'P
Portland and Ordensburg í
RAILROAD LINE.
i-
,
\ ' 4* •
J§astcrn ff ¡vision. Vermont Bit ¡mon.
THE RESOURCES, POPULATION, WEALTH, BUSINESS, MANUFACTURING
CAPABILITIES, AND TOURIST ATTRACTIONS OF THE
COUNTRY TRIBUTARY THERETO.
ALSO,
I
ITS RELATIONS TO THE TERRITORY AND COMMERCE
OK THE
GREAT LAKES.
THE
PRESS
P
O IT
JUTLAND:
BROWN THURSTON.
1872.
T II E
Portland and Ogdensburg
RAILROAD LINE.
i: vision, Vermont pit motu
TM''. RESOHK V LATIOS, WEALTH, BUSINESS. MANIJEALTI TUNO
i ' p.'" LITf S, AND TOURIST ATTRACTIONS OF THE
! OS NTRY TRIBUTARY THERETO.
ALSO,
ITS RELATION 10 THE TERRITORY AND COMMERCE
OF THE
G '¡EAT L A. K K S .
PRK
PORTLAND:
OF BROWN Til URSTO TN.
1 872.
PAßT I.
GENERAL VIEW
OF THE
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBURG RAILROAD COUNTRY.
CHAPTER I.
RESOURCES AND BUSINESS RELATIONS.
Section I.—A Railroad Wanted.
At the date of the inception of the Portland & Ogdensburg
Railroad line, the case stood thus :—a tract of country one
hundred and seventy miles long by fifty broad, had, except
at the extreme ends, and at one point across the middle, no
railroads. The region referred to extends from Portland,
Maine, and the adjacent coast, to northern Lake Champlain ;
being bounded on the north-east by the Grand Trunk Rail¬
road, and on the south-west by several parts of lines, which,
as a whole, are parallel to the Grand Trunk (see map). Its
area is 8,500 square miles ; three hundred square miles larger
than the combined States of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and
Delaware, in which 1,080 miles of railroad are now in opera¬
tion. What railroads there were in the district gave outlet
to but a very small portion of it, and that at a trade center
2
PORTLAND AND OGDENSIÎURG
(Boston) comparatively remote, to and from which, accord¬
ingly, every movement of persons or merchandise was effect¬
ed at the waste of time and money.
(a) The Vermont Division.
The territory in question, in one-half thereof, to wit,
northern Vermont—extending on the line of rail from the
Connecticut river to Lake Champlain—has long been distin¬
guished for its fertility, for a fertility far beyond the average
of New England, a fertility covering the whole surface, not
excepting the hills and mountains. It is also well furnished
with lumber, the cutting-off of forests having been checked in
time past by the lack of railroad transportation. In a given
portion of the territory in which careful investigation has
been made, 350,000 acres of timber-land are found, against
456,000 of tillage and pasturage. It is rich, likewise, in min¬
erals, in building and ornamental stones, roofing-stone, ores,
lime, etc. It has important water-power. Numerous privi¬
leges on the Passumpsic, Moose, Lamoille, and Missisco
rivers, and on smaller streams, afford excellent facilities for
manufacturing.
The territory is, moreover, for one so cramped in its means
of communication, already densely peopled. In the towns
contiguous to the Vermont Division of the Portland & Ogdens-
burg Railroad line, and certain to do their business over it,
either wholly or in large part, there are eighty thousand in¬
habitants. In addition, the population of twenty-seven towns,
numbering 34,315, on the Passumpsic Railroad, both north
and south of St. Johnsbury, will be attracted to Portland for
more or less of their business, on account of its comparatively
close proximity. To these should be added several thousands
more on the Vermont & Canada Railroad, who, via the Bur¬
lington branch of the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad line,
RAILROAD LINE.
3
can save fifty-six miles travel in tlie round trip to Portland as
against Boston.
The countrv, too, is already wealthy. The nominal valua¬
tion of property upon the Vermont section of the road, for
the purposes of taxation, is about $27,500,000. Its real value
is unquestionably in excess of $55,000,000. This includes
simply the main line and the Burlington branch, and gives an
average property of $687 to each member of the population.
The estimated average property of each individual in the
United States in 1860 was $151.26. In addition, the towns
on the Passumpsic Railroad that will do more or less business
on the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad line, have property to
the amount of $23,914,000. Under the operation of the leading
occupation, dairy farming, the lands throughout the district
are constantly growing richer, and by consequence the bulk
of property growing larger. This is patent to the observer
in the number of new buildings, new and large barns, with
the latest improvements, going up in all the region. The
opening of the road will add fifty per cent, to the value of
land and buildings, upon the average.
The movement of freight to and from the territory, is already
surprisingly large, in consideration of the lack of railroad facili¬
ties. In the year 1870, the towns situated upon the main line,
not including the Burlington branch, and including those
■whose business will beyond peradventure come upon the
Portland road, received and shipped of merchandise as fol¬
lows : lumber 5,000 tons, butter 1,580 tons, pork 392 tons,
cheese 269 tons, wool and hops 131 tons. There were also
sold of cattle 10,500, sheep 14,000, live hogs 4,270, horses
1,225, and of potatoes, for food or starch, 245,000 bushels.
There were also of outward freight, not included in the above,
32,305 tons, and of inward freight 51,695 tons. The year
specified was nowise exceptional. The whole tonnage, ac-
4
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBURG
cordingly, of this region, though without railroad facilities
except at two points, rises to the surprising sum total of 122,-
000 tons per year. These figures are based upon actual and
thorough inquiry in nearly every school district along the line,
and upon the testimony and accounts of merchants, manufac¬
turers, producers, produce forwarders and assessors. A large
proportion of this freight will seek tide-water in one direction,
and will be drawn from seaboard warehouses in the other.
Its movement will, for reasons presently to be set forth, be to
and from Portland, and over, accordingly, the Portland and
Ogdensburg Railroad line. If so much as one-fourth of it
were passed once between a midway point of the Vermont
Division of the Portland and Ogdensburg road and Portland,
it would yield a gross revenue of $181,520.
(b) The Eastern Division.
The other half of the territory bordering the Portland & Og¬
densburg Railroad line, namely, that extending from Portland
to the Connecticut river, is distinguished for its extraordinarv fa¬
cilities for manufacturing,—manufacturing upon a great scale,
at numerous closely associated points, by the aid of the cheapest
of motors, water-power. The Presumpscot river, in particular,
offers facilities altogether unrivaled ; its immense reservoirs,
summing ninety-four square miles, of which fifty square miles
are commanded by one dam, giving to its power the reliability
of steam. The privileges upon the Saco are likewise first-
class, as is also the great power upon the Connecticut at the
crossing of the road. Indeed, within the territory traversed
by the line in Maine alone, there are over one hundred sites
for manufactures. This feature, combined with an average
productiveness in the soil, is certain to secure to this portion
of-the territory a large increase of wealth and population.
The sites are so comparatively near the seaboard and market
PORTLAND.
RAILROAD LINE.
5
as adds greatly to their value. The railroad having gone
into operation by the side of quite a number of these privi¬
leges is already bringing some of the larger into use, to he
noticed subsequently. There is also a vast amount of lumber
in the district, waiting transport to market. One-half the
country from Portland to the Connecticut river is covered
with woods. As much lumber is now cut upon the Saco
river as forty years ago. There are 400,000,000 feet of un¬
cut lumber about the head-waters of this stream, and a great
growth of hard-wood additional. Between the White Moun¬
tains and the Connecticut river, it is estimated, six to. nine
hundred millions of lumber can be counted upon for trans¬
portation. Its removal will furnish large business to the
railroad for many years.
The towns that will be tributary to the road east of the
mountains, including Portland, have a population of 73,313.
The nominal or taxable valuation of the same is about 842,-
000,000. The real value of property is nearly double this
amount. The total number of towns is twenty-five in Maine
and four in New Hampshire. Beyond the mountains are
twelve towns in New Hampshire with a population of 13,929,
and property to the amount of §9,568,000, either lying di¬
rectly upon this road or connecting with it by the White
Mountains Railroad, that will find their shortest and cheapest
way to market over this line.
Without further detail, it is evident that in the great territo¬
ry in question a railroad was wanted, and is still wanted where
it is not already completed. The details and particulars given
in the Appendix to this document show to a demonstration
the need of better facilities of access and exit, of sending out
produce and bringing in merchandise. Whatever is in gen¬
eral claimed to result from the building of railroads through a
region previously unfurnished, in stimulating all forms of in-
6
portland and ogdensburg
dustry, in quickening agriculture, setting manufactures in
motion, in augmenting that various activity which creates
wealth and augments population, is conspicuously taking effect
in the portion of the territory already opened by this rail¬
road.
Section II.—To what point a Railroad was Wanted.
A line from Portland, on Casco bay, to Swanton, on Lake
Champlain, divides the zone of country to which reference is
had, into almost equal parts, in the direction of its length
from end to end. A railroad built upon that line affords the
nearest approach, and beyond comparison the best local facili¬
ties of access and exit, to the far greater number of towns
situated in the entire region. A road built upon any other
line, or in any other direction, will not be within equally easy
reach of the great body of the towns that now have nothing
worth calling railroad accommodation.
More than this, a road upon this line will afford the territory,
taken as a whole, the best possible outlet to the world at large
and to the sea. With the map before him the reader will per¬
ceive that the territory, in no part, eastern, central, or western,
can get access to salt water, and by consequence facilities
for the diffusion of its products and for the import of its mer¬
chandise, at any other point than Portland, without incurring
longer routes of travel, longer lines of transport, more oppres¬
sive rates for fare and freight. Let any other point be selected,
Portsmouth, Salem, Boston, or elsewhere, and the burden
grows greater as the distance from Portland is greater. Hence
it is that the White Mountains, Passumpsic, and Vermont
and Canada Railroads, penetrating the territory under con¬
sideration, while affording accommodation infinitely better
than none, do nevertheless afford but imperfect accommoda¬
tion to their respective outlying territories, because compelling
RAILROAD LINE.
7
them to do business in a market unnecessarily remote, and to
pay fares and freights over unnecessarily extended lines.
Take the points, for example (see map), where the rail¬
road from Portland crosses lines from Boston, and observe
the distances :
DIFFERENCE IN
FAVOR OF
DISTANCE TO PORTLAND. DISTANCE TO BOSTON. PORTLAND.
Miles. Miles.
Whitefield, 105 196 91
St. Johnsbury 135 205 70
Swan ton, 228 274 46
At these three points, accordingly, where Boston will have
the best chance, or, as might be said, the only chance, in com¬
petition with Portland, she labors under the disadvantage of
sixty-nine miles greater average distance ; under the disad¬
vantage, by consequence, of $4.14 heavier charge the round
trip for each passenger, and of $5.52 for each ton of mer¬
chandise moved forth and back once over her lines. Con¬
sidering that expenditures of this sort are incessant, that they
touch the convenience and purse of every citizen, it is easy
to see how profoundly serious a matter is such a difference in
distance to market as is denoted by the above figures.
But this is not all. The towns upon the Portland and
Ogdensburg Railroad, with the exception of the three above
mentioned, are separated from Boston by not only a greater
length of rail, but also by an important length of roading.
The following table illustrates the point for the Vermont Di¬
vision, the towns being taken along the line in its length :
DISTANCE FROM PORTLAND. DISTANCE FROM BOSTON.
By Rail. By Rail. By Road.
Concord 127 205 7
Danville 144 205 7
Waiden 150 205 15
Greensboro' 157 205 15
East Hardwick 159 205 22
8
poetland and ogdensbukg
South Hardwick 162 205 22
Wolcott 167 205 20
Elmore 170 205 20
Morrisville 177 217 18
Ilyde Park 180 217 21
Cambridge 191 260 22
Belvidere 191 260 22
Fletcher 194 260 22
Bakersfleld 194 270 14
Fairfield 205 270 7
The above towns, accordingly, are, on the average, 16.5
miles distant from Boston railroads by road. It will cost, on
the average, $3.30 to move a ton of freight over that length
of highway. This sum would carry the same ton eighty-two
miles on the way to Portland. On the east of the mountains
the towns are, on the average, twice as far from railroads
leading directly to Boston. It is easy to see, accordingly, to
what point the business of the country will naturally tend,
and from what warehouses its merchandise can be most
economically drawn.
Section III.—Where the Business can be best done.
As regards distance forth and back, therefore, the territory
now under consideration can be best accommodated at Port¬
land, of all points situated upon tide-water. The inquiry next
arises, can the business of this territory be conducted to ad¬
vantage at Portland ? That business divides itself into two
branches,— the disposal of products, and the purchase of mer¬
chandise.
(a) The Disposal of Products.
Can the products of the country be worked off at and via
Portland on favorable terms ? The products referred to are
those of the forest, the field, and the mine. Long lumber,
shingles, clapboards, pickets, sugar-box sliooks, hogshead
MALLISON FALLS.
RAILROAD LINE.
9
shooks, staves, hoop-poles, and all varieties of cooperage
stock, ship timber, masts, spars, bark and wood, cabinet and
wagon timber, excelsior, paper-pulp stuff, and so on in great
variety, are supplied in abundance from the greater part of
the whole region.
The surplus products of the field have already been noted
upon page 3, rising to the aggregate of many thousand tons
for one division of the road alone.
Of the products of the mine, the chief articles are, marbles
in large variety ; granites, some of the best in the world ;
lime; soap-stone; hone-stone; copper ore, demonstrated of
rich quality ; and ochre,—details respecting all which will be
given further on. To these should be added, as prospective
products of the country, the various manufactures that must
in due time spring up upon the great water-powers along the
line, on the Presumpscot, the Saco, the Ammonoosuc, the
Connecticut, the Lamoille, and the Missisco rivers.
The above products Portland, with her tributary country
in Maine, can, in part, consume. All the pork, cheese, and
wool that northern Vermont can spare are wanted in the
Portland and Maine markets. Much of the butter is wanted,
also. These products of Vermont farms, in fact, now reach
Portland in large quantities through New York and Boston
dealers. The producer could, of course, sell them to better
advantage directly to the Portland trader, by the whole
amount of commission paid to the middlemen, and by the
amount, also, of freight and handling charges incident to such
circuitous routes to market.
But Portland, with steamers to Boston and New York all
the year, and to various points along shore, with coasters as
required, and railroads everywhere, can forward from the area
in debate, the lumber, marble, floor-tiles, copper ore, ochre,
beef, mutton, butter, cheese, neat cattle, sheep, swine, and
10
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBURG
the products of manufacture, to all markets as required, more
cheaply than they can go by any other route. Portland
will, before long, become one of the great lumber-distributing
points of the country,—at once, indeed, upon the re-estab-
lislnnent of a reciprocity treaty ; for at no point can shipment
be made to better advantage of all the products of the forest,
to Boston, New York, southern ports, the West Indies, and
South America.' Portland can send to the same markets one
or two million bushels of potatoes from the Portland &
Ogdensburg Railroad country, to excellent advantage. Pen¬
etrating in its whole length the best dairy region of Vermont,
as well as a district in Maine well adapted to dairy business,
Portland can become a distributing point for butter and
cheese, with buyers on hand from all parts of the country, as
now at St. Albans.
The local facilities of Portland for handling all sorts of
freight, and for transfer from rail to ship, and ship to rail,
with despatch and the minimum cost, are such as give her
decidedly the advantage over any other port on the Atlantic
coast. Her Marginal railway, already in operation for miles,
and now going on to completion, with its branches upon
wharves and to vessels' sides, and her dock-front extending,
likewise, for miles, secure to her unequaled facilities. The
profit of all this redounds to the producer, whose cost of get¬
ting to market is by so much reduced. He, accordingly, is in¬
terested to forward his goods by this route, to which he is
invited at once by shorter lines of transit, and swifter and
cheaper machinery of transfer.
(b) The Purchase of Merchandise.
In the second place, and as regards the purchase of mer¬
chandise, Portland can offer the buyer from any part of the
territory lying upon the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad, in
PAVILION BAY, LAKE SEBAGO.
RAILROAD LINE.
IL
Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, advantages equal to
the best found anywhere. Take, for example, the dry-goods
business. The principal jobbing houses in this department of
trade now established in Portland do business upon abundant
capital. They buy for cash*. They command, accordingly,
all the advantages of discount and otherwise, attached to this
independent condition. They have a partner or representa¬
tive at the great centers to take equal advantage with the best
of any turn in the market, and to secure any desirable vari¬
eties of goods as early as the earliest. They have as large
stocks of such goods as find sale in New England as their
most competent rivals in Boston. They do as large a busi¬
ness, they sell as many goods, as the Boston wholesalers, so at
least with two or three exceptions.
F rom early times Portland has been unsurpassed as a point
for the advantageous purchase of groceries. In the import of
molasses her rank has been third. All the structures and ap¬
pliances for sugar boiling on a vast scale are found at Port¬
land. Two sugar refineries, also, turn out products of unsur¬
passed excellence, which find market all over the country.
Tea, coffee, tobacco, spices, and other groceries, are bought
by the Portland wholesaler mainly in the same market, New
York, that supplies the Boston dealer; are bought at as low
price, are placed on the wharf at as small outlay for freight,
and are handled, stored, and insured at a lower figure. The
principal grocers do a business that would be large even in
Boston ; and though furnished with smaller stocks of single
articles, they keep a larger variety than the Boston whole¬
salers.
Boots and shoes are manufactured in Portland for both
men's and women's wear, especially the latter. Articles for
men's wear are, however, largely made in the outlying coun¬
try, labor being cheaper and hand-made goods being preferred.
12
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBURG
The calfskins, cowhides, etc., employed in the heavier goods,
are largely the product of Maine tanneries, some of which
are among the largest in the world. The serges, etc., worked
into the lighter goods, are bought directly of the importer,
chiefly in New York, and at as low rate as by the Massachu¬
setts manufacturer. The articles in demand in the Portland
market, to which accordingly operations are adjusted in Port¬
land manufactories, are of heavier stock, of more substantial
make and better finish than the average goods prepared for
Southern and Western markets. This style of goods is kept
in Portland in as large variety and quantity as in Boston. It
is the precise style of goods that the trader from Northern
New England wishes to buy, and experience every day
proves that he can buy them as advantageously in Portland as
anywhere.
For salt and fish there is no cheaper market oír the coaSt
than Portland. Ships coming to this point to repair, attracted
by its capacious dry dock and ample supplies of required ma¬
terial, make a frequent cargo of salt, brought for a trifle and
instead of ballast. This port is also the grand depot for fish¬
ermen from all alono; the 2,500 miles of the coast-line of
O '
Maine. In fact, Portland is sending all the varieties of salted
and pickled fish to Boston, New York, and all points West,
constantly, and does it to a profit.
What is true of the foregoing staples of merchandise, is
true also of hardware and cutlery, of drugs, paints, oils and
lead, soaps, carriages, machinery and iron castings, malt pro¬
ducts, rum and domestic wines, canned corn, fruits, fish, etc.,
glass-ware, stone and earthen ware, drain pipe, fancy leather
and paper goods, hats, caps and clothing, furniture, lime, plas¬
ter, bricks, phosphates, etc. They can be bought certainly
at as low price in Portland as elsewhere. The expenses of
Portland dealers, manufacturers, etc., are much smaller than
GREAT FALLS OF THE SACO.
14
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBURG
those of Boston or New York. Clerk hire, store rent, and
other current outlays, are fifty per cent, less than in those
cities. The account of expenses of a large and well managed
dry-goods house in Boston, now before us, foots up double
that of a house in Portland doing a much larger business.
Ö O
The cartage of flour in Boston is six cents per barrel, in Port¬
land five cents. In Boston six cents will put flour in store,
in Portland one cent. The cartage of a hogshead of molasses
O O
is fifty cents in Portland, one dollar in Boston. Charges for
handling, cooperage, and insurance, are likewise proportionally
less.
In view of these facts, in view of Portland's great advan¬
tage in point of distance, of her superior facilities for handling
products, and equal advantages for forwarding them ; in view
of her ability to furnish merchandise at as low rate and of as
large variety, as to all the staples of trade, it may be regarded
demonstrated and placed beyond controversy that the business
of the great territory now in reference will in the far larger
proportion be done in Portland and over the Portland and
Ogdensburg Railroad. No other supposition is indeed admis¬
sible upon ordinary principles of human action or of business
procedure. How great weight all these considerations carry,
and what demonstration in advance they involve, as to the
bulk of business certain to be realized upon the opening of the
road, will be appreciated only as the extent of territory is
taken into account, its present but partial development, its
natural resources in various forms, its already realized wealth,
its population, their habits of living, their use of all the arti¬
cles of comfort and luxury, their industry, their enterprise,
and their instant appreciation of new avenues to profit and
new facilities for business.
railroad line.
15
CHAPTER II.
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS.
There is no other section of country in the United States,
the general survey of which as a field for railroad extension
would require the distinct consideration of its attractions for
the artist, the tourist, and the pleasure traveler, in equal mea¬
sure with that now in review. These are, indeed, as here
found, so remarkable, so characteristic and so varied, and
already command such attention from all who journey for re¬
creation, for health or pleasure, as to take rank side by side
with the more material and economical features of the coun¬
try as sources of prospective railroad revenue. Upon the belt
of territory traversed by the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad
line, and at its termini, scenery is found in extraordinary vari¬
ety, of ocean, bay, lake, mountain, valley, river, and water¬
fall, much of it of a character so remarkable as to have been
celebrated in elaborate volumes by the pens of the most gifted
writers, in dramas, poems, romances, and descriptive narra¬
tive, and to have been reproduced in scores of paintings by
the pencils of the most skillful artists,—scenery that attracts
travelers from every land and clime, and wrings, even from
foreign and prejudiced .tongues, testimony to its unequaled
beauty and grandeur.
Casco Bay, Lake Sebago, etc.
Casco bay at one extreme, with fifteen-score islands, some
of them populous towns, and some wooded islets in the wild-
liess of primeval nature, with its iron-bound shores and huge
promontories of rock, its surrounding fields of green and its
forests of fir, rivals the fairest of the archipelagoes of Greece
16
portland and ogdensburg
for romantic beauty. The Presumpscot river, fed by reser¬
voirs exceeding thirty per cent, the capacity of Winnepiseo-
gee, the grand feeder of the Merrimac, and broken by sixteen
water-falls, offers to the eye objects of the most pleasing con¬
templation in its fertile valley, its villages, its mills busy with
productive industry or rising in stately and magnificent pro¬
portions upon hitherto unused sites. Lake Sebago, with its
outlying appendages, opens scenes of unique and admirable
beauty along the whole course of its thirty-four miles of nav¬
igable waters ; the passage, in particular, through the devious
channel of Songo river, amidst the silence and dusk of sur¬
rounding forests, is an experience as novel as interesting. A
little beyond, the Saco discloses its placid waters intermittently
broken by rapids and falls,—"Steep Falls," a noble water-
power, and still above, the " Great Falls," visible from the
road, foaming over solid ledge in successive pitches through a
total descent of seventy-two feet. Above, the great river
plain of the Pequakets opens broadly upon the Saco, rich
with ancient memories, and walled in upon the north and west
with a vast bulwark of mountains, chief amongst them Kear-
sarge and Chqporua. Still beyond, the vales and ledges of
North Conway surprise and almost perplex the beholder with
their contrasting aspects of smiling fertility and austere and
total barrenness. Beyond this point the mountains grow
loftier, the valleys narrow to glens, rock displaces earth, and
the country takes on a more stern and dreadful aspect as en¬
trance is made into the
White Hills.
What the Yo Semite is to the West the White Mountains
are to the East, the crown and consummation of majesty and
beauty in the aspects of nature. Nothing can more striking¬
ly evidence the effect of these mighty piles upon the eye and
18
PORTLAND AND OGDENSMJRG
the imagination, with their attendant "gulfs," "glens, and
" abysses," than the fact that the stolid aborigine dreaded to
visit them, and in fact to their most awful heights and depths
never penetrated. Not even the miseries of stage-coaching
over cruel roads has prevented 25,000 guests from reaching
yearly six of the principal hotels in this region. Four times
the number pass and repass about the base and upon the out¬
skirts of the mountains. When, now, it is recollected that the
nation is increasing in wealth and population as never before,
recollected also that for all coming time there is to be but one
White Mountain upland, it cannot be questioned that to these
most romantic resorts an annually vaster host of devotees
will year by year come.
At this point we take the liberty to quote from a let¬
ter in the Portland Daily Advertiser, Sept. 15, 1871:
" The ' Crawford Notch,' with the tragic interest of the
' Willey Slide,' the view from M t. Willard, and the vast up¬
lift of mountains about it, must ever remain the one attraction
without peer or parallel in all this region. Whatever else he
omits, the tourist, going or coming, must visit this. The
year the railroad opens through the 'Notch,' 100,000 passen¬
gers will go through it. The ' season ' will double in length.
The old, the feeble, invalids, business men not tolerant of
whole days' staging, will visit the wonderful region, who never
visited it before. This king's pathway through the mountains
belongs to the Portland railroad. Other roads mav go bv
humbler routes, such as remain. Go they will, for other
communities will appreciate this prize of mountain travel. We
shall soon see carriage-roads and bridle-paths cut amongst the
mountains and through their now impassable defiles, in all
directions, and multiplied scenes of grandeur opened, which
now are unseen and unknown ; and hotels erected in size and
■number now not dreamed of, and the whole vast wilderness
KAILROAD LIME.
19
made knowable and habitable to a creat multitude of annual
sojourners,—all this so soon as a railway is driven into and
through its wilds. Open a railroad through the 'Notch,' and
the summer travel alone, casting out the through business
and the regular travel, will pay the interest on millions of
dollars."
The testimony is concurrent that the approach to the
mountains from no other quarter and by no other route can
compare in interest with that by the " Crawford Notch."
In the same letter, the scenery in the vicinity of the
road, in Vermont, is thus referred to: "The scenery of
Northern Vermont has long been justly celebrated for
its unique attractions. It is indeed something sui generis.
The tourist knows not whether to wonder most that so
broken a country is so fertile, or that so fertile a coun¬
try is so broken. He is equally gratified, whether he con¬
templates the region as a land of prospects or harvests. Such
a territory once opened by rail, must receive its annual thous¬
ands of visitors and sojourners. The railroad from Portland
to Lake Champlain passes through the most characteristic
portion of this picturesque country. All of the main sum¬
mits of the Green Mountains are passed, remote or near, and
the most important and celebrated are skirted at their very
bases by the line of rail."
And again: "All along the line of the Portland railroad,
from the Connecticut river to the close vicinity of Lake Cham-
plain, myriads of wooded hills wearing the green of the vast
maple forests in summer, and blazing with orange and scarlet
in autumn, alternating with valleys waving their broad acreage
of grass or deep in their rich harvests, with streams and
occasional water-falls in sight, surprise and delight the eye
of the tourist."
Again, a writer in the Portland Daily Press, under
20
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBUKG.
date Aug. 17, 1871, speaking of the saine region, says:
" The road then runs amongst hills and by the side of
streams the greater part of its length. Scenes, accordingly,
of great beauty are constantly unfolding to the eye of the
traveler, at a feiv points attaining to the magnificent, as oil
the Danville and the Lunenburg heights, where a vast ex¬
panse of country opens to the vision, and at several localities
nearer the larger masses of the Green Mountains. A great
multitude of surprises, in the form of charming prospects, of
cross valleys, of narrow hands of intervale, of glimpses of
streams, excite the interest and admiration of the tourist. The
full effect of this diversified scenery is appreciated only as the
fact is borne in mind of the profuse luxuriance of vegetation
in all the region. On this topic the temptation is great to
dwell at length, however superfluous ; this characteristic being
already so notorious as even to have given their name to the
mountains of the State. In the condition of nature the entire
territory was covered with woods. There were no bare spots.
Valley, hill, and mountain were equally buried in great for¬
ests. These forests were, to a remarkable extent, as thev
now are, of deciduous trees,—the rock maple, the beech, the
birch, the brown ash, the elm, etc. Evergreens are nowhere
seen in such unbroken and monotonous mass as in Maine.
The elm tree seems here to be indigenous. It grows in the
woods, and not as with us in Maine merely as a cosseted
growth. In multitudes of localities this tree was left stand¬
ing as the country was cleared, the venerable monarchs now
towering to the stature of giants, and standing dispersed or
clustered with an art beyond the reach of man. But the one
growth that gives this whole country its most characteristic
aspect is the rock or sugar maple. This is everywhere. It
shades the village streets. It is clustered in green groves bv
the farm-houses. It stands here and there in the pastures for
WHITE MOUNTAIN NOTCH.
22
portland and ogdensbtjrg
shelters to the grazing herds. It covers whole mountains for
miles and miles together with its summer-green masses, the
black cones of the spruce and hemlock thrust up here and
there, and making a fine contrast of form and color. \\ her-
' o
ever space is given, there the maple takes possession and
elaborates its delectable juices, giving character to the land¬
scape, and adding materially, as will be shown hereafter, to
the income of the people. The effect of these forests when
autumn has glorified them with her coloring must be almost
without a parallel, and passing all power of language ade¬
quately to describe."
The writer in the Advertiser speaks at length of
Mount Mansfield.
"This giant of the Green Mountains, celebrated for the
beauty of its prospects, and in its own bulk attaining the
stupendous, is in its highest summit, the ' Chin,' 4,380 feet
high. The ' Nose ' is 300 feet lower. It is now about twenty
miles distant from railroads. The Morristown and Cambridge
stations on the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad will be
within seven miles, on the east and north. The Underbill
station on the Burlington branch of the same road will be as
near on the west. The vast army of summer travelers who
now leave Lake Champlain at Burlington for passage by rail
to the White Mountains by a tedious circuit of 200 miles,
will, on completion of the Portland-to-Burlington road take,
rail directly by the foot of Mansfield, thence, after a visit to
its summit, through the beautiful Green Mountains bcvond,
and their charming valleys, to the White Hills, 130 miles in
all.
" The top of the mountain is half bare rock, and half covered
with dwarfed Polar vegetation, gnarled and stunted trees,
great growths of mosses, tough and wiry grasses, a little
RAILROAD LINE.
23
patch of Greenland with a land of milk and honey all about.
The hostelry on the crest of the mountain is cosily nestled
under the ' Nose,' which towers above it, a huge craggy knob
250 feet high, and tempts the adventurous climber to its dizzy
height, whence all the country to the south for a hundred
miles is visible. The ascent is effected not without the aid of
ropes and some shivers of the nerves of weakly people. This
accomplished, the ' Chin ' must be visited. A good path leads
to its peak. The sight from this summit overlooks * all the
world,' the Green Mountain chain north and south, Sterling
Mountain standing lonely amidst its woods to the north-east,
Camel's Hump to the south, Lake Champlain, which now,
as I gaze, burns like a sea of gold in the splendor of the set¬
ting sun, twenty miles away. Far to the north Montreal
Mountain is uplifted, and the St. Lawrence discloses its shin¬
ing waters, and beside them the spires of the great Canadian
city can be descried by the aid of a glass. The White Moun¬
tains on the east bound the vast horizon. The Adirondacks
are its limit on the west. Nearer at hand and all about us,
beneath, the green fields of Vermont are outspread, and the
white villages are dropped in here and there to perfect the
landscape. The eye accustomed to the scenery of Maine and
New Hampshire, notices the deficiency of lakes and ponds
and the comparative smallness of the streams ; but the ver¬
dure of the land makes compensation.
" 'Smuggler's Notch' gaps between Mounts Mansfield and
Sterling, an enormous chasm, from whose bottom the walls
of rock rise almost perpendicular for nearly a thousand feet,—
one of the wildest spots our eyes ever rested upon. No won¬
der the traditions of freebooters and customs violators cling to
the remote and secure hiding-place."
In another place, speaking of the profile of Mt. Mansfield,
he says : " In particular, for miles along the central portion
24
portland and ogdensburg.
of the Vermont division, that most startling representment of
a human face, the profile of Mount Mansfield, is full in sight.
Here is a silhouette worth noticing. No petty ten-foot, or
even hundred-foot vbage, hut three miles long,—the nose and
chin two miles apart,—and suggestive of some mighty Ence¬
lados, chained to the earth, with his face of adamant uplifted
defiantly to the heavens ! "
Of other attractions upon this route the same writer speaks
thus : " Near the lake, where the aspects of the country
become less strikingly picturesque, another attraction is added
by the favor of nature, and in precisely the form least accus¬
tomed for New England, to wit,
Salubrious Mineral Springs.
The spas of Sheldon and Highgate, in their quality of wa¬
ter, have nothing to fear from comparison with Saratoga or
even Egra and Seidlitz. They can show as proportionally
long a list of well-attested cures. Cancerous, dyspeptic, and
cutaneous affections, in particular, find in these waters an
effectual remedy. Part of the springs are sulphurous, part
chalybeate, and part mildly cathartic and alterative.—
Large quantities are bottled and marketed in this countrv.
and some is sold in Europe. In all save the water these
springs have naturally much higher advantages than Saratoga.
The country round about them is beautiful, and fertile to a
marvel. At Highgate the charming Missisco bay of Lake
Champlain adds the attractions of yachting, fishing, and gun¬
ning, to those of the springs. Sheldon has her Missisco and
Black rivers with their waterfalls, and her ' Dunton Hill '
with prospects of memorable beauty. Both series of springs
lie along the track of the Portland railroad. The hotels al¬
ready built furnish every comfort to the invalid and guest.
Now that the road looks toward completion, movements are
MT. WASHINGTON.
26
portland and ogdensburg.
making for greatly enlarged and magnificent accommoda¬
tions.
Lake Champlain.
The Portland railroad will have two termini upon this in¬
land sea, one at Burlington, one at S wanton. One hundred
thousand passengers, tourists and travelers, pass and repass,
each season, upon this noble sheet of water. Its scenery is
of surpassing magnificence, the Adirondacks on the one hand,
the Green Mountains on the other, and villages and' towns
along the shores. Salmon, pike, and trout in its waters,
and all the varieties of inland marsh birds along its borders,
afford sport to the fisher and gunner. Lake George and Sar¬
atoga are tributary to the travel of Champlain with their gay
and elegant company, who will find, as just observed, short,
direct transit by the Portland railroad to the White Hills via
the Green Mountains and all the lovely country of northern
Vermont."
It remains only to say that no other railroad in the coun¬
try, much less any other only 228 miles long, can show the
parallel of these varied attractions. Such attractions, indeed,
exist nowhere else to be shown. No other road, accordingly,
can, with absolute assurance, pledge in advance so ample a
measure of pleasure-travel income.
The connections of the road with other routes of travel are
such as to make all these attractions most readily accessible.
By it a route shorter by sixty-five miles from Lake Champlain,
Saratoga, Lake George, and the Adirondacks to the White
Mountains is opened. By it the Green Mountains, Lakes
Memphremagog and Willoughby, can be most readily ap¬
proached. By it the traveller can save fifty miles in journey¬
ing from Montreal to Portland. The road has connections
west to Oswego, Rochester, Buffalo, Chicago, and all other
MIDDLE FALLS, MORIUSVILLE.
28
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBURG.
points ; connections also along the shore of Lake Champlain
and the Hudson river to New York ; connections north at
St. Johnsbury with the Grand Trunk ; connections south at
the same point via New Hampshire and Massachusetts Rail¬
roads with Boston, Springfield and New York; connections
at Portland with railroads east throughout Maine and the
maritime Provinces, and with railroads west to all points ;
connections also with lines of steamers east and west, and
connections by both rail and boat with the famous watering-
places on the central and eastern shore of Maine, and the
beaches located to the west. Lastly, the populous and well-
to-do country lying upon the road in the major part of its
length will inevitably give it an important passenger business
throughout the year.
part ir.
THE GREAT-LAKE COUNTRY
AND THE
PORTLAND & OGDENSBURCT RAILROAD LINE.
chapter r.
AREA, PRODUCTION, ETC.
The Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad will be the shortest
possible route from the seaward end of the Mediterranean
sea of the Great Lakes to the best harbor on the Atlantic
seaboard, and to the port admitting of the quickest and cheap¬
est transfer of products and merchandise. The combination
of these three grand conditions of commercial success in favor
of this railroad is a circumstance of such extraordinary char¬
acter and consequence as requires particular and full consid¬
eration. The facts and figures subjoined are intended to give,
in the most condensed form possible, some impression of the
bulk of business that may legitimately be looked for upon this
road when completed, and when its superior advantages have
had time to be realized.
The chain of the Great Lakes, with their outlet stream,
opens up the grand division of North America with 2,382
miles of navigable water. Indeed, from the head of Lake
30
PORTEA NI) AND OGDENSBURG
Superior to the moutli of the St. Lawrence is 148 miles fur¬
ther than from the latter point to Liverpool. From the head
of Lake Superior to Ogdensburg, at the east end of Lake
Ontario, is 1,105 miles. The country bordering upon this
1,105 miles of inland navigation is unquestionably of higher
productive capacity than any other equal area on the globe,
for wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, beef, pork, lard, and, in
general, for all the staples of human food appropriate to the
mid-temperate latitudes. The following table shows the ex¬
tent of that part of the entire territory which is already pro¬
ductive of a vast surplus of food material, also what propor¬
tion of said part was improved in I860,* and the population
in 1870.
AREA. ACRES. rOPUI.ATION.
Acres. Improved, 1860. 1870.
Ohio 25,000,000 12,660,000 2,662,302
Michigan 35,900,000 3,420,000 1,184,653
Indiana 21,630,000 8,162,000 1,655,675
Illinois 35,400,000 12,251,000 2,529,410
Iowa 35,000,000 3,780,000 1,191,359
Wisconsin 34,500,000 3,746,000 1,055,501
Minnesota 53,120,000 554,000 424,543
241,150,000 44,582,000 10,703,443
To this add the British Province on the north:
ACRES. IMPROVED. POPULATION.
[Estimated.] igji.
Ontario 70,800,000 10,500,000 2,130,000
This gives a grand total of 318 million acres, of which onlv
fifty-five million were improved in 1860. Allow twenty mil¬
lion for additional improvements, since 1860, and tlie improved
acres stand to the unimproved, as seventy-five million to
243 million. Were the entire territory improved in propor¬
tion as the part now occupied, its population would exceed bv
*The figures for 1870 are not yet available.
FAIRBANKS' SCALE WORKS.
RAILROAD LINE.
31
several millions the present total population of the Lnited
States.
But in fact the immense areas west and north-west, in
Dakota, Nebraska, in the Red-river and Saskatchawan-river
country, hundreds of thousands of square miles, an important
part of which is unsurpassed grain and live-stock land, will
send their products to market by the water-line of the lakes
as fast as they become developed, and by the same route will
carry back their heavier merchandise. The railroad lines
projecting and constructing into these extensive regions, the
Northern Pacific and others, by their routes and choice of
termini imply, and provide for this, as for an inevitable com¬
mercial necessity.
The States above mentioned, together with Missouri and
Kansas, or the so-called grain-growing States, produced of
grain alone as follows :
1850. 1800. 1809.
Wheat, bush., 43,842,038 80,293.003 160,100,000
Corn, " 222,208,502 302,289,031 550,050,000
Oats, " 42,328,731 02,738,901 140,200,000
Rye, " 730,507 3,997,001 4,802,000
Barley, " 831,517 4,805,761 8,755,000
Totals, , 309,950,355 553,184,897 881,907,000
The province of Ontario produced of wheat, barley, rye,
buckwheat, corn, oats, etc., as follows:
1851 41,223,406 bushels.
1861 96,192,702 "
The present production of the above States and the prov¬
ince, of grain alone, is undoubtedly 1,050 million bushels.
Nor is the production confined to the grains exclusively. The
yield of swine, beef cattle, sheep, wool, lumber, etc., is enor¬
mous. Thus, in the States above mentioned, there were in
1850, of swine, millions; in 18G0, 11 millions; in 1869,
32
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBURG
19 millions ! In 1870, Chicago alone received 1,953,370 hogs,
532,964 cattle, 1,019,000,000 feet of lumber, 652,000,000
shingles, 14,751,000 pounds of wool, 10,000,000 pounds of
tobacco, 28,539,000 pounds of hides, etc., etc. rlhe ship¬
ments of ore at two ports on Lake Superior reached 723,000
tons in 1869, from 1,500 tons in 1855. Canada, the same
year, sent 224,000,000 feet of lumber to Buffalo, and 284,-
500,000 to Oswego.
7 O
Stupendous as is the product of the immense territory tribu¬
tary to the Great Lakes, it is inevitably going on to far greater
aggregates at no distant dav. The figures above given of the
O O O
vast area yet unimproved, as well as those indicating the rapid
increase in the past, lend all required authôrity to this state¬
ment. The one grand obstruction to an instant and enormous
augmentation of production is the cost of getting to market.
It is the terrible and consuming tax for transportation that
devours the profits of the producer and discourages the en¬
largement of his field of operations. The trouble is not more
that the means are inadequate than that they are too costly. The
harvests are mulcted so heavily for transport charges on their
way to market, and their cost at market thereby so much in¬
creased, that consumption is reduced. The consumer on the
seaboard or in Europe looks elsewhere for supplies, or is com¬
pelled to raise them at home. The consumer and the pro¬
ducer alike, then, are most deeply concerned to cut down the
cost to market, the one to buy cheaper, the other to reap a
larger return ; the one to use, the other to grow more abun¬
dant supplies. This leads us to consider, for the great terri¬
tory in question, the routes to market.
railroad line.
33
CHAPTER II.
THE ROUTES TO MARKET.
Section I.—The Mississippi River.
This great stream would at first sight seem to he for a con¬
siderable portion of the grain and produce States, the
grand natural artery of business and commerce. To an im¬
portant extent it is so, but certainly cannot be as to the larger
proportion of their trade. Its course compels an enormous
divergence from the lines of direct communication with Eu¬
rope and the east-Atlantic coast. It moreover leads into
climates of such extreme and sustained heat, and into ivaters
likewise of such high temperature,* that on their passage the
perishable products of the field are greatly impaired in quality
and market value, and not unfrequently are entirely ruined.
For the greater proportion of the business of the territory in
question it can never prove a formidable competitor to the
Great Lakes, or even to railroads, and may therefore be dis¬
missed from further consideration.
Section II.—Railroads.
Railroads are for the great territory in question, as for
every other that pretends to any business activity, indispens¬
able media of communication. In this region, as elsewhere,
they are supplanting every other mode of conveyance for
both near and distant travel, and for the transfer of the lighter
*The Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of Guinea are the warmest bodies
of salt-water, of great magnitude, in the world, their temperature be¬
ing 89".
3
34
portland and ordensburg.
and more rapidly perishable articles of produce and merchan¬
dise. Of this region, as of others, they are perhaps the most
powerful instrument of development and growth. As con¬
structed within it and for its local purposes, they collect at
the great centres the surplus products of the outlying territo¬
ries, and distribute to them in turn the various merchandise
necessary for a civilized people. They also connect the re¬
gion with others, maritime and interior, and bind all together
in a community of social intercourse and business relationship.
But it is noticeable throughout, that the location both of
the railroads and of the great foci in which they centre, is
fixed with reference and in subordination to the lines of water
communication. Duluth, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, To¬
ledo, Cleveland, Buffalo, Toronto, and many others of various
but rapidly increasing size, are planted where convenience to
water carriage has required them to be planted. It is thus
tacitly but fully acknowledged, that for this region, furnished
as it is with inland navigation without a parallel on the globe,
and however it may be elsewhere, water and not iron is to
bear the bulk of transportation, and to be the grand vehicle
for export and import service, and the interchange of com¬
modities. Why this is so it is now proposed to show.
Section III.—Lakes versus Railroads.
For the year 1870, the mean freight for grain from Chicago
ot Montreal by all rail was 27.2 cents per bushel. The
freight by propeller between the same points in 1868 was 13
cents, in 1869 still less, or about 12 cents. The excess by rail
is over one hundred per cent.
All-rail freight from Chicago to Buffalo for grain per bush¬
el varied, in 1870, from 18 to 21 cents; by propeller from 3
to 6i cents per bushel for oats, and from 5 to 10 cents for wheat.
The lowest rate by rail exceeds the highest by water 63 per
cent !
CREST OF MT. MANSFIELD.
36
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBURG
The all-rail freight from Chicago to Boston for a barrel ol
~ O
flour varied, in 1870, from 90 to 140 cents; the freight by
propeller to Buffalo, and thence by rail to Boston, ranged
from 75 to 105 cents. The rate by all rail to New York Arn¬
ried from 80 to 130 cents ; by lake and rail, from 55 to 105
cents.
In 1869, all-rail freights for flour from Milwaukee to New
York varied from 110 to 150 cents per barrel; lake-and-rail
freights ranged from 60 to 120 cents. To Boston the lowest
Ö ~
all-rail freight was 110 cents per barrel ; the lowest lake-and-
rail freight was 70 cents.
In 1870, wheat was carried in sail vessels from Chicago to
Kingston, at the east end of Lake Ontario, at rates varying
from 8 to 15 cents per bushel; and corn for 7i to 14 cents.
The distance is 1,073 miles! The highest rate was but $4.95
per ton, or 4.6 mills per ton per mile.
From Chicago to Buffalo by lake, in 1866 and 1867, rates
varied by yearly average, on wheat and corn, from 2.5 to 4.7
mills per ton per mile, the mean being 3.7 mills.
According to the report of the Board of Trade of the city
of Hamilton to the Canadian commissioners on canal enlarge¬
ment, 1870, propellers of 500 tons burden, carrying 15,000
bushels, can now bring grain from Chicago to Montreal for
12J cents a bushel, and do well at that. The distance is 1,261
miles, 71 of which are by canal, and the rate per ton per
mile, 3.2 mills. Were the canals so enlarged as to admit such
vessels as now navigate the upper lakes, or say 900 tons and
30,000 bushels capacity, the rates might be reduced 12J per
cent., or to 2.7 mills per ton per mile. They further state,
that iron received from ocean ships at Quebec is laid down in
Chicago at $3.50 per gross ton, the haulage over railway for
the same distance being $10. It may be remarked that at
this date of writing, four iron propellers are building at Buf-
RAILROAD LINE.
37
falo, each of 2,000 tons capacity, or 66,000 bushels, for the
upper-lake business.
To sum up: the general average for rates of transportation
on the Great Lakes for provisions, breadstuffs, and the classes
of heavier and non-perishable merchandise, may be set down
as four mills per ton per mile. This is the highest figure ad¬
missible.
On the other hand, the actual cost of moving a ton a mile
was as follows upon the following railroads, in 1868:
Buffalo & Erie Railroad 26.3 mills.
Erie 13.5 "
Hudson River 24.5 "
New York Central 16.4 "
New York & Harlem 57.8 "
Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain 20.4 "
Oswego & Syracuse 35.2 "
Rome, Watertown, & Ogdensburg 32.4 "
Average, 28.3 mills.
This is seven times the rate by lake.
Take, however, the great freight lines, the Erie and the
New York Central. The average of their rate, as above, is
14.9 cents. These are the cheapest freight lines in the coun¬
try, yet their rates exceed by 272 per cent, the rates by lake.
The average expense of transporting one ton of freight one
mile, upon all the railroads in New York, in 1868, was 17.4
mills. This is the actual cost. The actual sum received was
24.1 mills.
The freight earnings of the New York Central Railroad
O O
for the ten years ending with 1870, were 25.1 mills per ton
per mile. The earnings of the Erie Railroad for the same
period were 19.2 mills per ton per mile.
In fact, the most audacious and enthusiastic advocate for
railways does not maintain that, with every possible improve-
38
portland and ogdenseurg.
ment and advantage, the carriage of merchandise by rail can
be reduced below 10 mills per ton per mile.
It is superfluous to say, in view of these facts, that the
great body of heavy merchandise and products for the Great-
Lake country will move in and out by ivater, to the extent, at
least, of lake navigation. In further view of the facts, we
' o
are able to understand by force of what circumstances the
trade of the lakes has increased with a rapidity and to a mag¬
nitude so marvelous as is indicated in the facts subjoined :
GREAT-LAKE GRÖPS VALUE OF
TONNAGE. TRADE.
1S41 $ 05,000,000
1851 212,000 300,000,000
1802 450,000
I860 547,000
1871 (estimated) 700,000 700,000,000
Or, again :
RECEIPTS OF FLOUR A Nil GRAIN AT FIVE LAKE PORTS.
1866-7. 1867-8. 186S-9.
Flour reduced to Wheat bushels.. 18,344,285 20,177,435 26,881.705
Total grain 69,814,055 85.883,572 04,933,545
Grand total—bushels 88,158,340 106,061,007 121,815,250
The ports referred to are Chicago, Milwaukee, Toledo,
Detroit, and Cleveland.
Section IV.—From the Lakes to Tide.
Produce, having reached the east end of the lakes, seeks
outlet to tide. One route is by the St. Lawrence river. For
the comparatively small portion of products that are destined
to European ports, this will always be a valuable and cheap
line. But only a small part of the breadstuff's and provisions
of the north-west ever finds its way to Liverpool. The oreat
market for these is among the towns of the Atlantic seaboard.
MT. MANSFIELD, FROM UNDERBILL VILLAGE.
40
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBUKG.
The St. Lawrence route is obviously not available for tliis
market, because too far divergent therefrom. It has, moreover,
special difficulties. The Atlantic is reached by it in nearly
the latitude of Baffin's bay, at the extreme verge of coast
navigation, in a region most perilous to the navigator by rea¬
son of ice, calms, currents, and fogs ; and also by reason of
violent storms, which in 110 part of that most boisterous oí all
oceans, the North Atlantic, are more furious than off the
Gulf of St. Lawrence. The offings and the climate alike are
most inhospitable to the merchant and the mariner, as the
rates of marine insurance significantly show. The great body
of products will not go by this route, for it is too dangerous,
and leads away from the main market.
The second grand route from lake to sea is by the Erie
canal, from either Buffalo 011 Lake Erie, or Oswego on Lake
( hitario. An enormous transportation is accomplished by this
route, the total tonnage from 1860 to 1839 being 9,470,000,-
000 tons moved one mile, or twenty-four per cent, more than
the total amount moved on the New York Central and Erie
Railroads for the same time. Its great strength as a trans¬
port line is its vast carrying capacity, and its low rates for
freight as compared with railroads. But its carrying capacity
has now reached its limit. Enormous amounts of through
freight are forced off it upon railroads from its sheer inability
to carry more. Its capacity can be increased only by enlarge¬
ment, which, in a length of 364 miles, would involve enormous
expense. Whether the outlay would be judicious or not,
neither the general government, nor the State of New York,
nor other parties or communities in interest, seem inclined to
make it.
The rate for freight by canal from Buffalo to New York,
from 1860 to 1867, was 15 mills per ton per mile. From 1866
to 1869 the rate was 10 mills. The actual cost, exclusive of
UPPER FALLS, SHELDON.
42
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBURG.
tolls, can probably be brought down to 6 mills per ton per
mile. This is cheaper than any railroad can carry for. But
on the other hand are the following; offsetting; circumstances.
O ~
The passage through the canal, with its 364 miles of
length and 698 feet of lockage, is consumptive of much time.
The movement of grain from Chicago to New York by this
route consumes twenty-one days. Whereas it can reach Og-
densburg by propeller in seven days. From this point, by
rail, 250,000 bushels could be laid down at tide-water at
Portland every twenty-four hours, with trains starting every
two hours. The time, accordingly, would be eight days at
Portland against twenty-one at New York.
But further, on the canal special delays and obstructions
arising from stress of weather, floods, breaks in the canal, or
the sheer engorgement of business, are constantly occurring,
and entail enormous inconvenience and loss. This cannot be
provided against, and its tendency, accordingly, is to drive
freight to the railroads, or, in short, to make the railroads the
more desirable route.
F urther, the water of the canal becomes warm in summer,
and impairs the quality of the grain. One forwarding house
in 1861 lost $50,000 by heating between Buffalo and Albany.
This trouble is never experienced in the cold waters of the
lakes. On page 14 of the Report of the Chicago Board of
Trade for 1870, it is remarked, "the tolls on the Erie canal
were reduced nearly one-half last spring," ..." but for a
good portion of the summer our shippers were afraid to risk
our spring wheat in boats for ten days to two weeks ; large
amounts were sent by rail," etc., etc. On the other hand,
in the protracted and sometimes obstructed passage of the ca¬
nal vast quantities of produce are liable to be frozen in. At
this date of writing, Dec., 1871, four anda half million bush¬
els of grain are held fast by ice on the line of the canal, and
HIGHGATE FALLS.
44
portland and ogdensburg
an enormous amount of provisions and fruit. It is to be ob¬
served that the Erie canal closes sooner than the Weiland,
the latter remaining open for 246 days per annum on the av¬
erage, against 225 days for the Erie.
Section V.—The Best Route by Rail.
As result of these circumstances, there remains a vast and_
rapidly increasing amount of transportation from the lakes to
tide and back, to be accomplished by rail. All things consid¬
ered, what is the best route? As already observed, Ogdens-
burg is the easternmost port of unobstructed access from Lake
Ontario. Bearing this in mind, attend to the following state¬
ment of distances :
Ogdensburg to New York, by rail 400 miles.
" " Boston, " " 406 "
" " Portland, " " 360 "
By the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad, accordingly, when
completed, the produce of the West arrived at Ogdensburg
will be nearer Portland than New York by forty miles, or
than Boston by forty-six miles. At the average rates for
freights charged on the Vermont Central Railroad, the main
line to Boston, namely, 2.2 cents per ton per mile, the cost of
getting a ton of freight to Portland would be 101 cents less
than to Boston. At the rates of freight on the road to New
York, i. e. the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad,
viz., three cents per ton per mile, the cost to New York would
be 120 cents per ton more than to Portland. If the other
roads carry at cost, the Portland road could carry as cheaply
and have a margin. If they attempt to carry at less than
cost, trusting to local business for the deficit, the Portland
railroad traverses as fine a country as they, and can count
upon a great local business as surely as they.
RAILROAD LINE.
45
Consider other circumstances : between Ogdensburg and
Portland there will be, practically, but two corporations. Be¬
tween the same point and Boston, " one of the two routes,"
to quote from Chas. Francis Adams, jr., in the North Amer¬
ican Review, " is held by five, the other by seven different
corporations ; some of these are rich, respectable, and lazy ;
others are poor, not always honest, and generally insolvent.
•So far as management is concerned, for a railroad to be in the
hands of trustees is as disastrous as in business it is to have
one's affairs in the hands of an assignee." . . . "Taken
altogether, it may safely be asserted that there is no known
vicissitude of railroad fortune, or misfortune, no form of rail¬
road rascality, blundering, mismanagement, and improvidence,
no legal process known to the science of railroad law, which
has not been exemplified, somewhere or at some time, in the
history of that mosaic of lines which form the connection be¬
tween Boston and Ogdensburg." ..." That work,"
i. <?., of extricating these " petty " corporations from their
embarrassments, " is but half done."
The local advantagesfor handling freight, are, as incidentally
observed on a former page, as good in Portland as they can
be anywhere in the world, immeasurably better than they
are in New York, and certainly equal to the very best Boston
will secure upon the completion of her Marginal freight rail¬
way. Such a railway Portland already has along three miles
of her water front with branches upon the wharfs, so that the
freight-car can drop its load by the run into the hold of the
packet, at any point as desired, and with all depths of water
available up to thirty feet. The service of men and horses,
of clerks and attendants, is cheaper in Portland than in Bos¬
ton or New York. Port charges and expenses are less. Rents
of all sorts less. The cost of ships' supplies and refitting is
less. An elevator at Ogdensburg could despatch 200,000 to
46
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBURG
250,000 bushels each day, which in twenty-four hours could
be alongside the dock in Portland, and in a few hours more
be on board ship for Liverpool or coastwise ports. Nowhere
else on the Atlantic coast can the expenditure of labor, time,
and money, for the same service, be brought down to so small
a figure. Portland lias a first-class elevator and one of the
largest dry-docks in the country. Its harbor is never ob¬
structed by ice. New York and Boston harbors both are.
Boston has been obliged to cut a channel seven miles long,
through ice, from her steamship docks to clear water, and is
compelled to make outlay nearly every year to keep the
approaches to her wharfs clear. Portland harbor is so easy
of access, that the services of pilots are not necessary. It is
but two and a half miles from the wharves to the open main.
The offings are clear of dangers, whether of capes, shoals, or
reefs. Portland already has semi-weekly steamers to Liver¬
pool, and a line to Glasgow, for seven months of the year.
The owners of the lines stand ready to put on additional
facilities, and to extend the service throughout the year as
soon as demanded. Boston has never yet been able to sus¬
tain a single trans-ocean steamship.
It is demonstrable that Portland can, upon completion of
the road to Ogdensburg, load ships with grain cheaper by two
to three cents per bushel than can Boston, even supposing
Boston to do it without profit. The various incidents above
referred to carry this conclusion upon their face by necessary
implication. Mr. Adams, in the article before quoted, sums
up the case betwixt New York and Boston thus : " Time
from Chicago to New York, by canal, twenty-one days; by
rail, seven days ; cost on a bushel of wheat thirty-six cents.
Time from Chicago to Boston, via Ogdensburg, ten days ;
cost on a bushel of wheat thirty-four cents." Portland can
do better than either, with her railroad through to Lake Onta-
railroad line.
47
rio. Mr. Adams then observes that with a ship-canal by
Niagara Falls, enabling propellers of 1,500 tons burden to
reach Ogdensbnrg, and with a consolidated railroad company
making the freight movement from Ogdensburg its specialty,
wheat could be delivered on shipboard (at Boston) for twenty-
three cents per bushel, or five cents a bushel less than the Erie
Canal for 1867. Were these conditions realized, Portland
would still have thé advantage as before. The foreign ex-
o <^>
ports of Portland in 1868 were 89,848,000; in 1870, $11,-
891,000.
Section VI.—Import Business at Portland.
Here, then, the great practical inquiry arises : Can Port¬
land secure the necessary import business to complement and
sustain the export business ? At this point we quote fur¬
ther from Mr. Adams. ..." Commerce cannot live by
exports alone : whence are to come the imports to balance
those exports? New York is the great point of import, and
ships cannot afford to come round thence in ballast to Boston
for a return cargo. The difficulty with Boston, however, has
hitherto been, not imports but return freights. Ships which
come loaded to her wharves leave them in ballast to seek
cargoes elsewhere. Imports may be divided into two classes,
those which come seeking a market, and those which come
simply seeking a channel of entrance for an interior destina¬
tion. So far as the great market is concerned, the question
is decided. New York is and will always remain, the great
mart of the country,—the place where men buy and sell.
Not only can no effort of Boston, or any other port, disturb
lier supremacy in this respect, but Boston cannot prevent her
own manufactures from flowing thither as a better market
than her own. But because men can there best buy and sell,
it by no means follows that there they can most conveniently
48
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBUKG
export or import as through a point of transit. On the con¬
trary the very bustle and confusion of the great Babel will
indicate the reverse. Boston, then, might find her account in
showing herself to be a convenient point of transit, a place
noted for the quick, cheap, and honest handling of goods.
Such a character Boston has not yet earned. The absence
of all means of handling goods, the cost of truckage, the in¬
sufficient railroad facilities, and general absence of system,
have hitherto thrown this business into the hand of Portland.
Boston has hardly imported and forwarded directly to the
West, to the extent of a million dollars a year. Portland,
however, having the Grand Trunk to aid her, out of an
aggregate of imports about one-third that of Boston, receives
a million a year of direct importations by steamer to Detroit,
Chicaoo, and Milwaukee. The delavs and extortions incident
O 7 «/
to landing goods in New York will be touched upon presently ;
in Portland these goods are landed, appraised, the duties esti¬
mated, the bonds given, and the articles fifty miles on the
way to their destination within a few hours after the steamer
has made fast to the pier. A business so managed cannot
but increase."
This is the testimony of a citizen of Boston and of one of
the most competent authorities upon such questions. But the
truth is, Portland imports much more largely than would be
inferred from Mr. Adams's statement. In the four years,
1866, '67, '68, and '70, there were entered at the Portland
Custom House $62,238,273 of merchandise, destined in part for
local consumption and in part for points in the interior and Can¬
ada. This gives an average of $15,559,000 per year. With
a railroad to Lake Ontario, Portland will become, even more
conspicuously than she now is, the most prompt, cheap, and
convenient port through which to forward merchandise directly
from the ship's side to the ultimate and interior points of des-
BURLINGTON.
kaii.road line.
49
tination. New York will of course always be the great port
of entry, but she cannot do all the business, and for what she
cannot do Portland offers facilities second to none.
Section VII.—The Caughnawaga Ship Canal.
No view of the prospective business of the Portland &
Ogdensburg Railroad is at all complete that does not take in¬
to consideration this great improvement now moving toward
execution. It is, in brief, a canal from the St. Lawrence into
Lake Cliamplain, 29i miles long, of only 25 feet lockage,
that will enable propellers of 900 tons capacity, from Chicago,
Duluth, and all other lake ports, to break hulk at S wanton
and Burlington, 228 and 222 miles respectively from tide¬
water at Portland! The saving of time by this route for
goods destined beyond sea, or for distribution throughout New
England and along the coast, is six to ten days over the Erie
canal route by either Buffalo or Oswego. By the Caughna¬
waga route there are hut 57 miles canal ; by the Erie, 364
miles and 200 feet extra lockage, with only 210 tons capacity
per boat, the expense and delay of transshipment at Buffalo
or Oswego, and all the other difficulties before noticed. Two
years time and two and a half million dollars only are neces¬
sary for the construction of the canal. Its effect would be to
transfer Buffalo, Oswego, and Ogdensburg to Lake Cham-
7 O 7 O O
plain. The bulk of business thrown by it upon the railroads
radiating from Burlington, Swanton, and other points, will be
enormous. The saving to the West in reaching market by
this route would be scores of millions of dollars yearly. The
carrying out of this great enterprise will require the enlarge¬
ment of the Welland canal, and the lengthening of the locks
of the St. Lawrence canals, which are both on the eve of ac¬
complishment, irrespective of the Caughnawaga enterprise.
It is not necessary to remind the reader that the Portland &
4
50
PORTLAND AND OGDENSBURG RAILROAD.
Ogdensburg Railroad, making one terminus at Burlington and
one at Swanton, will have advantages equaled by no other
road for transporting to tide-water the products of the Western
country, poured by this channel into the great receiving basin
of Lake Champlain, and for returning to the interior the
goods of New England and foreign manufactories, and the
products of foreign climes.
APPENDIX.
DETAILED VIEW
of the
Resources, Business, Population, and Wealth of the Portland and
Ogdensburg Railroad Country.
CHAPTER i.
VERMONT DIVISION *
Section I.—Connecticut River to St. Johnsbury.
We begin our survey at the Connecticut river, and tlience move west¬
ward. The Dalton Rapids, on tlie Connecticut river at the railroad cross¬
ing, have ample power for 150,000 spindles, equal to the power at Saco and
Biddeford, in Maine. Abundant stone for the dam lies loose in the river,
and in a wing dam now out of repair. The chance for canals and for lo¬
cating mills is excellent. The dam will give a head of 20 feet, and would
pond the river hack for many miles. 300,000 acres of heavy timber lands
about the head-waters of the Connecticut river will float their lumber to
this point to he manufactured and put upon the rail.
Lunenburg, the easternmost town in the Vermont Division of the rail¬
road, is on the west bank of the river. Potatoes are a great crop. 2,000,000
feet of lumber are manufactured, and 200 tons of starch. Sixty tons ma¬
ple sugar are produced. Sales of merchandise, $90,000, not including the
manufactures. On the " Lunenburg Heights " is an admirable site fora
summer hotel, with a sulphur spring at hand, and a prospect of parts of
*The statement for this portion of the line is based, in part, upon the replies to a cir¬
cular sent into nearly every school-district along the line, several hundred in all, which
replies in turn were based upon the testimony and business accounts of traders, manu¬
facturers, producers, produce dealers, assessors, and responsible citizens generally. It
is based, also, upon the letters of a correspondent of the Portland Daily Press, who
spent many weeks in the exploration of the country, with every facility at command
for obtaining full and reliable information.
52
APPENDIX.
seventeen different towns, the White Mountains. Stratford Peaks, and the
valley of the Connecticut for thirty miles. Stock taken in the Portland &
Ogdensburg Railroad, $50,000.
Concord lies next west, with numerous water-powers on the Moose river.
The woolen mill turns out $80,000 of goods. Lumber cut, $35,000; other
manufactures, $20,000. Sales of merchandise, $150,000. There is a mine
of roofiug-slate, not yet worked on account of cost of transportation.
From the "copper mine " hundreds of tons of ore have been sent by eight
miles' trucking and three hundred miles' railroading to New York. The
ore turns out of fine quality. Long litigation, suspending work, has just
terminated, and on the opening of the railroad to Portland extensive
operations will be renewed. Portland & Ogdensburg stock, $100,000.
The towns of Waterford, Kirby, Granby, and Victory will touch rail at
Lunenburg and Concord to freight products and for goods. In Concord,
Granby, and Victory are 63,000 acres of heavy timber land, with 315,000,000
feet of standing lumber; this will take rail at Concord. In Granby and
Victory $65,000 worth of lumber are cut yearly now.
St. Johnsbury is west of Concord, with five excellent water-powers on
the Passumpsic, and several on the Moose river, chiefly improved. The
site is of remarkable beauty, and art and taste have heightened its natural
attractions. The public library, the $75,000 gift of Hon. Horace Fairbanks
to the town, is not surpassed anywhere for the beauty of the building, or
the excellence of its literary contents. Gas-works and water-works, con¬
structed by the enterprise and public spirit of the Fairbanks Co., add to
the substantial attractions of the town. The St. Johnsbury academy
boarding-house, costing $40,000, is the gift of the venerable Thaddeus
Fairbanks to the cause of education. A soldiers' monument of the high¬
est artistic attractions attests the liberality of the town, and the skill of
Mead, the artist. The National bank has a capital of $450,000.
The Fairbanks' Scale Works occupy ten acres, and fifteen large buildings
with several floors each. 600 hands, 60 horses, and numerous cattle are
employed. 37,000 scales of 300 different varieties, to weigh from one grain
to 500 tons are made, and are marketed from China to Oregon, and from
Norway to Cape Colony. Anwual sales, $1,500,000. 3,000,000 feet of lumber
are used, and 3,000 tons American iron; also 1,000 tons Scotch iron. Their
transportation in and out, 12,000 tons, will be done by the Portland & Og¬
densburg Railroad. There are other important manufactures in the town.
The Steam Mill Company use lumber, iron and coal, and turn out $120,000
of goods; Buzzell's machine shop, sales $50,000; Colby, Gay & Blake, sales
$35,000; Paddock's machine shop, $35,000; Ely, Balch & Co., hoes and
forks, $60,000; etc. Total sales of manufactures of the town $2,000,000; of
merchandise $1,500,000. Portland and Ogdensburg stock $375,000. 37,000
passengers were taken and left at the St. Johnsbury station the past year.
The following table gives a summary of population, wealth, etc., for this
section of the road. A considerable portion of the territory is still unde-
APPENDIX.
53
veloped, being covered with large and heavy forests. Its minerals are
hardly touched. Its lands are still unfilled. The railroad will change all
this :
DISTANCE TO DISTANCE TO
BOSTON PORTLAND
POPULATION. ESTATES.* AT STATION. AT STATION.
Lunenburg, 1,002 * 000,600 196 113
Concord, 1,300 1,624.000 205 127
St. Johnsbury 4,7' 0 4,669,000 205 135
Waterford 878 886,000 205 127
Kirbv -••• 419 338,000 205 127
Granby, 174 77.000 205 127
Victory, 263 149,000 205 127
Section II.—St. Johnsbtjky to Elmoee.
As before observed, the Passumpsic Eailroad crosses the Portland and
Ogdensburg line at St. Johnsbury. Twenty-three towns on the former
road, north to the State line, with 24,000 population and fourteen millions
of property, can save 140 miles in the round trip, by going, via St. Johns-
bury and the Portland & Ogdensburg Eailroad, to Portland to market,
instead of Boston. These towns have increased in property from fifty to
three hundred per cent, since the railroad opened. Even now, however,
their valuation is less than that of sixteen towns taken in course on the
line of the Portland and Ogdensburg road, west of St. Johnsbury and not
including St. Johnsbury, yet the latter have been sixteen miles from rail¬
roads. The Passumpsic towns referred to are as follows:
POPULATION.
ESTATES.
Lyndon
2,200
81 844,800
Sutton,
569.400
Sheffield
811
416,200
East Haven,. .
191
135,600
Newark,......
593
296.600
Hartón
1.913
1,179,000
Westmore,....
412
149,600
Charleston,...
1,278
650,000
lirownington,.
429.600
lrasburgh,....
1,085
1,018,000
POPULATION. ESTATES.
Lowell, 912 8476,006
Westtield, 721 347,000
Jay 553 179,400
Troy 1,355 718,000
Newport 2,050 1.112.000
Coventry, 914 886.800
Derby 2,030 1,610,000
Holland 881 415,200
Morgan, 615 259,200
Four towns additional to the above will take rail in part on the Portland
and Ogdensburg road direct, as noticed elsewhere, and in part upon the
Passumpsic. Their population and estates are given in other tables. The
whole twenty-three towns on reaching St. Johnsbury are seventy miles
nearer Portland than Boston.
The following eight towns, situated south of St. Johnsbury upon the
same railroad, will also find shorter passage to Portland than to Boston,
and via two railroad corporations instead of four:
*The estimates of the value of property as given in this document are, unless speci¬
fied to tiie contrary, rated at double the nominal valuation for the purposes of taxation.
This is unquestionably a low figure for property consisting so largely of farms and
woodlands.
54
APPENDIX.
IN VERMONT.
IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Population.
Estates.
Population.
Estates.
Barnet,..
Kyegatfi,.
Newbury,
Bradford,
.1.945
'935
2.241
.1,492
51.551,0 0 Monroe,..
791,001 Haverhill,
2.193,000 l'iermont,
1,104,000
. 619
2,291
. 792
$473,200
1 932,500
959,000
The distance saved by these towns in the round trip to Portland instead
of Boston varies from 40 to 120 miles, according to their location.
To resume the consideration of the Portland and Ogdenshurg main line.
Danville, next west of St. Johnsbury, on the Portland & Ogdenshurg
Railroad, sells $120,000 of merchandise, $122,000 of woolens, agricultural
implements, lumber, etc. The National Bank lias a capital of $100,000.
Sales of butter twenty tons, poultry five tons, potatoes 30,000 bushels, also
live-stock and wool. A famous granite quarry, a sulphur spring, a mag¬
nificent site for a summer hotel, and an excellent Academy are in town.
Peacham, on the south, sells $100,000 merchandise, $30,000 manufactures,
500,000 feet of lumber, fifty tons sugar, twenty tons butter. Scores of mil¬
lions of lumber are still standing.
Cabot, next west of Danville, sells $70,000 of merchandise, and $20,000
of manufactures, also seventy-five tons maple sugar and twenty tons but¬
ter, besides live-stock. A flourishing woolen mill here.
"Waiden sells $35,000 of merchandise, $44,000 of starch, lumber, etc.,
$25,000 live-stock, $10,000 wool, butter thirty tons, starch forty tons. Su¬
gar made, 1871, 100 tons. Portland and Ogdenshurg stock, $34,000.
Greensboro' sells $30,000 merchandise. Excellent water-powers not im¬
proved. Much lumber not cut. Fifty tons butter and sixty tons sugar
made. Sales of live-stock, $20,000; might be much greater. Stannard,
next to Greensboro', a small town, manufactures considerable lumber. A
part of the town of Wlieelock will touch rail at the Greensboro' station.
Also a portion of Glover, with large agricultural production, and impor¬
tant manufactures of leather, clothes-wringers, lumber, etc. Greensboro'
took $25,000 Portland and Ogdenshurg stock; Stannard, $3,000.
Hardwick follows next in order in the famous Lamoille valley. Sales
of merchandise estimated at $130,000. Manufactures of cassimeres, leath¬
er, lumber, etc. A noted sulphur spring here, formerly much frequented;
the hotel connected with it is now closed. In 1870, eighty-five tons butter
were made, and eighty-nine tons sugar; last spring, one hundred tons.
Potatoes, pork, live hogs, and cattle sold largely.
The town of Woodbury wholly, and Calais in part, will flo their railroad¬
ing via Hardwick, with eight merchants, and fourteen manufacturers of
lumber, lasts, boot-trees, last-machines, etc. Sales of Woodbury, mer¬
chandise, $15,000, manufactures, $0,000; also, in tons, live-stock one hun¬
dred, butter thirty, sugar ten, potatoes seventy-five.
Wolcott comes next to Hardwick. Of the 23,000 acres in town, 7,600 are
timbered, from which 1,030,000 feet were cut in 1870. Sales in 1870, 31 tons
butter, 27 tons pork, 60 horses, 010 sheep, 330 cattle, 12 tons hops, and 6,000
APPENDIX.
55
bushels potatoes. Sales of merchandise, $50.000; manufactures, $40,000.
Portland & Ordensburg stock, $41,000. Not including the above, and not
including the Hone Co.'s, mentioned below, 100 tons freight left the town,
and 190 tons entered it. The quarry of hone-stone here, consists of two
veins, each twenty feet wide, running into the side of a mountain. The
stone varies in quality from " razor" to "carpenter," and is of somewhat
sharper grit and quicker execution than the Scotch hone. The blocks are
cut up by water-power close at band. Scythe-stones are also manufactur¬
ed. Operations have been restricted by the cost of transportation, rail¬
roads having been twenty miles distant. The outward freight lias been
about 400 tons per year. The Portland & Ogdensburg Kail road passes
directly by the mine and store-houses.
Craftsbury, on the north, will touch rail at Wolcott, with eight traders,
and nine manufacturers of leather, lumber, woolens, etc. Some thousands
of dollars of Portland & Ogdensburg stock were taken in the town.
The table following give! additional facts respecting the towns in this
section of the road.
DISTANCE TO
DISTANCE TO
POPULATION.
ESTATES.
HUSTON,
PORTLAND
By rail.
By road.
AT STATION.
Danville.... 2,217
§1,566,000
205
7
144
Peacham... .1,141
826,000
195
10
144
Cabot 1,289
948, OuO
205
12
150
Waiden . l.OoO
604,000
205
15
163
Greensboro'.1,015
668,000
225
15
157
Stannard . .. 228
111,000
225
12
157
AVheelock... 822
131,000
225
10
157
Glover 1,179
860,000
230
8
157
Hardvvick.. .1,419
1,075,000
205
22
163
Woodbury.. 902
445,000
204
21
163
Calais 1,319
1,039,000
223
10
153
Wolcott 1,132
510,000
205
20
167
Craftsbury.. 1,320
980,000
220
10
167
Section III.—Elmore to Fletcher.
Elmore has 8,570 acres of timbered lands. 870,000 feet were cut in 1870,
and vastly more will be when the freight car gets in motion. Sales in 1870,
butter 32 tons, pork and hogs 20 tons, 381 sheep, 212 cattle, 7,134 bushels of
potatoes. Not including the above, there were 185 tons outward freight,
and 01 tons inward. Sales of merchandise, $15,000; of manufactures,
$20,000. Iron deposits formerly worked. Portland & Ogdensburg stock,
$8,600.
A part of Albany will touch rail at lVolcott, with starch, live-stock, and
dairy products to a large amount. There are four traders and two manu¬
facturing firms.
Morristown, a thrifty and beautiful town, lies next. There are 8,800
acres of timber lands, from which 1,100,000 feet were cut in 1870. The same
year were sold 04 tons butter,40 tons pork, 6,000 sheep,943 cattle,75 horses,
8£ tons hops, 3J tons wool, and 11,600 bushels of potatoes. In addition to
the above, there were 202 tons outward and 310 tons inward freight. 120
56
APPENDIX.
tons sugar were made in 1871. Sales of merchandise, $120,000; of manu¬
factures, $00,000. Portland & Ogdensburg stock, $83,000. A seventy-five
footfall on the Lamoille river, a noble water-power; also, a thirty-five
foot fall below. Twenty stores, houses, and work-shops erected this
season.
Stow, on the south, will do the bulk of its business via the Portland &
Ogdensburg Railroad. 12,300 acres of heavy timber land, 2,107,000 feet cut
in 1870. There were sold the same year, in tons, butter 75, cheese 0, pork
60, hops 4, wool 34 ; also, 20,000 bushels potatoes, 2,410 sheep, 852 cattle, 75
horses; also, $200,000 merchandise, manufactures $50,000. It is a lovely
town in its scenery. The great Mt. Mansfield hotel accommodates 500
guests; an elegant summer resort. 400 tons outward freight, 700 tons in¬
ward, in 1870.
Hyde Park, the shire town of Lamoille county, is beautiful with broad in¬
tervales, and with mountains uplifted about it. About 2,000,000 feet of lum¬
ber are c&t, yearly, from its 11,000 acres of timber land. Sales in 1870, in
tons, butter 32, pork 42, hops 7, wool 5; also, 39,000 bushels potatoes, 59
horses, 1,311 sheep, 487 cattle, and poultry and beans. One firm sent
$110,000 of products to various markets in 1870. Not including the above,
there were 250 tons outward freight, and 280 inward. 75 tons of maple
sugar made last spring. Sales of general merchandise, $154,000. Port¬
land & Ogdensburg stock, $02,000. Copper ore, and a vast bed of ochre in
town; also sulphur and iron springs. A National bank, capital $100,000.
Eden will touch rail at Hyde Park. Starch, lumber, butter, maple su¬
gar, and live-stock are heavy items. Vast forests of spruce, fir, bass, ash,
etc., remain to be cut.
Johnson, with broad river lands and huge mountains, follows next. A
fall of thirty feet on the Lamoille, and of twenty-three feet on Eaton
branch,—excellent privileges. A valuable mine of soap-stone here. Sales
of merchandise, $100,000. Woolens, lumber, water-tubing, etc., manufact¬
ured. Spruce very abundant. Great yield of maple sugar and butter.
Portland & Ogdensburg stock, $02,000.
Bel.videre will bring to the Johnson station the products of her vast
spruce, hemlock, maple, birch, and ash forests, and of her cooperage in¬
dustry; also, her maple sugar, potatoes, live-stock, and dairy produce.
Lead and iron ores in town. Abundant water-power.
Waterville, also, has many good mill-sites not yet used, and much tim¬
ber uncut. Sales, butter 20 tons, sugar 15 tons, potatoes, live-stock, and
lumber; also, $25,000 merchandise. An excellent soap-stone quarry here;
has been worked some in spite of distance from railroads. Portland £
Ogdensburg stock, $12,000.
Cambridge, of magnificent scenery and unsurpassed fertility, follows it-
order. There are many mill-sites, two mineral springs, and 320 sugar or¬
chards in town. Products, 1870, in tons, butter 216, cheese 8, pork 33; also,
live-stock, and thousands of bushels of potatoes. A large bed of ochre is
APPENDIX.
57
yet unworked. Sales of merchandise, 1870, $80,000; of agricultural pro¬
duce, $101,000; lumber, leather, etc., $23,000. Sugar made, 1871,153 tons.
Portland & Ogdensburg stock, $22,000.
The table annexed gives additional facts:
distance to
distance to
population.
estates.
boston
, portland
By rail.
By road, at station.
Elmore 636
$ 299,000
205
20 170
Albany 1,151
712,000
235
8 167
Morristown. 1,896
1,208.000
217
18 177
Stow 2,050
1,262,000
217
10 177
Hyde Park. .1,626
899,000
217
21 180
Eden 959
'405,000
235
14 180
Johnson 1,558
969,000
217
26 184
lielvidere. .. 369
163,000
217
£8 184
Waterville... 57-3
295,000
260
17 189
Cambridge. .1,651
1,370,000
260
12 191
Section IV—Fletcher to Lake Champlain.
Fletcher is located iu the Missisco Valley, the Vermont kingdom of but¬
ter. 12,500 acres are iu timber. Sales, 1870, tons, butter eighty-two, cheese
five, pork fifteen: also 1,000 bushels potatoes, 150 cattle, and other live¬
stock. Sugar crop seventy-five tons. In 1870, sixty-three tons inward
freight and fifteen tons outward, not including the other products.
Fairfield comes next, with 12,000 acres of woods, including a heavy
growth of cedar. Sales, 1870, in tons, butter 225, cheese thirty-three, pork
fifty-three; also 1,500 bushels potatoes, 200 cattle, 400 sheep, etc. In addi¬
tion, 289 tons inward freight, and sixty-two outward. Portland and Og¬
densburg stock $48,000. Sales of merchandise $50,000; manufactures
$05,000.
Bakersfield touches rail at Fairfield. 10,000 acres are in woods. Sales,
1870, in tons, butter eighty-two, pork fifty-one; also 400 sheep, 500 cattle,
1000 pounds each of wool and hops. In addition, inward freight 300 tons,
outward ninety. Sugar and poultry large items.
Sheldon is next to Fairfield on the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad, a
land of Egyptian fertility. 7,100 acres are still in oak, asb, maple, hemlock,
and butternut forest. The intervales of the Missisco and Black rivers
bear mighty burdens of forage, the uplands are the best of pasturage.
Sales, 1870, in tons, cheese 1)5, butter seventy-eight, pork 30; also 1,500
bushels potatoes, 500 sheep, sixty cattle, and other produce. Inward
freight, exclusive of the above, 640 tons, outward, seventy-seven. A mag¬
nificent water-power of fifty feet fall is still unimproved, the river drains
500 square miles. Four mineral springs with elegant hotels and long lists
of cures of cancerous and cutaneous disorders, number their guests by
many hundreds. The whole region is one of remarkable beauty. Port¬
land and Ogdensburg stock, $74,000.
Enosburg will come to the Sheldon station. It is a garden of fertility.
Its product of butter, cheese, pork, live-stock, etc., is very large. Nine
merchants, and manufactures of leather, lumber, and woolens.
58
APPENDIX.
Highgate has 5,000 acres in woods, hut is a great farming town. Sales,
1870, in tons, hotter ninety-two, cheese two and a half, pork thirty; also
2,000 bushels potatoes, 800 sheep, and other live-stock. 457 tons inward
freight, and 75 tons outward. §100,000 of merchandise sold; manufact¬
ures of leather, iron, and lumber. The "Great Falls "on the Missisco
have eighty feet fall, a magnificent water-power, sufficient to build up a
large town. "Keyes Rapids," a mile above, have sixteen feet fall. Ten
feet fall at East Highgate, with scythe factory, etc., products, $25,000. The
"Mineral Springs" are near Lake Charaplain, in a lovely region, with
strongly impregnated sulphur water. Fishing, gunning, and yachting are
special attractions. Portland and Ogdensburg stock, $58.000.
Franklin will come to the Portland railroad at Highgate. 5,500 acres are
still in cedar and ash and ordinary growth. Sales, 1870, in tons, butter
118, cheese fifty-seven, pork fifty-two; also 1,000 bushels potatoes, 500
sheep, 100 cattle, horses, wool, maple-sugar, etc. 302 tons inward and
eighty-seven tons outward freight. Sales of merchandise $100,000, of man¬
ufactures $25,000.
Swanton, on Lake Champlain, is the western terminus of the Portland
& Ogdensburg Railroad. From this point, due west, runs the " Old Og¬
densburg," the official Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Railroad, and com¬
pletes the circuit from Ontario to the Atlantic. Railroads centre here
from all points. The water 150 feet oft' shore at the lake, is as deep as at
the end of the wharves at Burlington. The village stands upon the Swan-
ton Falls of the Missisco river. The head at the falls varies from twelve
to fifteen feet, and 8,000 inches are commanded at low water. Tiles for
floors are cut out to the amount of $31,000 per annum, the same being
found upon the floors of the principal hotels in the country, and of the
departments at Washington, as well as of banks, libraries, and other
public and private structures. A beautiful red-and-white marble is also
cut here for pannels, table tops, etc. The marble quarry extends nine
miles. 00,000 casks of lime are burned, of very nice quality for bleaching
and fine finishing; three tanneries, $75,000. Total value of manufactures
$250,000; sales of merchandise $350,000.. Portland and Ogdensburg stock
$84,000. National Bank, capital $75,000. 1,023 acres of timber land. In¬
ward freight, in 1870, 2,040 tons, outward 2.150 tons. Sales of produce,
eighty-nine tons butter, four tons cheese, twenty tons hogs, 1,000 sheep,
cattle, horses, etc.
Additional facts are as follows:
population.
estates.
distance to
iíoston,
distance to
portland
Bv rail.
By road, at station.
Fletcher..... 808
Fairfield 2.393
Bakersfield. .1,404
Sheldon 1,700
Enosburg.. .2,077
Highgate—2,280
r. ".l.i:., 1 COO
$ 605.000
1,595.000
878,000
1,242,000
1,249,000
260
270
270
280
290
270
270
274
22
7
14
0
0
194
205
205
215
215
221
221
228
1,689,000
8
Franklin
Swanton
....1.602
2,866
1,116.000
1,622,000
10
0
APPENDIX.
59
Section V.—The Buklington Bkanch.
Tliis road, chartered as the Northern Vermont & Lake Chaniplain Bail-
road, leaves the Portland & Ordensburg Railroad at Cambridge, touches
Essex junction on the Vermont Central Railroad, 24 miles distant, and
thence passes over a branch already constructed, 7 miles to Burlington.
The towns immediately interested in this line are as follows:
distance to distance to
population. estates. boston, portland
By rail. By road, at station.
Burlington.14.387 $ & 617,000 250 0 222
Essex 2,222 1,519.000 240 0 215
Jericho 1,757 1,573,000 240 6 209
Underhill.. 1,615 1,061,000 240 10 200
Cambridge. 1,651 1,370,000 260 12 191
Westford... 1,237 977,000 260 6 200
The entire region traversed by it is highly fertile, and, as the figures
show, is wealthy and populous. The amount of produce and merchandise
certain to go upon the rail is large. The pleasure travel, also, as noticed
on a former page, will be great, from Saratoga, Lakes George and Cham-
plain, and the Adirondacks to the Green and White Mountains, Lakes
Memphremagog and Willoughby, etc. Burlington, moreover and in par¬
ticular, is already one of the great distributing points of New England.
It is the third lumber market in the country. Its receipts last year were
120 million feet, and 22,000 car-loads of lumber left her 'yards for all parts
of New England. In so far as this is destined to seaboard towns, the
cheapest route will he via Portland. Portland, moreover, can compete
for the trade of all these towns. She can sell them goods as cheaply as, and
can lay them down at lower cost for freight than can Boston or New York.
The heavier articles of merchandise, as coal, iron, salt, etc., will, during
the season of navigation, reach Burlington by water. The greater part of
her lighter merchandise now reaches lier warehouses by rail all the year.
For this part of the business, accordingly, Portland can compete all the
year, to the advantage of the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad. The
right of way has already been given outright or taken in stock for 17 out
of the 24 miles to he built. There is no question of the speedy construc¬
tion of the road.
60
APPENDIX.
CHAPTER II.
EASTERN DIVISION.
Section I.—Connecticut River to the White Mountains.
In the detailed view of this Division of the road, we begin at the Con¬
necticut river and move thence east.
Dalton, N. H., lies on the Connecticut river, and is the westernmost
town traversed by the Eastern Division of the ¿Portland & Ogdensburg
Railroad. 10,000 acres of its total 17.000 are covered with woods. Fifty
million feet of pine, spruce, hemlock, and tamarac in the town, are ready
for the axe of the lumberman, and vast quantities of heavy birch, maple,
beech, poplar, and oak. The cleared land is rocky, but of strong soil,
yielding 250 bushels potatoes per acre, and 20 of wheat. Oats, rye, and
barley thrive excellently. The uplands furnish good pasturage; want of
capital alone has prevented dairying from being carried on extensively.
Considerable amounts of sugar are made, and 50 tons starch.
Between this town and Lunenburg, Vt., is the great water-power on the
Connecticut river, before noticed. This power is really only one out of a
long series situated below on the same river, and which in combination
constitute the Fifteen-mile Rapids of the Connecticut. This tract of river
must some day become the seat of extensive manufactures. The " Sum¬
mer Hotel," in Dalton, is a favorite place of summer resort, it being always
crowded during the season of travel. Its proprietor, the chief owner of
the town, two years ago sent 4,000,000 feet of lumber to market by teams
and railroads to Boston. The copper mine, here, promises well. The cu¬
priferous vein is sixteen feet in width, extends two miles, and is bounded
from the adjacent rock by clearly defined walls. A pit sunk into it at one
point indicates increasing richness at greater depths. The ore nets from
six to fifty per cent. To work this mine properly would require considera¬
ble capital. Its owner would gladly cooperate with the right parties for
its improvement. Prof. Hitchcock has visited the mine, and judges the
indications highly favorable. Dalton will furnish a large amount of lum¬
ber and considerable produce freight for the railroad. The citizens will
bond the town to assist the road, will give it a depot, and almost the en¬
tire right of way.
Whitefield is the next town east, and is a place of great thrift, having
already connection with the outside world by the White-Mountains Rail¬
road. The annual sales of merchandise are §200,000. The sales of lum¬
ber, home manufactures, and products shipped from this point amount to
§400,000. 200,000,000 feet of lumber, it is estimated, will be drawn from
this town, besides large amounts of hard-wood adapted to various manu¬
facturing purposes. 150 tons starch are produced. The up freights on the
APPENDIX.
61
railroad average $1,200 per month; the down freights will average $500
per day for the coming year. They are not unfrequently $1,000'per day.
Passenger receipts at station, July, 1870, $2,000; August, more than $3,000.
Yearly production of lumber, 20 million feet. Bethlehem, on the south of
Whitefield, contains a great stock of timber.
The Portland and Ogdensburg line upon touching the White Mountains
railway finds a wide area of country opened, from which it will inevitably
draw a large amount of business. The towns situated in this region for¬
merly did business in Portland, and upon the establishment of railway
connection cannot fail to be attracted to their old mart, which is so
much nearer to them than Boston. These towns will now be considered.
Littleton is a thriving manufacturing and agricultural place. The yearly
sales of merchandise are $438,500. The sales of the manufactures of the
town, of iron, wood, stone, leather, wool, lumber, etc., are $073,000. In¬
cluded in this estimate is the product of the woolen mill, which runs seven
sets of machinery, employs seventy-five hands, and turns out a million
yards of flannels, mainly colored, the dye-stuffs for which, and other mate¬
rials, furnish no inconsiderable freight. Agricultural products, twenty-five
tons butter, twenty-five tons sugar, 500 head of neat-cattle, seventy-five
horses, 15,000 pounds wool, etc. A summer hotel, erected last year, was
this season crowded, its capacity being seventy-five gnests. It will be en¬
larged for two hundred for the coming season. A National Bank has just
gone into operation, capital at the outset $100,000, recently raised to
$125,000, and to be further enlarged. A Savings Bank is about being
established. A factory for the making of scythes and agricultual imple¬
ments has been built, and will commence work very soon. There are six
privileges on the Ammonoosuc river employed in numerous manufactures,
and three unoccupied, all within a distance of four and a half miles, and
all in town.
Freight billed from Littleton station, from Oct. 1,1870, to Oct. 1,1871:
1st cla-s merchandise, * 1,083,841 pounds.
2nd " " 75.026 '
3rd " " 205.700
Caí tie 399,550
Starch 1,060,759
Potatoes, 11,079,906
14,274,7S2 "
Or 7,137 tons, and a fraction.
Freight to Littleton, for the same time, $30,371.63. There is also consid¬
erable flour and corn freight, which is prepaid, estimated at $7,500. The
total inward freight is about 4,500 tons.
The passenger tickets sold at the Littleton station for the year ending
Oct. 1, 1871, amounted to $18,329.96. Those sold at the Profile House in
Franconia to passengers taking rail at Littleton increase this amount
about fifty per cent. This is the travel hut one way.
Lisbon, next south of Littleton, sells $165,000 of merchandise. $150,000
62
APPENDIX.
of manufactures, and $5,000 of mineral products. Agricultural production
is $175,000; movement of freight is estimated at 4,000 tons. The town of
Lyman touches rail at Lisbon station, not large in territory, but of good
thrift.
Bath, next south, sells $75,000 merchandise, $130,000 of manufactures.
Agricultural productions estimated at $500,000; freight in and out esti¬
mated at 5,000 tons.
Returning to the north, Lancaster on the north of Wliitefieid, will find
a shorter route via the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad to Portland than
by the Grand Trunk for her thriving population and large movement of
merchandise.
Catroll lies next east of Wliitefieid. It. is a forest town. 150,000,000 feet
of lumber will come to rail from if. There are six lumber mills, produc¬
tion six million feet; product of starch, fifty tons. Franconia, on the south,
will furnish two to three hundred millions of lumber, and Jefferson, on
the north, 200,000,000. There are eight lumber mills in the town ; produc¬
tion ten million feet per year. Starch 150 tons.
Supplementary facts are subjoined:
population. estates.
Hilton 733 $427,400
White field 1,196 610,700
Carroll 378 245,000
Littleton,» 2,446 1,700,000
Bethlehem, 993 «07,000
Lisbon 1,848 1,337.000
Lyman 658 487,000
Franconia, 649 473.000
Bath 1,168 1,118,000
Landalf. 882 651,000
Lancaster, 2,248 1,458,000
Jefferson, 825 455,000
distance from
boston
at station.
distance from
portland
at station.
,200
112
196
105
IDS
99
185
116
1S5
116
175
124
175
126
175
126
170
131
170
131
207
116
207
11G
Section II.—White Mountains to Fetebukg.
" Hart's Location" extends from the "Notch" to the west line of Bart-
lett. A good deal of spruce and hemlock, and some pine adapted to clap¬
boards, are standing upon it. A flesh-colored granite here, comes out in
large blocks as free from twist as a new-sawed plank; an elegant building
stone.
Bartlett contains 38,000 acres, of which 28,000 are wooded. 150,000,000
feet of spruce and hemlock are ready for the lumberman. Bark for tan¬
ning is available in unlimited quantities. Maple, bircli, and beech, also
poplar, are abundant. There are six water-powers, one of which, " Good¬
rich Falls," on Ellis river, has 100 feet descent. Potatoes can be raised
indefinitely. Apples will be a great crop. Sales of merchandise $20,000.
The iron mine here will unquestionably come into improvement upon
* " The estimate made of the real Belling value of property in this town by the
Assistant Marshal engaged in the Census, 1870, was $2,711,000."
APPENDIX.
G3
opening up the railroad. The vein is seventeen feet wide, and is disclosed
for seventy-five rods up and down the side of a mountain. It extends
through the mountain and appears in Jackson. The mine is two and a
half miles from the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad. The ore nets sev¬
enty-five per cent., and blasts as easily as common stone. The great iron¬
masters, Sanderson & Sons, of England, some years since transported
fifty tons of the ore to their works, and produced from it the very best of
iron and steel. They offered the proprietors 800,000 for the mine. 8100,000
were demanded, and no trade was made. There are millions of cords of
wood in all the surrounding region to work the ore by "charcoal blast."
Unquestionably there is no point in tho country where charcoal iron can
he produced and got to market more cheaply than here, and by the ten
thousands of tons per annum. A branch can be extended from the main
line of rail to the mine, when required.
Jackson contains about 29,000 acres, of which 19,000 are wooded. 100,-
000,000 feet of lumber are now available for use, mostly spruce and hem¬
lock, especially spruce. It is of large size. The railroad station will be at
Center Bartlett. Several water-powers are unoccupied on Ellis river.
One at the village operates two saw-mills and a starch factory. There is
limestone here; the quality has not been tested. Great tanning facilities.
Conway. Of the scenery of this town it is superfluous to speak, its ex¬
traordinary picturesqueness being already of world-wide celebrity. Sev¬
eral thousand acres are outspread in beautiful intervales, which extend
the whole length of the town, along the course of the Saco river and the
line of the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad. Potatoes, dried apples,
beans, etc., are shipped. There are four water-powers, part improved.
" Odell's Falls " on the Saco, at Conway Centre, have 12 feet fall, rocky
bottom and banks, and ample power for large improvements. The power
ou the outlet of Walker's pond is one of the best in all the region, reser¬
voir nine by one-third miles, good site, one-half mile from rail, with thous¬
ands of cords of poplar for pulp, excelsior, etc., in the vicinity. 20,000,000
feet of pine are standing in the town, hard and soft, with spruce and hem¬
lock. Sales of manufactures, 800,000; of merchandise, 8150,000. In Con¬
way and Bartlett 1,500 guests are accommodated during the summer, for
three months and longer. This is a great and rapidly growing business.
The Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad passes through the center of the
town. $23,500 Portland & Ogdensburg stock were taken.
Fryeburg is noted for its intervales, its lumber, and its scenery. The
river lands cover 10,000 acres or more, and are natural grass lands, being
largely subject to fertilization by overflows of the river in spring. Live¬
stock, potatoes, and oats are sold. Cattle are wintered here in large num¬
bers, and in the summer are driven to pasture amongst the mountains.
One-half of the town is wooded. 30,000,000 feet of hard and soft pine are
ready to be cut. When cut, the succeeding stand is invariably pine, and
the growth is very rapid. There is more lumber here than forty years
64
APPENDIX.
ago. Tlie hard or " hull " pine has hitherto not been harvested, as it can¬
not be " driven " to market—sinking like a stone in water. It will now
take rail. It makes the best of sugar and molasses boxes and casks.
Hard-wood is also abundant, including ash, poplar, and oak. In addition
to five smaller privileges, " Swan's Fall," on the Saco river, is an excellent
site, with ample power, ledge bottom, good banks, ten feet fall, and good
holding-room for lumber above. The lumber in town and above can be
cut here to any amount, and put upon the rail. Product of manufactures,
¡>51,000, of which $30,000 are of the tannery. Sales of merchandise, $100,-
000. Portland & Ogdensburg stock, $10,000. A good summer hotel, first-
class in all its appointments, to accommodate 500 guests, should be built
here; the scenery is very lovely, and a cool breeze is nearly always stir¬
ring across the intervales to temper the heats of summer.
Swedeu will do all its freighting businesson the Portland & Ogdensburg
¡Railroad, via Fryeburg. Its exports are chiefly live-stock, potatoes, and
oats. It has two water-powers. There is considerable nice timber in this
town.
Lovell will move all its freight in and out via the Fryeburg station. It
is rich in oak, which is manufactured chiefly into molasses and sugar
shooks. The supply of hard and soft pine is great, 15 million feet being
ready for the axe. The manufacture of heading and sugar-boxes is about
being greatly enlarged. There are six water-powers. That at the village
is ample for heavy work, being fed by several ponds. A gang saw is going
into operation here, with the usual line of single saws. Total value of
manufactures, $350,000. Sales of merchandise, $5C,000. Live-stock and
oats sold.
The south and west parts of Stoneham will do business by the Portland
and Ogdensburg Railroad. The north part will go to the Grand Trunk.
Pine and hemlock lumber remains in considerable quantity. Oak is very
abundant. Sugar and molasses casks are made largely. Brown ash is in
good supply, birch, and poplar. Salt and other small boxes made, hoops,
spools, and bobbins. Excellent pasturage in this town. Twelve water-
powers.
Chatham has, it is estimated, 100 million feet of hemlock and spruce
lumber, standing. No better field for tanning operations on a great scale
can be found. There is a large amount of poplar. On the Cold river fer¬
tile intervales afford excellent land for cultivation. Much of the river
land is still uncleared. Orchards thrive greatly in this town. They will
be largely extended now that railroad facilities are within reach,—at Con¬
way and Fryeburg. Several good water-powers.
Stow will come to the Fryeburg station. It is a noted stock-raising
town, there being wide breadths of fertile intervale on the Cold river, and
good pasturage on the uplands. It has considerable hemlock and spruce
lumber. Two water-powers. Portland & Ogdensburg stock, $2,600.
Additional facts are subjoined:
APPENDIX.
65
DISTANCE FROM
PORTLAND
POPULATION. ESTATES. AT 8TATI0N.
Bartlett 629 $ 353,000 66
Jackson 474 311,000 66
Chatham 445 206,000 48
Conway 1,607 1,049,000 55
Fryeburg 1,508 1.169,400 48
Sweden 667 354,000 48
Lovell 1,018 611,500 48
Stoneham 425 140,500 48
Stow 425 208,000 48
Of the above towns Conway alone will have connection with Boston hy
Boston-controlled railroads, the distance being 130 miles. This town
mainly, and the other towns wholly, even if they do a part of their busi¬
ness in Boston, will move their freight in and out via Portland.
Section III.—Fryeburg to Lake Sebago.
Brownfield, next east of Fryeburg on the line of rail, has 10,000 acres of
fertile intervale land, with a large amount of hemlock, spruce, oak, and
ash lumber. The railroad will stimulate the various manufactures of
wood. Sales of merchandise, $30,000; of manufactures, $28,000.
Denmark sells $50,000 of merchandise; of hoops, shooks, staves, clothes
pins, etc., $18,000; of poultry, pork, beef, butter, apples, eggs, etc., $23,000.
Large quantities of poplar, birch, red and white oak; beech, maple,
hemlock, and pine timber. Large preparations for increased manufacture.
Ten most excellent water-powers on the outlet stream of Moose pond,
covering 1,700 acres, are yet mainly unimproved; also other good privi¬
leges.
Hiram is a town of great undeveloped manufacturing capacity. It has
within its limits twenty-flve water-powers. Nine of these are located
upon the Hancock stream, the outlet of reservoir ponds of 2,500 acres.
The total fall upon the stream is over 300 feet. The ponds, if properly
improved for storage, would add very materially also to the manufactur¬
ing capacity of the Saco river, to which the stream is tributary. In addi¬
tion to these and to other smaller powers, there are two excellent sites on
the Great Ossipee river between Hiram and Parsonsfield, between the
site of "Warren's Mill" and Kezar Falls, each with twelve feet head.
This river is very permanent, being fed by large ponds, which are in fact
the main source of supply to the mills at Saco and Biddeford in the sum¬
mer. The privileges referred to are accordingly susceptible of a vast
amount of work. Below these privileges on the same stream, and on the
dividing line of Hiram and Cornish, are two most excellent manufacturing
sites. The first, "Allen's Falls," is half a mile above the junction with
the Saco. It formerly had a dam upon it with ten feet head, and a grist¬
mill. "Warren's Mill Site" is about one and a half miles from Cornisli-
ville. Saw and grist-mills formerly upon it, both burned in 1849, not since
5
66
APPENDIX.
rebuilt. Fall ten feet or more. The "Great Falls" of the Saco will be
noticed presently.
An insignificant proportion of the power is now in use, in manufactures
of lumber, cabinet ware, cooperage stock, etc. Sales of merchandise
$125,000. The power in this town, if improved in proportion to that at
Bridgton, would turn out several million dollars in manufactures. Port¬
land and Ogdensburg stock, $10,000. Pine, hemlock, spruce, oak, and pop¬
lar, in great abundance.
Baldwin contains in addition to ten small privileges, one half of the
" Great Falls " of the Saco, the other half falling in Hiram. The fall is
seventy-two feet in fifty-five rods. The bed and shores are mostly ledge,
and the banks are sufficiently high to escape serious overflow. The power
in an extreme drought is estimated at 150,000 spindles; for ten months of
every year, and for the whole of nearly every year, is much greater. No
improvement.
Also, half a mile below, a rapid known as the " Great Falls' Wife," ten
feet fall, a good site, and ample for heavy operations. Also, on the same
river, and on the line of Liiningtou, " Highland Rips," fifteen feet fall in
forty rods; power in a drought estimated at 32,000 spindles. No improve¬
ment.
Next to no use of its great power is made in this town. Lumber, rakes,
spokes, etc., manufactured to the amount of $11,000. Portland and Og¬
densburg stock, $7,000.
Cornish, Parsonsfield, and Porter, will touch rail at Baldwin chiefly.
Cornish has three small water-powers, in addition to the important ones,
mentioned above, on the boundary line of Hiram. Manufactures of cloth¬
ing and carriages, $100,000. Sales of merchandise, $150,000. 1,200 tons
freight, in and out.
Parsonsfield manufactures lumber, clothing, sleighs, hardware, etc.
The freight bills of one trader are $1,400. Sales of merchandise, $100,000'
It has on the dividing line of Porter three large and excellent manufac¬
turing sites, on the Great Ossipee river. First, " Kezar Falls," about
which a flourishing village has gathered, has fifty feet fall available, im¬
proved in part in two dams, and various lumber and other mills. Second,
■'French's Falls," above, on the same river; fall, nine feet; unimproved.
Third, "South-River Falls," above, eight feet fall; not improved. The
river is steady in volume, being fed by great ponds, and is free from severe
freshets.
Porter has in addition to its share in the above-mentioned three privi¬
leges, seven small manufacturing sites on small streams. Sundry lumber
manufactures, etc., $30,000. Sales of merchandise, $40,000. Tons freight,
in and out, 1,000.
The towns of Freedom, Effingham, and Ossipee, in New Hampshire,
lying upon the head waters of the Great Ossipee river, now run and will
continue to run their lumber largely down the river, to be cut up by its
APPENDIX.
water-powers, or at Steep Falls oil tlic Saco, from which point it will take
rail to Portland,
Standish lies next east of Baldwin on the rail. It. has great manufact¬
uring capabilities. Within the town are seven small water-powers, and
on its borders as follows: First—" Steep Falls," on the Saco river, in the
north-west part of the town; fall, 40 feet in three-fourths of a mile; two
million feet of lumber are sawed annually ; not over one-third of the total
fall is used. The whole power in a drought is estimated at87,000 spindles.
It is an admirable site in every way. Second—"Union Falls," on the
Saco river, near Steep Falls; height, 26 feet in 80 rods; power estimated at
1,400 horse-power, or 26,000 spindles. Third—" Limington Falls," a mile
below; 63 feet in one-third of a mile; lumber mills; power estimated at
141,000 spindles.
In addition to these, are several privileges on the boundary line of
Windham, which will be noticed presently. The sum of power in use in
this town is, at present, comparatively insignificant. The value of manu¬
factures, chiefly lumber and clothing, in 1870, was, however,$383,000. Sales
of merchandise, $110,000. Portland & Ogdensburg stock, $20,000.
Limington shares with Standish the possession of the three great water-
powers on the Saco, mentioned above. It has, in addition, two privileges
on Little Ossipee river,—" Nason's Falls," 66 feet in one-fourth of a mile,
with several mills thereon, and secondly, "Chase's Falls,"35 feet, lumber
mills thereon. There are three small privileges in addition to these.
Eight merchants.
DISTANCE FROM
PORTLAND
POPULATION. ESTATES. AT STATION.
p.rownfielcl 1,324 8 499,000 43
Denmark 1,070 560,000 43
Hiram 1,394 600,000 36
Baldwin ,.1,101 513,000 80
Cornish 1,101 621,000 30
I'arsonsfleld 1,894 1,264,000 30 *
Porter 1,105 551,000 30
Standish 2,095 985,000 25
Limington 1,639 1,135,000 25
Section IV.—Lake Sebago Country.
Several towns lying upon Lake Sebago and the navigable waters above
it, for six months of the year are tributary to the Portland & Ogdensburg
Railroad by steam and sail craft, at the Lake Sebago station. For the
other six their business is distributed to several stations on the line from
Brownfield to Windh am.
Bridgton is one of the most thriving of the lake towns. It has twenty-
two water-powers, all of them fed by reservoirs. Kot over two-thirds of
the available power is yet in use. Manufactures of wool, lumber, leather,
machinery, carriages, etc., in large variety, are carried 0n to the amount
over $600,000. A large machine shop and foundry are about going into
G8
APPENDIX.
operation, to do $30,00g business. A shovel-handle factory is getting ready
for work, to cut out 30,000 dozen handles per year. Sales of merchandise,
$300,000. Tons of freight, in and out, 4,000.
Harrison, like Bridgton, carries on manufactures in addition to agricul¬
tural business. The product of mechanical industry in 1870 was $164,000.
There are four water-powers. Wire, woolens, and agricultural imple¬
ments are manufactured. Operations are enlarging, steam being em¬
ployed in addition to water. Sales of merchandise, $65,000.
Naples is chiefly a farming town. It has six water-powers, partially
improved. Mechanical products in 1870 were $30,000. Cooperage is quite
an item. Sales of merchandise, $60,000. Inward freight, 600 tons; out¬
ward, 10,000 shooks, 300,000 hoops, also barrels, mackerel kids, staves, ap¬
ples, potatoes, wood,—say 4,000 tons in all.
Casco has twenty-one water-powers, nine of which, on the outlet of
Pleasant pond, are good privileges, but little affected by either drought or
freshet. A small part of the power is yet in use. Lumber, leather, starch,
etc., turned out to the value of $70,000 .in 1870. Sales of inerchandise,
$50,000.
Kaymond is mainly an agricultural town. There are 9,000 acres of tim¬
ber land. It lias six water-powers, fed by ponds summing five square
miles. A most excellent privilege is on the outlet of Panther Pond, im¬
proved in part in saw, grist, and plaster mills. Power about half used.
Mechanical products, $10,000. Sales of merchandise, $40,000. Tons freight,
including shooks 20,000, hoops 100,000; staves 25 to 75,000, ship-timber,
plank, apples, cider, potatoes, beans, 200 cords wood; also, 4,000 bushels
corn, plaster, general inerchandise 350 tons, etc., say 4,000 to 5,000 tons in all.
Sebago has six water-powers, five of which are on the outlet of a pond
covering one and a half square miles. Only one is in use. A large amount
of manufactures could be carried on here. Mechanical product, 1870,
$7,500.
DISTANCE FKOSI PORTLAND
POPULATION. ESTATES. AT LAKE SEBAGO STATION.
Bridgton 2,685 $1,710,000 17
Harrison 1,222 609,000 17
Naples, 1,058 537,000 17
Casco 1,193 483,0 0 17
Raymond 1,122 458,000 17
Sebago, 803 351,000 17
Section V.—Lake Sebago to Portland.
Windham is an excellent farming town, and will be at no distant day
the seat of extensive manufactures. There are four manufacturing privi¬
leges upon the portion of the Presumpscot river that divides this town
from Standisli, as follows: First, " Wescott's Falls," at the outlet of Se¬
bago Lake, height fourteen feet; part improved. Second, " Eelweir Kips,"
below, twelve feet fall, unimproved. Third, "Hubble Falls," eight feet,
unimproved. Fourth, " Steep Falls, twelve feet, a dam, no other improve-
APPENDIX.
69
nient. These privileges are fed by ninety-four square miles of reservoir,
fifty of which are commanded by one dam. One hundred horse-powers
to each foot of fall can be realized upon the Presumpscot river. Accord¬
ingly the above four powers represent 4,600 horse-power, or 184,000 spin¬
dles. The stream is narrow, requires only short dams, is entirely exempt
from freshets as well as water-drought, and is beyond question the most
valuable manufacturing river of its class in New England; its superior
cannot be found anywhere.
Upon the same river, below, and on the boundary line of Gorham and
Windham, are nine manufacturing sites, as follows: First "Hardens
Falls," 11 feet head, improved on the Gorham side. Second—" Great
Falls," 16 feet head, partially improved. Third—"Whitneys Palis, 14
feet head, unimproved. Fourth—"Island Falls," 10 feet head, unimproved.
Fifth—" Dundee Falls," 18 feet head, unimproved. Sixth—" Eeavitt's
Falls," 12 feet head, unimproved. Seventh—" Gambo Falls," 16 feet head,
fully improved. Eighth—" Little Falls," 17 feet head; a great paper-mill,
four stories high, with capacity to manufacture ten tons per day, and em¬
ploying three hundred hands, is going up here. Ninth—" Mallison Falls,"
18 feet head, partly improved in lumber and woolen manufacture. Upon
this privilege a great wood-pulp and paper mill is soon to be erected. The
above privileges sum 13,200 horse-power, or 528,000 spindles. Suitably im¬
proved, they will sustain, directly, a population of 52,000 persons, to say
nothing of the large agricultural population in the surrounding region
that would settle around the several manufacturing sites. The Portland
& Ogdensburg line passes directly by the lower two privileges, and a
branch will at no remote time be extended to the head of the river, pass¬
ing directly by the site of each fall. In the case of these privileges, as of
those above noticed, the supply of water is beyond contingency, the out¬
let of the lake being under perfect control, water dearth, accordingly, and
freshet being unknown and impossible.
In addition to the above, are seven valuable water-powers upon Pleas¬
ant river, which is fed by Little Sebago lake, a sheet of water covering
five square miles, and constituting, accordingly, with a storage depth of
seven feet now held upon it, a reservoir of great capacity. The privileges
are as follows: First—"Narrows Falls," 10 feet, unimproved. Second—
" Legrow's Falls," below, 10 feet, unoccupied. Third—" Carney's Falls,"
below, 10 feet, part occupied. Fourth—"Andrew's Falls," below, 8 feet,
not improved. Fifth—"Pope's Falls," 10 feet, woolen, saw, and stave
mills. Sixth—"Allen's Falls," 7 feet, no improvement. Seventh—" Ba¬
ker's Falls," 10 feet, part used.
The proximity of Windham to market, and the accessibility of its man¬
ufacturing sites, give them a value far beyond that attached to privileges
otherwise equally good but more remote. The manufactures of the town
will average over $400,000 per year, including the whole of the Oriental
70
APPENDIX.
Powder Company's. Sales of merchandise estimated at $134,000. Port¬
land & Ogdensburg stock, $42,600.
Gorham is a town of noted agricultural productiveness, and of large
manufacturing capability. It shares with Windham possession of nine of
the great manufacturing sites of the Presumpscot, and upon the borders
of this stream the bulk of wealth and population will before many years
settle. The extension of the branch railroad from the Portland & Ogdens¬
burg up the river to its head will greatly hasten this inevitable destiny,
and promote vastly the increase of numbers and resources. Sales of mer¬
chandise estimated at $230,000, of which $101,000 will be accommodated
by the Portland & Ogdensburg Itailroad. Value of manufactures,
$100,000; of agricultural products, $240,000; acres of woodland, 5,631. As
manufactures are extended in this town the Portland & Ogdensburg Kail-
road will receive a very large proportion of its total freighting business,
passing, as it does and will, directly by its entire series of water-powers-
The Portland & Rochester Railroad now passes through the main village,
and commands from it an important amount of business, especially in
the transportation of passengers.
Westbrook, a part of whose passenger and. freight business will come
upon the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad, is a rich, populous, and grow¬
ing municipality. Manufactures in 1870, $3,500,000. Two great water-pow¬
ers on the Presumpscot river are mainly improved for manufactures, at
Saccaranpa and Cumberland mills, the products of the paper-mill at the
latter being a million dollars per annum.
The population of Portland, the eastern terminus of the Portland &
Ogdensburg Railroad, is 31,408; nominal valuation for purposes of taxa¬
tion, $29,439,000. Portland & Ogdensburg stock taken, $985,300. Products
of industry in 1870, $8,8G5,000. Sales of merchandise for the year ending
April 30th, 1869, the last for which reliable data can be had, as reported by
the Assistant Assessor of Revenue, $31,149,732. The taxable sales of man¬
ufactures for the same period were $5,700,661 ; total, $36,850,393.
POPULATION*.
ESTATES.
Windham.
Gorham...
Westbrook.
2,420
■3.3SG
6,630
2,029,000
2,891,000
6,582,000
References
1 Swrnlon
10 Fletcher
19 Wbloott
28 Danville
2 Higligate
11 Waterville
20 Elmore
29 Peaoham
«3 Franklin
12 Belvidere
21 Woodbury
30 SlJohnsbury
4 Berkshire
13 Johnson
22Bardwick
aiWateriorcL
5 Sheklon
14 Cambridge
23 Greensboro
32 Kirbv
6 Fairfield
15Morri st own
24 Stannard
33 Concord.
7J3noaburg
16 HydePaxk
25 Wlieeloek
34 Victors
8 BakersfiekL 17 Eden
26 Waiden
35 Liinenburg
9 18 Grafisbury
27 Cabot;
36 Stowe
HRtHkH+HHttmuumn Completed Road .
\
Prescott