MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 23, 2020
Aug. 23, 1879: Theodore Roosevelt, who was approaching his 21st birthday, arrives in northern Maine for a month of camping, hiking and canoeing, during which, long before the development of marked trails, he climbs Mount [sic] Katahdin carrying a 45-pound pack. He reaches the peak with friends Wilmot Dow and Bill Sewall. Afterward, the future president and Dow embark on a 50-mile, six-day expedition up the Aroostook River in a dugout canoe, hacking their way through beaver dams and log drifts and spending up to 10 hours a day in icy water up to their hips.