Maine Memory Network
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On June 3, 1884 young Percival Proctor Baxter had joined his father on a fishing trip to some sporting camps at Cupsuptic Lake.

The day was damp and cool with periodic rain, a day some would not consider ideal to be out on the water. However, James Phinney Baxter’s primary purpose of being there was to do some fishing and that was exactly what he and young Percival proceeded to do.
After a while the boy became impatient, in order to motivate him, his father told him that for the next fish he caught that weighed over five pounds, he would give him $10 per pound. Within an hour the boy had hooked an eight pound spotted trout.

When asked what he was going to do with his $80, Percival said he was going to put it into a savings account. By 1957 “The Percival P. Baxter Fish Account” totaled more than $1,000. At the time of Governor Baxter’s death in June 1969 or shortly thereafter, it was announced that the monies accumulated in “The Percival P. Baxter Fish Account” had been donated to Inland Fisheries & Wildlife for fish research at the bequest of former Governor Percival P. Baxter.
(Note: Story as related to Buzz Caverly by Helon Taylor)