A two horse pung. Submitted

(What follows appeared in the March 2, 1916, edition of the MAINE WOODS newspaper. The paper regularly printed a feature called “Fly Rod’s Notebook” penned by none other than the famous Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby. Her column most often covered general local topics of sporting and social interests. We have redacted it for space reasons. Contemporary commentary inserted in italics. We hope you enjoy it.)

Fly Rod’s Notebook

Mountain View House, February 18, 1916

Standing on the piazza at this well- known and popular summer hotel on winter’s day and looking past the cottages covered with their winter mantle of snow and for miles up the lake and to the mountains beyond, I could but wish the summer guests from the far away in the city were here this mid-winter day. No words of mine can describe the beautiful picture of the Rangeleys in winter. It was only 20 degrees below zero the other evening when I reached Oquossoc. There were no automobiles or baggage wagons around, but Landlord Bowley in his coon skin coat was holding the reins over a high-stepper, as he sat in the three-seated “depot pung,’’ ( a ‘pung” is a small open one or two-horse sleigh) waiting for those who were going to Mt. View. I was soon among the fur robes with a jolly Bostonian and others enjoyed the short sleigh ride to the hotel. Mrs. Bowley welcomed me and as I entered their sitting room I at once noticed the large vases of fragrant roses that had been sent by New York friends in honor of the day, for it was her birthday and all were offering congratulations. Time has surely been most kind and left few reminders of the passing years. At the supper table a large and delicious birthday cake was cut by our hostess and the evening most socially passed. Friends from far away sent gifts and all did wish for Mrs. Bow ley many happy returns of the day.

(I was surprised to learn that Mt. View House was open to guests in the winter in the early 1900’s. I was aware that Rangeley Tavern was open in winter. I bet they both burned over 100 cords of wood in doing so).

Winter sports advertisement. Submitted photo

At present only one horse, “Ginger,” the big yellow cat and three sleek looking cows are enjoying life at the barn. Geo. Church and Carl Hoar are using the other horses on the “tote teams” hauling supplies to the Canadian line for the use of the crews of workmen who will lumber in that section for the American Realty Company in a year from now. Surely it takes thousands of dollars to lumber these days and the money is often idle while the trees in the forest are growing. This is proven by the fact that the “tote teams’’ are now hauling from the Oquossoc railroad station to Bowmantown, near Canada, stopping on their four and a half days’ trip at the four camps located about ten miles apart, where the company Intends to operate in the winter of 1916 and 1917. Among other supplies for men and horses that are now, being hauled “across the line” are two carloads (“car” boxcar train cars) of oats, two carloads of hay, one carload of flour, one of pork, lard, and groceries, or nearly 225 tons of freight! Miles of new logging road have been built, and when summer comes it will be good exercise for the tourists with their guides to hike over this lumber road through miles of unbroken forest and call on our Canadian neighbors.

(These above-mentioned hundreds of tons of supplies being preloaded by horsedrawn sleigh deep into the forest for future logging camps above Rangeley, give just a hint of the effort, preparation and immense amount of logistics required for camps of 50 to100 men to operate for a winter’s worth of logging. Truly mind-boggling by today’s standards).

The zero-weather struck here yesterday and forgot to stop until it was 21 degrees below. And with the wind blowing a gale and the snow flying in all directions made the Bostonians, who came on the evening train think we had “some weather” down here in Maine, even if there was more snow in Boston when they left. But it is such a happy party of gentlemen who have strapped on their snowshoes and dressed for the occasion and are now on their way over the lake. They are to strike off at Oquossoc and follow the trail past “Our Lady of the Lakes” church and through the woods to the shore of Mooselookmeguntic Lake, where C. W. Fitts of Newton, Mass., will open his beautiful camp and the jolly party are to lunch there.

(French settlers had copied the preferred form of Native American winter transportation: the snowshoe and the sport became a primary source of winter recreation and social activity. So much so that Snowshoe Clubs were formed throughout Quebec and Maine and large annual ‘Racqueteer’ conventions took place. The peak of popularity occurred in 1950 when 3,800 Racqueteers came to the convention held in Lewiston. It was profiled by Life Magazine.)

It must be that the open fires of the camps here in the Rangeleys have fascination for many. Supt. Mathieson told me that F. F. Brewster of New Haven, Conn., one of the club members, ordered a carload of white birch in three-foot logs to be sent to him this winter. A Philadelphia gentleman also had Mr. Mathieson ship for him a carload of four-foot hard wood to burn in open fire at his city home. There were 11 cords on the car for which they paid $5.50 per cord and the freight bill was $111. Now that is surely burning money as well as wood, yet the city folks who keep a big fire in camp all summer never seem to think wood down here In Maine costs money, but of the hotel men who has nearly a hundred cords cut for summer use, tells me when it is piled by the camps ready to burn it costs on an average of $8.00 per cord, here in our Maine wilderness.

(Surely some of the folks from away had “money to burn” if they had their fireplace wood shipped to places like New Haven and Philadelphia! However, $5.50 per cord in 1916 equates to $168.00 today which is a real value given we now pay more than double that sum.)

I called at Pickle’s Store just as the expressman was taking about 20 cases of deer heads that were being shipped to the lucky hunters who did not miss the mark last fall. They were all finely mounted and will attract much attention in the city homes. Mr. Pickle told me he had about 200 deer heads to mount this winter and 26 bears, which was an unusual number. Several of the bears will be “stuffed life-size,” others their head mounted, or with the skin for rugs.

(Pickles was a sporting outfitter and taxidermy shop located in downtown Rangeley close to where the Lakeside Theater is today. Have a great week and be sure to make some great Rangeley History of your own!)