On May 1, 1933, Bingham and Moscow lost a favorite son in a tragic accident at the foot of Wyman Dam. Beloved local photographer Milford Baker was fishing with friends Vernard (Bunny) Pierce, Harry LaPointe, and Phillip Collette at the salmon pool below the dam, when their rowboat was caught in a whirlpool and dragged … Continue reading The Tragic Death of Milford Baker
logging
Moosehead Lumbering Trip 1867
Lumbering was a tough and dangerous business in 1867. Uriah Foss, born in Brighton, Maine in 1847, died about one year after this article was printed in the Independent-Reporter newspaper on May 24, 1928. It tells of a lumbering team's harrowing steamboat ride across Moosehead just as the winter ice was taking over.
Sturgis, Southwick, and Haynes – Kennebec County Men Come Up-River
Two key figures in 19th century logging on the Upper Kennebec were Ira Daggett Sturgis (1814-1891) and Josiah Manchester Haynes (1839-1906). They had close ties to each other, and to three men who preceded them in the region—Joseph Southwick (1791-1866), and the Sturgis twins (b. 1806). The Sturgis legacy in the Upper Kennebec actually began … Continue reading Sturgis, Southwick, and Haynes – Kennebec County Men Come Up-River
The 1862 Dam on Black Stream, Near Moxie
In the fall of 1862, a crew of men built a dam at Black Stream, a tributary of the East Branch of the Kennebec. The dam was probably erected to support a winter logging operation in which lumbermen Calvin D. Colby and William Moore, both of Bingham, were involved. Among the business papers kept by … Continue reading The 1862 Dam on Black Stream, Near Moxie
