The Plant World 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF POPULAR BOTANY 



Vol. V. FEBRUARY, 1903. No. fi. 



A BOTANICAL ASCENT OF MOUNT KTAADN, ME. 



John W. Harshbergbr. 



MOUNT KTAADN is situated in the eastern portion of Piscataquis 

 county, Maine, in the midst of a wilderness of forest, streams 

 and lakes. It is inaccessible to the ordinary tourist, because 

 situated in a region without wagon roads, railroads and streams naviga- 

 ble to steamboats. The mountain looms up grandly from all points and 

 dominates the country for miles around its base. The obstacles to travel 

 mentioned above are, however, a recommendation to some who desire to 

 get away from the artificialities of civilization, and who are anxious to 

 come into close touch with nature. The Maine wilderness, with all its 

 ruggedness and inaccessibility, exerts upon such lovers of out-door life 

 a powerful attraction. The writer, who for a long time, was desirous of 

 visiting the Maine wilderness, took a botanical trip to the summit of 

 Mount Ktaadn, in July and August, 1900. 



Itinekaey. 



While stopping over Sunday at Bangor, the Stacj^ville route (the 

 one ascertained later to have been taken by five members of the New 

 England Botanical Club* three weeks before) was mentioned as the one 

 most feasible. On a Bangor and Aroostook express train, leaving Bangor 

 on Monday morning, July 30, 1900, it was the writer's good fortune to 

 meet His Excellency, Hon. Llewellyn Powers, Governor of Maine, who 

 kindly interested himseK in the project to visit Mount Ktaadn. Gov- 

 ernor Powers ascertained from a fellow-passenger, a lumberman of 

 many years' experience, that the route to the mountain up the West 

 Branch of the Penobscot River in the summer time was the most direct 



'^Rhodora, Vol. 3, June 1901, p. 147. 



