History of Gilead, Maine
From
A Gazetteer of the
State of Maine
By Geo. J. Varney
Published by B. B. Russell, 57 Cornhill,
Boston 1886
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Gilead lies on the western border of Oxford County,
and receives thc Androscoggin River from New Hampshire. It has Riley on the north, Bethel on the east, Fryburg
Academy and Batchelder's Grants on the south. The length of the town, east and west, is about 6½ miles,
and the width 2 and 3/4. The town is nearly filled with hills and mountains, only the north-eastern and north-western
corners and some tracts along the streams being level land. On the north side of the town is a row of three mountains,
and on the south are six. From west to east, through the middle of the town, flows the Androscoggin, between these
two rows of mountains. Their height varies from 400 to 600 feet. The principal ones are Robinson's Peak, Tumble
Down Dick, Peaked Hill and Mount Ephraim. Between Mount Ephraim and Gilead village on the east of it, Wild River
conies down from the region of mountains at the southward to the calmer Androscoggin. The water-powers which have
been unproved are on Pleasant and Chapman's brooks. The mills are a lumber-mill, a grist-mill, and one manufacturing
spool-stock, boxes and staves. The Grand Trunk Railway runs through the length of the town on the south bank of
the Androscoggin. The soil is chiefly loam and gravel. The chief crop is hay, which finds a good market with the
lumbermen, who make this a starting point for the woods. The currents of air between the mountains are such as
in a great measure to protect the crops of the valleys and slopes from the frosts of autumn. A mica mine here is
worked profitably. |
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