SKOWHEGAN  , a township and the

county-seat of Somerset county, Maine, U.S.A., on the Kennebec river, about39 m.-N. of Augusta . Pop . (189o) 5068, (1900) 5180, of whom 4266 were inhabitants of Skowhegan village; (r910) 5341 . Skowheganis the terminus of a branch of the Maine Central railway . The township covers an area of about 5o sq. m., and has a public library,- a fine court house and Coburn Park . The farms of the township are devoted largely to dairying . Paper and pulp, wooden-ware, woollen and worsted goods, &c., are manufactured . Skowhegan was settled as a part of Canaan about 1770 . In 1814 the township of Bloomfield was erected out of the southern portion of Canaan . In 1823 a second township was erected out of what then remained; this was called Milburn at first, but in 1836 the former Indian name, Skowhegan, said to mean " spearing " or " watching place, was adopted . Bloomfield was annexed to Skowhegan in 1861: The village of Skowhegan was incorporated about 1856 .