USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Harpswell > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 53
USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Brunswick > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 53
USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Topsham > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 53
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The first ferry in Harpswell of which we have any knowledge was established in 1764, as shown by the following extract from the town records : -
'. Voted, to have a ferry started near the Narrows, a good ferry boat built and a convenient road for man and horse cleared to the head of Long Reach and over the head of Long Reach so called, at or before the first day of October next, and a ferry man to tend sd ferry on Sabbath days till half after nine of the clock in the morning and after meeting to ferry the people back again and to tend on Town Meetin days." Paul Raymond, Benjamin Jaques, and Nathaniel Purinto were chosen a committee to carry the vote into effect.
In 1772 one was established from Indian Point on Sebaseodigan Island to Trotter's Point in Georgetown, by order of the Court of General Sessions. The fare was fixed at three " coppers " for a man,
Opus cit., p. 222.
548
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
six for a horse, eight for an ox, twelve for a yoke of oxen, five for a cow. and one each for swine or sheep.1
In 1795. Daniel Blaysdell, Jr., was licensed by the Court of General Sessions for Lincoln County to keep a ferry over New Meadows River from the landing near his house in Georgetown to the opposite landing in Harpswell, and gave bonds in the sum of one hundred and forty dollars for the faithful discharge of his duty. He was al- lowed to charge twenty-five cents as the fare for a man and horse. Temporary ferries also have been established across the Androscoggin at various times during the present century, when the toll-bridge was, for any cause, impassable. Of this character, probably, was the ferry in existence between Topsham and Brunswick in 1827, though it is possible the old ferry may have been continued to this date. From the records of the Court of General Sessions for Lincoln County, it appears that at this time James Wilson was discharged as a ferry-man, and Nathaniel Quint was appointed in his place. At the same time the ferriage toll was increased as follows : For a horse and chaise, twenty- five cents ; for a horse and coach, fifty cents ; for a horse and rider, twelve and a half cents ; for a horse and wagon, sixteen cents ; for cart, oxen, and driver, thirty cents ; for neat cattle, per head, six cents ; for sheep and swine, per head, four cents ; for foot passengers, three cents.
The first bridge over any considerable stream which was built in this vicinity was one over the Cathance River in Topsham, at the " mill-right," which was built in 1768. It cost forty dollars, or at least that was the amount appropriated by the town for the purpose.
The next bridge in point of date was what is now known as the Gurnet Bridge, connecting Brunswick and Great Island, Harpswell, which was built in 1789. It was rebuilt in 1839.
In 1795 an attempt was made to have a bridge built across the Androscoggin River by the towns of Brunswick and Topsham, and the town of Brunswick " voted very generally to build the one half of a bridge across Androscoggin River, to begin near Doctor Nye's Mill." A committee was chosen to " see the matter carried on," and the town also voted to raise £300 for building the bridge, but not to assess the money until leave to build it had been granted by the General Court. Nothing came of this attempt to construct a free bridge, but the next year certain persons were empowered by the legislature to build a toll-bridge from Nye's mill, in Brunswick, to the Middle Rock, and from thence to the rock below the " Great Mill " in Topsham.
1 Records of Court of General Sessions in County Commissioners' Office, Portland, 1772.
549
PUBLIC LANDS, ROADS, BRIDGES, ETC.
The Act incorporating " The Proprietors of Androscoggin Bridge" was passed and approved February 26, 1796. The incorporators were William King. Benj. Jones Porter, John Dunlap, Wm. Stan- wood, 3d, Cutting Noyes. Amos Lunt, James Stone, John Merrill. Jr., James Wilson, Daniel Clark, Joseph Langdon, Ebenezer Emer- son, Isaac Johnson, John Blanchard, John Merrill, Pelatiah Haley, Actor Patten. Benj. Hasey, Wm. Owen, and Theo. Symmes. A schedule of rates of toll was prescribed by the Act, which should be in force for thirty years ; after that, subject to legislation.
In March an additional Act was passed, fixing the number of shares at five hundred, at eight dollars each, and providing that no one per- son should purchase more than six shares within six days from the opening of the books, thus enabling persons of limited means to become shareholders and preventing the control of the bridge being monopolized by a few individuals. The bridge was built during the summer of 1796, and a toll-house was built in the fall. In the spring of 1811 the bridge was carried away by a freshet, and was rebuilt the same year at a cost of $5,591.42.
June 22, 1814, the toll-house and greater part of the bridge were carried away by a freshet. They were at once rebuilt at an expense of $3,500. In the spring of 1827 the bridge was again carried away, and the directors voted to rebuild and to make the abutments of stone. Previously they had been made of wood. The expense, in- cluding a toll-house, was about $6,000. Since 1827 the bridge has not been disturbed by freshets.
-
ANDROSCOGGIN BRIDGE IN 1928.
550
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
In 1842 the bridge was destroyed by fire and rebuilt the same year. For some years previous to 1842 the bridge was a covered one. After that it was open. This bridge was repaired and made free April 10, 1871. The value set by the appraisers was $2,575. It is now owned by the towns of Brunswick and Topsham.
In 1795 the first bridge across the " Granny-Hole Stream," in Topsham, was erected, connecting the Island with the main land.
In 1796, according to Lemont, a bridge was built across the head of New Meadows River.1 This statement is probably erroneous, and the bridge built at that time was doubtless at Brown's Ferry, where in 1808 were the ruins of an old bridge.2
In 1805 the first turnpike bridge was built across New Meadows River.3
In 1806 a second bridge was built across the New Meadows River.4 This was probably the one at the head of the river alluded to by Lemont as having been built in 1796. This is the more probable, as in 1810 the town voted to build a road to Hayden's Bridge, and a Mr. Hayden lived near the head of the river at that time.
In 1829 a bridge was built from the Brunswick shore to Shad Island. "Father " Stetson wrote in his diary, under date of Novem- ber 26, 1829, that he " walked to the new bridge to the Island amidst the falls." Previous to this time access to the Island was only had by means of boats.
The bridge connecting Great Island and Orr's Island was built at some time between 1833 and 1845, by Samuel Orr,, Ralph Johnson, Jr., David Wyer, Thomas S. Jack, Michael Sinnett, John Conley, William Orr, Charles Black, Richard Orr, Jr., and William D. Orr, . inhabitants of Orr's Island. In 1852 they gave the bridge to the town, and the town voted to accept it and to keep it in repair. The bridge was wantonly destroyed in 1857, and the town soon after rebuilt it.
Bull Rock Bridge was built in 1835. One half of it was paid for and owned by the town of Brunswick.
Bay Bridge was completed in July, 1836. It was built by the town of Bath at an expense of $12,000.5 Lemont6 states the cost to have been $20,000. It was and is a toll-bridge.
In 1849 the railroad bridge across the New Meadows River was
1 Historical Dates of Bath, etc., p. 39.
2 Reminiscences of several aged citizens.
3 Massachusetts Special Acts.
4 Lemont, Historical Dates of Bath.
5 The Regulator, July 23, 1836.
6 Historical Dates of Bath, etc., p. 39.
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PUBLIC LANDS, ROADS, BRIDGES, ETC.
built, and in 1850 the railroad bridge across the Androscoggin, below the falls, was built.
In 1859 considerable interest was excited in regard to a free bridge between Brunswick and Topsham. Public meetings were occasionally held for several years to consider the subject.
In 1860 the town of Brunswick voted to unite with the Andros- coggin Railroad Company in building a bridge across the river, pro- vided the cost to the town did not exceed $2,500, and provided the company would agree to keep the bridge in repair, except the floor- ing of the public travelled way.
Topsham opposed the building of a bridge at Goose Rock, but favored building one at Shad Island. The bridge was, however, built and opened to the public on March 27, 1861.
Besides those which have been enumerated, there were many small bridges across brooks and gullies which were not of sufficient impor- tance to merit any extended notice in these pages. The following bridges of this description are mentioned simply to show the changes which have been made in the roads and streets at the places where they were formerly located.
In Topsham there was, in 1764 and later, a bridge across " Gravel Island Gully," near the tan-yard of Mr. Cyrus Purrington. There was also one at the same time over the brook and gully near the village burying-ground. In 1802, and probably earlier, there was a bridge across the deep gully on what is now Winter Street, just back of Goud's store. The bridge was fifteen or twenty feet above the brook which flowed under it. About this time a horse belonging to Thomas Wilson fell off the bridge and was killed by the fall, and the chaise to which the animal was attached was considerably injured. There was no railing to the bridge, and the town was therefore liable for damages. In 1804 the town voted Mr. Wilson three hundred dollars, and thereby probably saved a lawsuit.
In Brunswick there was a bridge across the ravine on Bow Street. It was first built by private parties, but in 1833 the selectmen were instructed to rebuild it. It was a trestle-work bridge, about ten feet high.
There was a similar bridge at Stone's Brook, on Pleasant Street, west of Powder-House Hill.
In 1825 there was a small bridge on Federal Street, at the foot of the hill.
552
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
CHAPTER XX.
COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK.
Ix the succeeding chapters upon the commercial history of the towns of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, it is intended to include not only matters pertaining to the business of these towns, but also the cost, at different periods, of the necessaries of life, and matters con- nected with municipal taxation. All facts, however, concerning the rise and progress of navigation and the construction of railroad and telegraph lines have been placed, for convenience, in another chapter.
The earliest business carried on here, in addition to farming and trading in furs, was salmon and sturgeon fishing. Thomas Purchase, soon after his settlement here in 1628, caught, cured, and packed salmon and sturgeon for a foreign market, and it is stated that there were at one time, " saved in about three weeks, thirty-nine- barrels of salmon, besides what was spoiled for lack of salt, and about ninety kegs and as many barrels of sturgeon, and that if they had been fitted out with salt, and apt and skilful men, they might have taken abun- dance more." 1
It is also stated in Douglas's History that there was a company formed in London for the purpose of importing cured or dried stur- geon, and that they had an agent at the foot of Pejepscot Falls, and a building erected there. This was no doubt, as McKeen observes, a very considerable business, and was carried on upon quite a large scale, from time to time, until into the last century, and until the commencement of King Philip's war, in 1675, it was, doubtless, a great business with Mr. Purchase. The business has not been carried on to any extent within the present century, the salmon having entirely disappeared from the river, and there being fewer sturgeon than formerly and a lessened demand for the latter. Present indica- tions betoken, however, a return of the salmon fishery before very many years.
1 Reding's Deposition, Pejepscot Papers.
553
COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK.
DAMS.
Before water-power could be made available for propelling the machinery of mills, it was necessary that dams should be erected.
The first one erected across the Androscoggin River was the upper dam. It was built about the year 1753. It was, without doubt, carried away by freshets in the last century, and rebuilt at different times. It is known to have been carried away in 1814, and to have been rebuilt soon after. In 1839 it was carried away and was rebuilt the following year, at a cost of $6,134.66. The owners at that time were Alfred J. Stone, Rufus Rogers, David Dunlap, Gardner Green, R. T. Dunlap, Thomas Pennell, William Curtis, Daniel Stone's heirs, and Hugh Patten. A portion of this dam was carried off in 1859, and was never rebuilt. Later freshets have carried away the remaining portions.
The long dam was probably built about the year 1756. In 1828, John Dunning, of Brunswick, ninety years of age, testified that " the long dam, so called, was built by some person or persons to me unknown, when I was about eighteen or nineteen years of age. It extended from the Topsham shore, near where the great mills, so called, were built, to the island now called the Shad Island. A year or two after the long dam was built, the same proprietors or persons that built the long dam, built the gulf dam from the south side of said island to the Brunswick shore. I recollect that Hugh Wilson and Samuel Wilson, of Topsham, with one Douglass, were concerned in the aforesaid dam and mills at the time, or soon after, the same were erected, as I have before stated. I think that soon after this dam and mills were built, Brigadier Thompson, of Topsham, became a proprietor of the same, with others. My father, David Dunning, and Jeremiah Moulton were the owners of the Fort right, so called, and conceiving that the persons who built the long dam, so called, had committed a trespass, by building the same. sued the trespassers, and recovered damages." Mr. Dunning also testified that the main channel of the river, before the dams were erected, was between Shad Island and the Brunswick shore. It is not altogether improbable that the long dam was built to divert the water into the drain which led to the Hodge Mill in Topsham. Indeed, as there were no other mills on the Topsham side at that time, and as this dam of. itself would be of no use to any mill on the Brunswick side, it is difficult to conceive for what other purpose it could have been built.
The gulf' dam, according to the statement given above, was first
554
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
built about 1760. If this were so it was probably carried away by a freshet, as there was one built there about 1772 by Joshua Nye and the Dunnings. This dam was built straight across from Shad Island to the mainland, and the water was brought to the mills below through a flume. This dam was carried off by nearly every freshet, and. finally, about 1815. it was built in its present shape by William E. Weld, who obtained one half the privilege as his compensation. A small portion of this dam has been carried away by a freshet, and a portion was rebuilt in 1874, but the larger part of it is the original dam.
The middle, or factory, dam was built about the year 1772. It was carried away by a freshet in 1785. It was rebuilt, and a portion of it was again carried away in August, 1833.
In 1835, Colonel Loammi Baldwin, of Boston, made a survey of the water-power of the Androscoggin' River, at Brunswick. In his report, dated November 12, of that year, he states it as a demonstra- ble fact that this river discharges more water than any other river in the State, being equal, at the lowest stage of the water, to more than 4.000 cubic feet in a second. According to this report the whole fall of water is 40.83 feet, divided at that time by three dams. At the upper dam there was a fall of 11.30 feet ; at the middle dam, of 14.04 feet ; and at the lower dam, of 15.49 feet. From the upper to the middle dam, on the Brunswick side, the distance was 1,280 feet. From the middle to the lower falls the distance is seven hundred feet.
" The lay of land about these falls," says the author of the " Water- Power of Maine," " is favorable to the growth of a great manufactur- ing city. On the Brunswick side, below the village, the ground lies in three extensive levels of such height and form as to admit of improve- ment without grading. A natural 'run' leads from the required site of the upper dam to those levels, and could be converted into a grand canal at a very small expense. The fall could be increased to fifty- five feet by raising the upper dam, and the damage for flowage would be inconsiderable, the land on both sides of the river to Lisbon Falls, eight miles above, being mostly high." There is now no dam at this fall, and but a small portion of the water-power of this river is now made available here. There are a few other powers in town at present unimproved. One, about three miles above the falls, is known as the " Quaker Mill Pond." It is capable of furnishing power for a num- ber of saws. The Bunganock and New Meadows Rivers can also be made available for manufacturing purposes.
555
COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK.
CANALS.
In 1797 or 17981 a corporation was formed for the purpose of con- structing a canal to unite the waters of Merrymeeting Bay with those of New Meadows River. It was intended for the transportation of lumber, and not as a passage for vessels. John Peterson was one of the proprietors and was the leading spirit of the enterprise. The canal was built, but probably it did not answer the purpose for which it was intended, on account of there not being a sufficient difference of level between the two ends, and the experiment was soon abandoned. Traces of this canal are still to be seen.
In 1807 a petition was sent to the General Court for authority to establish a canal for a similar purpose, from the Androscoggin River, above the falls, to Maquoit. A survey was made in December of the same year by Benjamin Franklin Baldwin.
The following is a synopsis of the survey : -
General course. south-southwest and irregularly south. Com- mences about half a mile above the falls. It crossed Mair Brook, Widow Hunt's swamp, bridge at the county road a short distance east of Starbird's tannery, through Captain Skolfield's land, and by the head of Maquoit Marsh. The distance was about three miles and eighty rods.
Greatest elevation of land
46 ft. 5 in. 7
depression 37 ft. 8 in. 0
Average elevation
29 ft. 8 in. 9
depression 24 ft. 1 in. 0 66 elevation of whole 5 ft. 7 in. 9
We have been unable to ascertain if any company was formed, but the canal was never built and probably never begun.
MILLS.
GRIST-MILLS. - Providing for the sustenance of the body is the first thing to occupy attention in a newly settled region, and though proba- bly the very earliest settlers pounded their maize, after the mode of the Indians, in mortars of stone or iron, yet without doubt the first mills erected were grist-mills.
There is no evidence of the existence of any mill hereabouts until after the formation of the Pejepscot Company, and from the small num- ber of settlers antecedent to that time, it is almost certain that there
1 Lemont's Historical Dates of Bath, pp. 8 and 76.
556
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
were none. The earliest reference to any project of the kind is con- tained in the records of that company. At a meeting of the proprie- tors, held September 14, 1715, one of their number, Mr. Watts, was desired to take the advice of a millwright in regard to the best place for a mill and the estimated cost, and he was requested to make a report on his return, " in order to our agreeing for a Mill against the Spring." His report is not in the records, but on September 5, 1716, the proprietors voted " that the Small Stream in a Gulley lying about Twenty Rodds W. N. W. from Fort George at Brunswick be granted to Captain John Gyles and Mr. Wm Goodwin and their Associates, provided they erect a Saw Mill or a Grist Mill thereon within a twelve month, & keep it going." 1
It appears from the record of a subsequent meeting of the proprie- tors, held on February 3, 1741, that this proposed mill was never erected, and as Gyles and Goodwin failed to fulfil the conditions of the grant, the right to the stream reverted to the proprietors. Inas- much, however, as a grist-mill in this new township would be, in the opinion of the proprietors, " of great advantage for the Inhabitants to grind their Corn and tend to promote good Husbandry," they at this meeting passed a vote that the stream and gully already mentioned, together with about an acre of land, exclusive of rocks, and the exclu- sive privilege of building mills upon it, should be granted to their part- ner, Mr. Henry Gibbs and his heirs and assigns, with the proviso that he or they should " build a Grist Mill thereon, within two years from the first day of May, 1742, if no war with the Indians and French "; and in case of the occurrence of war within that time, two years was to be allowed after the termination of it, and with the further proviso that the mill should be kept in good repair as a grist-mill for five years, or in default thereof the privilege was to revert to the proprietors.
This privilege was bounded as follows : -
" Beginning at the west bastion of Fort George, thence west two Rods across the two Rod Road thence west and by north twenty-four * Rods to Androscoggin River, thence down said River to a Stake standing by said River, thence South to the Northerly Corner of Fort George, thence by Fort George to the Westernmost Corner of the Bas- tion first-mentioned according to a Plan of the same under the hand of James Scales, Surveyor, bearing date Nov. 16, 1741." This was the origin of what was subsequently known as the " Fort Right."
1 Pejepscot Records. This stream flowed across what is now Bow Street, where the Cabot Company's cotton house is, and entered the river.
557
COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK.
On June 14, 1751, James Thompson and Anthony Coombs of Brunswick conveyed " to Aaron Hinkley, Nathaniel Larrabee, Gentle- men of Brunswick, Humphrey Purinton, Cordwainer, Georgetown, and Isaac Snow and Cornelius Thompson, of Brunswick, yeomen, six eighth parts of a Cove at New Meadows, between the land of Anthony Coombs and James Thompson, for the privilege of erecting a mill or mills."1
In 1753 a grist-mill was erected at New Meadows, doubtless on this cove, and another at Maquoit.2
In 1769 there was a grist-mill on Mair Brook,3 where Getchell's mill now stands. There has been a mill at that place nearly all the time since, though of late years it has been not a grist, but a carding mill.
In 1794 John Peterson had a mill at New Meadows. In 1795 there was, according to a plan of Brunswick made at that time by John Given, a corn-mill on the upper dam on the Brunswick side. Refer- ence is also made in the margin of this plan to two other corn-mills, but the map is so defaced that it is impossible to determine their local- ity, though there is little doubt that one of them was the one at New Meadows and the other upon the lower dam. The first grist-mill with apparatus for bolting the meal was erected in the latter part of the last century by Mr. Benjamin Stone. 4
In 1819 a Mr. Quinby had a grist-mill on the bank of the river west of the cotton factory which was run by a windmill. In 1820 there was a grist-mill in operation at the upper dam, under the man- agement of Henry Putnam, Esquire, which was spoken of at the time as being " remarkable for its perfect and ingenious system of machinery." At the same time there was a grist-mill at the end of the bridge where the pulp-mill now stands. In 1836 there were two corn and flour mills within the limits of the village, one of which was on the " Nye" privilege near the bridge, and the other was probably at the upper dam and managed by Charles B. Mitchell. In 1839, Mr. Samuel S. Wing bought a part of the Nye grist-mill. This mill was a two-story building with two runs of stones, one for wheat and one for corn. In 1842 the mill, with all the adjoining property. including the Androscoggin Bridge, was burned. It was rebuilt the next year, and one run of stones added for grinding barley. In 1850 the mill was again destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt the same year,
' York County Records, Vol. 36, p. 147.
2 Brunsrick Records in Pejepscot Collection. Memorandum on corer.
8 Town records.
4 James Curtis's Journal, in the library of the Maine Historical Society.
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HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
with three runs of stones, and in 1871 it was again burned, since when there has been no grist-mill on that privilege.
In 1859, D. and C. E. Scribner bought the privilege, now occupied by them at the Brunswick end of the old toll-bridge, and put in machinery for the manufacture of flour, wheat meal, crushed wheat, corn-meal, etc. The capacity of the mill is about two barrels of flour per hour and about fifteen bushels of meal per hour. The mill is kept running almost constantly on flour, but corn and grist work is insuf- ficient to keep that department running all the time. The Messrs. Scribner were the first in these towns to make flour from wheat brought from the West.
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