Trains in the Woods 3/31/21
In searching for interesting places to see on a possible return trip to Maine, I ran across a web site titled “Find the Abandoned Locomotives in the North Maine Woods” <https://untamedmainer.com/find-the-abandoned-locomotives-in-the-north-maine-woods/>. Apparently, in 1933 two narrow gauge steam locomotives, a large number of train cars, and miles of track from the Eagle Lake & West Branch Railroad, and tramway log moving equipment were abandoned because it was cheaper to do so. It was common practice in the lumber industry to deliver logs from a cutting site to processing mills by stringing together waterways (e.g., rivers, lakes), tramways, and short railroad lines. The two trains and related equipment were part of one such system.
Since we visited Greenville, Maine on Moosehead Lake in 2018, I have wondered about the origins of the town. Large houses (mansion) along the east side of the lake suggest a period of great wealth in the town's history that would not have been possible simply form tourism. One hundred years ago Moosehead Lake and Greenville were key parts of the a transit and milling system for logs. The logs were delivered via a short rail line to a northern point on the lake (most likely Seboomack ) and floated 30 miles south to Greenville where they were processed. Plywood, cut lumber and some logs were shipped further south from there by rail.
Included above are three photos from the Greenville Historical Society from the early 1900s. They show logs floating in the lake, the Veneer Products Co. in Greenville, and the downtown harbor on Pritham Ave.
Today, the forests around the lake is managed by Weyerhaeuser. The wood mill is gone and logs are hauled out of the area by truck. Outdoor recreation and tourism continues to be an important to the area's economy. The three photos below show the downtown harbor area today. The first and second look north across the lake from Pritham Ave (Rt 15). Pontoon planes fly out of the floating dock in the summer. The former wood products company was probably located behind the 100 year old steam ship Katahdin (seen in the second photo). It continues to sail the lake in the summer. The third photo shows a logging truck turning west onto Pritham Ave. The downtown harbor area is just behind the white corner building (dated 1893).
The photo below shows a steam locomotive from the Sandy Lake & Rangeley Lake Rail Road on a barge at Seboomock, at the northern most extent of Moosehead Lake, in the early 1900s. The most probably scenario is that the locomotive had ended its useful life on the Sandy Lake & Rangeley Lake Rail Road, which was located far to the south of the lake, and was in transit to begin a new life hauling lumber on a short line somewhere in the forests north and/or east of the lake. The photo marks the end of a 30 miles trip - northward via the lake from Greenville to Seboomack by barge pulled or pushed by a steam boat(s).
