Washington County, Maine
Machias is the shire town. This county is of a singular form. It extends from the Atlantic ocean to the border of Lower Canada, a distance of more than 3 1/2 degrees of latitude. Its interior part, for more than 175 miles, is but 14 miles in breadth: that part near the sea is about 50 miles in width. This territory is bounded N. by Lower Canada, E. by New Brunswick, S. by the ocean, and W. by the counties of Hancock and Penobscot. It contains an area of about 4,150 square miles. About a third part of this county may be said to be settled; the residue is a densely wooded wilderness. The character of the surface and soil of this county, is much the same as that of the adjacent counties of Hancock and Penobscot. In common with all the Atlantic counties in Maine, Washington county possesses numerous bays, inlets, capacious harbors, and pleasant islands, so admirably adapted to foreign and domestic commerce, the fisheries, and ship building.
The St. Croix is its most important river. The banks of this noble stream are rapidly settling, by Yankees on one side and Englishmen on the other; and long may it be a channel, not only of individual and national wealth, but of "good nature and good humor, between people, who, though under different governments, have the same language, a similar religion, a kindred blood."
The tonnage of the two districts in this county, Machias and Passamaquoddy, in 1837, was 19,072 tons. In 1837, the number of sheep in the county was 19,008: the same year it produced 27,014 bushels of wheat. The population of the county in 1820, was 12,744; in 1830, 21,294; and in 1837, 28,495: increase in 7 years, 34 pr. ct., and in 17 years, 123 pr. ct. Pop. to sq. m., 7.
