Little is known about 1915 through 1918 at Ray's Mill. The Maine Register lists the Postmaster for 1916 as Roy McCoy. The Piscataquis Observer mentions several times during 1917 that a Mr. Elmer McLellan of Ray visited friends in Dover, so it is evident that the area was still active until mid 1917. During these years the State of Maine taxed T7R9 as wildlands, the owner being listed as the Ray Lumber Company. The tax on the township through 1918 was $644.35 per year. In June, 1918, the Post Office was discontinued, the mail once again being routed though Brownville Junction. Walter Arnold could not remember exactly when the mill burned, but wrote that it had all been burned or torn down by 1918.

The mill burned sometime before October of 1916; the exact date has not been determined. Arnold recounted the fire in DownEast:

All went well until the day the governor, which controls the speed, came off the engine at the sawmill. This was a common occurrence in the mills of the time, and a man was kept down in the engine and furnace room whenever the mill was running to shut off the steam instantly in case the governor failed. Otherwise, in a matter of seconds, the machinery would go faster and faster until something flew apart.

At the Ray mill somebody didn't act quickly enough. The governor came off, and before the power could be shut down, the big flywheel on the engine spun out of control and exploded. A chunk of metal struck the front of the furnace, scattering coals everywhere.

Workmen spent hours hunting for the embers, and thought they had found all of them. But that night about 10 o'clock the mill burst into flames.

The loss was estimated at $50,000. According to Arnold, the mill burned flat, and since there was not enough good timber left on the township, they decided not to rebuild.

By the time this photo was taken in Canton, Mississippi, of the Ray Lumber Shay locomotive, it had seen many modifications. In addition to being converted to burn coal, the headlight is gone, the cab has been replaced, and a straight link-and-pin couple has replace the automatic type coupler. Numerous other small modifications can be seen, but one thing has not: the locomotive still carries its #1 number plate.

The Maine Register for 1919 still listed the Indian Lake Lumber Company, but noted that the post office was Brownville Junction. Nothing has been found in the Piscataquis Observer detailing the demise of Ray's Mill, and how the railroad and its engines were disposed of is yet to be answered.

On February 26, 1917, Joseph Ray sold all of his holdings in Washington County to the Sagadahoc Towing Company, which later became a part of the Pejepscot Paper Company of Topsham, Maine. He did reserve the right to continue to remove blueberries from the lands, which indicates that Ray was involved in more than just timber harvesting.

According to the owner, this house in Brownville Junction was moved from Raytown by rail. It is actually composed of two separate structures, joined at a right angle.

Our story winds down in late February of 1919. On the twentieth, the mortgage with Fidelity Trust was discharged (payed off). On the 22nd, the Ray Lumber Company sold its holdings, except for the public lots reserved by the State of Maine, and excepting 100 acres reserved for the Ray Lumber Company, to Frank C. Hatch of Boston, and Harold F. Ingraham, a traveling salesman from Bangor. They didn't hold onto it for long, however, for on November 27 and 30, 1920, they each sold their 1/2 undivided interest to ATCO of Milo, which was a subsidiary of the American Thread Company of New Jersey. They had mills at Milo, Lake View (Schoodic Lake), and at Willimantic, where they manufactured spools, bobbins, shooks, laths, clapboards, and long lumber. It is quite possible that ATCO bought T7R9 for birch since the area had been burned over in a massive forest fire in the mid 1800's, and birch grows quite well after a fire. From the photos it appears that there was a substantial amount of birch at Ray's Mill, and at Indian Pond near Arnold's camp.

On October 15, 1920, Joseph G. Ray petitioned the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to dissolve the Ray Lumber Company, which was granted. As there were no assets or liabilities remaining, no trustee was appointed.

There are plenty of iron artifacts to be found at Ray's Mill, such as this coupling pin and track spike. Photo by R. Michael White.

Presently the St. Regis Paper Company owns T7R9. There is little left of the village except for a few foundations. Since the mid 1970's several roads have been built into the area for access to Indian Pond, and for logging. Iron pipes and valves lay rusting in the pond and nearby banks as the dam slowly disintegrates. Few remember that there once existed a thriving community of 400 people, and that there was a 6 1/2 mile railroad which wound its way up through the notch at Caribou Stream, by Lucia Pond, to The Slip at Indian Pond. On July 6, 1980, Walter Arnold, the greatest source of information about Ray's Mill, passed away in Wiscasset; his photographs remain to remind us of the obscure town called Ray's Mill.

This is the outlet or Ray's Mill Pond as it appeared in 1984. The dam is in the immediate foreground. Photo by R. Michael White.

The main mill was situated in the center of this photo. In the low bushes beyond are remains of the boiler house. Photo by R. Michael White.

Remains of the dam can be seen along the left side of this photo taken in 1984. Photo by R. Michael White.