182 RIVER LIFE. 



Machias originated in some obstruction in the way of the Indian 

 traveler, either in the river itself or upon its banks, whether nat- 

 ural or accidental I am not aware. 



The eastern stream is about fifty miles long, including the 

 small lake, which constitutes its chief source, and is navigable 

 only about six miles for large vessels, at which point the village, 

 bearing the same name as the river, is located, and also the mills. 

 As the lake which feeds the river is fed principally by springs, 

 it affords a good supply of water the year round. The land in 

 the immediate vicinity of the stream is quite good for agricul- 

 tural purposes ; but, as we recede from the river, the soil appears 

 poor, presenting a desolate and forbidding aspect. Once a flour- 

 ishing forest covered it, but now blackened, decayed, and decay- 

 ing trunks of trees, scorched by fire, some prostrate, others still 

 standing, limbless, naked, and desolate, intermingle with a small, 

 dwarfish, and sparse second growth, and mantel the sterile plain 

 and rocky hill side. Indeed, this is but too true a portrait of im- 

 mense tracts of land all along the coast of Maine, from the St. 

 Croix to the Penobscot, and still further westward. It is won- 

 derful that these desert regions, whose sterility scarcely gives ex- 

 istence to the wild grass and stinted shrubs which grow there, 

 once supported a dense and majestic forest. 



At East Machias village there are seventeen saws in opera- 

 tion, and eleven lath machines ; the latter, for the most part, are 

 situated in the base of the saw-mills, and manufacture laths from 

 the slabs made in the mill. At this place the saws cut, on an 

 average, about six hundred thousand feet, board measure, to a 

 saw, one half of this lumber being sawed from Pine, and the oth- 

 er from Spruce logs. The same quality of lumber brings fifty 

 cents more per thousand here than on the St. Croix. In answer 

 to the question, Why is this so? the reply was, "We saw near- 

 ly all our lumber to order, and of prescribed dimensions." 



The resources for lumber are still quite abundant. The West 



