With a long expanse on the southwest shore of Moosehead Lake, the Township stretches from the East Outlet of the Lake, the source of the Kennebec River, to the outskirts of Greenville on the combined Route 6 and 15. The Kennebec in the north moves through the long stretch of Indian Pond, south to The Forks and beyond.
Kennebec River East Outlet on Lavigne Memorial Bridge in Big Moose Twp (T2 R6 BKP EKR)
Big Moose Mountain at 3,196 dominates the southern portion of the Township. Maine’s first fire tower was installed on the Mountain in 1905 by M.G. Shaw Lumber Company. Located on Big Squaw Mountain, now renamed Moose Mountain, it was the first continuously operated forest fire lookout tower in the country. M.G. Shaw Lumber built two more towers in 1905, on Attean Mountain in Attean Township and on Bigelow mountain.
The Big Squaw Mountain Ski Area dominates the western slopes. Mountain View Pond and Burnham Pond are just north of the Mountain.
Mountain View Pond, also known as Fitzgerald Pond, covers 550 acres with a maximum depth of 17 feet. This large, flat-bottomed, shallow pond has a thick layer of bottom-silt. The shores are rocky with some long sand and gravel beaches, attractive to local picnickers and bathers.
According to the plaque on the memorial stone on the banks of the Kennebec River the bridge is
“Dedicated in Memory of Richard Francis Lavigne, USAF, born May 11, 1922 Died July 5, 1942. He served his country at the onset of WWII and perished in a Japanese prison on the island of Luzon after surviving the Bataan death march.”
Additional resources
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Game (now wildlife) “FITZGERALD POND
(Mountain View Pond) T2 R6, Piscataquis Co. U.S.G.S. Moosehead Lake, Me.” (Accessed March 4, 2020)
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148230486/richard-francis-lavigne (accessed 7/23/2020)