Pick a day in the past 100 or so years. Pick any day, and it’s safe to assume you would not find it has any particular historical significance in the memories of Androscoggin Valley’s past or present residents.

On the contrary, I find that every time I look at some long-ago date, one connection leads to another with extraordinary regularity. It seems there is no such thing as an ordinary day.

Labor Day is almost here, so I took my usual trip into the Internet archives of the Lewiston Evening Journal to see what our Lewiston-Auburn ancestors were up to on the last important summer weekend of 1905.

The Twin Cities were a-buzz with talk about legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley’s visit to Auburn a few days earlier. A reporter interviewed her and husband Frank Butler, and even 50 years before Irving Berlin turned her story into the Broadway musical “Annie Get Your Gun,” the account had all the flavor of the play’s “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” duet.

The unnamed reporter dared to ask the famous sure-shot artist if she thought her aim was suffering any from age or failing eyesight. Her reply was quick and sharp. She said she is as good as ever, and added, “I don’t mind telling you I am 39 years old.”

The Saturday newspaper also carried plans for the Monday holiday celebration.

“All roads will lead to Lewiston,” it said. “Every train will come loaded to the steps. Every family horse for miles around will haul the folks into the city Monday to see the biggest Labor Day celebration that Maine has ever had.”

The program was to start with a big parade with half a dozen bands “led by a platoon of police followed by the full Brigade band.” Other bands expected to march were from Bangor, Madison, Lisbon and the Dominican band from Lewiston.

Besides the 12 L-A labor unions, organizers expected participation from Bangor, Augusta, Gardiner, Lisbon, Lisbon Falls, Skowhegan, Madison, Pejepscot and Hallowell.

The “electrics” (trolleys) would run all day from downtown to the fairgrounds, where sporting events were scheduled. The competition included horse racing and a motorcycle race. The open contests would be hurdle races, pole vaulting, bicycle races, a three-legged race and a fat man’s race.

Then, on Sunday, tragedy struck in Turner. A massive fire destroyed the Turner Woolen Mill, and until late Monday, the fate of owner Francis T. Faulkner was unknown. The news story on Tuesday said Turner’s volunteer fire department saved nearby buildings, but the mill was a total loss.

Searchers first found Faulkner’s watch among the ruins 48 hours after the blaze started. Eventually, they identified the spot where his body had been consumed by the flames.

The news account went into extreme detail of the search for Faulkner’s remains. It told how hot bricks had to be hosed down before men could enter the main part of the mill. The searchers also removed every piece of machinery as they moved ahead, sifting through every shovelful of ashes.

It was reported that a number of women were seen carrying ladders and pails of water during the firefighting stage. The women of Turner also were credited with bringing large amounts of coffee, doughnuts and other food for the firemen and workers.

It rained hard on Monday, and that meant that men were often “leg-deep” in water, ashes and mud.

The news of the Turner fire had pushed Labor Day information to the inside pages of the Tuesday, Sept. 5, newspaper.

There were pictures of a some floats and a description of the parade, but the rainy weather had washed out the sporting events at the fairgrounds.

A wrap-up story about the loss of the Turner Woolen Mill and its owner, said, “Every man worked as if he expected that Mr. Faulkner was alive and would realize and thank them for their efforts in his behalf when he was rescued. They were not working as men, but as friends.”

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Dave Sargent is a freelance writer and a native of Auburn. He can be reached by sending email to [email protected].