Sen. Thomas Saviello gave the keynote speech, saying, “This trail we dedicate today is one of those points on that path of discovery. It honors Cornelia Thurza Crosby or as known to us as Fly rod Crosby. Yet it makes us reflect on our own heritage.”
“Cornelia Thurza Crosby’s remarkable life (1854-1946) gave rise to a certain amount of legend: she was the first woman to legally shoot a caribou in Maine, held the first Maine Guide license issued, caught (but probably didn’t release…) 200 trout in one day, and was rumored to have shot against Annie Oakley in a sharp shooting competition,” he said.
She wrote a column, Fly Rod’s Notebook in the Phillips Phonograph which was syndicated throughout the United States. She also wrote regular columns for Field and Stream and Shooting and Fishing, detailing travels to new fishing areas. “She was the first person to call Maine, the nation’s playground,” a name that stuck,” he said.
The trail is aptly named for Fly Rod, born and raised in Phillips. Her writings created attention.
Saviello continued saying, “The Maine Central Railroad realizing a marketing opportunity employed her to travel to expositions and fairs, where in her outdoor dress of dark green doeskin with a scandalously short skirt, she stood in front of a small log camp decorated with the paraphernalia and trophies of the sporting life, spoke with passersby about the delights of Maine, and showed them her scrapbook of photographs—enticing them to travel the rails to the woods.”
Those trade shows enticed people to come to the Rangeley Lakes to experience its tremendous fishing potential.
The ceremony ended with Ben Godsoe humorously demonstrating how to catch a fish with a fly rod. Many present expressed their hopes that the new trail would catch some attention and bring people into the community that was a hub of activity in the early 1900s.
For more information about the trails, visit www.highpeaksalliance.org.
Leave a Reply