It is the month of June of the summer of 1801. The reader may imagine that one of the sturdy pioneers has come to the township for the purpose of selecting a lot of land whereon he may establish a home. Our pioneer believes that he will have the first choice of lots within the limits of the township, and proposes to make a leisurely and careful examination of its different sections so that his selection may not discredit his judgment in the years to come. To facilitate the work he has in hand, he establishes his camp near the center of the township, close by the site of the present residence of James M. Stone, originally the Joseph True place.

On a beautiful June morning, after a hastily prepared breakfast of pork and Indian bread, he starts out from camp and guided by the surveyorÕs line of the preceding year, which leads him over the present route of the center road running east, he travels leisurely towards the eastern limit of the township. At the end of one and a half miles he has reached the elevation upon which Joseph C. Treadwell now resides. He still fancies that he is the only human being in the township. But the illusion suddenly dispelled by a ring of sharp, incisive blows of an axe plied by sinewy arms. Recovering equanimity, which had for the moment been disturbed by the discovery that he was not alone in the township, he passes eagerly towards the spot from which the sounds proceed. He reaches the point of interest in time to see one of those giants of the forest that has withstood the storms of centuries, yield to the blows of the woodsmanÕs axe and move majestically through the air, carrying to the ground in the embrace of itÕs long, strong arms, many a smaller tree standing in range, that has been Ōnotched,Ķ with a force that seemed to shake the solid earth. Advancing a few rods, he finds himself face to face with the man the blows of whose axe attracted him to the spot. He learns that the name of this man is David A. Gove, that he is an agent of the proprietors to promote the settlement of the township, that he is a resident of New Ohio, now Corinth, that he emigrated from Nottingham, N. H., that he selected this lot while assisting in the survey of the township the preceding year for his friend, Josiah Bartlett of Nottingham, who intends to establish a home here, and that he has just commenced felling ten acres of trees for Mr. Bartlett.

This first opening was made in 1901 upon the elevation on the old Bartlett farm now covered by an orchard, a little way east of the present residence of Calvin Campbell. This lot is number three in the sixth range.