FARMINGTON – Along with the animals, rides, food and fun found at county fairs, lots of history highlights the best of rural Maine.

Traditions from the past can be found this week at the Farmington Fair. The one-room Red Schoolhouse and a blacksmith shop are open for viewing and two museums display people from the past and items used over the years.

Dead River Area Historical Society brings back memories of the Eustis and Flagstaff Lake areas in one of the museums this week, the smaller one located next to the Exhibition Hall.

Clarence Jones, 88, of Bingham, manned the exhibit Wednesday morning along with his son Steven, also of Bingham. Jones’ history was part of the display as he pulled out his scrapbook showing pictures of him leading a bateau – a type of boat – down the Dead River during a Stratton river drive in the late 1960s.

Jones, who lived in the Eustis area for 50 years, would help bring 25,000 cords of pulpwood from Dallas to the Statler Tissue Mill in Augusta. He was a river driver for 30 years, he said.

“You just threw a stick in and followed it,” Jones said as he talked about the dangerous, seasonal work that started once the ice was out to take advantage of the spring thaw when there was enough water to carry the wood.

“It’s hard to explain. It was the most miserable job but I liked it.”

A crew would work seven days a week following the pulp through dam gates and ice-cold water. He landed on the lip of Grand Falls once, by accident, a drop of 30-feet but normally the crew would work their way around the dams, he said. The falls are located below the dam on what is now Flagstaff Lake that was flooded, he said.

“I never stove up a boat or dumped anyone out,” he said, as he recalled the historical method of transporting pulp.

An active historical group lead by Mary Henderson, the fair exhibit is rich in detail of the history of the region. Philip Stevens, who manned the exhibit later in the day, said the group holds ice cream socials and events planned around individual early families in the Stratton/Eustis area to keep people involved.

The area was owned by a pulp mill in Waterville that offered Caleb Stevens 160 acres, a woods camp and one year of food to move his family from Kingfield to Stratton, 24 miles on horses, to become the first family to settle in the Dead River area, he said.

“A veteran of the War of 1812,” Stevens said, “Caleb came home from the war and had to cut wood. He then decided he’d go back to war.”

The history wouldn’t be complete without the story of the demolition of the town of Flagstaff and subsequent flooding to create Flagstaff Lake in 1947. The homes and woodlots were bought and several were burned by Central Maine Power in order to generate power from the dam. It’s a moment in history that still affects many of the people who lived through it, he said.

The display, a step back from the bustle of the fair, includes knowledgeable volunteers ready to share stories from the area’s past with fair-goers.

This year’s fair, overall, is going well with exceptional weather, said Fair Secretary Neal Yeaton. A crowd of young people were expected Wednesday afternoon for the annual ride special, he said.