Odds and Ends From The MUSEUM!
The newest Bill Geller book Chesuncook Passages, 1903-1971: Loggers, Settlers, & Sports arrived at the Millinocket Historical Society Museum on June 1. Geller was on hand to sign copies of the book and chat with visitors. This book completes a 4- part series with the first being published in 2018.
Geller began exploring the woods and waters as a young boy. The writing idea took root about 2010 as he tried to locate information about the logging and the sporting camp artifacts he had uncovered in his years of Maine wanderings. As a researcher, he left no stone unturned. He explored printed matter, collected oral stories from many knowledgeable people and did many field explorations. His ability to recollect in detail all the names, dates and other data is remarkable as is his way of putting the information to paper.
The first book Within Katahdin’s Realm, Log Drives & Sporting Camps came out in 2018. This covers the West Branch of the Penobscot River from Nicatou Island to Ripogenus Dam plus the watersheds from Millinocket Stream, Millinocket Lake, Debscogneag, Nahmakanta and Jo-Mary. Also covered are sporting camps and people.
Next came West of Chesuncook & North of Moosehead:Log Drives and Sporting Camps 1830-1971. That book was followed by Rendezvous at Chesuncook, 1827-1902 A Chronicle of Surveyors, Landowners, Loggers, & Sports. Readers may notice, Geller likes very long titles for his works, a fact that I have mentioned to him several times! These titles let the reader know exactly what topics are being covered.
During his several years of research, Geller has talked (in person, by phone, email) to everyone possible about their experiences and recollections of the logging days, the drives and every other detail. He has spent time with the UMaine Fogler Library Special Collections materials, visited area historical societies and more to look at map collections, old photos, reports, letters and ledgers.
Geller’s first visit to the Millinocket Historical Society occurred about 2013 when the museum was housed in the local municipal building (3rd floor, back corner). He spent several days then scouring through a collection of 22 very large and heavy West Branch Driving & Reservoir Company and GNP ledgers (some as big as about 24 inches by 16 inches & up to 3-4 inches thick). Very heavy and cumbersome! Geller very kindly went through them and came up with a title for each and the years represented. He has looked at many of the old GN maps from the early days that are part of the museum’s collection. Geller had returned to the museum as each new book was taking shape and done more research.
We appreciate Bill Geller’s support of the museum as he allows MHS to be one of the 2-3 historical societies that have his books available to sell to benefit their museums!
Two other Geller books that wander a bit out of this area are Maine Sporting Camp History on the Piscataquis River Tributaries and 832,000 Acres: Maine’s 1925 Fire & It’s Piscataquis Logging Aftermath. A few copies of each are available at the museum.
