1.
Reporting mark
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A reporting mark is an alphabetic code of one to four letters used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain railroad networks. In North America the mark, which consists of an code of one to four letters, is stenciled on each piece of equipment. The Association of American Railroads assigns marks to all carriers, under authority granted by the U. S, surface Transportation Board, Transport Canada, and Mexican Government. Under current practice, the first letter must match the initial letter of the railroad name, as it also acts as a Standard Carrier Alpha Code, the reporting mark cannot conflict with codes in use by other nonrail carriers. In another example, the mark for state-funded Amtrak services in California is CDTX because the state transportation agency owns the equipment used in these services. This is why the reporting mark for CSX Transportation, which is a railroad, is CSXT instead of CSX. This often resulted in five-letter reporting marks, an option not otherwise allowed by the AAR, the standard ISO6346 covers identifiers for intermodal containers. When the owner of a mark is taken over by another company. For example, when the Union Pacific Railroad acquired the Chicago and North Western Railway in the 1990s, some companies own several marks that are used to identify different classes of cars, such as boxcars or gondolas. If the acquiring company discontinues the name or mark of the acquired company, occasionally, long-disused marks are suddenly revived by the companies which now own them. For example, in recent years, the Union Pacific Railroad has begun to use the mark CMO on newly built covered hoppers, gondolas, CMO originally belonged to a predecessor of the CNW, which passed it on to them, from which the UP inherited it. Some of these still retain their temporary NYC marks. Because of its size, this list has been split into subpages based on the first letter of the reporting mark, railinc, a subsidiary of the AAR, maintains the active reporting marks for the North American rail industry. Railinc offers a free online look-up of reporting marks and other industry reference files through the Railincs Freight Rail 411 website, a railway vehicle must be registered in a national vehicle register using a 12-digit number derived from the old UIC system of vehicle numbering. The number contains the country in the third and fourth digit. The VKM must not contain special signs or digits, the VKM is preceded by the code for the country, where the vehicle is registered and a hyphen. Some examples, When a vehicle is sold it does not normally be transferred to another register, the Czech railways bought large numbers of coaches from ÖBB. The number remained the same but the VKM changed from A-ÖBB to A-ČD, the UIC introduced a uniform numbering system for their members based on a 12-digit number, largely known as UIC number
2.
Maine
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Maine is the northernmost state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Maine is the 39th most extensive and the 41st most populous of the U. S. states and territories and it is bordered by New Hampshire to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the north. Maine is the easternmost state in the contiguous United States, and it is known for its jagged, rocky coastline, low, rolling mountains, heavily forested interior, and picturesque waterways, and also its seafood cuisine, especially clams and lobster. There is a continental climate throughout the state, even in areas such as its most populous city of Portland. For thousands of years, indigenous peoples were the inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine. At the time of European arrival in what is now Maine, the first European settlement in the area was by the French in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons. The first English settlement was the short-lived Popham Colony, established by the Plymouth Company in 1607, as Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen European settlements had survived. Loyalist and Patriot forces contended for Maines territory during the American Revolution, Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820, when it voted to secede from Massachusetts to become an independent state. On March 15,1820, it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise, there is no definitive explanation for the origin of the name Maine, but the most likely origin is the name given by early explorers after a province in France. Whatever the origin, the name was fixed for English settlers in 1665 when the English Kings Commissioners ordered that the Province of Maine be entered from then on in official records. The state legislature in 2001 adopted a resolution establishing Franco-American Day, other theories mention earlier places with similar names, or claim it is a nautical reference to the mainland. Attempts to uncover the history of the name of Maine began with James Sullivans 1795 History of the District of Maine. He made the allegation that the Province of Maine was a compliment to the queen of Charles I, Henrietta Maria. MAINE appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 in reference to the county of Dorset, the view generally held among British place name scholars is that Mayne in Dorset is Brythonic, corresponding to modern Welsh maen, plural main or meini. Some early spellings are, MAINE1086, MEINE1200, MEINES1204, mason had served with the Royal Navy in the Orkney Islands where the chief island is called Mainland, a possible name derivation for these English sailors. Initially, several tracts along the coast of New England were referred to as Main or Maine, Maine is the only state whose name has exactly one syllable. The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking Wabanaki peoples, including the Abenaki, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Penobscot, who had a loose confederacy. European contact with what is now called Maine started around 1200 CE when Norwegians interacted with the native Penobscot in present-day Hancock County, most likely through trade
3.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
4.
Bangor, Maine
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Bangor is a city along the Penobscot River in the U. S. state of Maine. The city proper has a population of 33,039, while the Bangor metropolitan area has a population of 153,746, Bangor is known as the Queen City of Maine. Modern Bangor was established by European Americans in the mid-1800s, based on the lumber, with their wealth, the lumber barons built elaborate Greek Revival and Victorian mansions and the 31 feet high statue of Paul Bunyan. Today, Bangors economy is based on services and retail, healthcare, founded as Condeskeag Plantation, Bangor was incorporated as a New England town in 1791, after the end of the American Revolutionary War. There are more than 20 communities worldwide named Bangor, of which 15 are in the United States and named after Bangor, the final syllable is pronounced gor, not ger. Bangor has a port of entry at Bangor International Airport, also home to the Bangor Air National Guard Base, Historically Bangor was an important stopover on the great circle air route between the East Coast of the United States and Europe. Bangors Police Department also has a popular Facebook page, which uses humor and advice in an attempt to better public police relations, Bangor has a humid continental climate, with cold, snowy winters, and warm summers. The Penobscot have inhabited the area around present-day Bangor for at least 11,000 years and they practiced some agriculture, but less than peoples in southern New England where the climate is milder, and subsisted on what they could hunt and gather. Contact with Europeans was not uncommon during the 1500s because the fur trade was lucrative, the site was visited by Portuguese explorer Estêvão Gomes in 1524 and by Samuel de Champlain in 1605. In 1769 Jacob Buswell founded a settlement at the site, by 1772, there were 12 families, along with a sawmill, store, and school, and in 1787 the population was 567. In September 1787 a petition, signed by 19 residents, was sent to the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts requesting that this area be named Sunbury. On the back of it was written, To the care of Dr. Cony and this petition was rejected before 6 October 1788, as the town referred to itself as Penobscot River, west side. In 1779, the rebel Penobscot Expedition fled up the Penobscot River, the ships remained there until the late 1950s, when construction of the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge disturbed the site. Six cannons were removed from the riverbed, five of which are on display throughout the region and he left the name for the town blank so he could obtain tentative approval. He chose the name of a popular hymn known to be a favorite of Governor John Hancock, the incorporation was received on 25 February 1791 and was signed by John Hancock. During the War of 1812, Bangor and Hampden were looted by the British, Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820, when it voted to secede from the state and was admitted to the Union under the Missouri Compromise as the 23rd state. Bangor was near the lands disputed during the Aroostook War, a dispute with Britain in 1838–39. The passion of the Aroostook War signaled the increasing role lumbering and logging were playing in the Maine economy, particularly in the central, Bangor arose as a lumbering boom-town in the 1830s, and a potential demographic and political rival to Portland, Maine
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Rail transport
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Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, also known as tracks. It is also referred to as train transport. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles run on a flat surface. Tracks usually consist of rails, installed on ties and ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels. Other variations are possible, such as slab track, where the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than road vehicles, so passenger. The operation is carried out by a company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilities. Power is provided by locomotives which either draw electric power from a railway system or produce their own power. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system, Railways are a safe land transport system when compared to other forms of transport. The oldest, man-hauled railways date back to the 6th century BC, with Periander, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Rail transport blossomed after the British development of the steam locomotive as a viable source of power in the 19th centuries. With steam engines, one could construct mainline railways, which were a key component of the Industrial Revolution, also, railways reduced the costs of shipping, and allowed for fewer lost goods, compared with water transport, which faced occasional sinking of ships. The change from canals to railways allowed for markets in which prices varied very little from city to city. In the 1880s, electrified trains were introduced, and also the first tramways, starting during the 1940s, the non-electrified railways in most countries had their steam locomotives replaced by diesel-electric locomotives, with the process being almost complete by 2000. During the 1960s, electrified high-speed railway systems were introduced in Japan, other forms of guided ground transport outside the traditional railway definitions, such as monorail or maglev, have been tried but have seen limited use. The history of the growth, decline and restoration to use of transport can be divided up into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of motive power used. The earliest evidence of a railway was a 6-kilometre Diolkos wagonway, trucks pushed by slaves ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element. The Diolkos operated for over 600 years, Railways began reappearing in Europe after the Dark Ages. The earliest known record of a railway in Europe from this period is a window in the Minster of Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany
7.
Boxcar
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A boxcar is a North American railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is probably the most versatile, boxcars have side doors of varying size and operation, and some include end doors and adjustable bulkheads to load very large items. Similar covered freight cars outside North America are covered wagons and, depending on the region, are called goods van, louvre van. Boxcars can carry most kinds of freight, originally they were hand-loaded, but in more recent years mechanical assistance such as forklifts have been used to load and empty them faster. Their generalized design is still slower to load and unload than specialized designs of car, the other cause for this decline is the dramatic shift of waterborne cargo transport to container shipping. Even loose loads such as coal, grain and ore can be carried in a boxcar with boards over the door openings. Later grain transport would use metal reinforced cardboard which was nailed over the door and this was more common in earlier days, it was susceptible to losing much loading during the journey, and damaged the boxcar. It was also impossible to load and unload. Grain can also be transported in boxcars designed specifically for purpose, specialized equipment. However grain is transported in covered hopper cars. Livestock can be transported in a boxcar, but there is insufficient ventilation in warm weather, specially-built stock cars or converted boxcars are preferable. Insulated boxcars are used for types of perishable loads that do not require the precise temperature control provided by a refrigerator car. Circuses used boxcars to transport their workers, supplies, and animals to get from town to town, box cars were used for bulk commodities such as coal, particularly in the Midwestern United States in the early 20th century. This use was widespread that several companies developed competing box-car loaders to automate coal loading. By 1905,350 to 400 such machines were in use, historically automobiles were carried in boxcars, but during the 1960s specially built autoracks took over, these carried more cars in the same space and were easier to load and unload. The automotive parts business, however, has always been a big user of the boxcar, special boxcars carry newsprint paper and other damage-sensitive cargo. While not holding the dominant position in the world of rail borne freight that they had before World War II, the most common boxcars are 50-6 to 60-9 in length, 9-4 to 9-6 wide, and 10-10 to 11 high. A hi-roof boxcar is 13 in height, corresponding exterior dimensions would be 55-5 to 67-11 in length, and 10-6 to 10-8 in width
8.
Locomotive
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A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. A locomotive has no payload capacity of its own, and its purpose is to move the train along the tracks. In contrast, some trains have self-propelled payload-carrying vehicles and these are not normally considered locomotives, and may be referred to as multiple units, motor coaches or railcars. The use of these vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front, however, push-pull operation has become common, where the train may have a locomotive at the front, at the rear, or at each end. Prior to locomotives, the force for railroads had been generated by various lower-technology methods such as human power, horse power. The first successful locomotives were built by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick, in 1804 his unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. Although the locomotive hauled a train of 10 long tons of iron and 70 passengers in five wagons over nine miles, the locomotive only ran three trips before it was abandoned. Trevithick built a series of locomotives after the Penydarren experiment, including one which ran at a colliery in Tyneside in northern England, the first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murrays rack locomotive, Salamanca, built for the narrow gauge Middleton Railway in 1812. This was followed in 1813 by the Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814 George Stephenson, inspired by the locomotives of Trevithick. He built the Blücher, one of the first successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotives, Stephenson played a pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of steam locomotives. His designs improved on the work of the pioneers, in 1825 he built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, north east England, which became the first public steam railway. In 1829 he built The Rocket which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials and this success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the United Kingdom, the United States and much of Europe. The first inter city passenger railway, Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened in 1830, there are a few basic reasons to isolate locomotive train power, as compared to self-propelled vehicles. Maximum utilization of power cars Separate locomotives facilitate movement of costly motive power assets as needed, flexibility Large locomotives can substitute for small locomotives when more power is required, for example, where grades are steeper. As needed, a locomotive can be used for freight duties. Obsolescence cycles Separating motive power from payload-hauling cars enables replacement without affecting the other, to illustrate, locomotives might become obsolete when their associated cars did not, and vice versa
9.
Potato
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The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade Solanum tuberosum. The word potato may refer either to the plant itself or to the edible tuber, in the Andes, where the species is indigenous, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. Potatoes were introduced to Europe in the half of the 16th century by the Spanish. It is the worlds fourth-largest food crop, following maize, wheat, the green leaves and green skins of tubers exposed to the light are toxic. Wild potato species can be throughout the Americas from the United States to southern Chile. Following centuries of breeding, there are now over a thousand different types of potatoes. However, the importance of the potato is variable and changing rapidly. As of 2007 China led the world in production, and nearly a third of the worlds potatoes were harvested in China. The English word potato comes from Spanish patata, the Spanish Royal Academy says the Spanish word is a compound of the Taíno batata and the Quechua papa. The 16th-century English herbalist John Gerard used the terms bastard potatoes and Virginia potatoes for this species, potatoes are occasionally referred to as Irish potatoes or white potatoes in the United States, to distinguish them from sweet potatoes. The name spud for a small potato comes from the digging of soil prior to the planting of potatoes, the word spud traces back to the 16th century. It subsequently transferred over to a variety of digging tools, around 1845, the name transferred to the tuber itself. It was Mario Peis 1949 The Story of Language that can be blamed for the false origin. Pei writes, the potato, for its part, was in disrepute some centuries ago, some Englishmen who did not fancy potatoes formed a Society for the Prevention of Unwholesome Diet. The initials of the words in this title gave rise to spud. Like most other pre-20th century acronymic origins, this is false, Potato plants are herbaceous perennials that grow about 60 cm high, depending on variety, with the leaves dying back after flowering, fruiting and tuber formation. They bear white, pink, red, blue, or purple flowers with yellow stamens, in general, the tubers of varieties with white flowers have white skins, while those of varieties with colored flowers tend to have pinkish skins. Potatoes are mostly cross-pollinated by insects such as bumblebees, which carry pollen from other potato plants, tubers form in response to decreasing day length, although this tendency has been minimized in commercial varieties
10.
Bangor and Aroostook Railroad
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The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad was a United States railroad company that brought rail service to Aroostook County in northern Maine. Brightly painted BAR box cars attracted attention in the 1950s. First-generation diesel locomotives operated on BAR until they were museum pieces, the economic downturn of the 1980s coupled with the departure of heavy industry from northern Maine forced the railroad to seek a buyer and end operations in 2003. The company was incorporated in 1891 to combine the lines of the former Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad and it was based in Bangor and lines extended from there to Oakfield and Houlton in 1894. The line was extended from Houlton to Fort Fairfield and Caribou in 1895, a parallel branch line was extended from Oakfield to Ashland in 1896. A branch was built from Caribou to Limestone in 1897, the Ashland Branch was extended to Fort Kent in 1902. A southern extension was completed in 1905 through Northern Maine Junction to Searsport on Penobscot Bay, the Medford Cutoff from Packard to South Lagrange was completed in 1907, and a branch was built from Millinocket to a new paper mill in East Millinocket. An international bridge was constructed over the Saint John River between Van Buren and St. Leonard, NB in 1915 to connect with the Canadian Pacific Railway, BAR began hauling potatoes in heated box cars in 1895. Potatoes provided an income source through the great depression. BAR had the 2nd largest United States railroad-owned reefer fleet during the 1950s, BAR made an arrangement with Pacific Fruit Express whereby PFE reefers shipped Maine potatoes during winter months and BAR reefers carried California produce during the summer and autumn. The claims process against PC was not resolved prior to PCs bankruptcy declaration the following June, as a result, several potato farms went out of business, and those that survived distrusted rail service and never returned to using the railroad. Inbound chemicals and outbound paper from mills on the Penobscot River at Millinocket, another paper mill was built in Madawaska in 1925. Pulpwood and wood chips to the mills became increasingly important as potato loadings declined. BAR painted 2,500 box cars in the red, white, a less expensive oxide red paint scheme with large white reporting marks was adopted during the Vietnam War. The line from Brownville Junction to Katahdin Iron Works was abandoned in 1922, BAR passenger train service ended in 1961. The Greenville branch was dismantled from 1962 to 1964, several Aroostook County segments were abandoned when potato traffic disappeared in the 1970s. In 1995, the BAR was acquired by Iron Road Railways, in 2002, the company was declared bankrupt, and in 2003 its lines were sold to Rail World, Inc. which initially incorporated them into the newly formed Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway. In 2010, the 233 miles of track from Millinocket north to the Canada–US border were sold to the state of Maine for $20 million to be operated by Irvings Maine Northern Railway, the Bangor and Aroostook rostered some 150 different steam locomotives over its history
11.
Millinocket, Maine
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Millinocket is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,506 at the 2010 census, millinockets economy has historically been centered on forest products and recreation, but many area paper mills have closed in recent years. Millinocket was first settled in 1829 by Thomas Fowler and his family, when the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad extended service to Houlton in 1894, the line ran through the area, opening it to development. Charles W. Mullen, a graduate from the University of Maine. He recognized the falls as a water power source to operate a large pulp. Mullen contacted Garret Schenck, vice-president of the International Paper mill at Rumford Falls, mr. Schenck agreed, and set about obtaining the necessary financial backing. After securing land rights, the site was at the junction of the West Branch of the Penobscot River and Millinocket Stream. Things moved quickly, and on May 15,1899, construction began on the new Great Northern Paper Company paper mill, as the location was not near existing towns, it became necessary to build one. Millinocket, meaning the land of many islands after all the islands in the Penobscot River, was incorporated on March 16,1901, Garret Schenck contracted bonded labor, especially stonemasons from Italy. The term bonded in this case referred to the fact that the Italians owed for the passage to America and were in debt the minute they set foot in this country, italian masons were largely responsible for the construction of the Millinocket mill. Throughout the 20th century, the community prospered, in early 2003, however, Great Northern Paper announced it had filed for bankruptcy protection for its Millinocket and East Millinocket mills. Since then, the town has struggled to reshape its economy, while receiving significant help from the state government. Shortly after closing the mills, a Canadian corporation purchased the paper mills in both Millinocket and East Millinocket. Currently, the paper mill employs over 200 workers in East Millinocket Mill only, in addition to the traditional forest products industry, Millinocket has been growing a service economy, and has grown into a major four-season tourist attraction. The region is served by the Millinocket Municipal Airport, which sells both 100LL avgas and jet fuel. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 18.22 square miles. The town is crossed by State Route 11 and 157, the town of East Millinocket is located 8 miles to the east. Millinocket is the closest town to Mount Katahdin, located in Baxter State Park 20 miles to the northwest, at an elevation 5,270 feet, its summit is the highest point in Maine
12.
Saint John River (Bay of Fundy)
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It forms part of the Canada–United States border in two different places along its length. The river drains an area of approximately 55,000 square kilometres and it has been nicknamed the Rhine of North America for its scenery. The river is regulated by hydro power dams located at Mactaquac, Beechwood, the Baker Branch of the Saint John River rises in the Saint John Ponds of Somerset County in northwestern Maine. The branches combine to form the river flowing northeastward through western Aroostook County. The Lacroix road built in 1923 from Lac-Frontière crosses the river at Ninemile Bridge, near Seven Islands the river was crossed by an 18th century trail from the St. Lawrence River. There is an Abenaki burial site containing a number of graves where the Big Black River joins the Saint John in township 18, range 13. Local legend maintains the confluence is haunted by the spirits of Abenaki killed by an epidemic of European disease, near Allagash, the Saint John is joined by the Allagash River. Below St. Francis, the Saint John begins to part of the international boundary between Maine and New Brunswick. At Perth-Andover, the river is joined by the Aroostook and the Tobique rivers, at Hartland, it is crossed by the longest covered bridge in the world. Further south at Woodstock, the leaves the Upper Valley and turns east. It is joined by Nackawic Stream at Nackawic and passes small communities such as Bear Island, the Maliseet capital of Meductic was located along the Saint John River in the 17th and into the mid-18th century. This site was flooded in 1965 after completion of the Mactaquac Dam with the waterline level 133 feet above sea level, the river continues eastward until it reaches New Brunswicks capital city Fredericton and then the military town of Oromocto. Turning south from Oromocto, the river is joined by the short Jemseg River which empties New Brunswicks largest lake and this part of the river valley becomes broad and shallow. The river is dotted by many low islands used for pastureland during dry periods in the summer, south of the Jemseg, the Saint John River is surrounded by the low hills of the St. Croix Highlands. It is joined by several bays, including Belleisle Bay, the Nerepis River. The Saint John River finally discharges into the Bay of Fundy at the city of Saint John. Near the rivers mouth is the site of the Reversing Falls and these tides are the highest in the world and cause the river to reverse its flow twice a day in a narrow gorge in the citys centre. The Saint John River has a depth of 50 metres above the Mactaquac Dam
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