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First Look at Logo - "My Debt To Maine" - Logo - Theodore Roosevelt Maine Heritage Trail 6-15-22
I first learned of Bible Point in Island Falls (ME) from Maine author, Andrew Vietze. Andrew's 2010 book, Becoming Teddy Roosevelt: How a Maine Guide Inspired America's 26th President, speaks to how Theodore Roosevelt utilized the site. (paragraph on page 48).
Scroll down this post to find "My Debt to Maine" by TR
On Tuesday, October 6, 2015, I headed up to check out Bible Point. Below or Click here for the video story of the adventure along Merriman Road.
This video story is made up of stills and video clips of the walk. The description below fails to mention that Merriman Road is a gravel road along which, an active logging harvest is currently taking place. The permits for the harvest are posted along Merriman Road. This made for a very interesting expedition to Bible Point.
The description of the site at Maine.gov:
Location: From Island Falls, take the Merriman Road to its end, then follow the hiking trail along the western shore of the West Branch of the Mattawamkeag River for approximately one mile.
Bible Point, a 27-acre property near the south end of Mattawamkeag Lake, was made famous by Teddy Roosevelt who visited the area beginning in 1878. As a young man under the guidance of his lifelong friend and guide Bill Sewall, Roosevelt camped at the southern end of Mattawamkeag Lake and hunted and fished throughout the area. It is reported that each day, Roosevelt would take his bible and hike to a beautiful point of land at the confluence of the West Branch of the Mattawamkeag River and First Brook where he would read the bible. A plaque was erected in 1921 by Roosevelt's biographer Hermann Hagedorn and it reads:
This plaque commemorates Theodore Roosevelt's love for the
area. - PWM image 10-6-2015
Below or Click here for a video walk-around at Bible Point.
Walk-a-round Bible Point video
Straight ahead to the point where First Brook (on the right just out of sight)
merges with the West Branch of the Mattawamkeag River (seen on the right).
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This Blogger is in a selfie. PWM image 10-6-2015
Within this kiosk is the typed text of Theodore Roosevelt's, March 20, 1918
the letter titled, My Debt to Maine, and a copy of the said letter in TR's own
hand. TR buttons, courtesy of Theodore Roosevelt Association :) The
buttons were removed after photo ops. To see the entire text of TR's letter,
My Debt to Maine, scroll down to the bottom of this post.
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First Brook as it enters the Bible Point area. PWM image 10-6-2015
Along the walking trail to/from Bible Point.
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Along the walking trail to Bible Point. Evidence that a
Pileated Woodpecker paid a visit? PWM image 10-6-2015
Pileated Woodpecker paid a visit? PWM image 10-6-2015
Along the walking trail to/from Bible Point.
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Along the walking trail to/from Bible Point.
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Some images along Merriman Road
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The left arrow had black letters has Bible Point written on it.
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Collection area for the harvested logs. Logs that have been delivered by a skidder
are then stacked by the machine seen in the background here.
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Harvested logs stacked in a collection area. PWM image 10-6-2015
Starting at the top, the first star in Island Falls. The star below Island Falls
is the beginning of Merriman Road. It is about 7 miles along Merriman Road,
heading southeast, that you come to the next star. This represents where you
turn left and travel for about a mile. At the next star, Merriman "Road" ends
and a trail for ATVs or Snowmobiles begins. Follow this trail for about a
mile and you come upon Bible Point, the final star. The only time I saw any
signs of Bible Point was when turning left about 7 miles in, there were
a couple of plastic signs with an arrow and Bible Point handwritten on the
sign. - Screenshot 10-9-2015
After having traveled along Merriman Road, these "veins" and small, cleared
areas along the road now are known. The veins are trails made by a skidder
as it harvests and drags trees to the collection areas along the road. These
collection areas are cleared areas along the road where the trees are stacked
for loading. Screenshot 10-9-2015
An expanded view of harvesting trails and collection areas.
Screenshot 10-9-2015
Sign in the yard at the original Sewall homestead in Island Falls where
Theodore Roosevelt stayed during his three visits in 1878/79.
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The original Sewall homestead where Theodore
Roosevelt stayed during his three visits to Island Falls in 1878/79.
PWM image 10-6-2015
Within the acknowledgments is written, "Col. Theodore Roosevelt responded to the request for a contribution to this book, by sending the story, and the manuscript, written in pencil by his own hand, is a priceless treasure."
I happen to have a copy of the book that belonged to my father. It was given to him on April 9, 1947, while he was attending high school.
by Col. Theodore Roosevelt
I owe a personal debt to Maine because of my association with certain staunch friends in Aroostook County; an association that helped and benefitted me throughout my life in more ways than one.
It is (now) over forty years ago that I first went to Island Falls and stayed with the Sewall family. I repeated the visit three or four times. I made a couple hunting trips in the fall, with Bill Sewall and Wilmot Dow; and one winter I spent three or four weeks on snowshoes with them, visiting a couple of lumber camps. I was not a boy of any natural prowess and for that very reason, the vigorous outdoor life was just what I needed.
It was a matter of pride with me to keep up with my stalwart associates, to shift for myself, and to treat with indifference whatever hardship or fatigue came our way. In their company, I would have been ashamed to complain! And I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was rather tired by some of the all-day tramps, especially in the deep snow, when my webbed racquets gave me "snowshoe feet", or when we wadded up the Munsungin in shallow water, dragging a dugout until my ankles became raw from slipping on the smooth underwater stones; and I still remember with qualified joy the ascent and especially the descent of Katahdin in moccasins, worn because, to the deep disapproval of my companions, I had lost one of my heavy shoes in crossing a river at the riffle.
I also remember such delicious nights, under a lean-to, by stream or lake, in the clear fall weather, or in winter on balsam boughs in front of a blazing stump, when we had beaten down and shoveled away the deep snow, and kept our foot-gear away from the fire, so that it should not thaw and freeze;-and the meals of venison, trout or partridge; and one meal consisting of muskrat and a fish-duck, which, being exceedingly hungry, we heartily appreciated.
But the bodily benefit was not the largest part of the good done me. I was accepted as part of the household; and the family and friends represented in their lives the kind of Americanism-self-respecting, duty-performing, life-enjoying-which is the most valuable possession that any generation can hand on to the next. It was as native to our soil as "William Henry's Letters to his Grandmother"-I hope there are still readers of that delightful volume of my youth, even though it was published fifty years ago.
Mrs. Sewall, the mother, was a dear old lady; and Miss Sewall, the sister, was a most capable manager of the house. Bill Sewall at the time had two brothers. Sam was a deacon. Dave was NOT a deacon. It was from Dave that I heard an expression which after remained in my mind. He was speaking of a local personage of shifty character who was very adroit in using fair-sounding words that completely nullified the meaning of another fair-sounding word that preceded them. "His words weasel the meaning of the words in front of them," said Dave, "just like a weasel when he sucks the meat out of an egg and leaves nothing but the shell;" and, I always remembered, "weasel words" as applicable to certain forms of oratory, especially political oratory, which I do not admire.
Once, while driving in a wagon with Dave, up to an exceedingly wet and rocky backwoods road, with the water pouring down the middle, I asked him how in Aroostook County they were able to tell its roads from its rivers. "No beaver dams in the roads," instantly responded Dave.
At one of the logging camps, I became good friends with a quiet, resolute-looking man, named Brown, one for the choppers; and afterward, I stopped at his house and was as much struck with his good and pretty wife as I had been with him. He had served in the Civil War and had been wounded. His creed was that peace was a great blessing, but that even so great a blessing could be purchased at too dear a price. I did not see him again until thirty-seven years later when he came to a meeting at which I spoke in Portland. He had shaved off his beard and was an old man and I did not at first recognize him; but after the first sentence, I knew him and very glad indeed I was to see him once more.
In the eighties, I started a little cattle ranch on Little Missouri, in the then territory of Dakota, and I got Bill Sewall and Wilmot Dow to join me. By the time they had both married...and, they brought out Mrs. Sewall and Mrs. Dow. There was already a little girl in the Sewall family, and two babies were born on the ranch. Thanks to Mrs. Sewall and Mrs. Dow, we were most comfortable. The ranch-house and all the out-buildings at the home, ranch, the Elkhorn- were made of cottonwood logs and were put up by Bill and Wilmot who were mighty men with the ax. I got them to put on a veranda; and in one room, where I kept my books and did my writing, we built a big fireplace, and I imported a couple of rocking chairs. (Only one would have made me feel too selfish.) The veranda, the open fireplace, the books, and the rocking chairs represented my special luxuries; I think Mrs. Sewall and Mrs. Dow enjoyed them almost as much as I did.
We had stoves to keep us warm in the bitter winter weather and bearskin and buffalo robes. Bill and Wilmot and I and usually one or two cowhands worked hard, but it was enjoyable to work and the hunting on which we relied for all our meat was, of course, sheer fun. When the winter weather set in, we usually made a regular hunt to get the winter meat and we hung our game in the cottonwood trees which stretched before our house. I remember once when we had a bull elk and several deer hanging up and another time when we had a couple of antelope and a yearling mountain sheep. The house of hewn logs was clean and comfortable and we were all of us young and strong and happy.
Wilmot was from every standpoint one of the best men I ever knew. He has been dead for many years. His widow is now, Mrs. Pride, and her present husband is also one of my valued friends.
When I was President, the Sewalls and Prides came down to Washington to visit me. We talked over everything, public and private, past and present; the education and future careers of our children; proper attitude of the United States in external and internal matters. We, all of us looked at the really important matters of public policy and private conduct from substantially the same viewpoint. Never were there more welcome guests at the White House. - Theodore Roosevelt
Sagamore Hill, March 20, 1918.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We continue the restoration work on the 1912, Narcissus, the only surviving high-speed, luxury interurban coach of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban.
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Being more than a century old, the stately, "Elegant Ride," Narcissus, is a gem. This shimmering precious stone of Maine transportation history is brilliantly resplendent as it emanates so many elements of history, including; time, places, people, and events, that it was coupled to, that when just a smattering of its seemingly innumerable stories are shared, the contents captivates, fascinates, then generates, interest to learn more 🙋. The majestic Narcissus is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
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The restoration of this majestic icon of Maine's electric railway history is but one in a series of captivating stories containing an abundance of incredible coalition of narratives.
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The Narcissus is featured in the national Gold Award-winning novel, Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride. The "Elegant Ride" is the Narcissus. Theodore Roosevelt was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914, between Lewiston and Portland, Maine, while campaigning for the Progressive Party candidates.
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Independent book publisher, Phil Morse, holding
the Gold Book Award Winner plaque for
the Middle Reader category for The Eric
Hoffer Book Award. Congratulations to
award-winning Maine author,
Jean M. Flahive
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