When Goods Were 'Toted' Into the North Country
Picturesque Days When Four and Six Horse Teams
Were Driven Laboriously Over Rutted Tracks;
Robert Finch One of Pioneer Group
(By JUANITA B. FINCH) PATTEN, Oct. 11-Patten Memorial Library has a number of copies of a monthly paper, "The Voice," published in the interests of Sherman, Patten and surrounding towns, in the year of 1870. Naturally these pa- pers throw many side-lights on the life of that period, and more and more interesting than the picture they paint of the country store of that day. The following advertisement gives a vivid idea of what the modern up-to-date business of that period carried in stock, and while the firm in this case was located in Sherman Mills, it is typical of all general stores as then conducted Caldwell, Sleeper & Co. would call the attention of their friends and patrons to their new and complete stock of groceries, dry goods, hardware, tinware, grocery, boots, and shoes; fancy and Yankee notions, room papers curtains, and borders. A full assortment of spices of all kinds; also Waterville plows, paints, oils, lead, varnish, and the various drying requisites.
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Ten dozen scythes, all ready in our store, manufactured expressly for Caldwell, Sleeper & Co. Also- Ready made clothing, furniture, lime, plaster, hair, ladies' cloth, cloaks, trimmings, dress goods.
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Alpacas of various shades, from $.33 to $1.00 per yard.. Mirrors of various sizes and prices, to please any pretty face...
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A complete assortment of dye stuffs, and medicines of the most valuable and reliable kinds, among which are the famous White Pine compound, Peruvian syrup, Wistar's Balsam, Sheridan's Condition Powders, Bloodfood, and nearly all of the popular liniments in use; War- ren & Co's Cough Balsam and Jackson's catarrh snuff. Soap- washing, shaving, and toilet. Coffee, teas, powder, and shot.
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Nice seed wheat, Norway oats, black-eyed peas, garden seeds, etc., and many other useful and necessary articles not mentioned in the above list. We do not propose to sell out. On the contrary, we intend to collect our bills, pay what we owe, and maintain our strong hold on the good graces of our former patrons by a steady and equal way of dealing, not forgetting that double dealing is ruinous to those who indulge in it, sooner or later.
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We pay the first prices for all kinds of produce: eggs, pelts, hides, and skins, anything that can be marketed in Bangor, we send to our well known and tried agent, Joseph Parker of that city.
Wishing you all a pleasant April, we say, 'Call in and see us!'
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When one reads that list, the first thought that arises in the mind is, "How did they get it all from Bangor?" And when one looks back over the seven decades since that advertisement was printed, one realizes how great the change in transportation has been. From the modern huge six or eight-wheeled truck with its loads of from four to seven tons it is a far cry to the four and' six-horse teams which men drove laboriously over the same highway loaded, with only a fractional part of the truck load. The same highway? Well, it runs
between the same points-all the rest is changed. The narrow, deeply rutted tracks, almost impassable, except for a short period during the summer, has become a mod- ern tarred highway, and instead of the long rambling hotels and stopping places, with their great stables for the horses, and long bars and dining rooms for the men, have come clusters of individual over- night cabins and "hot-dog" stands, with now and then a partly tum- bled down, forsaken ruin to mark the spot where once a hotel stood.
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Gone, too, are the horses. They could not begin to compete in the swift and strenuous pace of today. And nearly gone are the men who used to drive them. Now and then, on a little farm, or in a quiet rural home, there can be found one of these rugged men who tolled early and late, through summer's heat and dust. the mud and slush of spring and fall, and the snow and cold of winter, to bring to these isolated districts the necessities and luxuries of life.
One of the few remaining in this section is Jerry L. Finch of Patten. A quiet, retiring man, still busy carrying on the farm where he was born, his listeners forget time and place as he tells stories of rugged, men and rugged deeds, when he can be persuaded to talk of those early days.
JERRY L. FINCHwhose father was among the first to tote' provisions over rough roads into the north country. The horse he is holding ot 25 years old.