What follows appeared in the December 15, 1910, edition of the MAINE WOODS newspaper. We wish you a fine holiday and a very Happy and Healthy New Year. Be sure to make some great Rangeley history of your own!
(Contemporary commentary in Italics).
(We’ll begin with some shorts from the “Rangeley” section).

-Ice cutting has begun On Rangeley Lake.
(Can you imagine! There was enough ice on Rangeley Lake on December 15th for them to cut 1-foot-thick ice blocks to store for the coming summer!)

-George Young was taken suddenly ill while at the breakfast table one morning last week. The doctor was summoned immediately and pronounced it a heart spell. He remained unconscious for some time but is now apparently as good as ever.
(WOW…There is no such thing as “The Good Old Days” when it comes to the medical arts)!

(Below please find some copy from an ad placed by a Farmington clothier trying to entice readers to make the trek south via the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes RR, or by automobile if you had one, or carriage on the bumpy unpaved carriage road to Christmas shop for some bargains).
GLOVES, Silk lined or unlined for dress, $1.00 – 1.50.
SHIRTS, plain white or fancy negligee, .50, 1.00 & 1.50
BOY’S SUITS, long pant 14 to 20 age, 5.00 to 12.00
UNDERWEAR, in great variety, wools, merino and fleeced, from 50c to 3.00.
WORKING GLOVEs, in leather or wool 25c to 1.00
FUR COATS, we show the largest variety east of Boston and LOWEST prices consistent with good quality, 16.50 to 100.00.
FUR LINED GLOVES and MITTS, for street or driving; Reindeer, Buck, mocha or suede, with lamb-coat or squirrel lining at 2 50, 3.50, 4.00,
COLLARS and CUFFS, Aaron brand 2 for .25 (Folks wore the same shirt a few times before laundering, they just changed collars).
Let us show you our line of COON SKIN COATS at 50.00, 70.00 and 100 00. Make Farmington your shopping place. We have large stocks at low prices. If you can’t GET HERE, Send Us Your Mail Orders. We will give them the same careful attention that you would receive, with a guarantee of satisfaction or your MONEY BACK. OUR SUCCESS IS OUR CUSTOM CLOTHING DEPARTMENT, which is being demonstrated every day by the satisfied customers wearing our clothing at modest prices. Let us measure you for your next suit.
CHAS. T. JACKSON
The Farmington Clothier 49 MAIN STREET – Two doors north from corner of Broadway, only a few steps but it pays to walk.
(Hey Santa, A nice long coon skin coat would be nice)!
Want Ads
WANTED- A HORSE SLED that won’t break, suitable for private use. No dasher preferred. Carrol E. Whitney.
(A dasher is a wooden board that is attached to the front of a sled and helps to break through snow. It is also known as a brush bow).
WANTED—A small camp, accommodating four or six, near good gunning and fishing. Must be cheap for cash. Give full particulars. E. C. White. 12 Arcadia St., Portland, Me.

(With all the blasted rain and flooding we have experienced lately this story below about the drought and resulting power shortages back in December1910 seem a bit ironic).
Water Low
A dispatch from Waterville says: Over 2,000 employees of mills in the city are out of employment because there is not water enough in the Kennebec River to keep the wheels turning. For some time past, the Lockwood cotton mill has been working half the crew nights and the other half days, but today there was not water enough to keep even a part of the plant in operation and it will be closed until conditions improve. The Hollingsworth & Whitney paper mill is greatly hampered, but as much of the machinery as possible is kept in operation. The electric power companies can barely keep their patrons supplied by using their auxiliary steam plants and by various combinations of the (hydro power) station. Power conditions have not been so bad for many years as at present. The water in the river here is lower than usually in mid-summer and this supply kept in storage by dams at Moosehead Lake is nearly exhausted. Only a protracted thaw can relieve the situation now, and as a rule! does not come until January.
(Today the lack of precipitation, namely snow, causes our local economy to suffer. Think snow, Happy Holidays and be sure to make some great Rangeley history of your own)!