property was organized as a stock company as the Hopewell Granite Co and owned by Charles Porter a wealthy New Yorker who let it for short Jobs A New York man named Spies got large columns and stone for the Tombs The Mosley Job was shipped from the cove above the Falls Isaac Allard of Belfast noticed a stone there and later bought the 7 300 acre College lot for S2800 He sold off stump age and small lots one to John S Ayes who opened a store in 1833 and got stone for a monument in Belfast harbor In 1835 a Bangor party bonded the College lot for S16 500 and sold the lot to Boston parties for S40 000 In 1896 little was done Later three local stone cutters Paul Simpson Nelson Abbott and Smith Warren took the Job for the stone buildings in Ellsworth now opposite the Union Trust Company About 1837 a Mr Sanborn and Russell . . 13 . A . . , . , . . y , . y , . . . . y - , . , . . y . n u u . . . . , . ., . . , V . . , . 7 . . . , n , . , . . . . a . , a . . . . the place where the residence of Hon. B. B. ship granite from. He took a bank building ' L . . . I 7 1 I . , L . . I . . . . . ' x . ., . , . . . . . , , , ' . y - 1 r 1 ' ' . , , . I . . , . , , . . . . 7 7 ' 7 . u , 7 7 7 7 7 7 ' . . . . . U ' ' 7 7 7 D Y . . . . ,

Page 19 text:

THE HARBOR BEACON SULLIVAN S ERA OF SHIPBUILDING In the early days of this town the prlnclpal lndustry except farming fishing and the manu facture of lumber ln saw mills which have al ways afforded employment was the building and Salllng of shlps The Simpsons were among the earliest shlpbullders J oslah Slmp son one of the first of the family to settle here built several vessels ln which he himself oc caslonally made voyages to sea John Slmp son his son built the Rachel whlch was lost on Cape Cod ln the severe snowstorm of No vember 1798 Many of the Simpsons were well known as sea captains among them Josiah Simpson Jr who sailed from Castlne Sullivan and Belfast Amos B Slmpson son of James and Jare Slmpson who commanded more vessels probably than any other man ln Sullivan About thirty five years ago a great mlnlng boom ln Sullivan brought a perlod of great prosperity Valuable plants were erected shafts were sunk and prospectors from all over the country rushed here Among the lmportant mlnes ln town were the Fanuel Hall 8L Sulll van Waukeav Sullivan Pine Tree Milton Richmond Salem Sullivan Boss of the Bay and Golden Circle mlnes which were owned by the Copperopolls Huronlan Milton Starr Richmond Pine Tree and Sullivan mlnlng com pames The following note on Mllton the largest of these silver mlres was publlshed IH the Sulll van Weekly Bulletm Sept 11 1880 Milton Notwithstanding the very hard nature of the rock encountered ln runmng the cross cut whlch IS characteristic and peculiar to the country rock just before reachlng the ore channel whlch constitutes the Sulllvan lode the cross cut was advanced eight feet during the present Week Since last Wednesday the Burleigh drill has been runmng steadily day and night without any interruption the ground IS getting somewhat easier and lt IS expected that ex en better progress wlll be made the com mg week There IS hardly any doubt what ey er but that the outer veln lf no unfortunate accidents should occur wlll be reached IH a very few weeks We put a great deal of stress and Importance on the coming event because we can foresee the Important bearlng the antlclpated strike ln the Milton wlll have on the whole mining lndustry of the state lt wlll not only recompense the present owners of the property who have shown great perseverance and confidence ln their erterprlse ln erecting the best and most modern mining works ln the Unlted States but It wlll go far to show that when mlnlng IS conducted legitimately and intelligently and with practlc l experience the rlsk of mlnlng IS not any greater than farming or any other legitimately conducted enterprise Shaft Ixo 1 IS still tllrberlng ard on completion of WhlCh the required depth shall have been attalned a cross cut will be started for the purpose of reaching the lnner or quatzlte vein The saw mlll starts on Monday next The mlnes doubtless contalned deposlts of silver as well as some copper and gold but It was found to be too expensive to work them and the mlnlng boom untlmately ran the course of the majority of such booms in the East Two or three important efforts have been made to make Sullivan a great summer resort The first was soon after 1876 when Asa D Newton and Stillman Whlte erected the ma Jestlc Waukeag House on Beacon Hill at Sulll van Harbor The hotel was successful and popular for many seasons but untlmately It fell lnto the hands of a land company and later of Mr Frank Jones who sold lt to the Dunbars who tore It down In 1888 Mr Clyde Hunt and a party of capitalists bought about five hundred acres of land here and lald lt out ln lots a few of which were sold The project falled and the property passed into the posslon of the mortgagee Mr ll 15 , v . c Q a . o I ' ' . . . Y , ' , , - . . . . . . , 7 - r , . . . . . . , , . , u u n u n . . . . , . . 3 ' ' IK IY ' I 7 7 ! ' . - A A a , u 1 , . . . . . . . , , , . . . . . , ., , . . . . . Q . , , . , . . n . . . . . . a , . , I . . i . i . . . I . A . . , , , ' I , sinking will again be resumed, and as soon as . Y ' 1 - ' 1' n - Q - . ! 7 I . ' r or 1 r 1 ' ' ' . I ! r ' 1 r ' . 7 . 7 . 7 I . . ' . y , . . . Y u . . . . ,, . , , 1 , ' .. ' rx . . . . . , . , . - ! y ' . ' ' ! l 1 7 7 ' - . . I . , . . 1 , ' . , . . . 5 . . 3 1 '