Fossett's Mills; and enters Medomac River, about two miles southerly of the north-west corner of the town.

MUDDY BROOK conveys the water of Muddy Pond from the north-west into Round Pond. It carries a stave-mill.

BOWKER BROOK, or CASHMAN BROOK, as it is frequently called from a family which resided near it early in the nineteenth century, runs southerly, and enters St. George's River about half a mile above Round Pond.

SEVEN BROOK rises in Appleton, east of Sunnybec Pond, and enters Seven-tree Pond at its north end.

CRAWFORD'S RIVER, commonly called the MILL STREAM by the early settlers, and afterward MAXCY'S MILL STREAM, runs west from Crawford's Pond to Seven-tree Pond. Its water is comparatively warm in winter, and, being uncommonly pure, is very valuable for manufacturing purposes. The Indian name, which was known to the early settlers, is lost. On this stream is the village of South Union.

MILLER'S BROOK, Sometimes called the DANIELS BROOK, rises in Hope, and, taking a southerly direction, passes through the farms of John Payson, Nathan Daniels, and others, and enters Crawford's Pond near Miller's Point.

EASTERN STREAM, sometimes called LERMOND'S STREAM, rises in Hope, passes through "The Lakes," and, after a south-south-west course, in which it carries several mills, flows into Crawford's Pond.

FISH'S STREAM, rising in Barrett's Pond near Hope Corner, runs in a southerly direction, and passes

the shipps wth the greatest part of all the Company landed on the Island where the Crosse stood.... and heard a Sermon delivered unto them by Mr Ri: Seymour."

Rosier's account of Weymouth's Voyage in "Purchas his Pilgrimes," iv. 1659, and Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. 3d series, viii. Holmes's Annals, i. 123. Map in Smith's Description of New England. Smith's "Generall Historie of Virginia," &c, 205. Belknap's American Biography, ii. 137, 146. Williamson's History of the State of Maine, i. 192.

through Fish's Pond. There is another stream, which rises in Grassy Pond, and runs south-south-westerly. These two unite in Crawford's Meadow, whence their waters flow by Hilt's Mills, and enter Crawford's Pond at its south-east corner. Both streams carry mills before and after they are united.

Some of the small streams, Seven Brook for instance, are occasionally dry or nearly so in summer, though it was not the case when the town was first settled. Some persons think this is caused by the soil washed in from the ploughed and cultivated banks, and by the clearing up of the forests, which overhung the springs by which they were fed.

PONDS.

SUNNYBEC POND, situated partly in Hope and partly in Union, is 198 rods wide, on the Hope and Union line. There is a tradition, that several Indians came from the East on a hunting and fishing excursion. At the harbor in Lincolnville they caught some ducks, and called the place Duck Trap. They proceeded with their ducks to Camden, which they called Megun-ti-cook, because there they began to cook them. On arriving at Friendship, they broke their cooking pot, and called the place Me-dun-cook.2 Proceeding up the St. George's, they came to Sunnybec Pond, which they named Sunny-bake, because they were obliged to cook their fish and food in the sun on the rocks. In the earliest document in which it is mentioned, it is spelled Sunnyback. If Sunnyback be the correct orthography, there is room for conjecture that it was so called because the sidehill back of the pond is particularly exposed to the rays of the sun. Vegetation there comes forward much earlier than in

1 It is more probable that the word is Indian, and means large bay, or place of great swells of the sea.

2 By some said to mean "a sandy, gravelly, poor place, or poor country." D. Crocket says, cook, in a compound word, means haven or harbor; and the other part of the compound word designates something which is peculiar or distinctive in the harbor.

other places. Governor Neptune, and some others of the Penobscot tribe of Indians, are not able to give the meaning of the word Sennebec. A year or two ago, David Crocket suggested, diffidently, that Soony-bach or Soony-bech might mean the appearance presented by an enclosure of water, or of water almost surrounded with woods and hills; and that, from this general appearance, the name may have been derived. Recently, he made inquiries of the Indian doctor of the Penobscot tribe, who intimated that " soony meant shady, and that bec meant a place where other water comes in across the main channel," as the Androscoggin, or, more properly speaking, the Ameriscoggin, comes into the Kennebec, and thus furnishes part of the name to the latter river. Perhaps one or more of the streams which enter the pond were much larger, and the entrance more noticeable by the Indians, when the whole town was covered with a forest than since it has been cleared.

ROUND POND, which is about three quarters of a mile in diameter, is called LITTLE POND on a plan of a survey of the Mill Farm, at South Union, dated May 13, 1774. It probably derives its present name from its circular shape. If a person stands on the ice in the middle of it, he will hardly perceive a difference in the distance to any part of the shore.

MUDDY POND, covering from fifty to one hundred acres, and having a cranberry meadow, is situated a little more than a mile north-west of Round Pond.

SEVEN-TREE POND is about three miles long, and extends into Warren. It derives its name from seven trees, which grew on the only island in it when the first. settlers came to the place. Several of these trees were standing thirty or forty years ago. They have fallen, till now only one of the smaller of them remains. They were very large, and must have derived their nourishment mainly from the water, which was reached by the fibres of the roots extending down to it through the crevices of the rocks. The island has so

little soil, that it is doubtful whether trees, if planted, could now be made to live.

CRAWFORD'S POND, situated in the south-easterly part of Union and in Warren, is 150 rods wide where it is crossed by the line which divides the towns. It derives its name from John Crawford, a native of Stirling in Scotland, who lived about a quarter of a mile above the village in Warren. Col. Samuel Waldo, son of the Brigadier-General, gave to the Scotch settlers the use of all the meadows in the vicinity, which had not been previously laid out for the inhabitants of Warren. Crawford took the meadow on the east side of the pond which bears his name. Having cleared a sled-road to it about the year 1764, he went to Thomaston, made application to Waldo for the meadow, and called for a bowl of punch on the occasion. Waldo took a draught "To Crawford's Meadow," and told him that it should thenceforth bear that name.1

SOIL.

By competent judges, the soil of Union is considered as good as that of Farmington and Winthrop, which are generally regarded as the best farming towns in the State. Some persons think it superior. For many years after the settlement, there was early in summer a luxuriance of vegetation and a beauty unsurpassed in the county. The primitive soil had not been worn. It consisted of leaves and vegetable mould, which had been accumulating for 'centuries. Perhaps one of the richest spots in town is on the north side of Crawford's River, near the outlet. It is said to be the only place where any corn ripened in the cold season of 1816. Immense quantities of alewives had been carted on for manure, the situation was warm, there was a good crop, and the inhabitants went to the owner to procure the corn for seed the next year.

1 D. Dické, of Warren.

CLIMATE.

Of course there is no essential difference between the climate of Union and that of Maine in general. The warm season commonly begins two or three weeks later, and the cold weather a little earlier, than in Massachusetts. In an old account-book1 of Matthias Hawes are various memoranda; and, to gratify those who are curious to make comparisons between the weather many years ago and at the present time, the following are extracted:-"1780, March 5. Moderate weather, and wind southwardly. The ponds begin to break up at the edges. April 16. The first of our going down the river by water. April 23. The river is almost broke up. 1781, Nov. 9. The first snow this fall. 1782, June 7. A frost which killed some of our sauce. Sept. 1. Last week a light frost. Sept. 12. The first frost this fall. Oct. 31. The first snow. Nov. 17. A slight snow on the ground. 1783, April 2. The river open so as to pass with a float. 1784, April 17. The snow almost gone in open land. The pond broken up at the edges. 1785, April 2. Snow three feet deep. 1786, April 2. Snow came knee deep. Last Sunday the river open so as to pass down to Mr. Philip Robbins's. At that time the snow almost gone in open lands."

Josiah Robbins harvested rye in July, 1786. The crop was raised on new burnt ground, south and east of the Old Burying Ground. It was protected by the forest on the summit of the hill, and the sun poured its rays into the blackened field. But it was the only time that Robbins or any man has ever been able to do it in July.

Governor Sullivan writes in 1794, for the "Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society," vol. iv. : "The prevailing winds, during the winter season, are from the north-west. Snows generally fall on a level to the depth of three or four feet. Frosts are fre

1 For the loan and free use of this book, the writer is indebted to the kindness of Mr. Noyes P. Hawes, of California.