Lewiston Newspaper Archives Online

Google News Archive now has digitized copies of Lewiston newspapers going back to 1860. Here are the links to search the Lewiston Daily Sun (1890-1989), the Lewiston Evening Journal (1860-1979), the Lewiston Saturday Journal (1870-1929), and the Lewiston Sun-Journal (2005-2006). Or just use this link to search all the Lewiston papers.

Seth Sturtevant's Memories of Valley Forge

Seth Sturtevant of Sumner and Hartford served at Valley Forge, and for more than two years as a member of General George Washington's Life Guard. He sat down in about 1847 to write about his experiences:

Gen. Washington divided his men into parties of twelve, and ordered each party to build a hut for its own accommodation. These rude structures, sixteen feet long and fourteen feet wide, with walls six and a half feet high, were built of logs and lined with clay with rough chimneys. The officers' quarters were like these but a little larger. The weather became bitterly cold and the sufferings almost beyond endurance. Both Washington and Congress were powerless to provide new clothing. Our bare feet were through our worn-out shoes, nearly naked from the tattered remains of our only pair of stockings, our breeches hanging in strings, our faces thin from hunger, and a forsaken look on all. The horses died of starvation, and the men harnessed themselves to sleds and hauled their wood and scanty provisions.

Seth noted at the end of his account, "I write this statement of my life at the age of 87 years. With the few dates kept while in the service it has been written from memory and without the aid of glasses."

Chester Chase's Movies

YouTube user iomene has uploaded a great collection of 16mm films made by Chester Chase of Whitefield around 1950. Chase even attempted some aerial photography.

On a hazy summer day in the 1950's Chet Chase found a new opportunity to use his 16mm movie camera. Hank Markow offered to take Chet, Mike McCormick and Hack Olsen up for a spin around the skies of Whitefield. The little, 4 place, single engine plane must have found some "bumpy air" on that summer day, for it seems the camera is somewhat less than steady. Nevertheless, these remarkable images provide a new view of our town at a time when any moving pictures - let alone those from the sky - were rare.

The Eastport Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop

I totally missed the fifth annual Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop in Eastport on New Year's Eve.

The first drop will be the Canadian maple leaf, to honor Eastport’s Canadian neighbors. The giant sardine will be dropped at midnight — a nod to the area’s historic sardine fishing and canning past. [Link]

Fortunately, there's YouTube. The good stuff starts at 1:10.

Lewiston Millworkers, 1909 and 1973

In 1973-1974, Alex MacPhail walked across the country, from Maine to Oregon, taking photographs along the way. The book he planned—"an intimate portrait of America that would coincide with the Bicentennial"—was never published, but he did publish his photographs on a blog in 2008.

I started my walk in Brunswick, ME, towards the end of August and spent a lot of time in and around Lewiston, ME, fascinated by the mills and the city. I was graciously granted permission to shoot in some of the mills like Bates which was a bit of luck because no photographers had been allowed in Bates, at least, since Lewis Hines took pictures there for his book deploring child labor in the late 1800s.

Lewis Hine's photographs of Lewiston millworkers, taken in April 1909, may be found here.

Millinocket's Little Italy

Maine has only one "Little Italy"—established in 1899 to house the families of immigrants imported to build the Great Northern paper mill.

Italian immigrants coming to the area were unfamiliar with the land and the language. Fred Peluso was working as a clerk for John Merrill, and he was appointed to watch over the new workers. Peluso saw to their every need by placing them in jobs, providing them with food, acting as translator, and helping them start their homes. Peluso built a substantial home with some outbuildings that become known as Peluso's Square, and it was complete with cobblestones. He started a store that catered to the homesick Italian immigrants and provided traditional Italian foodstuffs that could be purchased on credit. As more immigrants arrived, they settled in an area that ran along the Millinocket Stream just across from the mill. The small settlement was to become known as Little Italy, and Peluso was called the padrone or king of Little Italy. [Link]

Of Millinocket's 1,002 residents in 1900, 432 were natives of Italy.

235-Year-Old Elm in Yarmouth To Be Felled

Frank Knight was not able to save a centuries-old American elm in Yarmouth.

The elm on the corner of Yankee Drive was magnificent, a local treasure high upon a hill above the harbor, among the oldest and the largest elm trees in New England. So Knight, the volunteer tree warden in Yarmouth, made it his mission to save it.

"They said you can’t save the tree if it’s diseased," Knight said. “But it was such a big, beautiful tree, I said, 'I'm going to try.'"

He kept the elm alive for 50 years, the two of them slowly growing older side by side. But next month, the caretaker, now 101 years old, and the tree, estimated to be 235, will finally part ways. After a valiant, decades-long battle with Dutch elm disease, the beloved elm, known affectionately as "Herbie," is set to be cut down Jan. 18. [Link, via]

Androscoggin Riverlands State Park

Maine is planning its first new major state park in more than a quarter century.

These lands include 2,258 acres along the west shore in Turner, and 330 acres along the east shore in Leeds, known collectively as the Androscoggin Riverlands.

The land includes significant wildlife habitat; river shore, lakeshore and upland natural communities; historic landscapes; scenic vistas; and an existing recreational trails network.
This property is already widely-used for both motorized and non-motorized land and water recreation. There are presently 15 miles of multi-use trails that follow old roads on the property; and about 8 miles of hiking trails. [Link]

Maine's Standing Railroad Stations

Maine's Standing Railroad Stations offers a great gallery of extant buildings associated with Maine's railroads—stations, towers, roundhouses, yard offices and freight buildings.

The depot pictured stood by the tracks in my hometown of Greenwood until 1973, when it was demolished.