I saw a map recently on /r/mapporn showing counties in the US that have a population of 0.
I noticed that North Western Maine, despite being in one of the most developed and populated regions of the continent (The East Coast) is almost empty. You can see this even further on Google Maps on the satellite. You can see the roads and farm fields of civilization in Canada all the way up until the US Border, at which point it becomes almost completely empty. As a side note - the State Park is very small and controls very little of this region.
So I'd like to ask, What's up with this?
It's a mixture of terrain, climate, and politics.
Terrain-wise the area north of I-95 is fairly hilly and rocky, with large numbers of boulders left over by the last ice age hindering efforts to farm row crops such as wheat. The terrain also hinders road-building, although this is comparatively minor, especially post-industrial revolution, but this still retarded access to markets. Two rivers flow through the area, the Saint John and the Allagash. These both have rapids preventing large boats from moving material up or downstream; nonetheless, they were for a long time the preferred method of moving lumber to market. They also do not connect to the St. Lawrence watershed, making movement to and from the Northwest more difficult.
Due to this the region is a little out of the way for most potential settlers; incoming Canadian-side French and later British settlers would prefer to have land on the St. Lawrence watershed, with better access to markets and more easily tillable land. Incoming American-side British and later American settlers would rather settle nearer the coast, where the land is flatter and thus more farmable.
Let's also talk about these hypothetical settlers: If they are coming in through Canada, they essentially have to A) arrive in Canada, B) decide to move (again) to the US, and C) settle in a relatively poor, remote area. American settlers, on the other hand, would need to A) arrive on the east coast (probably through a port city further south, such as Boston or New York City), B) decide that a warmer, more fertile region such as Kansas or California wasn't for them, and C) settle inland, away from the coast, which is where everyone else is.
Finally, there is the climate. This region has, like the rest of New England, a short growing season, made even shorter by the lack of ameliorating ocean next door. This makes your potential farmer disinclined to settle here, as 6 to 8 months of the year are going to be too cold, depending on the crop, to grow.
TDLR; It's cold, it's remote, the soil isn't great, and there are better options available, especially on the American side.
