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A SHORT HISTORY of ORONO GOLF CURSE Part I--- The land and its ownership. The rolling hills of Orono were formed in the most recent period of geological time, starting about 60,000,000 years ago. Geologists tell us that three great glaciers swept dawn from Canada,pushing everything along with and ahead of them, eventually depositing the debris over a great part of northern United States where it was left to weather, erode and finally support plant life in a climate as we now know it. The hilltop at 7 tee affords an excellent view of an area which less than a century ago was dotted with lakes and ponds. The late Mr. Frank Walsh, former owner of the property, once told me about a beaver dam that was built about forty yards back and to the left of the fifth green. This dam backed up the water forming a pond that extended over most of thefourth and fifth fairways. Those people who remember Orono acte r e big rainstorm in 1951 have a pretty good picture of how this area lookad 'int-he days of the beaver! The first occupants (sot owners) of the land before Lr..: coming of the white man were India of the Sioux and Chippewa tribes. These tripes were very unfriendly toward each other and tne/ playeci games much more rough _ One can easily imagine a S;•ux brave standing on the site of 9 tee taki.q o. pot shot with a number two arrow at some .poor Chippewa who is trying out his 1, _a the little lake that extended around id cont of what is now the 2nd tee and off over the lowland to the south. There was no Sioux word for "Fore!" The first "owners" of Orono were the king and, queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella. The Indians didn't know about awning land; they ;ust used it. Oror :s in that great tract of land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mou::z•liii , known historically as the Louisiana Purchase. This land was used as a fort of political pawn by both France and Spain until Napoleon Bonaparte settled the, - r -