FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 119 



THE RANGELEY COUNTRY. 



One more set of facts remains to be brousiht out before we 

 shall beg-in to discuss the question — how should the spruce 

 lands of the Androscoggin be used to get the most and the 

 best out of them ? 



Up to the present time luml)ering in Maine has ^dn^raii-" 

 been guided almost entirely by the water-lines. ^'°''''^- 

 The amount of spruce logs transported by rail has been insig- 

 nificant compared with the quantities that have been driven 

 down the rivers. This state of things on the Androscoggin 

 is soon to be changed. The new railway from Rumford north 

 hauled its first logs into Rumford in November, 1895. Com- 

 pleted to Bemis in 189G, if extended to Megantic as intended 

 it will open up, it is thought, not less than a thousand mil- 

 lions of spruce timber. This new movement is justified and 

 needed. Large areas of land have so far remained uncut, 

 with very little value except a prospective one, because of 

 their position and the difficulty of the drive. So it has been 

 with most of townships D, E, and fi, the barrier of mountain 

 land which separates the lower Androscoggin from the great 

 lakes on its upper course. So in a less degree it still is with 

 the townships on the Cupsujituc and Kennebago. Railroads 

 are essential to the development of their resources, either to 

 take the lumber to the mills or to place the mills nearer the 

 lumljer. All that country north of the immediate vicinity of 

 the lakes is, except in respect to pine, in its primeval condi- 

 tion. Spruce has never been cut, and the country, so far as 

 I could learn, has not been touched by fire. 



The towns bordering the lakes have had a dif- ^,^,','^^J*i^''/ 

 ferent history. From here, driving by river was ^"'"^^'*' 

 not prohibitively expensive. The land lay, too, in shape for 

 easy logging, with a slope generally that would help bring 

 loads to water, but without a precipitous character. 



The original spruce stand in this country can hardly have 

 been anywhere excelled, and as the cutting upon it has sel- 



