Raymondtown historian Ernest Harmon Knight (himself a descendant of mast-&-spar men) has both written-up a Sebagoland mast incident in Windham and pointed out to me (AHM) the location of it. Both this incident and its location are called Gay's Pinch.

Knight's write-up was a part of his article titled Lumbering, which appeared in the June 1982 Newsletter of the Raymond-Casco Historical Society. Later, that article was reprinted as Chapter VII pages 39-41 of HISTORICAL GEMS OF RAYMOND & CASCO by Ernest H Knight---the compendium of his Newsletter articles, published by the RCHS. (A second printing of GEMS is now in process--see Raymond Village Library Section of this Lakes Region website for availability info.)

This incident must have occurred between 1786 (when Lewis Gay supposedly came to the Casco area) and 1823 (when he is reported to have died at age 73). Knight's account (from Ch VII p 40) follows. Lewis Gay lived on Quaker Ridge Road in today's Casco (then part of Raymondtown), and, like some of his neighbors, engaged in part-time supplying of masts "as season and farming needs permitted', especially when it was "practical in winter with frozen ground and snow for sleds".

"After felling, these giant [pine] trees for masts, a hundred feet in length and four foot diameter at the butt, were hewn to a sixteen sided shape to reduce their weight and prove their suitability and hauled to the mast landings. This required many yoke of oxen and determined drivers with their trusty goads. xxx

"While [Lewis Gay was] hauling a long mast timber through...[a bad curve between bankings], it became pinched [i.e., jammed / stuck].... It is not known whether the problem was solved by making the mast into two shorter spars or [if it was] somehow forced through, but...[the name 'Gay's Pinch' surely has stuck to this bad curve ever since]."

Where is Gay's Pinch? Knight's 1982 statement "by the Wndham Dump" is a bit vague, so here is an updated amplification. Head north on US Route 302 beyond North Windham's central business district, past the traffic light at White's Bridge Road intersection, past the long curve beyond Seacoast Fun Park. Look on the left for signs saying "Forest Pump & Filter Inc" and "Faith Lutheran Church". Not far beyond Forest Pump, but just before the church's driveway, and roughly parallel to it, are two paths leading roughly to the west of 302.

Ignore the highland path ( pink trail in the image below) (it is an ATV trail atop the crude-oil pipeline to Montreal). But notice how the yellow, lowland path (just under the churchyard banking) curves southwesterly out of sight. This was once the old road to / from Portland, and it was the location of Gay's Pinch---where Lewis Gay's oxen-hauled mast got stuck between bankings in the bad curve of that old road.

Across Route 302 from Faith Lutheran Church (red oval on left) is Kay's Decorating Center (paint & wallpaper store) (red oval on right). The Kay's building apparently is a very old structure which, according to local legend, formerly housed entertainment for the mast-teamsters who had to wind their loads very slowly through the challenge of Gay's Pinch nearby (yellow trails in both images). The kinds of entertainment that were available there well may have become exaggerated over the years, as legend turned into jokelore or even fakelore. However, the active Freudian symbolism of lodged-logs easily can eclipse the passive alternative symbolism of castrated-cattle, if one thinks beyond the possibility of teamsters just stopping for water-with-a-smile. So, paint your own picture of the paint-store's past! Undoubtedly it was colorful, to say the least.

Beyond showing that traffic accidents blocking "The Bridgton Road" are nothing new, the story of Gay's Pinch demonstrates more important points. For example, it is for good reason that the Maine state flag (an early 19^th-century creation) shows a farmer and a sailor with a pine tree between them. Alas for total symbolic value, the animal at the base of the pine tree is a moose, not an ox, but the interdependence of inland agriculture and coastal seafaring is shown clearly nonetheless.

The lumbering aspect of Maine's agriculture not only made possible Maine's building & repairing of ships, but supplied much of Maine's export cargoes as well---even to the sawdust that packaged Maine's lake-&-river ice, which was truly a major export commodity itself. Maine's forest not only moved to the sea but across it as well.

What the Observatory telescope saw coming toward the harbor but still far from land, was told immediately by the Observatory signal-flags, which were watched-for constantly by shipping companies, commercial dealers, all sorts of service-providers & workers, and seamen's families. Specific flags indicated nationality, company, type-of-vessel, etc. Everyone wanting to know of an arrival for whatever reason could then start up their preparations accordingly.

In short, the Observatory early-announced the expected news---and even some unexpected news in a general way. It was the Herald for the Harbor. Eventually higher-tech means of communication made it obsolete, but the Observatory long continued to play the public-confirmative role nonetheless, in a pleasant ceremonial way.

A March 1989 private publication, THE PORTLAND OBSERVATORY: The Building, the Builder, the Maritime Scene (Second Edition, Revised & Enlarged) by John K Moulton, on pages 11-12, tells us of the journey from Windham to Portland of the Observatory's eight "cant-post" major timbers. The Observatory is an octagonal tower, c.65' high, but capped by a c.21' decked-windowed-domed cupola, which gives it a total height of c.86' above ground-level.

"The eight supporting posts [called 'cant-posts'], fashioned from white pines, are sixty-five feet four inches long, fourteen inches square at the butt, tapering to ten inches square at their tops. The corners were not square, but cut so that the shape is a square with its corners cut off. This was due to the removal of bark, and the desire to get maximum size from a given tree." --- Quoted from page 12.

"These eight posts, plus other timbers used in the frame, were cut on Pike's hill* in Windham. After being squared in the woods, they were hauled to Pride's bridge,** launched into the Presumpscot River, floated over the [first] falls, [in Falmouth,] around Martin's Point [at the river's mouth], to a hard sand beach at the foot of Hancock Street [in Portland]. Wheels were backed into the water and at high tide the long posts were floated to their place on the wheels. When the tide ebbed, they were drawn up the [Munjoy] hill. Then the tree trunks...were cut to desired dimensions and placed into position, under the supervision of Captain Moody." --- Quoted from pages 11-12.

Captain Lemuel Moody was the guiding force behind building & operating the Portland Observatory. The Maine Historical Society has among its manuscripts the "Lemuel Moody Collection". In it (Collection 1931, Folder 13) is a memorandum, dated 8 April 1807, of an agreement / contract with Benjamin Goold of Windham for "eight sticks" (the eight cant-posts) of 65' length, delivered in Portland "by the first of May at the price of twelve dollars per stick" (8 x $12 =$96 total). Other timber was to be agreed upon later.

*Pike Hill (aka Nash Hill) in Windham is located one mile (straightline) southeast of Foster's Corner Rotary (the intersection of US Routes 302 & 202). It is half-a-mile northeast of Nash Road intersection with 302 (which is near Suburban Pines Motel). Nash Road curves northerly around Pike / Nash Hill, then straightens again, heading easterly toward Falmouth in Windham.

**Pride's Bridge is assumed herein to be today's Riverton Bridge on US Route 302 at the Westbrook / Portland boundary (Presumpscot River), less than a mile south of Pride's Corner on 302 in Westbrook. This means that the 1807 roadway which is today upgraded into US 302 must have been the oxen-teams' route involved (i.e.,The Bridgton Road then as now).

So, in conclusion, whether for masts, spars, or Observatory cant-posts, the "moving-forest" was not just an image on Portland's waterfront skyline; it also was a total reality far inland---certainly in Sebagoland---during the Age of Sail. Today, that fact can be reinforced personally by visiting the Tate House and the Portland Observatory, as well as other maritime museums listed in a new pamphlet titled The Maine Maritime Heritage Trail (sponsored in part by Maine Office of Tourism http://www.visitmaine.com).

And county fairs which still feature oxen in pulling events can neatly frame the picture presented in this report: namely, that in the Age of Sail, there would have been no ships without the masts & spars to rig the sails to, and there would have been no masts & spars without the mighty oxen to pull the forest to the shore.

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