For many years, the people of the Twin Cities have taken note of dates when “ice-out” would occur at Lake Auburn.
To a lesser degree, they made predictions for Taylor Pond and Sabattus Pond, and for open-water fishermen who were weary of a long winter, that momentous annual occasion was often marked to the hour, and even the minute.
In reporting the April 4 “ice-out” of 1903, the Lewiston Evening Journal printed a table of dates for a dozen previous years, and most of them were much later in the spring. The ice disappeared on April 30, 1899. In 1893 it had held out until May 5.
The Journal’s report for April 26, 1897, was pretty much a minute-by-minute account of a snail-paced “race” between Lake Auburn and Taylor Pond to be the first ice-free body of water.
“They came under the wire with Taylor Pond 24 hours ahead,” and everyone was keeping an eye on Lake Auburn throughout the next day.
“The Lake Auburn ice got a ‘move on’ Sunday at 9 a.m.,” the story said. “At that hour the big field of ice was in close touch with the steamboat wharf. At 10:30 a.m. it had moved out several rods, making a tolerably wide channel between the wharf and the ice. An hour later, even, it was possible to stand on the wharf and throw a stone upon the ice.”
Nightfall brought stiffer winds, and at morning light, the ice was gone.
It was the motormen and conductors of the lake route trolley cars who were peppered with questions of the lake condition as they traveled through the Twin Cities. As soon as the ice-out declaration was made, anglers packed aboard the trolleys to try their luck.
In 1902, the newspaper said 150 fishermen were seen around the lake. For some people, a “Mayflower party” was reason enough for a trolley ride on a spring day.
Through the years, the Lewiston newspaper printed frequent but unofficial reports of the catches at Lake Auburn. On June 2, 1900, there was word of a seven-pound salmon caught by Frank Merrill, and another fisherman landed a three-pound trout.
About two weeks later, Charles Perry of Whitney Street, Auburn, landed a record-breaking salmon at Lake Auburn. His catch weighed 27¼ pounds, and was the largest taken from that lake to that point.
“When examined, it was found that there were four hooks and a tip of a pole in the fish, indicating that at least that many times had he broken away from parties angling for the choice inhabitants of Lake Auburn.”
The old newspapers had news about smelting, too. Lapham Brook, a Taylor Pond tributary, was said to be “the mecca for the smelt fishermen,” but in early May of 1900, a little stream at North Auburn took the prize.
“Scores of bushels of smelts have been taken from this stream this season,” the newspaper said.
Of course, no one would say that any of this was anything but the truth.
One of the Lewiston Evening Journal’s most popular columnist, Arthur G. Staples, quoted an ice-fishing story from the paper’s files of Feb. 3, 1889. It told of a party of Lewiston ice fishermen at Taylor Pond. Their horse ran away, it said, and they set off to chase it.
“While the fishermen were away from the holes, the pickerel climbed upon each other’s backs out of the holes, and carried away not only the luncheon, and a stout red sweater belonging to one of the fishermen, but also made away with the ice chisel and a new axe,” the article said. “This is the first time to our knowledge that anything like this has ever occurred on Taylor Pond.”
As if proof of the story was needed, nine days later the newspaper said a North Auburn fisherman at Taylor Pond made an unusual catch.
“It was a monster pickerel, jauntily clad in a red sweater with a silver-plated spoon sticking from each corner of his mouth, and a silver pickle jar hung around his neck.”
Dave Sargent is a freelance writer and native of Auburn. He can be reached by sending email to dasargent@maine.com
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