Emile Leavitt, interviewed by Mark LaFond
Scope and Contents
The Argyle Boom Collection consists of approximately seventy-five hours of tape recorded interviews (now digitized). The interviews deal with Argyle Boom, which was one of several locations at which logs that had been cut upriver and floated or “driven” down the Penobscot River were sorted before being sent on to the lumber mills in Old Town, Orono, Veazie, Bangor, and Brewer, Maine, from approximately 1900 to 1930. The material includes interviews with people who had worked on the boom and essays on various aspects of boom construction and operation and the daily lives of the workers.
Dates
- 1973-1975
Creator
- From the Collection: Ives, Edward D. (Interviewer, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
For digitized items free from access restrictions, we are working to upload this material (pdfs, mp3s, jpgs) for public access, but it is an ongoing project. If you don’t find what you are looking for here, contact Special Collections (um.library.spc@maine.edu).
Extent
From the Collection: 31 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Abstract
Emile Leavitt, interviewed by Mark LaFond for FO 107, October 25, 1973, Old Town, Maine. Leavitt talks about the Argyle log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; construction of boom piers; checking, rafting, dropping off and other aspects of boom operation; use of wedges in assembling rafts; use of pickeroon; swings; the back way drive; meals and living conditions; Pea Cove and Nebraska booms; his work building dams for Great Northern Paper Co. The interviews are part of a project that led to an issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: “Argyle Boom.”
- Cookery -- Maine Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Great Northern Paper Company
- Log driving -- Maine -- Penobscot River Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Lumber camps -- Maine Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Lumbering -- Maine -- Bangor -- Equipment and supplies Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Lumbermen -- Maine -- Social life and customs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Nebraska Boom. Penobscot River. Maine
- Pea Cove Boom. Penobscot River. Old Town (Me.)
Repository Details
Part of the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History Repository
5729 Raymond H. Fogler Library
University of Maine
Orono ME 04469-5729 United States
207.581.1686
