Whitefield

Friends Of  Whitefield
Newsletter 
- January 2020 -  




Welcome to our 13th issue of the "on-line" "Friends of Whitefield" newsletter. This is a free, un-official, and occasional  e-zine about matters of our wonderful town, Whitefield, Maine.
David Chase -editor
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Our soil here in town is really quite new. The glaciers of the last ice age scraped off the soil that had built up since the previous Ice age - right down to the bedrock - including any trace of dinosaur bones along with the microbes in that soil..
( click on the picture to read about an experiment to enrich our soils )
 

This drawing of mountain heights from the 1857 map of Maine has always fascinated me (click to zoom in)..
It set me to wondering how places here in Whitefield compared in elevation with each other.
The lowest point in Whitefield is the Sheepscot River at the town line with Alna - just 20 feet above sea level..

( I recently wondered that with the Alna dam being dug out - if we might, in the not too distant future, experience a "High Tide" right here in Whitefield... Imagine it !! ) "Head Tide" would then have to be in Whitefield...
 Possibly Alna could change their place name to: Old Head Tide  or almost Head Tide......

                                     (Click on this to see a Whitefield elevation graph...)


 




Do I need to say "click" on the rock for the rest of the story ?

 


I was talking with our friend David Hayden about a memorable DOT drawing I had seen years ago at the Historical Society.

It was a plan for the new Partridge Bridge that was to replace the old wooden one at the bottom of Grand Army Hill,

 The drawings were SO DETAILED it included locations of existing flower gardens and even the tree name and size in our front yard.. (albeit 1934). 

I lamented to him, that since the Society has a policy against the public use of digital copies of their collection, that I didn't expect anyone would ever see those plans in our lifetime.

Without hesitation David replied " I'll see to it that you get copies", and within days he handed me a HUGE roll of M.D.O.T. drawings. ( David still works there part time. )

I have digitized them, and over a period of time, starting now, I will post them for ALL to see and enjoy... Thank You David !

FANTASTIC details
of the NEW 1934 Partridge Bridge plans
  
slow motion video of some of the detail
 

   
click to see the plans and pictures

 

words to ponder.......
Microbes Quotes

“If you don't like bacteria, you're on the wrong planet.”
― Stewart Brand

“Every day we live and every meal we eat we influence the great microbial organ inside us - for better or for worse.”
 ― Giulia Enders

“I was struck by how different everything seemed with microbes in mind.”
 ― Ed Yong

 "For the first half of geological time our ancestors were bacteria. Most creatures still are bacteria, and each one of our trillions of cells is a colony of bacteria."
- Richard Dawkins
 

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