Christopher Columbus COBURN, the diary began January 1, 1871, in Crystal, Maine, part six Contributed by wagga719@idt.net (Sally Ruscio) Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm July 1, 1897 took a week's trip up Mt. Katahdin with a party, including sons, Ferdinand and Oren. Clouds again obscured the view. Returning to Patten he worked about the village through the summer interspersed with a few fishing trips and visiting until the middle of October. Among the lucky sportsmen tis fall, as usual, securing moose, deer and caribou, were the ROWELLs from Boston and the FILER party from East Hampton, N.Y. In December of that year and the first three months of 1898 he was trapping, noting the capture of a fisher Dec. 20, and making snowshoes. In April he started trapping for bear and muskrats, fishing, etc. After taking up his traps, July 11, the bulk of his activities were spent working for CURREN & HOWE at Trout Brook Farm. He started guiding again Oct. 1. After the guiding season between hunting trips he prepared to make snowshoes by getting wood for bows and shaving hides for the filling. Dec. 10, he and the boys moved from the CRAMP house where they had lived a year to the Jerry FOOTE house in the village. January through April, 1899 making snowshoes and working out. The boys attended Patten Academy. Twelve days in May worked for Con MURPHY on the drive, tending dam and running errands. Then cruising, etc. till June 7, when with his sons he went to Grindstone on the East Branch, where Ferdinand took the train for East Hampton, N.Y., to work for Mr. FILER, having just graduated from Patten Academy. He and Oren then went up to Mattawamkeag from which place they went by train with their canoe to Kingman and thence by water to Island Falls, and home to Patten. After about a month of working out and taking fishing trips the diary says they commenced work with Lonson GRANT, self and Oren. July 7. Again, trips into the woods and jobbing took up the time until school began for Oren and hunting and guiding for the father. He records moving, Dec. 14, to the Samuel W. ROBBINS place on Fish Stream, and working out, and the 8th of January, 1900, starting the snowshoe business, which with wood-cutting and occasional days working out, lasted till near the end of March. April 24, moved my goods into the ORDWAY school house. About this time he went to work for I. B. GARDINER & Sons as handy man on the drive using his canoe much of the time. June was a month of cruising and fishing trips, starting July 10 on GARDINER's second drive. In August, 1900 he seemed to change his stomping ground to the vicinity of Masardis and Oxbow in northern Aroostook County, where he moved his household goods Sept. 7. Here his work was guiding and general jobbing, and his son, Allard joins the group, and preparations are made for more snowshoe business. Snowshoe work goes on until late in February, 1901 when the group begins cutting pulp wood, in addition. This goes on April 9, when the St. Croix bridge went out by flood. Here he began running a ferry for the town of Masardis and kept it up until the 20th when a new bridge was completed. They were now living in the LIBBY house in the village. Cutting wood, bushes and seed potatoes for the farmers kept them busy well into June. He moved again, this time into an old school house in town. Through the most of July, 1901, the three worked out and then went down the Aroostook River to Presque Isle and up to Caribou, Maine, and rented a house in that village from Pete DIONNE. They worked around this village till fall. This fall Oren and Allard entered Caribou High School and their father went down to his old hunting ground on the East Branch, where his first party was the FILERs and Felix DOMINY and also in the party was his eldest son, Ferdinand. This party arrived Nov. 11 and hunted for two weeks. The sporting season was short this year and he went back to Caribou. The boys left school early in January, 1902, began cutting wood. Some they cut and sold and then took a big wood joy for W. B. LAFFARTY, lasting through March. They then moved into a house owned by F. B. DOE for whom they worked through April, May and most of June, 1902. After a few day's respite he again worked for DOE up to the end of September. At this time he looked up a new hunting ground between Portage and Eagle lake on the Ashland Branch of the Bangor & Aroostook R. R., and did some guiding. Nov. 8 he went to Portage to meet the FILER party and while gone the camp burned with all his camping goods except the clothes on his back and the rifle which he had with him.