INTRODUCTION. XVii 



farm during the year, which appears in full in a subsequent 

 page. 



The meeting of the Board in Aroostook county, and the 

 excursion thither of the Maine Press Association during the 

 past autumn, has directed new attention to the advantages 

 and resources of that section of the State as a farming region, 

 and it is lioped that a new impetus to its settlement, and the 

 advancement and improvement of its agriculture may date 

 from these events. The geology, physical features, and 

 present condition of the public or available lands in the 

 county, are so well described by Dr. W. B. Laphani of 

 Augusta, w^ho was a member of the editorial excursion, in 

 the articles from his pen relating to the same, that I make an 

 extract from them which will prove of interest to all readers : 



"Aroostook county contaitis one hundred and eighty townships, and 

 has an area of nearly seven thousand scjuare miles, or about one-lifth of 

 the whole State. It is more than four times as large as the State of Rhode 

 Island, a third larger than Connecticnt. three-fourths as large as Vermont, 

 four-fifths as large as New Hampshire, and nearly as large as Massachu- 

 setts, It is situated between forty-six and forty-seven degrees and thirty 

 minutes of north latitude, being forther south than most of the State of 

 Michigan, the northern part of Wisconsin and more than half tlie State of 

 Mimiesota. By the terms of the Webster-Ashburton treaty, the line 

 between Aroostook county and the Dominion of Canada, known as the 

 North Eastern Boundary, extends from the source of the St. Croix river, 

 due north, until it strikes the St. John river at a point north of Hamlin 

 plantation ; thence along the middle of the river to the St. Francis river, 

 thence along the centre of the St. Francis to the point where the south- 

 west branch flows from St. Francis lake ; tlience southwesterly, with but 

 one angle, to the southwesterly branch of the St. John. It is watered by 

 the St. John audits tributaries, the principal of which are the Aroostook, 

 the Madawaska and the Mednxnekeag. The general direction of all the 

 rivers and their principal tributaries are eastward toward the St. John, 

 the water-shed extending westward to the height of the land between 

 that river and the Penobscot and its tributaries. There are few elevations 

 that can be dignified by the name of mountains; Mars Hill near the east- 

 ern boundary, in the town of the same name, being the most important. 



In I'egard to its geology, Aroostook county differs from all other parts 

 of the State. In many respects it closely resembles portions of the State 

 of Michigan and also of Canada West. One marked feature, which at once 

 attracts tlie attention of the stranger from the central and western parts 

 of the State, is the absence of boulders, and the almost entire absence of 

 11 



