USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume III > Part 36
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The Shipping Situation in 1925-Frank S. Davis, manager of the Maritime Association, gives the status of the shipping question in Bos- ton for 1925 as follows :
No American seaport city has undergone a greater degree of transformation than Boston. The present harbor bears little resemblance to its original contour. Vast quar- ries of granite, hills of gravel and whole forests were used in changing the waterfront. Walls, piers and causeways were constructed, extensive flats redeemed, and the city's acreage greatly increased. Boston now covers an area of nearly forty-three square miles compared with 783 acres when the transformation of the city was begun. Great improvements to the harbor were undertaken in 1902 by the United States Government, and in 1912 a comprehensive program for the development of the harbor was started by the Commonwealth.
In its close proximity to the open sea and the intense industrial activity to be found in the immediate hinterland, Boston has advantages possessed by no other American seaport, not even excepting New York. Today with its modern equipment, piers, docks and warehouses, it ranks high among the world's ports. The ocean distance from Boston to European ports is nearly 200 nautical miles less than from New York. The distance from Boston to Buenos Aires is actually 103 nautical miles less and to Rio de Janeiro 39 nautical miles less than from Baltimore, notwithstanding Baltimore is the most southerly port in the North Atlantic range or group. The harbor has an area of more than 47 square miles and with its 141 miles of waterfront, is easily capable of accom- modating from two to three times the port's present commerce. Some of the port's facilities are unexcelled in the world. The Army Base at South Boston, with more than a mile of berthing space, capable of accommodating ten ocean steamers at one time, is superior to any overseas terminal to be found along the entire Atlantic seaboard. The eight-story main storage warehouse at the Army Base is 1,638 feet long and 126 feet high. It has forty acres of floor space which, with the 900,000 square feet of space afforded by the other wharf building, give this great terminal a floor space equivalent to the entire South Boston waterfront area. At the present time, a very large part of this terminal has been released by the Army for commercial purposes and this policy will be continued until the entire terminal is available as a commercial port terminal.
The gigantic South Boston dry dock immediately adjoining a part of the Army Base terminal, is one of the largest in the world and, in fact, the only one in the western
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hemisphere capable of docking the world's largest steamships such as the "Leviathan" and "Majestic." Both of these famous steamers have used the South Boston dry dock frequently when in need of reconditioning. Next to the dry dock is the world's most modern and extensive fish pier. This was constructed by the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts at a cost of $3,500,000, and is used exclusively in the fish business. Forty vessels may be docked and over eighty unloaded at one time at this great pier. Due to improved transportation and the enterprise of those engaged in the fish business, fresh fish is made available at the principal cities throughout the middle west within a few hours after it is unloaded at the pier. Due to exhaustive surveys by the United States Government, cooperation of transportation companies and other factors, including the high cost of living, the food value of fresh fish is being more generally appreciated and the business is bound to expand as time goes on. The wisdom of the Commonwealth in providing this great up-to-date pier for the fish business exclusively has been proven time and again and will be more apparent in coming years. During the year 1924 more than 130,966,256 pounds of fish valued at $5,401,590 were handled over this pier.
Adjoining the fish pier is Commonwealth Pier No. 5, a modern structure with berthing space sufficient for five or more ocean steamers. It has a frontage of 400 feet on the main ship channel with two slips, each 1,200 feet long and a low water depth of 40 feet alongside the entire length. This pier was constructed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at a cost of $4,500,000, and was finished in 1913. The main two-story building is a steel and concrete structure, 1,167 feet long and 360 feet wide. It is designed for both freight and passenger traffic and contains customs examination rooms, waiting rooms and other conveniences and facilities for passenger traffic. The pier is in the heart of the wool district, which is the greatest wool market in the world and is only a short distance from the boot and shoe district and other industries in which Bos- ton is a leader. The pier is equipped with depressed tracks and with others extending along the entire length of the cap of the pier, permitting direct traffic of cargoes between steamers and railroad cars. This great pier has a well earned record for the efficient and economical handling of cargoes. It has been largely instrumental in developing the growing intercoastal business via the Panama Canal between New England and the Pacific Coast.
Within a stone's throw of these great South Boston terminals, is the largest wool storage warehouse in the world. The remarkable circumstance in connection with these great piers and structures, is the fact that only a comparatively few years ago and within the memory of many Boston middle-aged citizens, the area upon which they are located was waste land and largely tidal flats. The Boston Brotherhood Big League Baseball Club grounds were situated near the site of Commonwealth Pier. The other principal overseas terminals are controlled by the three steam railroads serving the port. The Boston & Albany Railroad has an up-to-date overseas terminal in East Boston. It covers an area of more than 43 acres, has four large piers, a 1,000,000 bushel capacity grain elevator, and a freight yard capable of accommodating 430 cars, together with a reserve yard within a mile and a half of the terminal with a capacity of 800 cars. All of the piers are connected with the elevator by grain conveyors so that four vessels may be loaded at one time, each vessel receiving, if need be, a different kind of grain, while at the same time discharging freight and passengers at the piers.
The Boston & Maine overseas terminals are located in Charlestown. The Hoosac Tunnel Dock has five piers, all of which have a low water depth of 35 feet and are on the main ship channel. This terminal has an elevator with a capacity of 1,000,000 bushels and is equipped with four loading deliveries at the rate of 8,000 to 12,000 bushels
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each hour. The other Boston & Maine terminal, Mystic Wharves, consists of five piers located at the mouth of the Mystic River. Another grain elevator is located here with a capacity of 500,000 bushels and is equipped to load two ships simultaneously at the rate of 8,000 to 12,000 bushels per hour. The New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail- road overseas terminals are located in South Boston, and the tracks of this road also serve the Commonwealth Pier, Fish Pier, and the Army Base. These three railroads have established rail connections to all parts of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Their tracks extend directly to the ship's side and this in itself is a great advantage over the costly lighterage and car floatage service employed at many of the other ports. The wharves along the city proper frontage, are now largely occupied by tow boat companies and coastwise lines operating steamers regularly to Gloucester, St. John, Yarmouth, Halifax, Charleston, Jacksonville, New York, and the State of Maine ports. Long Wharf is the principal New England distributing plant of the United Fruit Company, the executive offices of which company are located in Boston. Many of these wharves have spur tracks from the Union Freight Railway, a marginal line along Atlantic Avenue, having direct track connections with the Boston & Albany, Boston & Maine, and New Haven railroads. It was along this part of Boston's waterfront that the Tea Party occurred and the famous United States Frigate "Constitution" was launched.
Boston is the second United States port in volume of ocean-borne passenger traffic, being surpassed only by New York. This port has an enviable record for the efficient execution of quarantine and other federal regulations governing overseas passenger traffic. Many of the great liners now entering the Port of Boston daily, have a capac- ity equivalent to a fleet of thirty or more of the largest and fleetest of the famous old clipper ships.
A noticeable development of recent years in the port activities, is the expansion of the traffic of outlying portions of Boston Harbor. One industry recently completed on the Weymouth Fore River, consumes more than 600,000 tons of coal annually. Similar great industries are responsible for increasing the commerce of Mystic River and Chel- sea Creek. Thus, while the total business of the Port of Boston, according to official figures of the War Department, averaged less than 9,000,000 short tons per year for the years 1905 to 1921, inclusive, it had increased to about 15,000,000 tons in 1922, 1923, and 1924. Notwithstanding this heavy increase in the total volume of the port's business, the appearance of the harbor, owing to the change from sail to steam and the increased capacity of present day vessels, is less active than in former years when the tonnage was less but the number of vessels handling it greater.
The main ship channel between President Roads and the Navy Yard at Charles- town is 1,200 feet wide and has a low water depth of 35 feet. Between President Roads and the sea there are three ship channels. The one now being most extensively used is known as North Broad Sound Channel, and the Federal Government has just appropri- ated $460,000 to start the work of dredging this channel to a depth of 40 feet at low water. The average tide in Boston harbor being about 9 feet, the improvement will give a high-water depth of 49 feet and will permit the largest steamers to pass safely in and out of the harbor at any stage of the tide. This compares favorably with even the famous Ambrose Channel in New York harbor, which has a low water depth of 40 feet and with a tide of 4 feet, gives a maximum depth of only 44 feet at high water. Thus both by gift of nature and hand of man, the Port of Boston is well equipped and capable of handling many times its present volume of commerce with ease and despatch.
Nearly two centuries had passed before Boston was compelled to think of methods of transportation other than by water and by vehicles over the few and short land roads. Compelled is the right word, for the
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opening of the Erie Canal and its prompt success forced the Bostonians to realize that their city might lose its supremacy as a business center. The West would open up and be feeders to the cities that formed the termini of the canals. These waterways naturally followed the rivers and there were no large rivers tributary to Boston; there was no lordly Hudson coming to its gates. Of the considerable New England streams, the Blackstone flowed by Providence, and the Connecticut by Hartford ; both of which towns were mere stopping places on the way to New York. Obviously any New England canal system would make interior New England a dependency of New York and leave Boston isolated. Even the Merrimac, when once its channel had been deepened threat- ened to make interior New Hampshire have its outlet at Portsmouth. Boston capital had been used in the construction of locks and for fos- tering a limited traffic by boats on the three principal New England rivers, and the improvements were resulting adversely to Boston's interests.
The Middlesex Canal-The Middlesex Canal was the first answer made to the threats of waterway competition, which, through the fore- sightedness of Boston capitalists, was put through before the Erie Canal had been completed. The Middlesex Canal was really the first sizeable thing of its kind undertaken in the United States, it having been pro- jected just after the Revolution. The conception was to have the upper waters of the Merrimac joined to Boston Harbor, and thus direct the traffic of the section lying along the river and canal towards the largest town in America, Boston. The act of the Legislature incorporating the Middlesex Canal was passed in June, 1793. Among the corporators were James Winthrop of Cambridge, Oliver Prescott of Groton, James Sul- livan of Boston, and James Porter of Medford. The original plan was to connect the Merrimac at some point in Chelmsford with the Mystic at a point in Medford; but the charter was subsequently amended so that the southern outlet was at Charlestown. The surveys were made by the English engineer, Weston; the work on the canal was directed by Loammi Baldwin, the first notable of that name. Baldwin, a native of Woburn and a colonel of the Revolution, is probably better known by his discovery of a choice apple tree than because of his engineering skill. Most Bostonians do not know the location of the long since abandoned Middlesex Canal, but few are there who are not personally acquainted with the "Baldwin" apple, the foundation of the horticultural industry of New England and New York.
The Middlesex Canal was twenty-seven miles in length, and in its progress northward climbed to a height of one hundred and seven feet by the aid of thirteen locks. It reached its highest point in North Bille-
FAIRCHILD AFRIAL_SURVEY INC. N. Y.C
NAVY YARD, CHARLESTOWN
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rica, where it drew water from the Concord River. Crossing this river, by means of three locks it ascended to the Merrimac above Pawtucket Falls in what was then East Chelmsford, since 1824, Lowell. The canal was thirty feet wide and had a depth of four feet. The trip from Lowell to Charlestown took about twelve hours, and was one of the great sight- seeing trips of the day, passenger boats being one of the first types using the canal. Craft up to twenty-four tons burden could pass through the locks, which meant the transportation of much freight as freight ton- nage was estimated at that period. By improvements made in the Mer- rimac, connections were effected with Concord, New Hampshire, seventy- five miles from Boston. The canal never paid, although for two decades it was of some commercial service. It was kept in operation as late as June, 1853, but had long since outlived its never great usefulness. The era of the railroad beginning in the early quarter of the nineteenth century turned men's attention to better means of traffic. The line of the canal was almost paralleled by a steam line which spelled doom for the enterprise entered on in which there had been so much hope and enthusiasm. The inquisitive traveler through Middlesex County, if he asks enough questions, can have pointed out to him traces of the old canal bed, and fragments of the granite locks.
Other Projected Canals-The Middlesex Canal was only one of many canal projects that were brought before the public in early eighteen hun- dred. The successful completion of the short stretch at a not so great cost, a half million dollars in all, encouraged schemes for all sorts of water-ways. The grandiose celebration of the completion of the Erie Canal in 1826, the tremendous results confidently expected from the cross state affair, stirred the interest of would-be canal builders to fever heat. The more simple and practical of these schemes was one to build a canal to Worcester, and another to join the Connecticut River with the Charles. The canal to Worcester was surveyed by General Harry Knox, of Revolutionary fame, even while the Middlesex waterway was being constructed. He laid out a feasible route but received no financial backing. The Legislature of the Commonwealth, in 1825, appointed a commission to "ascertain the practicability of making a canal from Boston Harbor to the Connecticut River." The survey was made by Colonel Loammi Baldwin the younger, and was outlined in two parts; one covering to the Connecticut, the other from this river to the Hud- son. The first section presented no unsurmountable difficulties, and the cost was estimated to total only $3,000,000; the second part, although shorter, was figured as requiring about an equal sum for its completion. The main difficulty to be overcome on the second section was the Berk-
Met. Bos .- 67
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shire range of mountains which would have to be pierced if the Hudson was to be reached. The advantages to be secured by the two-part canal were self-evident, for Boston would be connected with the Great Lakes by way of the Erie Canal, and Boston with its ship lines to foreign ports would naturally become the headquarters for the western pro- ductions.
The Fortunate Failure of the Canal to the Hudson-The canal com- missioners reported favorably to the Legislature, but, so widespread and acrimonious had been the discussions of the scheme that that body would have nothing to do with it, even repealing the resolve under which the surveys had been carried out. Possibly the hesitancy was due to the magnitude of the idea, or the length of time required for its completion, or mayhap there were enough Puritan consciences to balk at the lottery scheme which was suggested as a means of raising the funds required. Baldwin's plans for a tunnel aroused the chief opposition to the canal by the newspapers. And it was something heretofore unheard of. This tunnel was to be through Hoosac Mountain, a distance of four miles, with a width of twenty feet and a depth of thirteen and a half feet; the cost to be from $700,000 to $1,200,000. There was not in all the world a tunnel so long, and the general attitude was that what never had been constructed could not be. One opponent, David Henshaw, later col- lector of the Port of Boston, argued in the pages of the "Courier", that the time necessary to complete such a bore would be from fifty-two to one hundred and eighty-two years, and that therefore from a practical standpoint the tunnel was an impossibility. With the methods then extant, this estimate would have proven not far from right. Fortunately, the whole scheme failed of support, and shortly afterward the attention of the people was turned towards railroads, and the interest held by canals was displaced by one in railroad construction. It is interesting to note, however, that the "impossible tunnel" was built a half century later, and almost at the very place chosen by Baldwin in 1825. It may also be of interest to note here, that on December 1, 1926, the reboring of the Hoosac Tunnel was completed after less than four months' work, so as to make it possible for the largest cars registered in the United States to pass through it. For many years, the heavier trains from the West had to be routed in round about ways to reach Boston. Now the giant Sante Fé locomotives, drawing hundred car trains, can make their way east without the delay which often amounted to thirty-six hours on some shipments. All the work was carried on while the tunnel was continued in service, and the completion of the bore without interrup- tion to the forty trains a day passing through it, is considered a most remarkable feat of engineering.
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RAILROADS.
The "Granite" the First in America-By one of the strange coin- cidences of history, the same Legislature that rejected Baldwin's canal, had to consider the chartering of what was the first railroad in this country. This was no elaborate affair, nor was it a steam railroad, the motive power being horses. But it was the pioneer among railways, the model for those that followed, and Boston in idea and completion. This was the Granite Railroad, chartered reluctantly March 4, 1826, running its first train on October, 7, 1826. The builder was Gridley Bryant, born in Scituate in 1789, a builder by trade, but a self-educated engineer as well. "A man of the George Stephenson type-inventive, energetic and full of resource"-he had read accounts of what was going on in England and determined to put what he had learned to use on the work he had on hand, the building of the Bunker Hill Monument. Even so simple an idea, for the carrying out of which no money was asked of the Commonwealth, met with opposition that all but prevented its construction. Bryant's own account of the conception and completion of this railroad tells the story as no other account can. Said he :
I had, previous to (the laying of the corner-stone) purchased a stone-quarry (the funds being furnished by Dr. John C. Warren) for the express purpose of procuring the granite for constructing this monument. This quarry was in Quincy, nearly four miles from water-carriage. This suggested to me the idea of a railroad (the Man- chester and Liverpool Railroad being in contemplation at that time, but was not begun until the spring following); accordingly, in the fall of eighteen hundred and twenty- five I consulted Thomas H. Perkins, William Sullivan, Amos Lawrence, Isaac P. Davis, and David Moody, all of Boston, in reference to it. These gentlemen thought the project visionary and chimerical; but, being anxious to aid the Bunker Hill Monument, con- sented that I might see what could be done. I awaited the meeting of our Legislature in the winter of 1825-26, and after every delay and obstruction that could be thrown in the way, I finally obtained a charter, although there was great opposition in the House. The questions were asked, "What do we know about railroads? Who ever heard of such a thing? Is it right to take people's land for a project that no one knows any- thing about? We have corporations enough already." Such and similar objections were made, and various restrictions were imposed; but it finally passed by a small majority only. Unfavorable as the charter was, it was admitted that it was obtained by my exer- tions; but it was owing to the munificence and public spirit of Colonel T. H. Perkins that we were indebted for the whole enterprise. None of the first-named gentlemen ever paid any assessments, and the whole stock finally fell into the hands of Colonel Perkins I surveyed several routes from the quarry purchased (called the Bunker Hill Quarry) to the nearest tidewater; and finally the present location was decided upon. I commenced the work on the first day of April, 1826, and on the seventh day of Octo- ber following the first train of cars passed over the whole length of the road.
The Granite a Horse-Power Road-This road of Bryant's caught the interest of the country, and has been noted in more than one school history as marking the beginning of the railroad epoch in America. It
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was what might be called a superior tramway rather than a railroad, Bryant making no attempt to use steam, although Stephenson had al- ready introduced this power on the Stockton and Darlington road in England. The really remarkable thing about the Granite Railroad was the number of appliances Bryant had devised for its successful opera- tion, including as they did the switch, the portable derrick, the turn- table and the moveable truck for the eight-wheel car. Bryant was the inventor of the latter mentioned device, his claim to this being sustained in court, but he never profited from it, dying a poor man in 1867, after he had seen it used on the multiplying steam railroads of the country.
The road consisted of strap rails laid upon granite stringers. The length was four miles; the cost about $35,000. A frog and a section of the original road was exhibited by the New Haven and Hartford at the World's Fair at Chicago. The original charter gave the Granite Rail- road corporate powers for forty years, but in 1831, these powers were repealed. It was operated as a horse-power road, however, for four decades, but gradually fell into disuse. Eventually the franchise was purchased by the Old Colony Railroad Company, and the old structure demolished. A new railroad was built on the right of way, being formally opened for public traffic on October 9, 1871. "There is a certain historical fitness in the fact that through the incorporation of the Granite Railway into the Old Colony, the line built to connect Plymouth with Boston, that road became the original railroad line in America."
The Rise of the "Railroad Party"-Bryant's railroad, or at least his efforts to secure a charter for it, did another notable thing for railroad- ing in Massachusetts ; it brought about a "railroad party" as opposed to the "canal party". It was long, and seemingly wasted years before this party or the sentiment of the people could be aroused to the needs of such roads, and the benefits accruing from them. Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins, he who had financed the Bryant road, presented a petition in 1826 that surveys might be made for a railroad from Boston to the Hudson. On the recommendation of Dr. Abner Phelps, one of the representatives from Boston, a joint committee was ordered by the House of Representatives to sit during recess, and "consider the prac- ticability and expediency of constructing" such a railway. The Senate failed to concur, but a House committee was appointed composed of Dr. Abner Phelps, George W. Adams of Boston, a son of President John Quincy Adams, and Emory Washburn of Worcester. This was the first concerted action looking to the construction of a commercial railroad through the Commonwealth. "That it was now taken was also unques- tionably due to Bryant's success in obtaining a charter for the smaller enterprise, which, having a distinct object in view, both practical and patriotic, had not aroused conservative apprehensions."
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