During our full-day stay in High Island
Harbor, we dinghied ashore on each of the islands that create
the anchorage.
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| Quarry pond on High Island |
High Island, as its name suggests, has
the most relief of the three, and it's easy to understand why a
commercial quarry was established here in 1894.
Giant blocks of pinkish granite were cut from the island's
rocky heart and transported south by schooner to New York and other
centers of commerce and construction.
We
tied our dinghy to a few of the tumbled granite blocks along the
shore and clambered up onto the stone wharf that was probably the
loading dock for quarried stone. Wandering through the woods, we saw
signs of stoneworking everywhere, including the enormous quarry pond
itself.
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| Feathers and wedges (from Wikipedia) |
Breaking
the rock cleanly into straight-sided pieces was a difficult business:
after drilling a line of holes (by hand auger and hammer!), quarrymen
might use black powder or dynamite to split the pieces, or they might
have to resort to the manual method of feathers and wedges.
“Feathers” were paired half-rounds of iron that were driven into
the holes, where they were pounded apart with a wedge to widen the
crack. The resulting blocks of stone were lifted by derricks and
booms, rolled downhill on small rail cars, or slung under horse- or
oxen-pulled carriages called galamanders.
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| Lines of holes drilled into a piece of granite |
According
to The
Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast, granite
from Maine quarries built the Library of Congress, the House of
Representatives, and the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. It
also made its way into Union Station in Chicago, the Cape Cod Canal,
and the rebuilding of the Statue of Liberty. Quarrying in Maine has a
relatively short history; competition from other stone sources as
well as the increasing use of concrete put most of the quarries
out of business by 1920.
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| Quarried granite stacked on the shore of High Island |
We
saw a good list of birds on High Island, including both red and
white-winged crossbills (a life bird for Sue) and a mixed flock of
fall warblers: Magnolia, black-and-white, black-throated green,
Tennessee, Wilson's, yellow, and American redstart. An Empidonax
flycatcher sat up for us, but it never called, and we could not
decide if it was a least, alder, or willow flycatcher. A Swainson's
thrush kept a wary eye on us, and families of red-breasted nuthatches
and golden-crowned kinglets seemed to follow us around the island.
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| Curtis crouches between two blocks of granite |
Birch
Island is a popular day use spot, and the gentle beach makes it easy
to pull your dinghy up. It's basically a small high spot with
boulders, goldenrod, and a few trees, so we walked the entire
perimeter in less than an hour. Curtis studied a flock of common
terns, trying to pick out a roseate tern among them, but no luck. We
saw cedar waxwings, red-winged blackbirds, a yellow-shafted flicker,
catbirds, and an Empidonax flycatcher.
Dix
Island is privately owned, but boaters are welcome to come ashore on
a beach (not the residents' dock) and walk the signed, well mowed
path that runs across the island. Residents of Dix live without
electricity; we saw a few small rooftop solar panels, but none of the
great arrays of panels we are used to in Arizona, so the residents
must simply eschew electric appliances. This island is flatter and
larger than the other two and seems to have more soil; there are
large open meadows dotted with apple trees. We saw many of the same
birds here as on the other two islands, plus a bobolink. Curtis
enjoyed walking barefoot in the soft, wet grass; Sue kept her shoes
on to avoid numerous thistles...and slugs.
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| Rowing in High Island Harbor |
