by Esther Wood
Page 2
 In the years of shipping prosperity, stay-at-home Blue Hillers became ships' carpenters, caulkers, smiths, and sailmakers, while the more adventurous went to sea. These men came to know Charleston, South Carolina as well as Ellsworth, Havana as well as Rockland. Women often went with their husbands, and seafaring people took on views and ways unknown to Blue hill farmers.
The depression of 1857 and the American Civil War dealt hard blows to shipbuilding and trading by sea. English steamboats made of iron drove wooden sailboats from the seas. Decline in shipping and shipbuilding led to a decline in the town's population. In 1880, the town had 2,213 people; in 1900, it had 1,808.
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 Other factors accounted for the town's loss of people. Numerous soldiers died in the Civil War, and after the war some of the survivors chose not to return. The call of the West's fertile fields and the pull of developing cities and extending railroads lured others from the town.
Opening of mines and quarries brought people to town. Blue Hill had three periods when copper was mined. The big rush was from 1879 to 1883. William Stewart, who may have discovered Nevada's Comstock Lode, came to town and found William Darling mining copper in a small way and talking about silver in a big way. Stewart declared, "Maine ought to take first rank as a producer of bullion." Boston and New York papers published his declaration. Developers come to town and local people caught the mining fever. It was a case of mine in every pasture, a strike on every knoll.
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By 1879, six hundred people were digging, and by February 1880, a $25,000,000 value was placed on stock that had been issued. A mining exchange and the Gold and Copper Exchange (a hotel) opened in the village. Excited sightseers came to town to view the mines. |