Not less than fifty mountains and seventeen lakes may be seen from the summit of Sugar-loaf Mountain, which stands a little removed from the shores of the Seboois, as represented in the cut at the end of this chapter; and among the interesting objects viewed from this point is _Chase's_ Mountain, on the west side of the Seboois, very peaked, which rises like a vast pyramid from the dense forest country around it, a representation of which may be seen on page 211.
There are many important islands in the Penobscot; several of them contain many hundred acres of land. Among them mention may be made of "_Olemon_," which contains some three hundred acres; likewise "Sugar Island," of corresponding magnitude; "Orson Island," twelve hundred acres; "Marsh Island," five thousand acres; "Oldtown," the present site of an Indian village, three hundred acres; Orono, one hundred and fifty acres. On these islands are several flourishing villages, Oldtown, Orono, and Stillwater, in the vicinity of which are the principal mill sites, which are from seven to fourteen miles above Bangor.
The overwhelming catastrophe which occurred on this river in the spring of 1846 will long be remembered by those who witnessed it. The following graphic account of this occurrence, from the pen of Dr. West, was published in the Bangor Courier, and will be read with deep interest:
"Reverend and dear Brother--We have passed through a scene within the last two or three days which will deeply interest and impress you. Our city has met with a calamity unparalleled in its annals, and perhaps unequaled, in proportion to its population and means, by any in our country. We have been inundated by the river in consequence of what is called here an ice-jam. The history of the matter is briefly as follows:
"It sometimes happens that the ice in the river breaks up above, while it remains too strong at the outlet to admit of its passing down. The consequence is the accumulation of a dam of ice which completely fills the river from bank to bank, and heaps up sometimes to the height of from fifteen to thirty feet, and thus forming a reservoir of water above it, which overflows the banks and inundates the country around.