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• 

  SALT, Vol. 9, No. 2

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  The magazine about the really important people of Maine. Special Issue: Rural Poverty in Maine — What Does It Mean? One in every five rural Mainers is poor. Like Monica, struggling to get by. Christmas rubs in the difference between having plenty and little.

  Content
  • 5 View from Pier Road
  • 8 Being Poor in Rural Maine One in every five Mainers is poor. The numbers are growing even in today’s job market. Salt tells the story of the rural poor in Maine through their words and lives.
  • 10 Portraits Lauretta Elie and Emily Kinney have two things in common. They were labeled “dumb” as children and never learned to read. Now as adults they know they are not dumb.
  • 16 Piecing Together a Year: the Bubiers The Bubier family of Perry in Washington County piece together a year of income from seasonal work. They are among the fastest growing group of poor in Maine, adults between the ages of 18 and 44 who can’t get by on what they make.
  • 33 Monica A photographic esaay by Pam Berry. Monica lives in a schoolbus with her daughter while she builds a house for the future. And a baby is born.
  • 42 Making the Rounds Salt follows a social worker, Maurice Geoffroy on his rounds to the elderly, to welfare mothers, to families with handicapped children, to people laid off from work and to an AID’s victim.
  • 56 Kristin’s Schools Kristin Myers is at risk of dropping out from school systems that started flunking her in kindergarten. Will she stay or will she get too discouraged?
  • 62 Eating in Maine Where can you eat in Maine without feeling overwhelmed by outsiders or worrying about the size of your wallet? Here's where.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 9, No. 1

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  The magazine about the really important people of Maine. Life at the Mall. Vassal of the Farm. The Farming Edge. Malls may not be the village square, but people meet in the neon light of the concrete beast to forge the same old links of belonging.

  Content

  • 5 View from Pier Road
  • 8 Vassals of the Farm Hired hands and owners of the Rancourt dairy farm in Vassalboro are bound to the farm in relentless work days. For some it beats the mill. For others it is peonage, long hours, poor pay and little to call your own.
  • 22 Community and the Concrete Beast A childhood friend challenges sociologist and Maine native George Lewis. Why do people go to malls?
  • 24 The Mall: By Salt Mass Observation Malls are the last word in consumerism, great airless, sunless temples for the exchange of money and goods. As far from Maine values of independence and “make do” as you can get. Yet Salt interviewers found a distinct mall culture of young and old who hang out there to get a sense of belonging: from mall “rats and bunnies” to “mall milers.”
  • 29 Mall People A photographic center section by Jim Daniels.
  • 46 The Farming Edge The dairy farmers of Turner are known for their competitiveness. That’s a primary reason that Turner is so successful in the business when other towns aren’t. Salt looks closely at this.
  • 61 Eating in Maine Where can you eat in Maine without feeling overwhelmed by outsiders or worrying about the size of your wallet? Here’s where.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 8, No. 4

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  The magazine about the really important people of Maine. Summer Hotel. Acadians. Airline Road Tour. Lost Hunter. The big, old summer hotels are a dwindling breed. They cater to a lost elegance. But some people go without jacket and tie!

  Content

  • 3 Eating in Maine
  • 5 View From Pier Road
  • 8 Salt at Fifteen
  • 10 Outsiders in Friendship Bill and Debbie Michaud learn some lessons about being outsiders in Maine as they start a bed and breakfast inn in Friendship.
  • 12 Fifty Years a Bellman John Foster tells of a time when trained bellmen came from the South to work the summer season in Kennebunkport.
  • 16 The Grand Dame: Life at the Summer Hotel The big old summer hotels are a dwindling breed. We look at one: the Colony of Kennebunkport.
  • 28 On the Road with Jeff Herbst Jeff Herbst shows us the Airline Road, its people, tales, and landscape.
  • 29 The Airline A special photographic center section.
  • 46 Les Acadiens du Madawaska Three generations of the Hebert family reveal the continuity and change among the Acadiens of the St. John River Valley in Aroostook County.
  • 58 Lost Hunter! Part Two A lost hunter is found and now stories can be told about the Great North Woods.

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  SALT, Vol. 8, No. 3

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  The magazine about the really important people of Maine. On Custom House Wharf, life stays much the same. That’s the way Fonnie like it. Grime, fish, and sweat. Not a place for Yuppies.

  Content

  • 2 Eating in Maine
  • 3 Spend a Semester with the Really Important People of Maine
  • 5 View From Pier Road
  • 7 Munjoy Hill’s Inside Scoop Renee’s Variety Store in Portland is the place to find out what’s going on around Mun joy Hill.
  • 9 Jack of All Trades Al Buzzell’s grandfather told him, “Don’t learn one trade. Learn a dozen.” He took the advice.
  • 12 Lost Hunter A trip to the wilderness at Chesuncook Lake becomes high adventure as Salt joins Bert McBurnie in his search for a lost hunter.
  • 24 Wharf at Work One wharf on Portland’s embattled waterfront still does business as it has for 35 years. Custom House Wharf reeks of fish, diesel, mudflats, sweat and frying burgers. Its people have their own unwritten rules and their own ways of doing things, as well as strong views about· the change going on around them.
  • 29 A Wharf and Its People A special photographic center section about Custom House Wharf.
  • 48 Out of Sight of the Sea Ken Doane of Kennebunk might well be a lobsterman today if he hadn’t lost his sight as a young man. Now he works on the edge of the sea repairing small engines.
  • 56 When Doctoring Is Woman’s Work The young sons of Dr. Marion Moulton of West Newfield watched her practice medicine in rural Maine as they grew up They decided doctoring is woman’s work.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 8, No. 2

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  The magazine about the really important people of Maine. Special Issue: Tourism. Seaside & Lakeside. Colonists & Coneheads. Six million people come to Maine on vacation each year. Do they make life better or worse for Mainers? How are they changing the state?
  
  Content

  • 2 Eating in Maine
  • 3 View From Pier Road
  • 6 Colonists and Coneheads Sociologist Peter I. Rose sees a caste system in tourism. Colonists are brahmins and coneheads (bus tourers) near the bottom of the heap.
  • 8 Tourism: A Double Edged Sword What is tourism doing to “Vacationland” in the 1980s?
  • 10 Tour Bus! A whimsical look at the world of touring by tour bus.
  • 14 Seaside Tourism How much tourism can one “tourist town” take before its appeal for tourists is no longer there? A look at Kennebunkport.
  • 23 What Would You Like, Sir? How young Mainers feel about working in the tourist trade. Profiles of a bartender, a waitress and a boy who tends a vegetable stand.
  • 24 Earl
  • 26 First Season
  • 28 Of Tourists and Cows
  • 29 Tourists Salt’s photographic essay looks at tourists.
  • 38 Soda Fountain Philosophy The Boynton McKay Drugstore in the downtown coastal tourist town of Camden serves as a mixing pot for tourists and natives of all stripes.
  • 52 Tourists on the Lake People have been coming to the Lakeside Pines campground in Bridgton for generations.
  • 58 Rusticator The last thing a rusticator wants to be called is a tourist.
  • 62 Spend a Semester with the Really Important People of Maine

• 

  SALT, Vol. 8, No. 1

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  The magazine about the really important people of Maine. This is Walter. The bear is Cuddles. Walter’s struggling to overcome child abuse. He’s also trying to find a home. The two may be the same.

  Content

  • 3 View From Pier Road
  • 2 Eating In Maine A new feature, Salt’s guide to the really important places to eat in Maine.
  • 6 Maine: Myth and Reality A special issue on what is the “real” Maine. Salt staff and students worked to find out. What they found is presented in three sections.
  • 7 Being Young in Maine What is it like to be young in Maine today? Three short articles suggest answers.
  • 8 Hitchhiker
  • 10 Joe of the North Woods
  • 12 Saturday Night at the Condo
  • 13 King Spruce Maine’s Great North Woods are its largest myth and its largest reality. But that’s changing. What of the myth will survive? What of reality? A lengthy article explores the North Woods of today and tomorrow.
  • 14 Fall of the Great North Woods
  • 21 In Pursuit of a Fantasy Is life in Maine getting better? Portland has been touted as “The city that’s too good to be true.” But is that really the case? A Salt student spent months documenting another side of Portland, that of people struggling to get off the streets.
  • 22 Getting Off the Streets
  • 29 Walter A special photographic center section on Walter who battles child abuse and finding a home.
  • 46 To Sacopee Valley Via U.P.S. Follow Lee Hutchins, a U.P.S. delivery man, on his route in the Sacopee Valley. From recluse to the granola crowd, he knows them all.
  • 62 Deacon’s Bench Firefighting to rival Mark Twain.
  • 64 Spend a Semester with the Really Important People of Maine

• 

  Salt, Vol. 7, No. 4

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Bangor Truckstop. Portland’s Philosopher-Bookman. McCurdy’s Smoke House. “The movies make trucking so glamorous. It ain’t though. I want my boy to see what it’s really like.” Dysart’s Truckstop in Bangor, a Maine institution for truckers and locals. “From Kittery to Canada it’s the only one.”

  Content

  • 4 Crazy Avery Goes to New York A very Kelley tells about the time he hauled his traps on Beal’s Island, Maine, and “struck a dust for New York.”
  • 12 Bangor Truckstop Ken Kobre, photojournalist, turns his lens on Dysart’s Truckstop south of Bangor, a Maine tradition for 18 years.
  • 19 Around the Clock at Dysart’s Truckers at Dysart’s talk about their experiences on the road over coffee and platters of food at Dysart’s Truckstop, which never closes its doors.
  • 24 McCurdy’s Smokehouse, Last of a Breed McCurdy’s Smokehouse in Lubec, Maine, is the last commercial smokehouse in the country, producing smoked herring by hand labor. Salt documents the smokehouse at work.
  • 29 Smoking Herring Special photographic center section on the smoking of herring.
  • 50 Francis O’Brien — Portland’s Philosopher-Bookman Books, life and history are interconnected like a honeycomb, says Francis O’Brien, Portland’s erudite, self educated philosopher and dean of antiquarian bookmen.
  • 61 Remembering Tad A tribute to “Tad” (Sterling) Dow by Salt columnist Tom Bradbury, who served with him on Salt’s Board of Trustees and the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust.
  • 64 Salt’s Regional Studies Programs Educational programs and courses offered at the Salt Center for Field Studies.

• 

  Salt, Vol. 7, No. 2

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Hot clouds clamp a lid over the wild blueberry barrens of Maine. A bumper crop ripens too fast, 45 million pounds in a vast oven. Two tousand rakers race the heat. “Beat the sun. Ya gotta beat that sun, cause she’ll wear it right outta ya...”

  Content

  Hot clouds clamp a lid over the wild blueberry barrens of Maine. A bumper crop ripens too fast, 45 million pounds in a vast oven. Two tousand rakers race the heat. “Beat the sun. Ya gotta beat that sun, cause she’ll wear it right outta ya...”
  • 2 Short Takes From Alberta Redmond’s 100th birthday to letters to the editor in this issue’s “short takes.”
  • 3 Change on the Barrens Tradition and change vie on the wild blueberry barrens of Maine. The end of the old hand harvest is near.
  • 4 Quilting-Patchwork Art Quilters of Maine are reviving an old art form. Young and old quilters meet to work together.
  • 12 Salt Marsh Dikes Dikes in Maine like in Holland? Yes, says Professor David C. Smith. They were built to farm the salt marshes.
  • 16 Wild Blueberry Harvest Voices from the blueberry barrens speak in this major article about the 1985 bumper crop. Rakers, field bosses, truckers, migrant workers, locals, Indians, managers and owners tell what the harvest means to them and what they see for the future.
  • 29 Rakers A photographic essay about hand rakers on the wild blueberry barrens by Lynn Kippax, Jr.
  • 50 Toots Makes Music Toots Bouthot makes music for the French Canadian community of Biddeford.
  • 62 Indian Summer Columnist Thomas Bradbury spins his own theories about why Indian summer is called Indian summer.

• 

  Salt, Vol. 7, No. 1

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  “When Saint Peter says to me, ‘You ready?’ I’ll say, ‘Wait ’til I git my tray.’ ...Seems to me I grew right up in that hotel racket. I don’t hardly know what ’tis to be tired. One day a fellow at Shawmut said, ‘Gladys, you don’t look like yourself. Are you well?’ I said, ‘What the hell are you talkin’ about? I can outwork any three people you have.’” — Gladys Hutchins McLean

  Content

  • 2 Locals in a Resort Town Living in a resort town wears down your sense of humor. Locals concoct pranks and jokes to restore it.
  • 4 Captain and the Parking Lot George Harriman (the Captain) presides over the first pay parking lot in Kennebunkport, the town’s most controversial “hot spot.”
  • 10 Born in “That Hotel Racket” When Saint Peter calls Gladys McLean, she has her answer ready: “Wait ’til I git my tray!”
  • 20 Jenny, Island Shepherdess Jenny Cirone raises 250 sheep on three islands off the coast of Maine. She also lobsterfishes.
  • 29 Island Sheep Salt’s new photographic center section is a study of island sheep raising by Lynn Kippax, Jr.
  • 37 The Sweep Driving sheep on Maine’s islands dates back to the 1600s and continues today. Jenny Cirone and her crew show how it is done.
  • 54 Casey at the Wheel Fishing with Casey Stender is far from dull. “Mother Ocean,” he roars, “I heard you call...”
  • 61 My Yard Sale Television Set Thomas Bradbury’s column, “Deacon’s Bench,” deals with a summer tradition in Maine.
  • 63 Short Takes

• 

  Salt, Vol. 6, No. 4

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Blarney and salami at Fitzhenry’s Store.

  Content

  • 2 Junior Miller A salute to Junior Miller, who believed in hard work, persistence and optimism. This issue is dedicated to him.
  • 4 The Deacon’s Bench Thomas Bradbury writes about Chester, the chicken plucker, in his column.
  • 7 Letters to Salt
  • 8 Center for Field Studies Salt’s Center hosts a series of visiting professors as part of its Semester-in-Maine program for college students.
  • 10 Fitzhenry’s Store Fitzhenry’s is so little “there ain’t too much room to wrassle,” but it has everything from pickled eggs to shoe horns-and some back country conversation to boot.
  • 18 Shaker Revival in Maine A decade ago, Maine’s Shaker community had dwindled to four elderly Sisters. As Maine Shakers adapt to a changing world, four converts have joined. This is a sensitive look at the Shakers by a Salt student who was their weekly guest for three months.
  • 38 “I’m Singulah!” That’s how John Gaskill describes himself at 92. He tells the story of a black boy with a mind of his own growing up in Portland, his own singular story.
  • 52 Black Child of Maine Geneva Sherrer is a native of Augusta, Maine, who has begun to document the untold story of Maine’s black people.
  • 62 Rhythm of the Loom Bessie Swain of Exeter, New Hampshire, is the grandmother of weaving in northern New England. She has taught her art to generations of students.

• 

  Salt, Vol. 6, No. 3

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  I could never call myself a Yankee. Five Immigrant Experiences. Italians in Portland’s “Little Italy.” French Canadians of Epping. Japanese in Livermore Falls. Russian Colony in Richmond. The Greeks of Biddeford/Saco.

  Contents

  • 2 Letters to Salt
  • 4 Pinch a Penny, Spend a Dime A new column, “The Deacon’s Bench,” by Thomas Bradbury starts in this issue.
  • 6 Guest Article: A Boy’s Dream Come True John Chaisson of Lewiston writes SALT’s first guest article about his childhood days in the “big woods.”
  • 9 Salt Center for Field Studies This issue of SALT is the first to be published from SALT’s new Center for Field Studies, with student work produced as part of SALT’s Semester-in-Maine program.
  • 10 “I Could Never Call Myself a Yankee” Pericles Economos struck the theme for this issue when the Greek immigrant used these words about his 69 years in Biddeford, Maine.
  • 12 From Japan’s Snow Country to Maine Suzuko Hiraoka Laplante is the only Oriental immigrant in Livermore Falls, Maine. She tells of her 30 years in a Maine milltown.
  • 26 Antoinette’s Patience: A Canadian Family In Epping Antoinette Cote Bernier of Epping, New Hampshire, says it takes patience to make bread and “when you have twelve children, you got to have patience, too.”
  • 34 Little Italy of Portland An Italy came to flourish in Yankee Portland on the lower western slopes of Munjoy Hill. “Little Italy was in our back yards.”
  • 38 Italian “Soldier of Fortune” Ottaviano Massimo Segismonto Antonio Breggia describes life on Munjoy Hill in Portland’s “Little Italy.”
  • 46 Richmond’s Russian Colony To an inland river town in Maine came a colony of Slavic immigrants in the 1950s.
  • 49 One Russian Who Kept Her Heart Ilsa Rudin Pasechnik, from the Russian colony in Richmond, Maine, tells of the music she loves and her losses in her mother country. “They could take everything, but they could not take my heart or my brain!”
  • 58 A Greek Father Shapes His Son The story of how Sam Anagnostis of Saco, Maine, built a bridge for his son, John, to walk from a fruit store to a classroom.

• 

  Salt, Vol. 6, No. 1 & 2

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Eastport for Pride

  Contents

  • 6 EASTPORT: THEN AND NOW
  • 10 Water Street: From the Waco Diner to the Customs House
  • 19 On the Waterfront: Johnny Craig
  • 32 Causes: John Pike Grady
  • 42 Home: Helen Huntley
  • 48 The Border
  • 52 The Fourth
  • 59 SARDINES
  • 60 Inside a Sardine Factory
  • 67 “I Don't Cut So Fast Now:” Frances Miller
  • 70 Born with a Fish in My Mouth: Babe Baine
  • 80 Running the Holmes Packing Plant: Moses Pike
  • 86 POLITICS, PEOPLE, AND PITTSTON
  • 87 Meeting
  • 115 Anti-Pittston: Fred Soderstrom
  • 119 Pro-Pittston: Roger Conti
  • 121 Swing Vote: David Turner
  • 124 Other Voices
  • 127 REVIVAL OF THE WATERFRONT
  • 131 Longshoreman: Ed Barnes
  • 134 Return of the Young: Meg McGarvey
  • 135 Hard Work and Persistence: Junior Miller
  • 139 Salmon: Art Mackay
  • 144 Epilogue

• 

  SALT, Vol. 5, No. 4

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Contents

  • 5 On Being Ten Salt celebrates its 10th anniversary and looks forward to the next ten years.
  • 6 Salt’s New Home A new piece of history is now being lived in Pinkham’s Hall in Cape Porpoise, Maine, as Salt finds a new home.
  • 8 Gems of Cape Porpoise The islands off Cape Porpoise, Maine, have retained their gemlike beauty as villagers save them, one by one.
  • 14 No Human Trace Jessica Jenkins learns to leave an island just as she found it, without human trace.
  • 15 Semester in Maine Salt launches a new Semester in Maine program for college credit developed by a panel of noted social scientists and humanists.
  • 16 Going Forward With Alberta “Ya can’t be backward about gain’ forward,” says 97-year-old Alberta Redmond of Cape Porpoise, Maine. Salt follows her around for a day and comes back tired.
  • 24 Tower Clocks of the Kennebunks The sounding bells and soaring clockfaces of Maine’s tower clocks are part of a still living tradition of public clocks.
  • 30 In Search of the 20th Century Penobscot Three generations of Penobscot Indians search through their experiences to define what it means to be a Penobscot living in today’s world.
  • 36 The Elders Clarence Francis, Violet Francis, and Madasa Sapiel.
  • 50 The Middle Generation Jim Sappier, Bobcat Glossian, and Governor Tim Love
  • 65 The Younger Generation Carol Dana and Junior Pehrson

• 

  SALT, Vol. 5, No. 3

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Contents

  • 2 Mount Desert Island: ‘They Were Rich and We Weren’t’ Through the eyes of native Mainers, we see what happens to an island dominated by millionaires.
  • 4 The Theater in Bar Harbor’s Changing World Showplace of the ’30s, Bar Harbor’s art deco theater is a witness to changing times, from the chauffeur-driven limousines of the Rockefellers, Fords and Vanderbilts to the campers of today.
  • 18 ‘Livin’ Where You Want to Live’ Draper Liscomb of Mount Desert Island tells how to make a living in Maine — “so you can live where you want to live.”
  • 34 The Search (A Story about Evelyn Turner) A modern fairy tale about a woman on Swan’s Island that will make you smile. As Evelyn sees the world, “S’lovely, darlin’.”
  • 44 ‘I Don't Feel Color’ Clarence Roberts, son of a slave, is the eloquent spokesman for the elderly in the all-white Maine Yankee town of Old Orchard Beach.
  • 60 ‘White As the Driven Snow’ Maurice Gordon of West Kennebunk, Maine, comes out of retirement to demonstrate the finer points of plastering.
  • 68 A Thousand Shapes in One: Pottery Making Lou and Bob Lipkin of Kennebunkport, Maine, take us step by step through the throwing and firing of pottery.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 5, No. 2

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Contents
  • 3 ‘I Never Lied in My Life’ Cecil Kelley of Jonesport, Maine, spins a series of outrageous yams. Sample: “Grandmother drank a barrel of rum a day...”
  • 16 Jake’s Easter Clam One Easter Sunday, seven-year-old Jake Leach went clamming with his father. John Leach of Kennebunkport, Maine, tells what clamming means to him and why he takes Jake along.
  • 24 Christos Anesti! Greek Easter The Greek community in Biddeford, Maine, celebrates Easter with all the traditions of the old country.
  • 32 Harvey’s Gone Fishing Harvey Bixby of Cape Porpoise, Maine, would rather fish than eat. He takes Salt fly casting with him.
  • 36 Wreck of the Schooner Charles From old newspaper accounts, Salt pieces together the story of the wreck of the Charles in 1807.
  • 39 Sam, the Minstrel Man Sam Miller of Portsmouth is an old vaudeville man who has played the bones and cavorted for audiences throughout New England.
  • 44 The Alewives Are Running When the alewives run, fishermen get their bait.
  • 46 Your New Country Betha Guerin’s family migrated from Canada to milltown Biddeford, Maine, when she was a girl. She talks of both her old and new countries.
  • 51 Lofting and Making Molds A step by step explanation of how to loft a boat and build the molds. Based on work done in the Salt Boatbuilding School.
  • 59 Closer to Nature Helen Perley says animals are just like people, and proves it at her animal farm in Scarborough, Maine.
  • 69 Salt’s Photographic Exhibit A photographic exhibit of the best work of Salt has been on tour in Maine. Samples from the exhibit.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 4, No. 4

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Contents
  • 2 Indian Island On a small island in Maine’s Penobscot River live 400 Indians of the Penobscot nation. Some of them want to join the white man's world and some look to the traditions of the past.
  • 4 ‘We Don’t Make Baskets Any More’ Madas Sapiel is an elder of the Penobscots whose life has spanned five generations of changes on Indian Island. She is a strong minded woman who admonishes her people to shape up and seek “unity.”
  • 17 Bobcat and the Governor Two of Madas’ sons illustrate divergent paths the Penobscots are taking. Bobcat looks to the traditions of the past, while his half brother, the governor, seeks economic progress for his people.
  • 18 Medicine Man of the Penobscots Senabeh, medicine man of his people, has a rare story to tell, of an odyssey that led him to live alone on an isolated island for 26 years “to become a better man.”
  • 28 Sails in a Bottle Win Morrill of South Hamilton, Massachusetts, performs magic that has bewitched children and sailors for years: putting tiny ship models into bottles.
  • 43 ‘Goddamn! That’s bad luck!’ Fishermen of Kennebunkport, Maine, tell us superstitions of the sea that they know and-maybe-believe.
  • 56 Fire! During the great fire of 1947 in Maine, the state was consumed by sixty fires that raged for a week. Eight people relate how the fire affected their lives.
  • 73 Metal Spinning Fred Cooper of Kittery, Maine, demonstrates the dying art of spinning pewter.
  • 80 Letters to Salt Our readers share their thoughts.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 5, No. 1

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Contents
  • 2 Boats That Come Naturally “It just came natural to want to build them,” says master boatbuilder Ralph Stanley of the traditional wooden boats he has been building since 1951.
  • 16 I Christen Thee Endeavor A classic Friendship Sloop crafted by Ralph Stanley slides down the ways in Southwest Harbor, Maine.
  • 21 ‘I Try to Make It Simple’ Rigging the Endeavor was a week long job for Ralph Stanley and his crew. Salt covers their handiwork step by step with 29 photographs and detailed explanation of their work in progress.
  • 36 Sam Sam Polk is a gentle lobsterman from the Jonesport-Beals Island area who has fished more years than most people manage to stay alive. At age 89, he tells about his love for the sea.
  • 45 ‘When You’re Married to a Fisherman...’ Four fishermen’s wives tell about experiences that can only happen if you’re married to a fisherman. The four are Maggie Griffin of Kennebunkport, Betty Hammond of Harrington, Dot Ridlon of Cape Porpoise, and Debbie Gott of Kennebunk, all of Maine.
  • 55 Stenciling Emelia Wallace of Wells shows us the art of stenciling trays and antique chairs.
  • 61 ‘Go Back Home, Senabeh’ Senabeh, medicine man of the Penobscot Indians of Maine, is caught in a painful dilemma. He must make his last stand “alongside my peoples,” but they are essentially alien to him. In nine hours of interviews he defines his lonely Indianhood.
  • 72 Letters to Salt Our readers share their thoughts.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 4, No. 3

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Contents
  • 2 ‘Nobody Cuts the Same’ Cutting fish at O’Hara’s in Rockland, Maine, is a family affair where brothers and sisters, fathers and sons work together.
  • 14 Lamont Allen, Sr. A fish filleter for forty years, Lamont, now 49, is one of the fastest in the trade.
  • 20 Norman Collins To get ahead as a fish filleter, what you need is “that old drive,” says Norman.
  • 22 Put The Hammer Down Leo Thibeau of Kennebunk, Maine has a strong man’s trick of his own that not even the legendary John Henry claimed to do.
  • 26 Laying the Keel Salt covers the step by step laying of a keel for a 45 foot Herreschoff Ketch.
  • 35 Reaching for the Sun In the woods of York County, Maine, and in a mountain greenhouse, seven Salt apprentices and their woodsman trainer are practicing land management.
  • 43 Swan’s Island The second part of a two part series about the lives of people on a remote island off the northern coast of Maine.
  • 44 Island Women Life for the women of Swan’s Island has never been easy. The women have earned every inch of what is theirs.
  • 45 Ruth Ruth Moulden is a strong, warm and enduring woman who shares her life and thoughts with us.
  • 58 Walter Walter Stinson was a fish cutter, one of the fastest, and a lobster fisherman, until the day he almost didn’t make if back to shore.
  • 63 Edwin Edwin Gott muses over his 83 years on Swan’s Island and finds it “almost like a dream.”
  • 65 Basil Basil Joyce lives in the home his father built, making an island unto himself that has changed little since his birth.
  • 70 The Sawmill How a back country sawmill in northern New Hampshire operates fo serve boafbuilders and fishermen.
  • 76 Salt’s New Look Salt Magazine acquires a new look with this issue in keeping with its growing professionalism.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 4, No. 2

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Contents
  • 2 Grandfather’s Golden Earring Sailing around Cape Horn in the mid 1800’s was a dangerous feat. The 90-year-old Furbish twins of Kennebunk recall their Grandfather Furbish wore “a thin gold earring in his left ear” as proud proof of the voyage.
  • 8 ‘Like It, No Like It-Take It’ Maria Gollaros of Biddeford describes her 60 years working in the fabric mills of New England and her struggles as a young Greek immigrant woman in America.
  • 16 Felling a Tree George and Roy Cole fell a giant locust tree in East Kingston, New Hampshire. Father and son continue to log as Roy Cole has always logged, hauling trees out of the wood with horse and scoot.
  • 24 ‘Somewhere Inside This Piece of Wood Is a Paddle’ Monty Washburn of Kittery Point demonstrates how to hand hew a canoe paddle so lightweight you can balance it on one finger.
  • 33 Energy in a Boatyard SALT now operates from a working boatyard at the mouth of the Kennebunk River. Young Salt apprentices make the magazine, while other apprentices build boats, repair lobster traps, pour concrete and weed truck farms, as the Salt concept broadens to include a variety of native Maine crafts.
  • 41 Cod Liver Oil Douglass Nunan of Cape Porpoise tells how he helped his grandfather, Payson Huff, make cod liver oil. “Everybody at the head of the cove got smelled out. He used to tell them it was a healthy smell.”
  • 45 ‘I go out and Talk to Them All’ Ken Berdeen of Kennebunk talks to his lilacs-all 1,585 bushes. People come from miles around to see them in the spring.
  • 52 Swan’s Island How is life on a small remote island off the coast of Maine? Three natives tell: fishermen Levi Moulden and Carlton Joyce, and captain of the ferryboat, Dick Holmes. Part I of a three part series.
  • 68 Maine Diner One small diner on Route 1 in Wells, Maine, closes down for the busy summer season and stays closed until the fall when Route 1 is quiet again. Owner Louie Toton tells why.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 4, No. 1

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Contents
  • 2 River Driving on the Kennebec Salt interviews 24 men and women of northwest Maine about river driving, the now outlawed act of driving logs through the mighty rivers of Maine to the mills where they are processed.
  • 6 The Men The “rough, solid, individuals” that have worked on the river and in the woods.
  • 9 Herding Logs How the logs are transported across lakes and down river.
  • 19 Drivin’ a Stick-and Other Jobs Jobs on the river and tools of the trade.
  • 21 Logging in Winter The same men who hurled cantdogs in the spring and summer were wielding axes in the winter.
  • 26 Life on the Drive and in the Woods The everyday life of a river driver and logger.
  • 30 River Driving Ballad Ballad written and sung by “Jed” Calder.
  • 36 Women in Camps The women who cooked in the logging camps.
  • 39 Storyteller River driver Gerry Bigelow tells a few stories.
  • 41 Getting Along Together How the men worked hard and played hard, side by side.
  • 44 What Am I Doin’ Here? The river drivers’ feelings toward their jobs.
  • 45 Changes and the End of an Era River driving is now outlawed. What are the river drivers’ opinions about this?
  • 48 Old Fashioned Cider Making Our longtime friend, Reid Chapman, shows us how to make cider and keeps up a steady patter of stories and laughter.
  • 60 ‘ ’Tain’t Like Christmases Now’ Salt interviews a score of Maine people, old friends and new, about their memories of Christmases fifty to sixty years ago.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 3, No. 4

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Contents
  • 2 A Time to Celebrate After four years of life, Salt is going into book form with the publication this June of The Salt Book — and we’re all going to celebrate!
  • 4 Tuna Fishing Ken Hutchins of Cape Porpoise shares the secrets he has learned about catching the big game fish of the sea with rod and reel.
  • 14 “I’d Like To See the Pounds of Butter I’ve Made With That Churn!” Mary Turner of West Peru makes butter with a churn that her mother used before her. She shows us how.
  • 23 Mary’s Molasses Cookies After churning, Mary uses the buttermilk to make a batch of the best molasses cookies we’ve ever tasted.
  • 24 Stone Walls, Part II Harvey Bixby of Cape Portpois tells how to build mortared walls that will stand up under time and the weather.
  • 36 Fly Tying For two years we’ve been trying to get Martin Pierter of Kennebunk to show us how to tie flies. At last — with the help of his wife and daughter — we’ve succeeded.
  • 43 Porcelain Figures “When people ask me what I’m doing, I say I’m playing with my dolls,” says Muriel Reimer of Kennebunk. There’s more to it than that, we discover, as she demonstrates the steps in making porcelain dolls.
  • 50 Sail Making Don Hale of Sargentville takes us step by step through the stages of making a sail.
  • 67 Sumach Sap Spiles “We never bought anything we could make,” Monty Washburn of Kittery explains as he shows us how to make a sap spile.
  • 71 Letters to Salt We share some of our mail.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 3, No. 3

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Contents
  • 2 Dragging with Lester Orcutt “You have to be an optimist to be a fisherman,” Lester Orcutt told us as he took us out for two days of dragging on the Minkette and later spent an afternoon explaining in detail how it’s done.
  • 22 Fiddleheading Monty Washburn takes Salt on a fiddlehead hunting expedition near his camp in Andover, Maine.
  • 28 Bait Bags The agile fingers of Ada Foss have knit hundreds of bait bags during her life as a lighthouse keeper’s wife. She shows us how it’s done in her home in Cape Porpoise.
  • 37 How to Make a Duck Blind We build a duck blind on the Mousam River and explain how to do it, step by step.
  • 40 Willie and Elizabeth It was a different kind of life Willie and Elizabeth Ames lived in their years on Matinicus Island. Their story is one of generations of lobstermen like “good old grandfather, still lobstering when he was 80 years old, still hale and hearty.”
  • 68 Whistle Making We learn how to make wooden whistles while we visit Monty Washburn of Kittery Point at his hunting camp.

• 

  SALT Bicentennial Maine, Vol. 3, No. 1 & 2

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  Maine Bicentennial

  Contents — From the Sea

  • 6 Twelve Miles Off the Mainland Natives of the rocky island of North Haven, Maine tell how they get what they need to survive.
  • 14 Goat Island Lighthouse It takes a special kind of person to live on an island alone and tend a lighthouse. The Goat Island lighthouse keeper and his wife describe their life.
  • 28 Gill Netting Herbert Hutchins takes Salt out gill netting for the day and we learn how it’s done.
  • 34 Ships in Bottles Richard Nickerson of Arundel gives a step by step demonstration of how to construct the intricate, tiny ships he puts into bottles.
  • 42 Designing with Shells The Robert Nichols of Kennebunk show us how to create figures using shells.
  • 46 How to Make Sea Moss Pudding For years people along the coast have been making a delicious pudding using sea moss. Marion Webber of Kennebunk explains how it’s done.
  • 49 Sam and Hazel at the Pier Sam and Hazel Wildes have been familiar figures down at Cape Porpoise Pier for about 40 years. We introduce them to you.
  • 60 Boat Building “The keenest eye in the trade” — that’s what people say about master boat builder Herbert Baum, who takes us through each step of the way in designing and building a boat.
  • 92 Trapping Mittens Larence Seavey of York once caught some mittens in his lobster trap and he tells how it happened.
  • 93 Helen Perley Always Gets Her Clam There’s more than one way to catch the flavor of a clam, according to Helen Perley of Pine Point.

  Contents — From the Land

  • 96 Yankee Wit Monty Washburn of Kittery Point shares some choice bits of Yankee humor.
  • 97 Half a Century of Logging Profile of lumber baron Grover Morrison of Lincoln.
  • 98 A Good Head of Water Grover Morrison tells about his lumbering operations “in the jungles of Maine.”
  • 108 Logging Town Patton, Maine points to its colorful past as “the lumbering center of the world” with a lumberman’s museum.
  • 114 Ida’s Story This is the first chapter of a book written by Ida Allen of Moxie Falls in which she tells about her childhood in the woods of Maine.
  • 117 Old Sooty’s Mulligan Old Sooty was the worst cook in the woods. Even the camp cat shunned his mulligan, according to the men.
  • 118 Horse Pulling Dick Wallingford of West Forks has won more trophies for horse pulling than anyone we know. He tells how it’s done.
  • 126 Maine’s New Sweden A cluster of small communities in central Maine is home for many Swedish emigrants who continue to preserve the traditions of their forefathers.
  • 130 Making Maple Syrup Tapping trees and making maple syrup is something New England people pride themselves on doing each year. Here is how it’s done.
  • 141 Yankee Contraptions Monty Washburn is one of many Yankees who have thriftily put together “contraptions” out of odd pieces that most people would call junk.
  • 144 Cluny Collects “Heritage” in Potato Land Cluny McPerson collects the “heritage” of potato growing people in Presque Isle.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 1, No. 4

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  “Why the name SALT? Because salt is a natural symbol for the magazine — the salt of the sea, salt-washed soil, salt marshes and salty people, the kind that won’t use two words if they can get by with one.”

  Contents

  • 2 Settin’ on his Independence Clifford Jackson farms the old way with ‘gimcracks’ and horse power, and then “sets” on his independence.
  • 18 How to Build a Lobster Trap Stilly Griffin shows how to make a lobster trap.
  • 26 Dowsing Looking for water with a dowsing stick still works for some people in Maine. who tell how it’s done.
  • 30 Wildwood Chapel A small stone chapel in a wooded spot where the field mice run back and forth on the rafters while the people sing.
  • 34 Ned and Nell The ghosts that inhabit a house in Kennebunk.
  • 40 Wild Honeybee Hunt Monty Washburn takes us on a wild honeybee hunt in Kittery Point.
  • 47 Those ‘Friendly Little Devils’ How wild honeybees live, work and reproduce, as told to us by Monty Washburn.
  • 52 Charcoal Making Ava Ross describes how charcoal was made by her husband back in the days when it was a good living.
  • 56 Squeezin’ Season Cider making time in New England. Reid Chapman tells how it was done years ago, and Bruce Gile tells how it’s done now.
  • 62 How to Make Cottage Cheese Eleanor Nedeau makes cottage cheese for us the old way.
  • 67 Skinned Knuckles Willie Grendell is a stone mason with a flair for tall tales.
  • 71 Letters
  • 72 Some friends. Bert Hanscom and our other SALT friends, continued from inside cover page.

• 

  SALT, Vol. 1, No. 3

  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

  “Why the name SALT? Because salt is a natural symbol for the magazine — the salt of the sea, salt-washed soil, salt marshes and salty people, the kind that won’t use two words if they can get by with one.”

  Contents

  • 2 “Years ago almost everybody had a barn.” The handsome barns of Maine, inside and out, are shown to us by their owners.
  • 18 “Down She Goes” Shrimping with Dave Burnham and Herb Baum on the Capt. Jim.
  • 26 Town Meetin’ Arundel town meeting, a lively example of the old New England town meeting form of government, where people get together and “hash things out.”
  • 36 “Old Time Democracy” George Martin, moderator of Arundel town meeting, tells us why town meeting is “ole time democracy” at work.
  • 40 An Intricate Art: Restoring Ship Models William Whorf of Kennebunk has been building ship models “since I was a tiny boy.” He restores models now, and explains how it’s done.
  • 40 Smelting Bert Graves and Harvey Bixby are longtime smelt fishermen who share their experience with us.
  • 51 “Those Damn Mud Holes” A team of horses stood waiting all day long to pull people through the principal mud holes of Kennebunk.
  • 52 Fishing off a Sailing Vessel “In Them Days” Kenneth Hutchins remembers back to the early 1900’s when he was swordfishing and trawling from a sailing vessel.