Augusta – Icemen of this city who have harvested crops on the Kennebec river for years, have followed with close interest the scarcity of the ice supply in the hands of the American Ice Co. According to the view of these men the scarcity is due in part to the inability of the American Ice Company to secure men and teams enough last winter to harvest a sufficient crop in the season, but more especially to the company’s failure to take full advantage of the fine ice cutting conditions of the proceeding winter – that of 1904-5. In that winter, the icemen say it would have been possible to put up an extra supply which would have held over to meet such an emergency as now exists, as the conditions were unusually favorable for harvesting the crop.

50 Years Ago, 1956

The Massachusetts outbreak of eastern equine encephalitis – horse sleeping sickness continued to spread today as two new cases, both in Weymouth were reported by the state public health department. Meanwhile, eastern Massachusetts communities continued their effort to stamp out mosquitos, carriers of the disease, and Rhode Island residents were urged to follow suit.

25 Years Ago, 1981

In a contest that drew flack from the Henson Associates – creators of the Muppet character Miss Piggy – but was legitimized by the formation of an ad hoc corporation, there were less than three dozen hog hooves entered in the sawstrewn pig pen. Early, pre-contest estimates had predicted more than 20 of the cloven-hooved contestants would show up for the final squeal, part of the Bath Bicentennial celebration Saturday.

But there were more than just the well-publicized pig contest at the bicentennial celebration. The time capsule, a steel drum which will be buried at the end of the celebration and unearthed in 2006, gave the chance for some residents to put a little bit of history away for 25 years. Jim Economou of Woolwich said he was planning to put some letters in the capsule to his children Jan, 8; Coe, 6; and Aaron, 3.”