"Waking, I dream. Before my vacant eyes,
In long procession, shadowy forms arise;
Far through the vistas of the silent years,
I see a venturous band--the pioneers.
Who let the sunlight through the forest gloom,
Who bade the harvest wave, the gardens bloom."
O. W. Holmes

At the opening of the summer of 1801, the present town of Garland presented as area of six square miles of heavy forest growth, the continuity of which was nowhere broken except by a small natural pond lying partly in Garland and partly in Dexter, from which flows the Kenduskeag stream, and several small bogs at different points. But this condition of things was soon to be changed.

Forces had been organized which, in due time, would transfer the township to the influence of civilization.