The use of the Maine Woods by lumbermen and sportsmen in the twentieth century was much more intense than it had been before 1900 (see III and IV). The railroad and steamship companies not only gave ease of access, they also actively promoted the region as a tourist destination.
In the 1900s, the Kennebec Water and Power Company compiled very detailed maps of the shores of Moosehead Lake and made them available to the public. The map of the lake shown here [50] displays the locations of all camps, hotels, and businesses, together with steamship and railroad connections. This was pirated extensively, with numerous editions being printed into the 1960s. When Warren K Moorehead, of the R. S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology (Andover, Mass.), initiated his eight-year survey of the State of Maine in 1912, this map was the largest-scale map of Moosehead Lake available [49]. “In July, 1912, we visited this large and beautiful body of water and by means of motor boats examined about fifty places around the shores and excavated at twenty-one different points. It would have been impossible to thoroughly explore so extensive a shore line in less than one full season, as . . . the circumference of the lake . . . is more than five hundred kilometers. The water at that time was unusually high. The dam at the outlet has raised the outlet three meters or more, so that all the low lands and favorite camping places of the aborigines, either ancient or modern, are covered, and only those sites lying back from the lake or on knolls, are available for study. October and November, at low water stage, are the best months to visit Moosehead.” [Moorehead, Archaeology of Maine (1922)]
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Frank E. Hull
Fred T. Dow
MAP OF MOOSEHEAD LAKE by Kennebec Water and Power Company from Actual Survey
Boston: Walker Lith., 1905
Lithograph, with pen annotations by Warren K. Moorehead, 101.9 x 37.8 cm
Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology.
Not illustrated on this website.
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Frank E. Hull
Fred T. Dow
MAP OF MOOSEHEAD LAKE by Kennebec Water and Power Company from Actual Survey
Boston: Walker Lith., 1905
Hand-colored Lithograph, 37.8 x 101.9 cm
Maine State Archives
The railroads serving northern Maine actively promoted the region as a tourist destination. The Maine Central Railroad published several pamphlets and first coined the term "Vacationland" [56, 58, 60]. Most important, the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, chartered by the state legislature in 1891, actively promoted passenger traffic along its own routes by advertising northern Maine as a site for hunting, fishing, and wilderness appreciation. The B&A published its first annual guide to the region in 1895 [preceded by item 32], the same year as the first Sportsmen's Show in New York [see 33]. A key component of these guides -- known since 1905 as In The Maine Woods -- a map depicting access to Moosehead and points north by B&A's own train and steamboat routes as well as canoe routes in the region. The three maps shown here demonstrate B&A's changing economic interests and geographic scope. Initially, it was restricted to "Hunting and Fishing" around Moosehead Lake and the West Branch of the Penobscot [51; see 54, 55]. Item 52 [see 57, 59] represents B&A's post-World War I ties, via Canadian railroads and Searsport, to national and international markets for specialized forest products and potatoes (enabled by the refrigerated railcar, introduced in 1925). The geographical realignment was completed in the Depression, when tourism declined and the B&A focussed on shipping Aroostook potatos [53; see 62].
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Northern Maine Hunting and Fishing Region Reached by the Bangor & Aroostook R. R.
Boston: Rand Avery, 1903/19
Lithograph, 46.8 x 37.0 cm
Hamilton Collection
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Bangor & AROOSTOOK Railroad and connections
Boston: Rand Avery Supply Co., n.d.
Lithograph, 64.1 x 44.9 cm
Hamilton Collection
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BANGOR AND AROOSTOOK RAILROAD Serving NORTHERN MAINE
Bangor: Prentiss & Carlisle Co. Inc., 1937/38
Lithograph, 68.1 x 43.0 cm
Hamilton Collection
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From left to right:
In the Maine Woods (Bangor: Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company, 1905)
23.3 cm
Hamilton Collection
10
In the Maine Woods (Bangor: Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company, 1916)
22.9 cm
Hamilton Collection
14
In the Maine Woods (Bangor: Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company, 1933)
22.9 cm
Hamilton Collection
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SOMERSET RAILWAY AND CONNECTIONS
1905
Stock Offering, 19.2 x 25.7 cm
Hamilton Collection
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In the Maine Woods (Bangor: Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company, 1925)
22.9 cm
Hamilton Collection
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VACATIONLAND Served by MAINE CENTRAL RAILROAD AND CONNECTIONS
In Vacationland Maine Central Railroad (New York: Kalkhoff Company Press, 1927)
23.0 x 40.5 cm
Hamilton Collection
Cover
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MAINE
In The Mount Kineo; The Samoset By The Sea (New York: Kalkhoff Company Press, ca. 1920-1930)
23.2 x 20.4 cm
Hamilton Collection
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MOOSEHEAD LAKE REGION Maine's Scenic Playground
In Maine's Scenic Playground MOOSEHEAD LAKE (Augusta: The Roy Flynt Service, 1937)
Offset lithograph, 21.6 x 19.1 cm
Hamilton Collection
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From left to right:
In the Maine Woods (Bangor: Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company, 1939)
27.0 cm
Hamilton Collection
In the Maine Woods (Bangor: Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company, 1957)
27.0 cm
Hamilton Collection
