75 Years Ago – Feb. 1, 1945
Harold Bryant named to National Post — H. E. Bryant, General Manager of Maine Potato Growers, Inc., was nationally recognized as a leader in the potato industry when he was elected to membership on the Advisory Board of the National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association at the Annual Meeting of that Association in Chicago.
The organization is an association of members representing every function of distribution in the national fruit and vegetable industry which works for the improvement of local and national condition affecting growers, shippers, wholesalers, jobbers, auctions, and other fields of the industry. Local activity of this association was the leadership which it took in the inquiry held in Caribou on the five dollar rental fee charged by the railroads for the use of refrigerator cars, which charge to the shipper was actively protested by groups including the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association. Since potatoes make up such a large proportion of the produce moved in this country, the election of Harold Bryant as a representative of the potato industry on the Advisory Board of the Association was a distinct honor awarded for his brilliant and aggressive leadership in bettering conditions for potato growers and shippers of Maine.
50 Years Ago – Feb. 4, 1970
Shields, Condon named Heart Fund co-chairmen — Louis Pepin, Area Chairman for the Maine Heart Association, announced the co-chairmen of the Heart Fund Drive for Presque Isle. Arthur L. Shields and Albert D. Condon accepted the co-chairmanship, for the Presque Isle Heart Fund Drive. Shields, sales manager for WAGM Radio and TV Stations, was responsible for the business and professional contacts while Condon, of Hayden company Insurance, directed the door-to-door campaign. Gov. Kenneth M. Curtis, terming heart diseases the leading cause of death in Maine, proclaimed February as Heart Month.
New general manager at Presque Isle Volkswagen — Warren Bowe, field sales manager for Volkswagen Northeastern Distributor, Inc., was appointed the new general manager of “Presque Isle Volkswagen,” the new name for the Volkswagen dealership on North Main Street in Presque Isle. A veteran of 21 years in the automobile business with the bulk of his experience in the State of Maine, Mr. Bowe was a graduate of Deering High School in Portland and a reserve lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.
25 Years Ago – Feb. 1, 1995
Ashland mine sold for $2 million — A 22,679-acre mine filled with various mineral deposits near Ashland was sold to a Toronto-based company for $2 million in U.S. currency. Boliden Resources Inc., a Swedish corporation formerly based in Portland, entered in agreement with Black Hawk Mining Inc. on Jan. 20, when the Canadian company provided a $100,000 deposit for the mine located in Township 12 Range 8.
Marathon honored ‘iron man’ of skiing — From 1936 to 1038, Ashland’s Sam Ouellette, king of endurance, raced on courses of 50 to nearly 200 miles against determined competitors — and won. Among Ouellette’s triumphs was Fort Fairfield’s three-day Winter Carnival race. It ran from Fort Fairfield again. Ouellette further established his reputation as an iron man on skis by winning a 187-mile Bangor-to-Caribou trek in 1937, and in 1938, he claimed first place in a 102-mile race from Canada’s Riviere du Loup to Caribou.
