Book on Katahdin hits peak Author gives extensive history of mountain, Baxter State Park

KATAHDIN, AN HISTORIC JOURNEY: Legends, Explorations and Preservation of Maine’s Highest Peak, by John W. Neff, Appalachian Mountain Club, distributed by the Globe Pequot Press, Inc., Guilford, Conn., $19.95.

Katahdin. The name itself has a long history. Native Americans, the Penobscots, gave it that name centuries ago. The reader soon discovers that in the book “Katahdin, An Historic Journey,” by John W. Neff, published by Appalachian Mountain Club Books.

The author has seemingly uncovered every source in his writing of this most complete history of Mount Katahdin and Baxter State Park. This book accomplishes what most others don’t. It’s simply the most comprehensive work to date.

A visitor to the park probably knows at least some of the history of its creation. He or she may have read a park handout stating that former Gov. Percival Baxter purchased the lands surrounding Mount Katahdin. Then he donated 220,000 acres to the residents of the state of Maine for the park. But, the same visitor may not realize that long before the generosity of Percival Baxter, the park and specifically Katahdin had a history of respect, exploration and lore that predated his generous gift.

The Penobscots who named it were respectful and fearful of the mountain, believing that the Great Spirit originated there. According to Neff, “Evidence suggests, however, that the Native Americans avoided exploring Katahdin itself out of spiritual reverence for the mountain. Their reverence grew out of the belief that all of creation – the natural elements, animals, people – are connected and infused with the same spirit. Katahdin in their view, is where the earth meets the sky, where the secular and the divine converge; it is the origin of the Great Spirit.” That’s just the beginning of the story.

In the early 1800s, white explorers, settlers and lumbermen pushed up the major rivers that drain from Katahdin’s slopes, the East and West Branches of the Penobscot, Wassatoquoik Stream, Sandy Stream, and Nesowadnehunk Stream, to millions of acres of forest wilderness. There they set up camps, cut logs and drove them down rivers to sawmills for lumber. The book chronicles all of it and cites all the sources for further reading.

The difficulties the lumbermen encountered make for gripping reading. In one story of a drive on the West Branch of the Penobscot, at Nesowadnehunk Falls, the river drivers run the falls in bateaux. “The river threw all 12 into the dangerous waters, shattering the boats and drowning one,” according to Neff. There’s much more to tell about the lumbering era in the book, with every story sure to keep you turning the page.

Soon after the loggers arrived, the first ascent of the mountain was in 1804, by Charles Turner, a surveyor. Other explorers began climbing the mountain to measure it, one thought it was 13,000 feet high, not 5,267 feet. They came to the mountain by using the lumbering roads that reverted to trails. Not many people now realize that the earliest approaches were from the east, through Stacyville, up Wassatoquoik Stream’s tote road. It’s all in this book. The explorers names, their struggles just to get to the mountain, where they stayed, everything.

Then came the “Golden Age” in the late 1800s when visitors would arrive and stay in sporting camps built for fishing, recreating and hunting caribou on the Tableland on Katahdin. President Theodore Roosevelt and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William O. Douglas were among many other notables to visit the mountain and the vicinity. The history of every camp in the shadow of the mountain is explained in the book, the locations, with clear maps, the owners, and some of the tales told in the lodges and at campfires.

By the 1930s Baxter had begun his vision for the park bearing his name. He was a forerunner in the preservation movement. It’s in the book. The whole concept of a place that is “forever wild” was his. The stories of his efforts alone have been the subject of a great book, “Legacy of a Lifetime,” by John Hakula.

After you’ve read Neff’s latest book though, you’ll feel like you couldn’t possibly know more about the magnificent mountain and the people who came before. The places they built camps, the lumbering, the efforts they made in establishing trails and roads all become clear in reading his book. Some of the names are legendary, Marcus Keep, Leroy Dudley, Thoreau. The evidence of their impact on the region is found on today’s maps.

The greatest contribution to the history of the mountain Neff has made in writing this book is to make real all those people who had a hand in the exploration and preservation of the magnificent mountain. He writes in a clear, concise style that explains it so well you become transported to those earlier times. About the only thing left to do after you read the book is to take it with you on your next trip to the mountain.

Look up some of the places, like Toll Dam, Basin Ponds, Chimney Pond, Abol Slide, Throeau Spring, Hunt Trail. Then hike to them and take the book as a guide. Read about the logging, trail building and legends of the early days. Imagine what it must have been like when there were buildings that are now gone, routes that have been abandoned and the people who started it all so long ago that, in places, only traces exist of their ever having been there.