Gold fever afflicted Mainers a century ago. Farmers scoured their land for signs of riches, while prospectors searched remote townships for precious metals including copper and silver — or even molybdenum for those who could pronounce it. The Bangor newspapers enthusiastically kept track of these fantasies in headlines such as these:
GOLD IN MAINE — Bangor Man Purchases Mine in Pittston (Bangor Daily Commercial, Feb. 23, 1905).
GOLD IN GREENFIELD: Bangor Man Found a Lump of Quartz Showing Much Gold (Bangor Daily Commercial, Nov. 8, 1906).
GOLD DISCOVERED IN TOWNSHIP 31 — Evidence of Large Quantities of the Yellow Metal Just North of Wesley (Bangor Daily News, Nov. 24, 1906).
GOLD IN ORRINGTON — Bangor Men May Start Mining Operations (Bangor Daily Commercial, April 30, 1908).
Sometimes the notices came in the form of investment advertisements. In 1905 and 1906, big ads appeared in the Industrial Journal, a Bangor newspaper, soliciting stock purchases for the Wesley Gold Mining Co. The president was a well-known businessman, D.G. Rollins of the Bangor Mattress Co.
These feverish imaginings did not occur in a vacuum. Gold fever swept the country in 1849 when the yellow metal was found at Sutter’s Mill in California. Thousands of Mainers headed West. Other gold strikes followed in Nevada, Colorado, South Dakota and most recently the Klondike. A small number of people actually made money, while many more ended up working for large mining companies or returning home empty-handed.
Couldn’t such riches exist in Maine? The newspapers fanned the flames of imagination: “[T]he discovery of a gold mine richer than any in Australia or Alaska is not an impossibility,” editorialized the Bangor Daily News on Jan. 6, 1906.
Mainers didn’t have to go West. They could speculate in gold mining companies from their hometowns. One such example was the Bangor Gold Mining Co. in Squaw Creek, Yavapai County, Ariz., according to the Bangor Daily News on March 8, 1906. The manager, a Russian count named Sergius Mentschikoff, appeared in Bangor to meet with Dr. Melvin Preble, the local agent. The company’s operations consisted of eight claims of 160 acres. The count produced a letter from the state assayer to Charles Black of Bangor attesting to the high quality of the ore.
Maine had had its own “rush” around 1880. The incredible story was best told in the New England Quarterly by Virginia Chase Perkins in 1941. At its peak, there were nearly 175 companies mining gold, silver and copper in more than 40 communities, mostly in eastern Maine. Blue Hill was the focus of much of the activity with 39 companies alone. Huge amounts were invested and thousands of workers congregated from all over the world. Large buildings were erected and expensive machinery purchased. When the bubble began to burst the Boston Herald commented, “People of Maine have this spring made a most valuable discovery. They have found that a hole in the ground is not a mine ... .”
In 1904, the whole thing appeared to be starting over again. A “big syndicate” of New York and Pittsburgh capitalists incorporated as the Maine Copper Co. announced that it planned to reopen some of the abandoned mines of Blue Hill. If the plans succeeded, Blue Hill might “rival Butte as a copper metropolis,” said the Bangor Daily News on April 14, 1904. Bangor would benefit financially if it were picked over Portland as company headquarters.
A few weeks after the announcement, a Bangor Daily News columnist recalled Maine’s earlier mining bonanza days “when all Hancock County was thought to be one great lump of copper ore streaked with gold, and every owner of a rocky pasture lot hoped to become a millionaire.” Instead of hoeing their potatoes, farmers blasted holes in their fields and then hastened to Bangor “with a carpet bag full of any stones which looked peculiar.”
The anonymous columnist wrote on May 11, “Bangor presented an appearance which made a stranger feel that he was in Colorado. ... There were signs on nearly every corner setting forth the names of the great companies which were organized to make a man rich in a day.” They included the Rising Sun Silver and Gold Mining Co., capital $1 million, and the Andes Gold Mining and Milling Co., capital $500,000. There were “assayers offices to burn” and two mining exchanges.
“There was a stock auction every forenoon and to go on the floor of the big room made the enthusiastic investors think that they were in Wall Street for a few minutes,” he continued. “Hundreds of people attended these auctions and bought more or less of the stock, which was printed in gorgeous style.” The columnist’s description of the venture’s collapse was brief and was followed by a description of how modern mining methods might lead to better results this time.
Apparently little came out of these endeavors. At the end of 1908, on Dec. 21, the state assayer, William H. Ohler, commented on the state of mining for a story reprinted in the Bangor Daily News. “Up to this time the mines of Maine have existed only on paper. I know of [but] few which have done much else for the people of this state besides furnishing some persons finely engraved mementos of promoters’ aspirations, yet one never knows what may turn up at any time which may revolutionize the state.” This columnist will rest on that thought until further notice.
On 12/17/08 at 1:00 PM,
mzbags wrote:
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My GGUncle, Sam B Gilman, was involved in the California gold rush for a year or two, and my Weed family went west for a short time too. It took me some time to figure out that Grand Trunk RR that took the Maine Relatives West. All this history just adds to the enjoyment of genealogy.
Carolanne
On 12/17/08 at 1:15 PM,
SteveyDee wrote:
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I do believe you would need some SCUBA gear to look for gold at the mine in Wesley.
On 12/17/08 at 7:21 PM,
AmericanBandstandPA wrote:
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'mzbags', as you, a former Roman Catholic, and now a prescribed, baptized Mormon, as you mentioned in a previous posting about three or four weeks ago, you know that the Mormon's out of Salt Lake City, Utah, hold the largest (at least that is what they claim) archives of genealogy in the world. They maintain these files within a large cave there, as the records are sensitive, and must be temperature-controlled, as it is said. The concept is simple. Somehow the Mormon's have assumed the names of people all across the United States (and the world), through the missions of their young Melchizedek (men only...no females allowed) priests, and the females who also go on missions when they make annotations on their contacts. We know the Mormon's hold one of the largest worldwide business conglomerates, a multi-business operations. They have the ability to find out about almost everybody, in terms of technical ability. All you do is to go to their meetinghouses (not the Temple as Mormons must be sanctified and pay ALL your 10% tithes and attend meetings 100% of the time to even get into the Temples, and it is all on a spreadsheet record) and register on a piece of paper with your name and completed other information, which they submit through their computer-base. Anyone can utilize this genealogical runout, if you will. I used this system once. From the 1862 family (5" thick) Roman Catholic Bible I have handed down through my line of relatives, with a complete record of all my relatives hand-drawn into the Bible pages by my grandparents on both sides and the records they had, that were reserved for family history, the Mormon's got my genealogical tracking completely wrong on both sides of the family lineage since my parents were born. The Mormon's, unknowing the facts, said I had completely different grandparents, all from Canada...and actually my mother and father's parents, my grandparents actually came direct from Ireland, both sides, in the late 1800's. I even hold the manifests from the ship they came to the United States on! There is no French in me at all. So, put your faith in what the Mormon's have recorded...who knows who you could be the relative of? Anyway, Wayne Reilly's articles are always interesting.
On 12/20/08 at 9:39 AM,
mzbags wrote:
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AmericanBandstand Dude...........'trust me, I am not a baptized Mormon.........and I had to go to Dublin for records the Mormon's did not have access to, in County Kerry. I am a baptized Roman Catholic and will leave this earth as a R.C.
Carolanne
On 12/20/08 at 4:44 PM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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Carolanne:
I must admit that accusation took me a little aback!
On 12/20/08 at 10:38 PM,
AmericanBandstandPA wrote:
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Sorry, 'mzbags', but it is obvious I was mistaken when you posted to Mainelyme preeviously that you were related to Father Nelligan (I think), and in the same post you mentioned some detailed association with Mormonism. I, too, am lifelong Roman Catholic from Saint John's Parochial and Saint John's Church and then onto John Bapst for two years before I went on and graduated from Higgins Classical Institute. Attend Church regularly all my life, too; but sorry, again, I must have not remembered exactly what your post said, as I was recalling from memory (I could not find the posting you made previously, either) something associating you with being a Mormon.
Guess the Mormon's do not have the complete records they claim to have. My relatives were Conboy, Gehigan, Potts, Nelligan and some others in my family...and some of them were priests, as I have photos in the back page of the family portrait section of this 1872 (not 1862) Bible. My wife, son and I plan to take a trip to Ireland after my son graduates from high school in 2010. We plan to visit County Cork, Galway and attempt to find those records you found on your relatives.
Glad you cleared that up for me, Carolanne. Hello, Perley! I've been thinking of how you are. Hope both of you and yours have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year coming up! Same to all the posters here, too.
John
On 12/20/08 at 10:38 PM,
AmericanBandstandPA wrote:
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Sorry, 'mzbags', but it is obvious I was mistaken when you posted to Mainelyme preeviously that you were related to Father Nelligan (I think), and in the same post you mentioned some detailed association with Mormonism. I, too, am lifelong Roman Catholic from Saint John's Parochial and Saint John's Church and then onto John Bapst for two years before I went on and graduated from Higgins Classical Institute. Attend Church regularly all my life, too; but sorry, again, I must have not remembered exactly what your post said, as I was recalling from memory (I could not find the posting you made previously, either) something associating you with being a Mormon.
Guess the Mormon's do not have the complete records they claim to have. My relatives were Conboy, Gehigan, Potts, Nelligan and some others in my family...and some of them were priests, as I have photos in the back page of the family portrait section of this 1872 (not 1862) Bible. My wife, son and I plan to take a trip to Ireland after my son graduates from high school in 2010. We plan to visit County Cork, Galway and attempt to find those records you found on your relatives.
Glad you cleared that up for me, Carolanne. Hello, Perley! I've been thinking of how you are. Hope both of you and yours have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year coming up! Same to all the posters here, too.
John
On 12/20/08 at 10:42 PM,
AmericanBandstandPA wrote:
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What happened? Double-posted! Glad it happened because I need to clarify the sentence..."and attempt to find those records you found on your relatives." Should have typed..."and try to locate records on my rlatives, such as you found on your relatives."
On 12/21/08 at 3:39 AM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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Carolanne:
You know who this is as well as everyone else does.
Don't bother letting him get into your mind.
Have a beautiful Christmas and the Happiest New Year ever!
Perley J, Thibodeau
Mainelyme
On 12/22/08 at 9:37 AM,
mzbags wrote:
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American Bandstand person, if you have relative with Gehigan and Nelligan, I need to know who you are.......I am on the board of the MacGeoghegan Society and I run the Rootsweb Nelligan list....I have never seen you anywhere, and all seven priests in Bangor are my cousins. My GM is a Geoghegan
Carolanne
On 12/22/08 at 10:16 AM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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mzbags
Carolanne
Try John King from Otis Street in Bangor, and now supposedly living in the Phillipines!!
Mainelyme
On 12/22/08 at 1:53 PM,
mzbags wrote:
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Never had a John King as a relative in any of my lines.......and trust me, I have years of research. He may have something I have never heard of
Thanks Perley and Blessed Christmas to you and yours.
Carolanne
On 12/22/08 at 6:11 PM,
AmericanBandstandPA wrote:
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Carolanne, I dug out all the archives I had to research your question. There was a Nelligan name in the family, somewhere around (March) 1820 or so, according to the death month and year inscribed in the Bible, and confirmed by some notes my grandmother inserted when she, herself, apparently was trying to figure out her lineage, also. It was a woman, so it is possible she was married to someone with another surname. There are many versions of Gehigan, as you know spelling that name comes in many forms. I asked my mother back in the mid 1960's before I enlisted in the Army, where did my name "King" come from. As she was starting to explain it, something interrupted the conversation and I never did find out. My mom's passed-on now. She began to say the original Irish name of someone on my father's side, changed his/her name 'back along', and it remained in the family. Sorry to tell you that I really do not have much evidence to offer up, unless I can email you directly, I can give more information, other than in this public forum. In thinking back, I also had 'Sullivan' in the family. I knew her, as Antonette Sullivan, a WWII Marine Corps nurse, my Godmother, who owned 'Rest-A-While Cabins' in Waterville area, and eventually moved to Palo Alto, California in the 1950's. Last time I saw her was in 1984 when I was living in California. It could be, Carolanne, that we are not actual relatives of yours...as there are many with common names in Ireland, just as there are in the USA or here where I reside. If you can give me more of an idea of how I can get into your web site, let me know, and I'll try to give as much information as I can to you.
By the way, because of total mix-ups in email addresses and user names on this particular computer, of which I mistakenly had 4 at the same time for varied sites, got caught in the BDN web (this, my former computer, now is in my son's room computer to play his vid games on exclusively). I had Jeff Tuttle of the BDN eliminate ALL my user names from the web. I became frustrated with the hostile culture on the web site. This site, does not belong to me, as it is my son's. He reviews Bangor's news once in awhile. I have a new computer system, and I do not use it at all in or for the BDN web. The name, "AmericanBandstandPA' is explainable, and not what is thought in some small cells. My son has his own high school band, and he is the lead guitarist. We have another high school student here with him in the Philippines, at the Advanced Montessori Educational Math and Science Center in Tumauini, Isabela, and he, too, is American. (his father is retired). His classmate is the drummer. The other band members and vocals are Filipinos. He named the band, 'American', because of his being American as well as his classmate, and 'Bandstand', as the name speaks for itself. The term 'PA' means Phil-Am', which is a common connotation for Philippine-American, of which my son is. His mom is a Filipina. No connection to American Bandstand (with Dick Clark) or Pennsylvania. This was made clear to BDN once, and for reference, the site belongs in my son's name only. Perley, I did not give you permission to post my name and former Street name on this site. Please have the decent courtesy to request it from me next time? I realize you are not feeling well, and are on medications, and you were catching hell by many posters of late, (I'm sorry for that and for their actions to you) and I strongly sympathize with you, but please use sense. We blogged many, many times, and never had any unkind comments to each other; let's keep it that way, sir. John
On 12/22/08 at 7:22 PM,
mzbags wrote:
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I can be found on the Nelligan Rootsweb.com site or the Genealogy webpage of Eddie Geoghegan, of the MacGeoghegan Family Society.
Carolanne
On 12/22/08 at 10:46 PM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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AmericanBandstandPA
Thank, you, Mister King.
Now stop blogging me as "OldBangor."
Mainelyme
On 12/23/08 at 1:40 AM,
AmericanBandstandPA wrote:
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Pearley...I never submitted to you any postings namely, "Old Bangor". I post my name, as you post yours, (like Carolanne does, and is willing to be truthful in her postings, too) and I think if there is an "Old Bangor", he or she should also post their name which can be verified, so we will actually know who this phantom really is, huh? If you recall, whoever this is, gave me holy hell one time for stating some truthful situation concerning unions, demanding an "investigation" which I know better could not be instituted due to no evidence of criminal intent on my part for stating my viewpoint; of which, by the way, another friend of mine in Augusta who is not associated with the Bald Eagle Administration there, told me about. Believe me, Pearley, I never used that name in my life. The only mix of names, to include the New York Times, were "almustafa', "StevieWonder" (which is a patented name and I was asked to remove it, which I did), and "johninthephilippines". Currently, I happen to be free and clear of all Bangor Daily News registrations, except for my son's web site registration which this happens to be (and he, himself registered for it without my involvement). I'm here in the Philippines, Pearley, and do not currently reside in Bangor, or in the US. I, like you, outgrew that town long ago. I will give you absolute permission to contact Jeff Tuttle, after the 29th of December when he returns from vacation, (or Mike Dowd, who is on-duty) to check out my previous registrations and user names. They can personally call my home at (use international exchanges for the Philippines, at 0-78-632-43-69. I will talk to you). That is okay with me. You will never find me as "Old Bangor" there, or use any other fictitious names or handles. Many times, posters to this site often mention that there are actually others who blog who have more than one user name and hide behind it, shooting darts at people all the time. I guess this is quite possible and common. I do not play games on any web, nor have done so on the BDN web. Maybe I told too much about me, in all honesty, and if there were others who were envious, so be it. More were open to me and we communicated maturely. That's my fault for telling so much about me in the first place, apparently. Pearley, we grew up in Bangor, at the same time, but did not know each other...although maybe our paths crossed and we did not realize the future of Internet would cross our paths once more. We communicated, but do not worry about me...I'm controversial, but will never breach the 'community rules" for blogging on this website prescribed by the Bangor Daily News, or break the trust of your honesty who you are or what you are doing in life with your productions. I believe in what is in your life, it is your life, and what is in mine, is in mine. We must respect that in each other. Now, I will contact Carolanne in a few days in order to find out more about what she has to offer, and once again, offer her apologies for my being mistaken that she was Mormon. I could not see why any R.C., such as I happen to be, my wife and son, also, would turn to a cult even when her relative was Father Nelligan! I'm glad Carolanne set me straight on this. In the meantime, Pearley, do not be P-O'd at me...I never posted as any "old Bangor", but if anyone hurt your feelings, it was never me...I swear that. Calm down and if you like, give me a call. Just remember the time zone and date change, and check with my permission, Mike Dowd or Jeff Tuttle at the News and have them research my user names I screwed up because of so many email addresses which somehow ended up on the BDN web. I'm no computer expert, and I had to have a software guy come in and straighten this out, then have the BDN erase my registration. Stay away from the front bay windows, now! (John).
On 12/23/08 at 2:43 AM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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There was also the name of some comedian who has a Christmas album that was used briefly to tell me that I don't have to be (presumably) gay.
Careful with CarolAnn as she's a cousin to the Mike Dowd at the News that you speak of. Mike's grandmother was Theresa Nelligan who married Norby (Norbert X Dowd) who was the head of the Bangor Chamber of Commerce for years.
But, I don't have to worry about CarolAnne. She's Irish so she can take care of herself!
I'm not going to sign my real name to most of this patter anymore.
Everyone knows who I am and the Bangor Daily News comments are starting to overtake the other newspaper comments on Google.
As Tony Saglio, the Broadway agent and husband to actress Sally Ann Howes once said to me," I'm not interested in anything that you did north of Stamford. (Connecticut)
Mainelyme
On 12/23/08 at 2:45 AM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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"Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
Mainelyme
On 12/23/08 at 11:22 PM,
AmericanBandstandPA wrote:
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So, Carolanne is a cousin to Mike at the News? I remember Shawn (or Shaun...I cannot recall the actual spelling). He ended up as a dentist, and had an office in his father's building on State Street, on the right side, as you go down State Street Hill from Broadway. I did not get any opportunity to go to Shawn, because it was the military who took care of my dental work. I told Mike via email that IF he was any relative of "Norby X", then he comes from one of Bangor's finest families and he should be proud to be a relative therein and thereof. (Verifiable). I learned a few days after that email, he WAS Shawn's son. I remember Norby so well, bald headed, with those little spots on his skin, but he was a wonderful, funny, happy, smart and social guy. His wife Theresa, was a sweetie. My parents knew them well...who didn't? See, Mainelyme...things were so culturally and socially different it seemed when we were young and growing up in Bangor; but I do not know what has happened to it? Last time I was in Bangor, briefly, for three days in 1995 when I sold the home, I visited several restaurants and I was greeted and bid farewell with arrogance on the part of the waitresses and cashiers. Maybe it was my Texas accent, I don't know. Whatever happened to courtesy? Maybe your experiences were different back in Bangor. I will never return there, although my wife and son want to visit just to see it all someday. I cannot blame you for not signing your name, as it makes no difference anyway. You know, the BDN has assisted me every way they could, successfully, I may add, to my requests. No..I have no qualms with the BDN at all. They do their job. I'll comment once in awhile, but not too often. I will get with Carolanne on the genealogy webpages she mentioned after Christmas. Thanks for at least understanding my wordy, but necessary posting of 12/23rd. Again, to you, Mainelyme, and Carolanne...and all the rest, have a great Christmas!
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