The History of Portage Lake

Not long after Maine’s northern boundaries were resolved, lumbermen from New Brunswick came up the Aroostook River to Little Machias Stream, up the Stream to Little Machias Lake, and from there across to what is now Portage Lake. They were looking for pine, and they found plenty of it.

The first of those settlers to Portage Lake was Matthew Stevens. He came in the year 1844 and was soon followed by Nat Blake, Isaac Stevenson, Joseph Sylvester, John Rollins, Timothy Oaks, William Winchell and David Dow. They formed their first settlement at or near what was later called Sutherland Hill.

They named their settlement Portage after the French word of the same name which means the act of carrying a canoe from one body of water to another. The Tobique Indians were known to “portage” their canoes from Little Machias Lake to Portage Lake. The white settlers who followed, both the English and the French Canadian, used the French word “portage” to describe their own use of the waterways.

The first child born in this settlement of Portage was Albion H. Stevens in 1848. Information about his birth reflects that women and marriage must have existed also with that early band of settlers. However, records about them are not available except perhaps to the geneology buff decendants of the respective settlers.

On September 2, 1850, a warrant was issued from one of Aroostook County’s Commissioners to Nathaniel Blake, which directed him to assemble the inhabitants of Township No. Thirteen Range Six (containing the settlement of Portage) in his home and organize Portage into a Plantation. Town records indicate that actual implementation as a Plantation did not take place until 1872 thus reflecting the always slow progress of the wheels of bureaucracy. In 1909 the Plantation was incorporated into a town.

After clearing land and assuring the provision of shelter, food and clothing for their families, the next priority for those early settlers, typical of pilgrims, was God and education. Churches and schools were established as soon as possible.

Church services were first held in private homes and later in schools. By early in this century, the town had both a Congregational Church, which still exists, and a Catholic Church which was located on Stockford Road, off the East Cottage Road, about a half mile from town. That first Catholic Church, because of its many steep steps, condition and inconvenient location, was eventually replaced by a new church located across the street from the Congregational Church at the corner of Main Street and the East Cottage Road. The Congregational Church closed to regular services in 1978. Sunday services, during the warm weather months, resumed in 1992 through the efforts of the Northern Aroostook Cooperative Parish, and are conducted by both laity and clergy.

The first Portage school in the 1800s was located on the site of the existing Portage Congregational Church. After it was replaced, it was purchased by Hal Stevens who moved in and remodeled it for use as his home. A school building for Grades 1 - 8 and two years of high school was later constructed at the end of what is now School Street. That building was eventually replaced by a new building constructed in 1958 at the same location. In 1948, the two year high school merged with the Ashland Community School District (now SAD 32) and the students were then bussed to Ashland. After the last grade school in Portage closed, the building was converted in 1986 into the Municipal Building.

Another early priority of the original settlers was mail. Post Office facilities in Portage were first ocated in the home of Matthew Stevens. He was the first postmaster and lived at the bottom of Hayward Hill. Mail back then, the mid 1800s, was delivered by stage coach once a week and came up through Patten from Bangor. During the winter, when the roads were unpassable by stage coach, a carrier on snowshoes brought the mail in from Patten. The first Post Office building was located on the site where Edwina and Gib Gagnon live today. The existing Post Office, on the site of Coffin’s General Store, was built by Terrence Coffin.

Portage’s first store was operated by George Brown and was located on the site of the existing Catholic Church. Other store owners over the years included Ernest Michaud, Harvey Cook, Nathaniel Coffin, and Ray Stevens whose General Store remained in operation for over a half century. In its final years, Stevens’ General Store became Caron’s Store and then Terry’s Cash ‘n Carry before it finally closed and the building was since razed. Coffin’s General Store continues to exist at its same location and is currently owned by Patsy and Claude Plourde.

The first hotel in Portage was located on the west side of the lake and owned by Frank West. There were also a Brown Hotel and Savage Hotel located outside the business district. The first hotel located in the business district was built by Leo A. Tanguay in 1927 near the site of the present Dean’s Motor Lodge. After relocation to the present site and ownership by Dean Soucy, the hotel burned down in 1952. The livery stable on the site was then remodeled into the existing Dean’s Motor Lodge.

In 1902 the Fish River Railroad was built from Ashland to Fort Kent and brought growth to the Town of Portage Lake. Provided was a way to ship lumber, potatoes and other produce. Mail, supplies and other necessities began to come in daily instead of weekly. More people were attracted to the town and new stores were built to accommodate the trade. The lumber industry and potato farming increased and recreational aspects of the town were developed. Summer people from outside bought lots on the east and west side lake shores and built camps for vacation and weekend retreats. People came in from all over to hunt, fish or relax in the scenic environment. Brown’s Hall, connected to Brown’s Hotel, offered entertainment in the way of a roller rink and dances. Movies were shown at Nealand’s Hall where card parties and dances were also held. In the winter, there were sliding parties on Hayward Hill and skating parties on the iced-over lake. Portage then, in the early part of the century, regardless of its small size, became a place where the action was after an era of subsisting largely upon reading and story telling for entertainment.

After the land was cleared in the town’s early development, potato farming became a strong competitor of lumber in the way of the town’s economy and livelihood. Farms developed along Route 11 to the south in Nashville Plantation and also along Route 11 all the way to the northern Portage town line. Eventually, after the middle of this century, potato farming ceased almost completely as an occupation. Today, the town does not have an abundance of prime agricultural land due to either poorly drained soils, shallow bedrock soils or fragile soils located on steep slopes associated with several ridges within the township. Prime agricultural soils which do exist are not currently being farmed to any significant extent. A deer farm was established in recent years in the town’s northern outskirts, and a horse farm is located in Nashville Plantation south of Portage.

With the advent of the railroad coming through Portage, lumbering operations increased in sophistication and production and thus further enhanced the town’s economy and livelihood. The first saw mill in Portage was built by a Capt. Iverson in the early 1900s. Capt. Iverson had a colorful background as once the captain of the sailing ship “Moss” from Norway which he landed in New York. After he sold the ship, he moved to Caribou where he built a mill to make ties for the railroad. His endeavors obviously enhanced the economy of all of Aroostook County. He ran the mill in Portage for many years after which the operation was turned over to a Mr. Robinson and later to a Mr. Lenfest.

Capt. Iverson, however, continued to be connected with Portage for some time. He became the owner and operator of the steamboats “Portage” and “Juanita” which were used to transport people around the lake. After many years of this activity, he went blind. The “Portage” steamboat was beached on a Portage lakeshore after the boiler was sold to the Northeastland Hotel in Presque Isle for its boiler room and the steam engine went to Cormier’s Mill to run a dynamo. It is said that Cap. Iverson used to go sit in the beached shell of the “Portage” until the town started taxing him for it. Insulted, he poured oil on the shell and sent the fool thing up in flames. Apparently he remained a colorful character even after he lost his eyesight. No one seems to know what happened to the “Juanita.”.

The first steamer to haul booms of logs around the lake was brought into Portage in 1903 by Harry Sharp. It was called the “Bonton” and after it was unloaded, a fire that night burned the freight sheds and the flat car around it. The “Bonton” was left unharmed. A Mr. H. York from Sherman Mills piloted the steamer and licensed it in 1908. After it was discontinued for use on Portage Lake, it was taken to Eagle Lake where it performed the same function until it became adrift and was wrecked.

Other steamers on the lake were used for various tasks in the early part of the century. The “Clara Louise” was licensed to a Mr. Boone and used also to haul booms of logs. It was later used on Eagle Lake as a freighter to haul sports to Saul Michaud’s camps. The “Queen Mary” was a private steamer owned by George Perry who named it after his wife Mary. The “Marion” was also privately owned by Elbridge Dunn of Ashland. Some were used to haul supplies to the wood crews at the hay sheds by the dead water.

Another mill was started in 1914 by the Portage Lumber Company which was owned by Cutlers from Boston. It ran successfully until 1931 when the depression forced a shut down. The “big fire of the flat” that same year burned practically all of the Company’s property except for the mill which was dismantled that same year.

The company also ran a boarding house which was popularly called “The Beehive” by local residents because of the buzzing of the boarders and their children who stayed there. It was located near the end of Sutherland Street. The home had room for 27 residents and the barn held 80 horses.

About the time Portage was becoming organized as a Plantation, another small group of people started to move in. Some migrated directly over from New Brunswick. Others, originally from New Brunswick, moved in from Ashland and Masardis. They formed a separate settlement at the north end of Portage. After the railroad came through, that settlement was nicknamed Buffalo.

A rumor about how Buffalo got its name is that the Bragdons and Bolstridges, of the community’s original settlers, came from Buffalo, NY. No geneology buff of those families has been able to establish that as a fact. Two brothers from the original Bolstridge family that migrated from Bristol, England, to St. John, New Brunswick, in about 1820, eventually moved over into Ashland and Masardis in the 1840s. The son Albert of one of those brothers moved into the north end of Portage in 1878 and married into the Bragdon family who already lived there.

A more credible story relates to Buffalo getting its name after the railroad came through. Part of the community, at that time, was located along what is now known as the Hathaway Road and near the site of the railroad siding. The inhabitants, through a need for diversion in the daily grind of their lives and with entertainment resources sorely limited, often gathered at the railroad siding to watch the train. Those who lived along Route 11 also came out on their doorsteps to watch the event of the rare automobile that passed through. Because the trainmen and the automobile travelers, as well as the townspeople, thought they resembled buffalo, due to their shaggy, unkempt hair and long, untidy beards, the railroad called their siding Buffalo Siding and the settlement was nicknamed Buffalo. The community continues to be known as Buffalo to this day.

Buffalo was always an official part of Portage and the inhabitants always had to go to town to get their mail. Through the first half of this century, it was a self-contained, remote hamlet with about fifteen to twenty families scattered along a three mile stretch on Route 11 and along the Hathaway Road off Route 11. The men were potato farmers, pulp cutters, railroad track maintenance workers, trappers and hunters.

In its early days and into the early part of this century, there was a one-room school house for the Buffalo children, Grades 1-6, located near the northern Portage town line. The building, while in a severely dilapidated condition, still exists. To provide a more central location for the students, that first Buffalo school was closed in the 1920s and a second was constructed about one mile south of the town line. That school house served also as a community center for Saturday night dances, Sunday church services, weddings and funerals, and other special events.Buffalo was always an official part of Portage and the inhabitants always had to go to town to get their mail. Through the first half of this century, it was a self-contained, remote hamlet with about fifteen to twenty families scattered along a three mile stretch on Route 11 and along the Hathaway Road off Route 11. The men were potato farmers, pulp cutters, railroad track maintenance workers, trappers and hunters.

There was always just one teacher for all six grades in the Buffalo school. After it closed in the early 1950s, students were then bussed to Portage. The building continued to be used for community activities until it burned down in 1962.

At differing times, there were several small grocery stores in Buffalo. There was one owned by Dave DeMerchant in the 1930s. And in the 1940s and 1950s there was one by Ervin Bolstridge and also one by William Bolstridge. After the school and stores closed, Buffalo as a community became more merged with the town and lost its distinction as a remote hamlet.

Portage Lake even had its own jail at one time. Located behind the old Town Hall and about the size of a standard outhouse, its wooden door was kept closed with a padlock. No significant criminal activity was ever known to have existed in either Portage or Buffalo. In the late 1920s, a loose woman from Buffalo was once arrested by the local sheriff who caught her in the act of adultery. The sheriff cast her into the town’s jail. She remained there for a few days until her Buffalo brother-in-law, after succumbing to the pleas and tears of his wife, traveled the five miles to town in his Model T-Ford and sprung her from jail by posting her bail. The sheriff did not arrest her co-hort in crime, a married townsman. Housing the two of them in the cramped quarters of the jail would have involved aiding, abetting and perpetuating the dastardly act. Still, the sheriff’s action displayed blatant discrimination against women typical of the times.

In the early 1930s, during the depression, Portage Lake became modernized through the arrival of the electric power lines. With this move forward into a new era of creature comforts, residents switched to electric lights followed by washing machines, refrigerators and freezers, vacuum cleaners, radios, toasters and the other appliances that contribute to an easier way of life. Before the power lines came through to the town, one of the mills had its own power plant which provide it electricity for the machinery in the mill. Also, prior to the power lines, a few residents had electric lights powered by their privately-owned generators.

The first plane landed on Portage Lake in 1936. It was a Robin on floats and it was owned by Jerry Smeed who was the pioneer of air transpiration on Portage Lake. Soon after, a state plane was based on the lake. It was piloted by wardens of the Fish and Game Department. During the war years, the state plane was one of the only planes in operation because of gas rationing and government regulations. After the war, when planes and gas were available, many of the local citizens took to the air and used Portage Lake as their base. Thany Coffin, Newell Smith, Holbrook Ellis, Dana McNally, Milton Hall, Carlton Fisher, Reno Cormier, Charlie Robinson, Prior’s Flying Service, Portage Lake Flying Service, North Star Flying Service, and LA Winslow were among many who provided planes to fly sportsmen and supplies in and out of the area. To accommodate all this activity, the Town initiated action in 1949 which lea to the establishment of its own sea plane base.

During WWII, on November 8, 1943, the Bangor Daily News featured the Town of Portage Lake. The article discussed its scenic beauty and referred to the still existing farms in Portage. It also discussed the lumber mill owned and operated by John Cormier which afforded employment for many and also furnished much essential lumber for war work. At the time of the article, Portage had a population of about 700. The main highlight of the article was the fact that out of that population, ninety two of the town’s young men were in the armed services; two at that time had been killed in service; and one was missing in action. The article was accompanied by photos of each of the town’s servicemen.

One of the last of the Portage potato farmers was William “Bounce” Condon of Buffalo. Bounce also furnished school bus services to the Town of Portage and the Ashland Community School District for several decades. While the Buffalo school was still in operation, he bussed students in Grades 7 and 8 and also high school students to Portage and Ashland. One old timer in Portage, from Buffalo, well remembers Bounce’s strict adherence to a policy of getting students to school no matter what was going on and regardless of the most severe weather conditions. There was no policy to close schools due to bad weather in those old days. She recalls one bus ride, during her junior year of high school in 1948, after an early November storm of snow, sleet and freezing rain, approaching Fox Hill in Buffalo and facing a tractor trailer truck parked cross ways on the black ice-coated road. The students on the bus cheered wildly in anticipation of a day off from school, as they assumed there was no way the bus could proceed around the truck which blocked off all of the narrow road. Bounce chuckled in response to their loud-voiced glee, shifted into second gear, and swung the bus, with its chain-encased tires, out into the field. He whipped around the truck, re-entered the road, proceeded on his way on up over the hill, and whisked the students on to school.

The foregoing history reflects the development of a sturdy stock of inhabitants with a strong work ethic. Year-round logging and pulp cutting operations including, in the early days, the activities of cutting and hauling logs by teams of horses and floating the pulp down those waterways in the spring and the activities related to potato and other farming, during the short growing seasons, into the middle of this century contributed to that strong work ethic which prevails throughout the area today. Despite its small population, Portage Lake today is a thriving, industrious and picturesque little town with residents who posses a strong sense of community and civic pride.

Reference Sources: Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Portage Lake History Paper of Portage prepared
by the late Carolyn Morris
Bangor Daily News article of 11/8/43
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem Evangeline
Other Town Records and Documents