CANAAN – The town of Canaan, nestled between Pittsfield and Skowhegan on U.S. Route 2, doesn’t appear – on the surface – to offer much to its residents.

There is no police department, no garbage pickup. Students commute – some of them more than 20 miles – to junior high and high schools in Skowhegan. There are no town codes – a building permit isn’t even required – and residents barely have what amounts to a sidewalk.

But when the U.S. Census figures were released last week, Canaan led all Somerset County towns in population growth: a 23 percent increase, 1,636 in 1990, to 2,017 last year.

Town officials say this growth mirrors a national migration to the suburbs and countryside.

“Well, I guess everyone now knows what we have known all along: This is a great community to live in,” Selectman Gary French said upon hearing of the growth.

With two service center communities on each side – Pittsfield and Skowhegan – where Canaan residents can work, and a short hop to Interstate 95 to commute to Bangor, Augusta and Waterville, Canaan is growing even faster than expected.

Take a 45-minute ride north to Bingham, however, and the picture is not quite as rosy.

Violet Tibbetts is a lifelong resident of Bingham, which led the county in losses, dropping 241 residents in the last 10 years. Tibbetts says the losses reflect people who either have died and not been replaced by a birth, or those who have moved south.

“I have three kids and they have all left Bingham. They go to college, and they don’t come back. There are no jobs here,” she said. Tibbetts’ three children live in southern Maine and New Hampshire.

“Our children have all left. They go where the jobs are and the money is,” she said.

The population of Bingham is mostly elderly now, she said, and their numbers are dropping quickly. “We lost 10 to 15 elders just at the end of last year,” said Tibbetts.

Two years ago, Scott Paper Co. sold its operations to Plum Creek. “Right there we lost 40 to 50 jobs,” said Tibbetts. “They shut down their woods operations last year, taking more jobs.”

Woods jobs have sustained the northern Somerset County economy for decades, and their erosion is reflected in the census figures. As small lumber mills close and large woods operations shut down, they are not being replaced.

Watching the struggle of their parents to survive in this shifting economy, the youth of Somerset County are heading elsewhere, training for other, more lucrative and stable occupations, and coming back home only to visit.

“Oh, they come home a lot,” Tibbetts said of her children. “They love it here. They just can’t work and live here.”

Tiny population shifts were dramatic in some of the smallest areas of the county. The unorganized townships in northwest Somerset County had a population of 8 in 1990. That has swelled nearly sixfold, to 46 residents in 2000.

As a whole, according to the 2000 Census figures, Somerset County slipped in population from eighth of the state’s 16 counties to ninth. Even with that statewide ranking drop, the county experienced small growth of 2.3 percent, going from 49,767 to 50,888, and running nearly parallel to the state’s small increase of 3.8 percent.

County officials, however, are questioning the overall accuracy of the census figures, citing local statistics that contradict the government’s findings.

In Pittsfield, for example, the census said the community had gained only 24 new residents in the past 10 years, while enrollment of Pittsfield students in SAD 53 increased by nearly that much just in the past year.

Town Manager D. Dwight Dogherty said a recent housing survey, combined with the town’s voter count and a large increase in school-age children, leads him to believe the census count is low.

“What we are actually seeing here makes me feel uncomfortable with accuracy of the numbers,” said Dogherty. “Our own observations wouldn’t seem to support only a 24-person increase.”

Chris Huck, planning director at Kennebec Valley Council of Governments, which serves Somerset County, said he also questioned the accuracy of the numbers.

“Our housing figures for Pittsfield show a net increase in dwellings from 1990 to 2000 of 199 homes,” said Huck, noting that the two figures – 24 more people in 199 more homes – just don’t add up.

“These figures are not at all what we expected,” he said. “We estimated the growth a lot higher almost across the board.”

Huck said that in Fairfield, for example, the U.S. Census figures showed a decrease of 145 people.

“No way,” he said. “Fairfield has had quite a bit of development in the past 10 years. There are dozens of new subdivisions and house lots.”

Perley Bean, economic director for the town of Madison, said he, too, doubted the accuracy of the county figures. As one of the leaders of Somerset County Economic Development Corp., Bean said he expected much higher counts.

“A year ago, the SEDC had a countywide audit and a strategy developed,” he said. “At that time, it was estimated the population was at 54,000. What the census has provided, 50,888, seems really low to me.”

Although there have been spot closings of small mills or lumberyards in the county’s northern area, jobs have been steady or increasing for the service providers and small manufacturers in the southern part of the county. Madison Paper Co. and the Sappi Fine Paper mill in Fairfield both have expanded. Expansions also have occurred at Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan and Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield.

Throughout the county, the past decade has seen a subtle shift from traditional manufacturing plants to service providers and retail establishments.

The county’s four largest towns each fared differently. Pittsfield and Skowhegan maintained a small but steady growth pattern, while Fairfield and Madison both dropped, pushing Madison to below its 1980 level.

“I would never have guessed that,” said Bean. “I thought we had experienced a moderate growth, a solid gain.”

But even as county officials questioned the accuracy of the figures, those whose growth appeared secure were basking in them.

French said that economic growth outside Canaan, such as the addition of several new paper machines at the Sappi mill in Hinckley, has created new jobs and prompted workers to relocate to Canaan.

He credits the town’s independent spirit, its friendliness and its beauty for the influx of residents.

Town Clerk Sherrill Hunt has held her post for 15 years. She knew all along that the population had topped 2,000. She had been asking new residents for years why they moved to Canaan.

“A lot of people come here with seemingly no connection, but when pressed, there really is no overriding reason that they moved to town,” she said.

The increase in population has caused the town’s elementary school to begin bursting at the seams and the hours the town office is open to be increased, but French said there was no demand at the March annual town meeting for an increase in services.

“Any change would have to be citizen-driven,” he said. “This way of life is how the townspeople want it.”