"'Oh,' said he, wading along with the water up to his armpits, 'I stopped for the purpose of stamping these paid letters,' at the same time holding up a bundle.
"We are happy to add that Calvin remains perfectly cool, and that in three hours after getting into the old office yesterday morning, every thing was cleaned up and business going on as usual.
"The actual amount of property lost in the city by this flood is estimated by pretty good judges at between two and three hundred thousand dollars. This falls severely upon some of our citizens, but the heaviest losses come upon those able to ride out the storm."
But, notwithstanding the severity of this visitation, few traces are left to denote it, at least to impress the stranger's mind. Bridges have been re-erected, damages repaired, and the business community have risen from under it with the elasticity of a sapling oak after the tempest has overpast.
Between fifty and sixty saws were swept away, which have not yet (1848) been replaced.
The following table, showing the condition of the lumber manufacture and trade on the Penobscot, has been obtained from the most reliable sources of information, and is presented for the inspection of those interested in such matters.
Number of saw-mills on the Penobscot and tributaries, 240. Number of clap-board machines, 20. Number of lath machines, 200.
Amount of long lumber sawed annually,[17] 200,000,000 feet, at $10.00 per _M._
Amount of laths sawed annually, 400,000,000 pieces, at $1.00 per _M._
Amount of clap-boards sawed annually, 5,500,000 pieces, at $18.00 per _M._
Amount of shingles[18] sawed and split annually, 110,000,000 pieces, at $2.50 per _M._
Amount of pickets[19] sawed annually, 10,000,000 pieces, at $6.50 per _M._
The number of men, oxen, and horses employed directly and indirectly on this river alone, would not vary, probably, much from twenty thousand.[20]
[17] The amount varies from year to year, sometimes exceeding, and then again falling short of the amount above stated.
[18] Sawed on the river and from the country.
[19] There are various other kinds of short lumber, such as staves, sash and window-blind stuff, not enumerated.
[20] The author, in preparing the above statement, has availed himself of the most reliable sources of information, and would particularly mention the following gentlemen, to whose intelligence and kindness he is particularly obligated Mr. S. Harris, of the surveyor general's office; Rufus Dwinel, Esq., and Mr. Taylor, of Bangor; also A. W. Babcock, Esq., and several other gentlemen of Orono.