Waldo County, Maine
Belfast is the shire town. This maritime and agricultural county is bounded N. by Penobscot and Piscataquis counties; E. by Penobscot bay and river; S. by Lincoln county, and W. by the county of Kennebec. It contains an area of about 812 square miles. Its population in 1830 was 29,290; and in 1837, 36,817.
On the eastern side of the county, the noble Penobscot spreads its broad bay and river, embosoming Belfast and other beautiful bays, and indented with numerous capacious harbors, affording this county every desirable facility for navigation and the fisheries. The relative position of this county with the great basin of the Penobscot, is such as to give it a large share of the commerce of that fertile and rapidly increasing section of New England.
Waldo county possesses within itself great resources of agricultural wealth. The surface is generally undulating: no portion of the county is too elevated or too low for cultivation. It is heavily timbered and abounds in limestone, of which large quantities are annually manufactured and transported. The soil is ferile, and congenial to the growth of every northern staple commodity. This county is interspersed with excellent mill streams, and its numerous ponds give it a varied and picturesque appearance.
Waldo county was, as it were but yesterday, a desert; at present not more than two-thirds of its territory may be said to be settled. In 1837 it produced 109,140 bushels of wheat, and contained 55,000 sheep, with a population of 45 to a square mile.
