. In fair Aroostook, where Acadia and Scandinavia's subtle touch turned a wilderness into a land of plenty; . t seemsmall by comparison, has done so much industrially^for Aroos-took county and the state as the founding of this Swedish colony,thirty-two 3-ears ago, in the wilds of eastern Maine. I got far-away views of the rolling hills and stately groves ofStockholm and New Sweden off to the west of the track in com-ing southward from Van Buren. That I went on to Caribou 66 IX FAIR AKOOSTOOK. before visiting tlie vSwedisli settlements proved most fortunatefor my ultimate visit for there I met
. In fair Aroostook, where Acadia and Scandinavia's subtle touch turned a wilderness into a land of plenty; . t seemsmall by comparison, has done so much industrially^for Aroos-took county and the state as the founding of this Swedish colony,thirty-two 3-ears ago, in the wilds of eastern Maine. I got far-away views of the rolling hills and stately groves ofStockholm and New Sweden off to the west of the track in com-ing southward from Van Buren. That I went on to Caribou 66 IX FAIR AKOOSTOOK. before visiting tlie vSwedisli settlements proved most fortunatefor my ultimate visit for there I met the Hon. William WidgeryThomas, United States minister to Sweden, who was on hisreturn from a visit to this colony which he founded. From himI got many interesting particulars concerning it. But it wasonly when I went to Stockholm and New vSweden and saw thefarms with their comfortable houses, great barns, broad fieldsand fruitful orchards, with the general air of smiling prosperitythat pervaded all, that I fully could realize the success that hadattended the scheme of vSwedish colonization in It was the un])leasant fact, revealed by the census of 1870,that the po^oulation of Maine was diminishing that led to thefounding of the Swedish colony in Aroostook county. It wasfound that while in the ten years previous the United States hadgained more than 7,r)00,000 in population, the state of Mainehad 1,:}64 fewer inhabitants than in 1860. To remedy this stateof things the Maine legislature took the matter in hand. A IN FAIR AROOSTOOK. 67 board of immigration was established. William WidgeryThomas was appointed commissioner of immigration and atownship was assigned for the settlement of the immigrants thathe proposed to bring from Sweden. As a result of this action a colony of twenty-two men, elevenwomen and eighteen children, in charge of Mr. Thomas, sailedfrom Gothenburg, on June 25, 1870, to make new homes inMaine. The commissioner was authorized to take the Swedesinto
Size: 1800px × 1388px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidinfairaroost, bookyear1902
