Speaking of old pictures - Mt. OJI?

[csprague]

As a lot of us probably know, Mt. OJI in Baxter State Park is so named due to the fact that the face of the mountain used to spell out these 3 letters. Then of course rock slides in 1932 then again in 1954 erased most of this, and now it's just garbled and doesn't say much of anything, although an imperfectly round letter 'O' is still discernible if you use your imagination a bit.

I've always wondered how clear the letters once were, and have searched in vain for an old picture that showed the mountain before the rock slides.

Does anybody know of any?

Chris

 

[NorthShore]

I like a challenge. Although I came up a bit short, this may help anyway.

This picture was taken after the big storm that initially wiped the letters off of OJI in 1932:

http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=12882

Emmie B. Whitney, on the left in the picture, wrote an article about that storm in the June 1952 Appalachia.

Whitney, Emmie B. “Katahdin’s Big Storm.” Appalachia (Jun 1952): 21-30
An account of the September 16, 1932 storm that destroyed the “letters” on Mount O-J-I. Whitney and her party tried to climb Katahdin the next day, but found much of the trail flooded and obliterated.​

There are some more photos at the Maine Memory site that are tantalizingly close:

http://www.mainememory.net/bin/SwishSearch?q_id=::Mountains--Maine&per_page=50

You might want to look around this site if you are a member:
http://www.mainehistory.org/

Ed

 

[csprague]

Ooh, this one is interesting, definitely different in appearance than it is today, as it's taken prior to the 1954 storm, though the angle is a bit skewed as it's taken somewhat from the side:

http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=11282

Chris

 

[TJ aka Teej]

Started reading this thread an hour ago, then got lost wandering through some great links. Thanks!

 

[BillDC]

I just happen to be looking around in the June 1946 version of Appalachia and saw this -

"Slides and Markings of O-J-I" by John W. Worthington.

It's a short article about the slide markings pre-1932 and post-1932. It does include a 1927 and 1945 photo of OJI from the same location.

If anyone wants a scan of it, PM me.

For whatever reason, this thread came to mind as I read it. Better late than never

Bill

 

[Ridgewalker]

why not...

I know that O-J-I is called such because of the slide, but just want to put it out there if anyone else is attempted to pronounce it or add a couple letters to make up the name of the delightful board known best as Ouija...my humorous 2 cents.

 

[spencer]

Ooh, this one is interesting, definitely different in appearance than it is today, as it's taken prior to the 1954 storm, though the angle is a bit skewed as it's taken somewhat from the side:

http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=11282

Chris

I just saw this thread since it was resurrected. That picture, Chris, is actually Barren Mtn. OJI is just out of view to the left. The OJI slides are quite a bit higher up on the mountain and even now look much more like the letters than the Barren slides in that picture. Somewhere I have seen an old pocture of the slides looking very clearly like the letters but I cannot recall where it was. I'll see if I can dig it up.

Ever been to Old Jay Eye lookout?