You Can't Get There From Here!

            “You can’t get there from here!” might well had been said often in Millinocket’s early days. Millinocket’s location was very different from many New England towns which were often situated on roads leading to nearby villages. Millinocket’s location, surrounded by woods, was serviced only by the B & A Railroad which passed nearby on its way to Aroostook County to haul potatoes to points south. The early logging operations of GNP were reached by a woods road that followed Millinocket Stream to near Millinocket Lake and then cutting back at the carry between Millinocket and Ambejejus Lakes.

            In 1916, GNP built the dam at Ripogenus. This required a road be constructed from Greenville to bring the materials needed to build the dam. After the dam was finished, the road crossed the dam and joined an old road at Sourdnahunk Field. The Laverty book states O.A. Harkness (head mechanic spruce wood department) drove an auto from Greenville to Millinocket. It wasn’t until the 1950’s (building McKay power station at Rip Dam) that a bridge was built over the West branch at Abol Stream allowing for vehicles to travel to Rip Dam and on to Greenville.

            What we know of as Rte. 157 was originally constructed in 1901. Today, it is referred to as Medway Road, go by the Rice farm and on to Medway (no East Millinocket back then). At Medway, one could travel north or south.

            Route 11 (the Brownville Road) didn’t come about until 1948 after 20+ years of effort by local town government, local groups and particularly the Chamber of Commerce. In 1926, Frank H. Speed (C of C president), presented the idea of a road to Brownville. There was a GNP road as far as North Twin Lake (1934)…it passed over North Twin dam, but was “serviceable.”

            By 1939, the state legislature appropriated monies to complete the road to Brownville Jct. During 1939-40, the WPA (Works Project Administration & Dept. of Transportation worked on the Brownville end to the North Twin area.

            In the fall of 1945, work was proceeding on the road construction, Governor Hildreth came to Millinocket on a hunting trip (no source tells how he got to town). He was entertained by the Chamber of Commerce at the GN Hotel where members wined and dined him. As a result, money was appropriated for a bridge over the West Branch (known as the Green Bridge), and more money to finish the road. With state funding, it became a state highway, Route 11.

            The so-called green bridge has since been replaced, but folks still mention the “White Lady,” whose ghost has supposedly appeared to some visitors near the bridge. The story tells of a young couple returning from their honeymoon (driving down the Brownville Rd.). Their vehicle swerved and ran off the road. The husband told his wife to stay in the car while he went for help. When he returned, she was nowhere to be found.

Through the years, people have claimed sightings! Will she appear again sometime near the new bridge?