Kingman - Township 6, Sister of Township 39

Tucked away in a corner of Penobscot county is an almost-ghost town which was for the most part destroyed in an explosion nearly identical to the theorized fire which destroyed Township 39. While there are several houses remaining all which remains of Kingman's heyday is a 120 year old rectory and the railroad which runs through it. The town -- not the rectory. 

In a sense this is a town that has disappeared from history over and over again. It was first organized as McCrillis Plantation in 1859, Independence Plantation in 1866 (after briefly being named the 429th town) and Kingman less than a decade later in 1874; it persisted for 72 years until dissolving in 1945. It has been unorganized since. 

While researching for this piece the name F Shaw piqued my interest early on. F Shaw was one of the tannery barons who ran the company town of Township 39 (if you aren't familiar with Township 39 you should probably click the link in the first paragraph before continuing. In other words spoiler warning) He was also the owner of the large tannery operating in Kingman. Township 39 was the victim of a fire in 1906 which, while not killing all of the inhabitants destroyed the economic engine of the settlement resulting in it becoming completely abandoned. A decade and a half later the town of Kingman would suffer a fire (starting at the tannery) which destroyed most homes, including the ornate Romanzo Kingman House.  Either this man had astonishingly bad luck or a fantastic insurance agent. 

The town had a population of almost 1,000 in 1900, which had reduced by over 50% due to the effects of the Great Depression and F Shaw Tannery Fire. Even during WWII there were 48 structures on main street and the block created by cross street. There are around 30 now.

A book called Modern Maine published in 1953 describes the town's economic engine as mostly lumbering/pulpwood cutting and potato farming. Aside from demography, interesting points include the fact that they apparently had to sue Penobscot County commissioners to get permission to build a road to their nearest neighbor. It managed to get its own telephone company in 1913. This was creatively named the Kingman Telephone Company. The Maine Encyclopedia has a fantastic article with a solid narrative. 

The only structure I can verify which has seen all of this is the rectory on cross street. I have a minor personal connection to this structure as I spent quite a bit of time inside it around the early 2000's. Unfortunately, this was before the advent of smartphones and I don't have any images which showcase interesting features which I recall. 

Features which include a maid staircase leading from the kitchen to a small bed room at the end of the hall. A dumbwaiter was also present however had fallen into the depths of disrepair by the time I was dating the daughter of a former owner. This house was featured on the blog Old House Dreams and hadn't changed much between the early 2000's and when the house was last sold in 2014.

You can tell this building is from another time compared to the surrounding houses due to the above features saved only in my own memory as well as the photos from the Old House Dreams blog. 

Items which stand out are the newel post, the french doors in the sitting room and the pretty delicate work around the windows. As a teenager I didn't really appreciate the features or understand that I was inside a time bubble which had seen its town's population dwindle to under 10% of the build year's population. 

US Navy SERE School | Redington Twp

While this site is still in operation, I'm filing it under 'lost' as its curriculum is classified and the Navy doesn't answer questions about training volumes or whether or not they have a simulated prison camp (that's probably not a string of christmas lights in the right side of the photo to the left.)

For as long as there have been things that some do not wish for others to see, there will be speculation. The varied and often desolate landscape of the state of Maine occasionally adds some extra juice to help sweeten the truth. For example, 'the Octagon' up in Caswell is not a top secret learn to kill with your bare hands type of facility; its proximity to ex Loring AFB does not turn the training activities of the Maine National Guard into adventures of Sterling Archer (or John Steed, depending on your age.)

This piece in The Bollard brought the Redington SERE school to my attention, and if you've got some patience it contains some neat information but ultimately tries to suggest that the school is linked to a disappearing hiker (which reminds me of when I thought some camps in Springfield were what was left of the Cushman's ridge settlement.) As this site is restricted access, unfortunately I will have no firsthand photographs for you, only some newspaper articles and links.

But first, what does the SERE school do? This post on WeAreMighty sums up what we're apparently allowed to know about the curriculum. Airmen were taught survival skills, and then rounded up by 'enemy' troops, blindfolded, tortured and interrogated. Activities ranged anywhere from being locked in a cell with Rudyard Kipling's 'boots' on repeat to being restrained and having pipe tobacco blown up your nose, which sounds quite a lot like waterboarding but toxic as it was described as a pattern of  choking, passing out and puking. Fortunately for the Navy they've only broken someone's back doing this and nobody has been Jimi Hendrix'd. Other descriptions include forced labor, being stripped naked in the winter and being made to standby whilst your clothes burn, and a bizarre declaration of atheism by the imaginary enemy.

The camp commander gathered us together and, holding a Bible aloft, told us our beliefs were bullshit and that the only religious figure Americans truly worshiped was St. Walt Disney.

That last bit was something that the Bollard missed, since it's impossible that the US Navy has never heard of Pavlov, the association of atheism with the enemy would have made both Joseph McCarthy (and maybe Pope Urban II) proud.

Note that whatever objection I have to vilifying Americans due to non belief (or belief) doesn't mean that the site captures poor lost hikers....

Back to the news!

• 1976 | Navy Has Torture Camp | Bangor Daily News : This story mentions a 'torture' camp of 4,000 acres proximate to popular skiing locations. First murmurings mentioned were related to plow truck operators paid by the navy to keep the facilities' roads clear in the winter. Story verified when a 19 year old frogman escaped and stumbled onto a hippie commune telling tales of torture and abuse, including guards dressed as Chinese communists speaking with phony accents (I imagine much like Buddy Hackett) who would blow smoke up his nose, waterboard them and lock them in sweatboxes. Story mentions the Navy denying 'sexual abuse' (like they denied the existence of a fenced area when asked by The Bollard) and verifying that the exercises occurred.
• 1976 | Senator asks for Report on Redington Camp | Bangor Daily News: tl;dr - the Navy broke someone's back while doing their Buddy Hackett meets Falling Down schtick and it caught the attention of someone in DC. 
• 1984 | For Survival School, Navy to Buy 10,000 Acres | Lewiston Daily Sun - Purchased acres from Georgia Pacific for $2.1m, was previously only leasing 3,000 acres near Rangeley. Of interest, the story mentions that the Navy hosts two survival programs here: winter and Survival/Evasion/Resistance (torture)/Escape. The story mentions that the border of the area is identified by granite markers. 
• 1989 | Students Undergo Survival Training | Sun Journal: Rangeley middle school students took a field trip to learn some basic survival skills. They left presumably un-waterboarded. 
• 1990 | Cruise Missile Launched Over Maine | Bangor Daily News: Despite a vote to halt this sort of thing, the Navy thumbed its nose at the people of Maine and did so anyway. The cruise missile, contents unknown, was launched from the coast with its target being the SERE school. The objective of the exercise was apparently to recover the contents of the missile. 
• 1993 | War With Iraq | Sun Journal : A rather informative article detailing all military installations present in Maine during the Gulf War era. 

USS Kasimar | The Alpha Quadrant

Captain's log. Star date 08.27.2025. Since the start of our five year mission to document and analyze historical ruins on earth's northern hemisphere in what was once known as the State of Maine, new data sources have been assimilated by Memory Alpha. 

Specifically those from what was once the premier educational institution in the northern frontier lands. As such, the crew of the CenturyMaine have sought to explore these new databanks and update mission logs accordingly. 

Therefore, this record is going to be transmuted from a recollection of the output of a specific fan club, to a retrospective of the Star Trek fandom in Maine. Pulled together using databanks from the Penobscot Times, Bangor Daily News, and University of Maine student newspaper. 

New content will be noted in italics.

***********************************

STARFLEET ACADEMY DATABASE ACCESS

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

> COMMAND AUTHORIZATION CODE TANGO-12 ROMEO-15

COMMAND CODE ACKNOWLEDGED.

PLEASE INPUT QUERY

> REVIEW LIBRARY TAPES OF DIGITIZED MEDIA FROM EARTH'S LATE 20TH CENTURY. REGION: NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT. WHAT WAS KNOWN AS THE STATE OF 'MAINE'

PROCESSING QUERY, PLEASE STAND BY

GETTING YOUR RESULTS

TIME LINE OF EVENTS RELATED TO 'STAR TREK' DOCUMENTED IN THE REGION OF MAINE

THE FORMER CONFEDERATED STATES OF AMERICA

December 13th, 1979 - Umaine media speculates about the upcoming release of the dramatization of Captain James T Kirk's encounter with the VGER entity and also profiles the local Star Trek fandom in an aloof and awkward way reminiscent of the Anthro Panic of the early 21st century. 

January 21st, 1980 - This article details what sets the Starfleet Historical Record apart from things like Bewitched, The Monkees and The Mod Squad. This features a unique schematic of a consitution class heavy cruiser emblazoned across the text of the article. 

November 4th, 1983 - In which opposing letters to the Umaine paper editor are published, arguing about release order of episodes. 

April 18th, 1986 - Star Trek II is screened in back to back showings at Umaine. 

November 13th, 1986 - Leonard Nimoy appears at the Maine Center for the Arts on the Orono campus. 

November 14th, 1986 - Student journalist Christina Baldwin interviews Leonard Nimoy. The actor who portrayed Captain Spock during the causal-improbability loop causing historic documents to manifest as period action space-adventure. Novel insights include referring to the job as "staying stone faced for 12-hours per day, like pumping up a baloon and never letting out the air", somewhat paradoxically echoing what was referred to as Futurama several years later. 

December 9th, 1987 - In which Enemy of The Federation Jim Boynton characterizes recognizance of Starfleet as a virus. Echoing The Clown entity defeated by Captain Janeway 9 years later.

December 4th 1989 - In which a university comedy show is reviewed referring to the tendency of Starfleet enlisted personnel to sacrifice themselves in the line of duty. 

April 29th, 1992 -- This artefact reveals that there was such demand for the historical drama "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" that it was shown twice in the same Saturday night. 

October 2nd, 1992 - In which the USS Kasimar is detailed. 

Regarding the Kasimar: 

In 1984, Bangor resident John Supranovich sent $10 to the Star Trek fanclub based in Oregon and started one of the largest Star Trek fan clubs in the nation. The Kasimar had gone from having 30 members in 1984 to near 300 by the time the show's 25th anniversary rolled around in 1991. A burgeoning membership isn't the most important part of this story, though. Like Chester Greenwood and his dead beaver ear coverings, and Percy Spencer's radioactive chocolate bar melting machine (the microwave) this is a case of Mainers finding something they need, or in this case something they love, and building stuff.

Here are some photos, and there are virtual newspaper clippings after the jump courtesy of Google Newspapers.

This article from 1990 gives us some truly impressive background information on the Kasimar bridge. Funding for the project was donated by "Bangor Daily News charities and other donors" and labor was done by students from a phantom high school named Penobscot Regional (which either doesn't exist or is mis-named in the article) as a class project in 1984. In addition to having a full size mockup of the bridge (as if that wasn't cool enough) they also did work for the Children's Miracle Network, Ronald McDonald house and visited sick kids while in uniform.

December 2nd, 1994 - A university student provides an enthusiastic review of the dramatization of Captain Jean Luc Picard and Captain James T Kirk defeating the el-aurian scientist, Soren. It is an absolute time capsule. 

March 29th, 1995 - Just after the historical drama "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had finished and earth media began to dramatize the loss of the USS Voyager as well as Captain Benjamin Sisko's fall into religious insanity, an editorial appears expounding on the virtues of the crew of the NCC 1701, no A, B, C, D, E, F, or G. 

November 22nd, 1996 -- in which the student run media re-prints a review of NCC-1701-E's encounter with the Borg queen. 

September 20th, 1999 -- In which a Umaine staff writer details an encounter with a contingent of Trekkies at the Borders book store in Bangor, Maine

September 22nd, 1999 - A rebuttal from a Star Trek fan insisting that many take it 'too far' and dress up like their favorite characters as a form of escape. 

[Roadside Relic] MEC Engine 470 | Waterville

(Link to the high res image gallery is at the bottom.) 

I'm a sucker for the weather beaten and disused. Even better if it looks like something that Tim Burton would doodle out of a steampunk nightmare. Here is an item that you're going to have to see soon if you'd like to see it in its current state, because its days are numbered. The last passenger steam train out of Bangor: MEC #470. A steam engine that serviced customers between Bangor and Boston from 1924-1954. What makes this machine remarkable within the context of the general state of the way things now are in Maine is that it was used exclusively for passenger rail service. No potatoes and no pulpwood. Also remarkable is the fact hat this was the last passenger train to depart from Bangor. 470 was given to the city of Waterville as a gift in 1962, by Maine Central Railroad which was celebrating its 100th anniversary. In 1970 it was moved to its current location where it now sits behind a fence in a park in Waterville.

Go see it now, in its charming rusted and weathered state before it goes away. Fortunately, this is going 'away' is more akin to being whisked away for a makeover. The New England Steam Corporation plans to get this 127 ton behemoth up and running again. Here's their Indiegogo pitch! They've come a long way since being set back by the city of Waterville due to asbestos concerns.


While it'll certainly be great to see this thing actually move under its own power, a little bit of melancholy comes with its potential removal. As a kid, I used to climb all over this thing. If there was a place to stand and something to hold on to I was there. This stopped when I got into the coal car and my sneakers couldn't provide adequate traction to get out, so naturally through child logic I concluded that my parents were just going to leave me there. This is why I didn't visit this machine between 1995 and 2015, I suppose.

Since it was first placed in its park in late 1970 it has been more or less deteriorating, and due to safety concerns it should be recognized that the fence currently in place around the site is for the benefit of the machine's new owners, and for the benefit of the proudly tetanus-free. It's new owners, The New England Steam Corporation, have some pretty graphic photos of the carnage wrought by Maine weather on their Facebook page.

I visited "old 470" on an overcast day in May. I didn't get many good shots because my choices were either shooting blind or trying to shoot through a fence. Here's the full res collection, and here are some of the nicer shots for your casual perusal.

 

These are only a few of the photos I took. The rest of the collection is here, and in full resolution.

Resources:

• Engine 470 on WikiPedia
• 4-6-2 Class information on WikiPedia
• New England Steam Corporation on Facebook
• New England Steam Corporation's website
• New England Steam Corporation's YouTube channel. (some seriously neat stuff here.)

Mystery '59 Ford Fairlane 500 | Strong

WARNING: THIS POST IS IMAGE HEAVY. IT MAY TAKE A MOMENT TO LOAD.

I spotted a sad 1959 Ford Fairlane 500 in the cold Maine rain.

Nothing historic here, just a feeling. 

This is what it would have used to look like:

Wikimedia Commons

...that's about it. Here are a few larger images.

[Roadside Relic] M60 Patton | Lincoln

WARNING: PHOTO HEAVY POST. MAY TAKE A MOMENT TO LOAD. 

Pardon my gimmick, but I think Summer 2015 will be my summer of Roadside Relics. New suspension and a new steering rack has a way of inspiring one to drive. And as you're driving into Lincoln via US 2 North, you may have to double take at what is parked behind the retirement home. A twenty two foot long Chrysler that gets one mile to the gallon and has a power to weight ratio of 15hp to the ton. While a giant Chrysler with such fuel consumption isn't all that unusual around here, this particular Chrysler is an iconic and ubiquitous vehicle that rolled off of an assembly line in Detroit in the 60s known as the M-60 "Patton." America's main battle tank during the Cold War period. Interestingly enough, Chrysler and Uncle Sam have had a very long love affair.

 
Wikipedia can tell you everything you want to know about this vehicle and more. Since this is a part of my "Roadside Relics" collection, I must inform you that this object is not at a park, and there isn't really a place for you to park unless you decide to get yourself a fantastic deal at Marden's! Signage indicates the lot is intended for their customers. If you don't like great deals, I'd recommend parking across the street (near the gazebo.)

Here are the remainder of the photographs of the tank.

Above you can see one of the differences between the M60 and its predecessor. The M-48 had a rounded hull while the M-60 has a beveled hull. I'm going to guess that this is because the armor would seem to be less likely to take as much damage if hit from an angle as opposed to head on. This design element reminds me of the Tiger II and its similarly angled armor.

While it's not in a park, I found I was able to get out of the car and walk around this without anyone giving me any trouble. Another difference that you can spot is that the M48 had five support struts to a side, compared to the M60's three. I couldn't find a tailpipe but I did find a heatsink. These 'blades' are to increase the surface area available for cooling. You have this exact same principle working inside of your computer right now. This gigantic 750 hp V12 may be air cooled.

[Retro Tech] 1952 Chambers 90C Gas Range

This is the second 'artifact' post I've written, the first of which was the Doomsday Shitter -- a civil defense relic from the University of Maine. The old/neat things that one can find here are not limited to concrete and wooden corpses of what used to be; something doesn't need to have held nuclear capsules to be interesting, sometimes pots and pans will suffice.

I got the ingredients, for your experience

Wintertime in Maine is one long gray rainy day. I've been trying to 'save' content for it all summer, but it's wearing as thin as my tolerance for snow. I was house sitting over the weekend bemoaning the dearth of things to check out this time of year when I realized I had a bit of a window into a different era just a couple of rooms away. Now, wintertime in Maine is a wonderful time to have access to a gas stove. Not only does it not require electricity to function, but it also provides you with a handy one way ticket to somewhere else. As a fan of all things retro I was thrilled to have the opportunity to house-sit for a friend who had an original Chambers model 90-C Gas range from 1952 in good condition.

After using it to (perhaps drunkenly) cook a meal or two, I realized what I'd been missing by using electric ranges all of my life. Having grown up in a trailer the late 1980s/early 1990s, suffice it to say that this device appeared near completely alien to me. No dials, no digital readouts, no holodeck inspired parallel lines that do nothing but scream "THE BEST 1993 HAS TO OFFER" No plastic, no numbers and no electricity. No safeties, no timers and no fucking around. Everything about this device is evocative of riding around in a car of the era, complete with the sense that if something goes wrong you can really hurt yourself.  Oh, and fire, did I mention all the fire?

Chambers with griddle up and broiler open.

Intimidating? Definitely.

Worth it? Absolutely.

First -- it's apparently impossible to heat a pan unevenly if you're using fire. Second, This device has features that I've never seen in an appliance before: the broiler/griddle combo with an adjustable bottom rack, and the heated (stock) pot well that takes the place of a fourth burner. The dimensions of the pot well are pretty narrow -- either stock pots were thinner back then (like Americans) or Chambers sold this unit with a 'built in' stock pot. Either way nothing fits, so it effectively adds one pound to the (proverbial) list of things that I won't do...

As I got over my inborn fear of losing my eyebrows or gassing myself to death, I had begun to realize the plastic trimmed, glass faced digital lies I'd bought my whole life. I found a handful of ways in which this half century old relic is indeed better than the black glass topped Ikea inspired, soulless hunks of steel and glass that you can buy at a department store. Plus, how could you not love these controls?

Here are the reasons why the Chambers 90C is awesome:

• You can hide in it in the event of a nuclear attack because it's heavier than Kelly Clarkson on a cheap swing set.
• You have a built in griddle and broiler in the exact same mechanism. And best of all, that mechanism is mechanical -- very mechanical. You get a nice satisfying "clunk" whenever you use it. It reminds me of the gearbox of a Mini Cooper S. 
• The knobs have crimped foil inlays. This (above) is how you do bling tastefully. 
• In stead of a fourth burner, you get a sort of little heated cylindrical cubbie in which you can place a stock pot. I'm going to guess this is because the crock pot wouldn't gain popularity until the 1970s. 
• Having one in your home would be like living at Nicky's.  
• The broiler has a depth adjustment, apparently. I didn't try it out because the handle for the adjustment felt pretty fixed in place, and I try not to break things that use gas and fire to function. 
• The oven part is pretty small, but the gas/flame shuts off when it's preheated. Once its heated, you stop using gas. This feature is pretty Priusey because it's green but makes you think that your machine is broken. 
• There's a huge online community for people who have/appreciate these appliances. More fan sites than you could shake a stick at provided you've got the diet and exercise regimen of a drag queen (adderall, lettuce, rinse, repeat.) But no joke -- even though there are only a handful of sites dedicated to these machines, there's some seriously useful information floating around out there.
• There is ample storage for things in a hole that might also be an oven. It's an oven with a cupboard in it.

 Here are some reasons why you might not want to own a Chambers:

• Rachael Ray has one. Not a 90C, but still a Chambers. Close enough. 

Just in case you wanted content that doesn't require you to read through the pithy ramblings of someone who can't even make a room full of stoned drunkards laugh, here's a photo of the whole unit...If I had one of these in any of my previous apartments perhaps I'd not be such a shitty cook.

The whole unit.