SIEUR DE MONTS SPRING - A WONDER OF NATURE OR MAN MADE

BAR HARBOR TIMES

JULY 21, 1960




To the Editor;

Visitors at Sieur de Monts Spring may at times wonder about the early history. One standing on the large flat rock in the brook and watching the water bubble and gorgie from beneath it may think he is beholding a natural event, when in fact, he is looking at the result of human planning and effort.

In the summer of 1907 John Prescott, owner of the property developed the spring at the upper end of the Harding Farm, so called, which was originally known as Red Rock Spring, and later, Mt. Kebo Spring, undertook to do the same thing with what is now the Sieur de Monts Spring.

I learned this quite by accident. One day in the summer above mentioned I was walking with a friend of my parents through the woods in that section. As a boy I had fished in the brook that flowed out of the meadow - now known as the tarn - and I knew that area very well.

Near the brook at that time was a small boiling spring with a much larger one several yards away.

As we came into the path off the Seal Harbor Road we heard from the valley below us the sound of horses and a stone drag. Coming into the clearing at the foot of the hill we found Mr Prescott with a team of horses dragging a large flat rock towards the smaller spring, and learned that he was planning another bottling plant similar to the one at Red Rock (Mt. Kebo). He told us he was setting that flat rock over the smaller spring in the attempt to force the water back into the larger one which he planned to deepen and enlarge.

The bottling plant, as such, did not prove to be the success had hoped, and in course of time the property passed to other hands and now has been developed into the beauty spot we have today. But that rock is the same one we saw put in place over 50 years ago.

What we see today is not a freak of nature but a deliberate attempt to improve on what nature has provided.

I can vouch for this as I am the only living person who was present when that stone was set in its present position.

Sincerely,

Rev. Charles S. Mitchell, DD

SIEUR DE MONTS SPRING HOUSE
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

WHO WAS THE REV CHARLES S. MITCHELL




A piece I found in an article in the Bar Harbor Times dated August 2, 1922 states in part;

"Mr. Charles S. Mitchell served Long Island till cold weather, than he moved his family to Bar Harbor and spent the winter assisting in special services at Cranberry Isles, Matinitus, and other places. It seemed best to locate Mr. Mitchell at Corea where he can be of help in the town of Gouldboro, as there is not a minister in the town."

In the December 6, 1922 Bar Harbor Times, upon the passing of Rev. A.P. MacDonald, who had been the head of the Sea Coast Mission. A piece in that same paper was written by the Rev. Charles S. Mitchell, whose title states the following;

"Rev. A.P. MacDonald; A word of appreciation by Rev. Charles S. Mitchell, who was for some time associated with Mr. MacDonald as Assistant Missionary."

In a copy of the Bar Harbor Times dated July 26, 1922 an article begins with the following;

"BAR HARBOR MAN IS ORDAINED AT COREA

Charles S. Mitchell after service in Sea Coast Mission is now Baptist Minister.

A council of churches of Hancock County, was called by the church at Corea Wednesday, July 19th, to set apart by ordination to the Baptist ministry, Charles S. Mitchell who has been serving this church for the past two months, after nearly two years in the Sea Coast Mission work."

An article from the Bar Harbor Times in 1915 states that "Charles S. Mitchell expects to enter Gordon Theological School in Boston the middle of next month."

CAR PLUNGES OFF BAR HARBOR PIER

I have this accident posted on my website, STORIES FROM THE PAST, and though it doesn't deal with a trail or with Acadia National Park, I thought it would post it on here, because I am not sure how many people are aware that at different times, two cars have accidently gone off the end of the Bar Harbor Town Pier over the years, resulting in the drowning death of four people.  In the last accident, in April of 1947, a car with five people ended up going off the pier, two escaped, one being a young school teacher from Emerson Grammar School, but sadly three others in the car that day did lose their lives.

CAR PLUNGES OFF BAR HARBOR PIER
Bar Harbor Times
April 10,  1947

Three Young People Drown When Car Slews On Municipal Pier And Goes Into 25 Feet Of Water
George W. Dolliver Jr., Carroll E. Frost Jr., of Bar Harbor and Elinor Talbot of West Haven, Conn., lose lives in accident.
Three lives were lost by drowning when a car allegedly operated by Elliot Sawyer of Bar Harbor slewed on the municipal pier Wednesday evening just after 11 o'clock and went over into about 25 feet of water.  Those dead are;  Carroll E. Frost Jr., age 23;  George W. Dolliver Jr., age 23, both of Bar Harbor, and Elinor Talbot, anout 22 years of age, of West Haven, Conn..  Sawyer and the fifth occupant, Miss Barbara Curry, a teacher at Emerson Grammar School, were able to swim to0 the pier and climb the ladder to safety.
According to Sawyer, he didn't realize the pier was a glaze of ice until the felt the car slew and when he realized it, was going over the edge.  He opened the door and as it sank, he and Miss Curry, who with Dolliver were riding in the front seat, were able to extricate themselves, but due to the depth of the water were unable to reach the others.  The bodies  of Miss Talbot, and Frost were found in the back seat where they had been riding while that of Dolliver was located near the ouitside of the car clutching a fender guide.  The bodies were recovered at 8;15 a.m. by a diver and were taken in the Sherman Funeral Parlor.
This was the second accident with the loss of life to happen on the head of the pier in recent years, the other being a visitor who drove off of the head of the pier a few years ago and the car was not recovered until the next morning.

Having read of these deaths, it got me thinking about the Sand Bar connecting Bar Harbor to Bar Island, how many times have I seen people wading across in deep water or attempting to drive across while sections of the bar were under water.  I did some research and was only able to find one recorded death along the Sand Bar;

Bar Harbor Times
June 19, 1915

Sad Accident Of Bar Harbor Boy On Bar Sunday

Francis Hamor, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ansel A. Hamor of Bar Harbor, was drowned on Sunday afternoon on the bar leading to Bar Island, as he and another small boy - George Landers, where making their way to their camp on the island.  He was 7 tears, 6 months and 24 days of age.  The boy's mother is suffering severly from the shock.
Many conflicting stories are told as to how the accident happened but it appears from information secured by Chief of Police Gerry, who was called to the scene, that the happenings were as follows;  The tide had not wholly left the bar as the boys started to cross and the Hamor boy began to wade across the strip next to Bar Island which had not been left bare.  The Landers boy refused to go and returned to the Bar Harbor side.  He threw rocks into the water and killed some time until the tide went out.  Then it was that he joined some other boys on the other side and asked them if they had seen the Hamor boy.  They said they had not.
Then the search began.  Some of the boys went to the camp but failed to find him.  Cecil Hodgkins, a young man who happened to be some distance away on the beach, inquired of the boys if the one who had started across had arrived safely and sent the Landers boy to get the Hamor boy's father - Bert Hamor, as he is generally known, at his home on Strawberry Hill.  Mr. Hamor rushed to the scene.  A man in a row boat soon put in an appearance and when his services were asked, rowed around Bar Island to get on the other side of the bar and began searching up and down the length of the bar.  The body was found in about three feet of water and brought ashore.  Mr. Hamor than went and notified Mr. Gerry who at once sent for doctors.  In the meantime Dr. Fremont Smith's son began to administer first aid.  Doctor's who arrived found a flutter of the heart and at once rushed the boy to the hospital.  Everything that could be done was done but without avail as the boy had been in the water for about two hours.
Scratches were found about the face but according to those who examined the body there appeared to be no badbruises which would indicate that the boy had been stunned by striking his head in a fall.  It is rather the opinion that he walked into a deep hole and was unable to get back within his depth and that the scratches were those received from sharp shells as the tide rolled him over the beach.  The fact that it was about two hours from the time the boy must have fallen into the water until he was taken out  is thought to bear out the theory that he had fallen into a deep hole, the lapse of time accounting for the receding of the tide to the depth of about three feet.  The fact that no one saw the accident and that no one knew that the boy was in the water seems to be accountable for the tragedy.  The police feel that they should always be notified immediately in all such cases.  Funeral services were held at the home on the May Drive, Strawberry Hill on Tuesday afternoon, Rev. Dr. F.A. Leitch officiating, and internment was at Ledgelawn Cemetery.


Bar Island has its own rich history, the Bar Harbor Conoe Clulb once had their club house located over there, and for a number of years Mr. Pineo ran a fairly large dog kennel there.  There is a story in an old newspaper where a bear was seen on the island, and a group of men from Bar Harbor went over to investigate.  They located the bear and chased it into the water, then circled it with boats and killed it.