Christopher Columbus COBURN, the diary began Nov 1,
1912, in Crystal, Maine, part nine

Contributed by wagga719@idt.net (Sally Ruscio)
Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

Nov. 1, 1912, he (Christopher Columbus COBURN at 64
years of age) closed up his camp and moved out to
Ashland, to Ferdinand's and went to work for Arthur
WALKER until Nov. 24. A few days work around
Ashland and a little more work at Portage and then,
Jan. 4, 1913, he took a room with his son Oren who
was then living in the FINSON Block in Ashland. He
was cutting wood most of the time from then till
Mar. 28, when he moved back to his camp on the shore
of Portage Lake. Here he planted some garden on the
camp lot and also potatoes and other things on land
of R. A. DAGGATT, and on May 30th he went to Ashland
and bought a cow and led her home. Beside working
out and doing a little milk business, he cut some
hay, put a fence around the lot and built a cow
stable; but Oct. 7, he sold the cow and after
working around a few days he took up a canvassing
job of nursery stock for CHASE Brothers.
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, he had sold enough so
that the company gave him a turkey and he had it
cooked at Ferdinand's for a family gathering. By
the first of the year 1914 he had let up on
canvassing, having covered much of the territory in
the towns of Portage, Ashland, Masardis, Ox Bow,
Smyrna Mills, Oakfield and Moro. The first three
months of this year, while living at Ferdinand's, he
worked at odd jobs for different people, including
wood cutting.

Monday, Mar. 30, he went to Portage, shoveled his
camp out of the snow and moved in, and until near
the middle of July he kept busy working for himself
and others. July 4th and Sunday the next day he
entertained a bunch of his relatives from Ashland.
About the middle of July he went to Ashland and
fixing up his bicycle he did a little more
canvassing for his nursery firm. The next four
months he was going from place to place, stopping
only a few days at a time, covering some new
territory, going as far east os Mapleton and as far
south as Moro and Oakfield, sometimes at Portage and
others at Ashland. On one day, Sept. 14, while at
Portage he says he voted for the governor of Maine.

Dec. 8, after spending a few days at Ferdinand's in
Ashland he started for Moro, where he went to work
for his youngest son, Arthur, and Arthur's
stepfather, Hanibal DARLING in the wood and lumber
work.

Feb. 14, 1915 he returned to his camp at Portage and
in March he cut ice 26 inches thick and filled Fred
PETER's ice house. April 1st he went out to Mrs. S.
S. GILMAN's in Ashland and tore down a building for
the lumber which he freighted to Portage and on the
9th hauled it to his camp. He planted the ground by
the camp into potatoes and garden truck. He jobbed
around town in addition to his own work until June
22, when he began to clear the right of way for a
town road up the shore of the lake on the land of
Samuel STEVENS, having the wood and pulp to sell.
In August he started to build a 'sleeping camp" in
addition to his home. After finishing this and
harvesting his crop, he left for Moro to work for
COBURN & DARLING again, stopping a day or two at
Ashland, with Ferdinand.