Early Jonesboro, known as Chandler's River, was among the best timbered places in the area that is now Maine, with heavy old pine lining the riverbanks for miles. In 1764, the pioneer Judah Chandler built the first sawmill on the north side of the Chandler River and cleared some of the surrounding woods for open space and logs. The sawmill stood on the dam where additional sawmills were later erected, and remnants of those later mills and the dam are still visible. From that time forward, many mills were built along the river, producing materials that included long lumber, laths, staves, shingles, and box shook. Besides the mills on the main river, tide mills stood on the east side of the river about three miles below, including one at Englishman's River and one on Beaver Brook in the Farnsworth district. In the 1800s, products from Jonesboro mills were loaded onto Jonesboro sailing vessels from as many as six wharves along the river.