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Friday, March 21, 2008

SOME THOUGHTS ON UNCLE CLARENCE'S MEMORIES

I meant to post these comments yesterday but sleep won out.

The blacksmith P.C. Ripley that Clarence mentions was Percy
C. Ripley who apparently is a local legend. He ran away to sea
as a boy for three years and then on his return spent four
years living with the Indians and learning how to trap and
live in the woods. He settled in the Magalloway area where
he worked as a guide and blacksmith and had quite an
illustrious career befuddling the local game wardens who
sought to catch him hunting and fishing out of season.

The mention of the Brown Paper company brings memories to
me of our own visits “up home”. We’d pass through
Berlin, N.H.where the paper mill was on the Androscoggin
River and there was the faint smell of rotten eggs in the air,
caused by whatever process was used to make paper.


Reading Clarence’s stories of his time at the Azicohos Dam
made me go back and read my Aunt Dorothy’s memories of
her childhood there. The quarry “up back of the barracks”
must be the one Dot mentions as being home to a bear.
The log sluice that Clarence thought was the “slickest piece
of work I ever saw” may the one at whose end my Dad
liked to fly fish.


And Clarence’s final comment about rarely using his boats to
visit the “head of the lake” only ten times in fifty one years
brought to mind Dot telling how she napped in the boat
“Kiko” while her father was still building it, and of its state
when she saw it years later as an adult.

I’m fortunate to have their accounts of their lives in Maine.
How I wish some of my other ancestors had left behind some
of their own accounts as well!

3 comments:

sinbad50 said...

Bill,

My name is Kevin Sinnett and I live in Oquossoc, ME...about 40 minutes from the Aziscohos Dam. I'm working with the new Rangeley Sporting Heritage Museum in Oquossoc to find a boat from the local lakes for a display at the museum. We have talked with Florida Power and Light (FPL) that owns the dam and they have offered to donate the boat that is stored in the boathouse to the museum. I'm trying to track down the name of the boat and find a picture of the boat when in use. Do you know if the boat that is stored in the boathouse is the "Kiko" that is discussed on your blog? If so, do you have any photos of the boat. I can e-mail you some pictures I took of the boat in September...any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin Sinnett
Oquossoc, ME
kdsinnett@yahoo.com

Bill West said...

Hi Kevin,
Yes, my granduncle Clarence was CP West. He was caretaker for the dam for over fifty years. If the boat is the "Kiko" then my grandfather Floyd Earl West Sr.helped build it.


I'll forward your request on to my Aunt Dorothy who had seen the boat and commented on it.You'll find her memories of the Dam on my blog under the headings "Aunt Dot's Memories".

I'd sure like to see some of those pictures though,if you can send them.

Anonymous said...

Bill, my name is Richard Franklin Enman and I was born in Upton, Oxford, Maine. I have been working on the surronding towns doing genealogy based on the history of those places. Several of the towns are Errol, Milan, Dummer, Magalloway, Wilsons Mills, Cambridge, Grafton, Newry etc. I would like to have your permission to include stories from your blog pertaining to folks who lived in those areas. If you allow me to include your stories, how should I list the source. Richard Enman
2301 Chartstone Drive, Midlothian, Virginia 23113 - 804-794-9218 -
RichardEnman@aol.com