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New Hampshire seems to have quite a bit in common with Maine-
snowy mountain peaks, a rocky coast, large rivers, even a common
dialect. In fact, the states share specifics: the Androscoggin
River, Lake Umbagog, the Isles of Shoals, and even the White Mountain
National Forest lie partly in Maine. One of the New Hampshire
signers of the Declaration of Independence was originally from
Maine. The only state the Maine borders is New Hampshire.
Yet New Hampshire can never quite seem to get along with Maine,
and vice versa. Like the fight with Vermont, the disputes with
Maine go back more than 200 years, and signs (or lack thereof...keep
reading) of the fight are still visible today. Three issues surround
the conflict: lobsters, booze, and a shipyard.
First off, the lobsters. Maine has always had an image of a
pristine, spruce-based landscape dotted with small, picturesque
towns with lighthouses located on rocky cliffs fringing the refreshing
(translation: freezing) waters of the Atlantic Ocean. From these
cold, clear, blue waters are plucked the tenderest, juiciest,
tastes great and less filling lobsters in the entire world.
These lobsters come with rubber-bands already attached to claws
which are genetically redesigned to be already holding little
cups of melted butter at birth.
Now picture the New Hampshire seacoast. Most people don't even
realize New Hampshire has a seacoast, and those that do usually
think of Seabrook nuclear power station. Any lobster coming out
of those waters must be substandard or, worst-case scenario, radioactive
(though an extra claw might be a good thing). The words "New
Hampshire lobsters" just don't have the sales appeal that
"Maine Lobsters" do.
So, lobster caught in the middle of an oil slick in Portland harbor
will grace the plate of a discriminating seafood connoisseur,
while one caught off New Hampshire Isles of Shoals will end up
in McDonald's Lobster Salad Sandwich. Score one for Maine.
So, you've gone out and bought a Maine lobster, you've thrown
it into a pot of water, and to make the meal perfect you'd like
a bottle of whatever fine wine goes best with a giant boiled bug.
Here's where New Hampshire holds the advantage, which annoys the
you-know-what out of Maine.
New Hampshire sells booze and lots of it. New Hampshire would
sell booze out of tollbooths if it thought it could get away with
it. Since it can't, it has placed giant liquor warehouses at strategic
points along its borders. It then sells the liquor cheaply, so
that out-of-staters will buy their liquor n New Hampshire and
not in Maine, Massachusetts, or Vermont. It annoys Massachusetts
and Vermont, but it's Maine that gets really ticked off. Most
of Maine's population lives within a two-hour drive of New Hampshire,
and Maine businesses lose a lot of money to their New Hampshire
rivals.
To retaliate, Maine passed a series of laws that made it illegal
to bring certain amounts of liquor into the state from other states..
Since Maine only borders one state, everyone knew the law was
aimed at New Hampshire. Apparently the thought of Maine state
troopers with bourbon-sniffing German shepherds didn't worry the
Maine public, because they still tote gallon upon gallon of probably
illegal booze across the Piscataqua River Bridge into Maine. Score
one for New Hampshire.
It's not like these bootleggers would know when they actually
cross the border, however. The New Hampshire government had the
border demarcations signs removed indefinitely. This brings us
to the biggest bone of contention between the two states: their
common boundary in the Piscataqua River and the ownership of the
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
The states don't really care about who gets bragging rights
about owning the bigger part of the Piscataqua, or even the islands
in it. They only care about Seavey Island, on which the shipyard
is situated.
The problem is with the Maine state income tax. Like all state
income taxes, it is leveled on all state residents, and all citizens
of other states who work in Maine. New Hampshire does not (as
of this writing) have an income tax, so her citizens are free
from the burden. That is, except for approximately 4,000 New Hampshire
citizens who work at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Since Maine
currently has ownership of the island, a part of the workers'
income goes to pay for the governor of Maine's salary, buying
Alpo for the bourbon-sniffing German shepherds, and making more
"Maine - The Way Life Should Be" signs.
The New Hampshire workers resent this taxation without representation,
and asked Maine to give them their money back. Maine laughed so
hard it spilled its little cup of butter sauce. The State of New
Hampshire, which looks for a good fight like James Bond used to
look for Russian spies, protested and restated its claim on Seavey
Island. To back up its claim, New Hampshire ordered the border
signs taken down as they were located on the wrong spot.
This is not the first time New Hampshire has fought for this
little island. In 1740 the colony of New Hampshire asked King
George II of England to decide where its boundary was with the
Massachusetts Bay colony (which at that time owned Maine). The
King sent the issue to the Royal Board of Trade, which sent it
to a team of commissioners in London. They decided to draw the
border from the mouth of the harbor up the middle of the Piscataqua,
with some cryptic language about the islands staying on the southerly
(New Hampshire) side. This decision was accepted by both colonies,
but at the time it didn't much matter.
In 1976, the matter again raised its ugly head. Apparently
there was some dispute over whether or not the mouth of the harbor
was north or south of Seavey's Island. Had the true mouth been
north of Seavey's Island, then New Hampshire was the true owner
of the island.
The dispute was brought before the United States Supreme Court.
The court, examining King George's decision, decided that the
"mouth of the harbor" was south of the island, and,
in perhaps one of the only Supreme Court documents to include
both the words "lobster" and "breakwater,"
the Court ruled in Maine's favor.
For Maine, the fight is over. But New Hampshire does not give
up easily. Governor Shaheen, during a trade mission to England
and Ireland, allegedly found a map from 1740 that indicates that
King George placed the "mouth of the harbor" north of
Seavey's island. This new evidence would be enough to bring Maine
back to court and demand that the Pine Tree State relinquish its
claim and pay back the New Hampshire workers.
New Hampshire plans on doing this, just as soon as it raises enough money by selling booze to Mainers. In the meantime, an uneasy truce is in effect along the border, and everybody can cross in peace. Just look out for the German shepherds.
-Peter Lambert is a Keene State junior majoring in history and a weekly columnist for The Equinox.
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