(Copied for Introduction to "Story of
Lake Umbagog")
Lake Umbagog
1907
Aug. 9
  I called on Bennett Morse this afternoon 
He and his wife (Silas Peaslee's sister) are living
with their daughter in the old Peaslee house
near the lake shore. Bennett's parents moved to Upton in 
1843 when he was only three years old. Soon after 
this his father saw a Wolf not far from the 
lake. Bennett and his elder brother Steve Morse 
(the afterwards popular guide whom I knew) began trapping 
in the early 50's when they were still but boys. They 
found only a very few Beaver but caught numbers of 
Otters, Sables, Fishers and Canada Lynxes. 
When they grew to manhood they worked in the woods
every winter, "logging." Nearly all their companions 
were natives of the region for that was before the 
time when the lumber bosses began to employ any
French Canadians or Nova Scotians. For the first few 
years only white pines were cut. They grew abundantly
on the low, alluvial lands near the lake and very
generally - if somewhat sparingly and locally - elsewhere,
except on the higher mountains. The logs were hauled
to the lake on sleds drawn by oxen from two to 
four of which were yoked to each load. After the
white pines had been exhausted red spruces began
to be cut but their lumber did not come into
very general use until after 1860.
Bennett Morse's testimony.