The following appeared in the March 4, 1897, edition of the RANGELEY LAKES newspaper. This was an installment of an occasional column entitled ‘Rangeley Recollections’ written by a man known only as “Old Laker” (This might well be Deacon Lake, but that is unconfirmed). He was basically the first to do what we now attempt to do with “Snapshots in Time”. Funny how that works. I hope you enjoy this old Rangeley History shared concerning even OLDER Rangely History.
Bill’s comments in Italics. Some text has been partially redacted for space considerations. The complete story and many others can be read in their entirety on the Maine State Library website: digitalmaine.com).
Rangeley Recollections
His sawing machinery, the finest of the day, came from England and it was a prime entertainment of the settlers to see it in operation while they were waiting for their ‘grist’ to be ground. There was ton of stones and between those went wheat, barley, and oats, together with the little corn raised north of Saddleback. The first miller here of whom I have record, was Thomas Chase, father of Maine’s most renowned poet, the sweet singer, “Florence Percy.” The next of whom I have knowledge was John Haley, Sr. After him were Hugh Staples, Peter Haines and Mr. Bowley, grandfather of Mr. Bowley of the Mountain View House, and others. These, of course, was the earliest mill in the settlement, and when they had gone to ruin, a gristmill was built on the tiny outlet of Quimby Pond by Joseph Ellis, who came to the place from Augusta. This mill had only a short career. Ellis was long ago engaged hauling pine trees to the seacoast for ship masts. He lived near David Quimby until he moved from the place.

Another grist mill was built on the outlet of Long Pond, and early in the 50’s Joseph Hoar erected a sawmill on a stream crossing his farm, the farm now owned and occupied by his son Luther Nile. All of these mills are gone.
Going to the old Rangeley grist mill at the outlet afforded an interesting glimpse of frontier life. From there to the eastern extremity of the settlement was a distance of about ten miles by a road in places difficult to travel with wheels, so when access to the mill was not open over the frozen lake and by snow roads, we carried our grain to mill in bags on horseback. The proper balancing and fastening to the saddle of these loads and the securing of a comfortable seat on top was no insignificant problem in those days, and very stimulative of an appetite for “flour bread” when we got home.
Squire Rangeley built the region’s first dam at the outlet of the lake to power his gristmill and sawmill shortly after his arrival in 1825. Prior to this, all planks and timbers had to be hand sawn and all grain had to be carried either by horseback or by foot to Phillips for milling. Both were hard jobs and necessary AFTER you either felled the trees or plowed, planted, tended and then harvested the grain! And we think we have it tough at times. Prior to my resignation as Executive Director at the Rangeley Lakes Historical Society (and thanks mostly to the efforts of Charlie Adkins), I was able to arrange for the donation of one of the actual Mill Stones from Squire Rangeley’s gristmill. It currently sits in silent obscurity in the local woods. This is an amazing piece of Rangeley history. Brookfield Renewable was happy to donate so it could be shared on the grounds of the Outdoor Heritage Museum with a panel describing the dam and mills and their significance to the town’s history. I am hopeful that RLHS will soon follow up on this unique opportunity to share a truly important chapter in the town as well as its namesake’s history. Have a great week and be sure to make some great Rangeley History of your own!