North Maine Woods

A detailed Summary of North Maine Woods

Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1817. He was an avid outdoors man and the outdoors was the topic of many of his books. His best-known novel was probably Walden, during which he spent a year by himself in a cabin next to Walden Pond. The Maine Woods is a collection of three of his adventures to Northern Maine each during different times of his life. Thoreau was also a botanist and on his trips he spent much of his time recording information on plants and trees he observed. He had a certain deep respect and love for the great white pine which was cut down so much that he could hardly find one. He also loved to study the Indian culture and how they differed from the "Yankees".

His first adventure consisted of Thoreau going to climb the summit of Mount Ktaadn (this is how he spelled it by ear). He began his trip from Massachusetts and took a steam boat up to Bangor. From Bangor he took a horse drawn cart up the Houlton Road to the Military Road which brought him to Lincoln. From Lincoln he traveled up the side of the Penobscot River to Mattawamkeag where they met two Indians that offered to pick them up at Nicatou when they left. Henry set off towards Nicatou only to be abandoned by the Indians.

For his third excursion, he decided to go through Moosehead Lake, up to the Allagash Lakes, and back down the East Branch of the Penobscot River. They started off in Greenville with a group of Indians from the Artoosoqu' Tribe. The party carried over the old railway to the Penobscot river and descending to Lobster Pond. They carried around Pine Stream falls to Chesuncook Dead-water and decided to go up the Umbazookskus River. From there the men carried over to the head of the Allagash: Chamberlain Lake. They then stopped at a big island and stayed the night here(they have actually named a campsite after the author at this very place). The group then turned back around and headed back down Chamberlain Lake towards Telos Lake. From there they went through a dangerous pass to Webster Pond by attempting Webster Stream. The stream was so violent they had to carry around the end of it to go to the East Branch. Just down the East Branch the men shot a cow moose. On the way down the Penobscot they had to carry around a numerous amount of falls and rapids. The party camped just below Nicatou so they could reach Mattawamkeag the next day. From there the Indians and Thoreau went to Lincoln and then down to Piscataquis Falls. They then continued their way down the Penobscot passed Passadumkeag River. From there the men went straight down to Old Town and took the canoe out of the river for the end of their journey.

On his second trip Thoreau was headed to Chesuncook from the likes of Moosehead Lake. He was to accompany a group of Indians on their way to Lake Chesuncook on a hunting trip. These men were hunting for the great Northern Maine moose. They put in Moosehead Lake at Greenville and headed for Mt. Kineo. They then portaged over

Some common words found in the essay are:
Passadumkeag River, Pine Stream, Ktaadn Thoreau, Northern Maine, Thoreau Indian, East Branch, River Mattawamkeag, Chamberlain Lake, Concord Massachusetts, Mt Kineo, penobscot river, moosehead lake, east branch, branch penobscot river, plants trees, mother calf, northern maine, indian culture, branch penobscot, met indians, chamberlain lake,

Approximate Word count = 1182
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English