Mount Kineo and the Maine Summer Resort Industry 10 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY Sprague Journal of Maine History Vol. 11 MAY, 1914 No. I Mount Kineo and the Maine Summer Resort Industry By the Editor A half century ago, aye, even no more than forty years ago, the American people had no outdoor sports recognized by refined and cultivated people as becoming and proper. This condition which would seem to the present generation to be a deplorable one was but the natural and inevitable result of our early history as a people. It was only two and a half centuries before that the pioneers of New England fled from sport and pleasure in England, which to them had become sinful and abhorrent, to found a commonwealth where it was taught that all diversion and amusement eminated direct from the devil. For two centuries our ancestors required no sports for their training or diversion. Subduing a vast wilderness, clearing lands, building homes and roads and bridges and canals and railroads and defending the same from savages constituted their outdoor training. These rough and hard tasks were all sufficient for their physical development. But the Civil War, or, as our southern friends prefer to call it, "the war between the States," made a wondrous change in our whole scheme of existence as a people. Its stress, its necessities and its perils uncovered and developed new and unknown resources of wealth and during the period foundations for gigantic fortunes were laid. All of this led us into an era of material prosperity unprecedented in the whole history of the human race, the development of which is more wonderful and marvelous than any hitherto human conception in romance or fable. As an unavoidable consequence the flood gates of luxury, new and strange in some of its riotous and dissipating and nerve killing forms, opened wide. The wise human animal, however, realizes instinctively that luxury of any kind is his most insidious foe, and when enjoying its alluring indulgences his nature instantly demands reaction. MOUNT KINEO AND MAINE SUMMER RESORTS 11 But the greater mass of Americans who are luxurious are not prone to idleness or folly but to the extremity of the reverse which is as unnatural a life as the former. Senator Sutherland of Utah not long ago remarked in a debate in the United States Senate ; "We are living in strenuous days. Everybody seems to be afflicted in one form or another with the speed mania. We are not content to jog along in the old family carriage after the comfortable manner of our fathers; we must hurl ourselves through the land in high- power automobiles, dividing the population into the 'quick and the dead' as we pass." * * * * "The stage coach has been rel- egated to the scrap heap, and the Twentieth Century Limited has taken its lace. It was in the very beginning of these amazing days which have befallen us that the late W. H. H. Murray, that wizard of the woods and the lakes, better known to literature as "Adirondack Murray," and his legion of disciples which succeeded him, began their crusade for the "gospel of rest." It is not at all surprising that these new ideas appealed to the American people. The student of history knows that there has never been a dominant race whose higher and cultured classes have not been fond of outdoor sports. The Romans, the Greeks, the Medes and Persians, the Egyptians and the Assyrians all testify to this fact on the recorded pages of the world's history. But neither Assyrian nor Greek loved pure air and outdoor sports more than the English and his ancestors, the Saxons. And as their blood flows strongest in our veins, so we possess a love for manly sports, for hunting and fishing and the simple life with nature by the law of heredity. These annual vacations from the sky scrapers to the woods have become a fashion which will never change, a custom which is an unalterable part of American life. In accordance with the natural law of events, Maine's grand and wonderfully magnificent ocean coast, her fish and her game, her mighty forests, her thousands of lakes, ponds and streams, her pure air, her sweet singing song birds, her golden sunsets, her mountains, hills and dales, have collectively been a means of attracting a vast summer travel to her shores and inland resorts. This influx of recreation' seekers has developed a new industry 12 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY in Maine that is already in the front ranks with agriculture, lumbering, manufacturing, etc. Outside of the Rangeley Lakes region, no inland resort has been a greater factor in producing this condition than far-famed Mt. Kineo, midway of Moosehead Lake, which is forty miles in length and the largest lake wholly within New England. Kineo is a peninsular of land ex- tending from the east- erly shore into the lake, containing eleven hun- dred and fifty acres. Upon it is a mountain that rises seven hundred feet above the lake level. It is composed of a pecul- iar geological formation (The Mt. Kineo Hotel, 1914.) of flint rock known as silicious slate or bornstone.(a) It is the largest mass of this rock known in this country and was well adapted to the use of the Indians in making arrowheads, hatchets, chisels, etc. As Indian implements made from this rock have been found in all parts of New England and even farther to the southward, it is evident that the red-men visited this mountain for centuries for the purpose of obtaining this material. Kineo is in the heart of an immense primeval wilderness that is unbroken to the Dominion of Canada. In 1846 when Henry D. Thoreau visited the Moosehead Lake region, Kineo Mountain, its geological formation, its Indian relics and its traditions all deeply interested this great author and philosopher. The present hotel is a palatial structure fashioned so that its seven hundred guests may, live in luxury in the midst of nature's As the story of the development of Kineo is typical of and illustrates the expansion of the summer resort business in many (a) Jackson's Report on the Geology of Maine (1838). (b) Thoreau's references to Kineo may be found in The Maine Woods, pps. 123-124-190-225-226-230-233-235-240-242-250-323-371. MOUNT KINEO AND MAINE SUMMER RESORTS 13 parts of the interior of Maine, it seems wise to preserve some of [lie historical data relating to it. In the fifth division of lands between the State of Maine and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, made November 27, 1827, Kineo was allotted to the State of Maine and described as follows: " Peninsular Mt. Kineo in Moosehead Lake, 1150 acres." July 2, 1840, Rufus McIntire, Land Agent of Maine, I covered this property to John Bradbury of Bangor the consider- ation being three hundred, and twenty-five dollars and the description reciting, "A certain piece or parcel of land situated between the Day Academy tract and Moosehead Lake in said County of Piscataquis, and known by the name of Kineo, containing eleven hundred and fifty acres, be the same more or less according to the survey and plan made by Joseph Norris in the year 1827. The subsequent owners of this property, until its later owners became incorporated under the Dame of the Kineo Company, which corporation was succeeded by the present owner, the Ricker Hotel Company, also incorporated, leave been, in whole or in part, as follows: John Bradbury, Bangor, Maine. William Conner, Greenville, Maine. Joshua Fogg, Cornville, Maine. Daniel Rowell, Methuen, Massachusetts. William C. Hildreth, Greenville, Maine. Henry T. Hildreth, Jr., Greenville, Maine. Bradish B. Brown, Monson, Maine. Jonathan Mathews, Monson, Maine. Winthrop W. Chenery, Belmont, Massachusetts. Winthrop L. Chenery, Belmont, Massachusetts. Daniel W. Smith, Garland, Maine. Paul S. Merrill, Shirley, Maine, Attorney for Dudley Blanchard, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. David R. Straw, Guilford, Maine. Oliver Eveleth, Greenville, Maine. John H. Eveleth, Greenville, Maine. William A. Wilson, Greenville, Maine. Charles W. Gower, Greenville, Maine. Daniel H. Rowell, Kineo, Maine. Aretas Chapin, Monson, Maine. Ephraim Brown, Shirley, Maine. True Worthy White, Methuen, Massachusetts. Thomas C. Gower, Greenville, South Carolina. 14 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY William Furness, Tarrytown, New York. Oliver Frost, Bangor, Maine. E. G. Ross, Bangor, Maine. Cornelius N. Gower, Monson, Maine. Milton G. Shaw of Greenville, Maine, on the first day of' September, 1868, conveyed to Winthrop W. Chenery of Water- town, Massachusetts, who later conveyed it to the Kineo Comnpany, islands described in this conveyance a-, follows: "All of the Islands in Moosehead Lake lying east and north of the Bing- ham purchase, and north of the centre line of the original town of Green- ville, excepting Sugar, Deer, Kineo Farm, Moose, Sandbar and Moody Islands. And also excepting all the Islands in Lily Bay, which were sold to David Smith as per his deed. Excepting and reserving all the Pine, Spruce and Juniper timber on said Islands conveyed which is suitable for board logs, and said Shaw and his heirs and assigns are to have the right to enter upon said islands at any time and cut and remove such timber as above reserved, without let or hindrance; not to make any unnecessary strip or waste in so doing. " The first known of Kineo as a public house for travelers was in 1844, when a small tavern was built and enlarged at different times from 1852 to 1855. During these years its principal guests were lumbermen, woodsmen, river drivers, local hunters, etc. This house was burned in the winter of 1868. For three years the guests were entertained in tents and in an outbuilding that was saved from the fire and formerlv used as a bowling alley. In 1871 the Kineo House was rebuilt when it was again destroyed by fire, October 29, 1882. When the rebuilding was once more undertaken it was on broader and more modern lines and was really the beginning of Kineo's fame as a summer resort. The people of Maine were then beginning to realize the importance of' the summer resort business to the State and when this new, and for that day, elaborate and commodious hotel was opened to the public on July 30, 1884, the occa- sion was regarded of such Kineo House, 1855. significance as to call to- gether a large gathering of people among wbom were some of Maine's most prominent men. Among those present were George MOUNT KINEO AND MAINE SUMMER RESORTS 15 E. B. Jackson, president of the Maine Central Railroad; Moses Giddings, president, and Arthur Brown, manager of the Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad (a) ; Honorable Hannibal Hamlin, Senator and ex-Vice President of the United States; ex-Chief Justice John Appleton; General Charles Hamlin; Doctor A. C. Hamlin; Con- gressman Charles A. Boutelle; Colonel Jasper Hutchings; Josiah B. Mayo ; Honorable Augustus G. Lebroke; Honorable Elbridge A. Thompson; Honorable Alexander M. Robinson and Honorable Joseph P. Bass. One of the best orchestras obtainable in Maine furnished music and in the evening in the spacious music room the event which had been heralded as "the dedication of the New Mt. Kineo, House" occurred. Speeches were made by Hannibal Hamlin, Augustus G. Lebroke, Charles A. Boutelle, Reverend Charles Davi- son, Joseph P. Bass and Congressman Joseph D. Taylor of Cam- bridge, Ohio. As near as I am now able to ascertain the landlords and managers of the Kineo House have been Harrison (Jr. 0. Barrows, John It. Crocker, Orrin A. Dennen. and Clarles A. Judkins. Much praise is due to the late John H. Eveleth of Greenville, Maine, who for a life time was a prominent merchant and lumberman and long one of the owners of the Kineo property for his untiring zeal and energy in making this business a success. Among the first in the early days to have faith in the re- sources of Maine as a summer resort state, no obstacle was too formidable for him to overcome in his determination to lay the foundation for an immense enterprise along these lines. No correct history of the progress of the summer resort business in Maine could ever be written without giving much credit to Orrin A. Dennen. Mr. Dennen was born in Shirley, Maine, Jnne 9, 1838, and died at Kineo July 2, 1907. Thus for the space of about forty years he was the general manager of this property, becoming not only a shrewd and sagacious business man but also one of the most capable hotel managers in the country. He was always a gentleman, genial and kind-hearted, and thousands from all over our land who made Kineo their summer abiding place learned to love him. (a) Now the Bangor and Aroostook railroad. 16 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY Kineo is now owned by the Ricker Hotel Company and its affairs are under the control of Edward P. Ricker, who with his brother, Hiram Ricker, made a world-wide fame for Poland Springs. Mr. Ricker is recognized in financial circles as one of the most successful and farseeing business men in New England. The State of Maine owes much to his efforts as a financier and publicist, With the Ricker management as the directing force, and the Kineo hotels superintended by that popular and efficient manager, Colonel Charles A. Judkins, its future, full of brighter days, greater progress and more complete success, seems assured. The history of the summer resort industry in Switzerland is food for encouraging thought regarding its further expansion in Maine. In this little republic of Switzerland less than one-half the area of Maine, One hundred and fifty million dollars has been invested in hotels during the past fifty years, sixty millions of which has been invested during the last eighteen years, and the official reports of their government show that forty million dollars are left among their frugal inhabitants each year by the tourists. Enjoy David C. Young PO Box 152 Danville, Maine 04223 courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. 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