USA > Maine > Waldo County > Belfast > History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine, Volume II, 1875-1900 > Part 31
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In 1876, about a dozen porgy steamers were in the bay for a week, and each often secured a thousand barrels.
In 1888, for the first time within ten years, menhaden or por- gies frequented the bay. Their absence was attributed to the steam seiners. Three years after, they again struck in, and single boats took over five hundred off Goose River. A few appeared during the summer of 1894.
1876. During the last week in July, a sperm whale explored Belfast Bay, and "blew" several times near the Camp-Ground.
In June, 1892, a large whale was seen just outside the Monu- ment. One, twenty-five feet long, became entangled in a weir at Lincolnville during the spring of 1898, and was killed. It drifted about the harbor several days, and landed on the shore, at the foot of Mayo Street. The city authorities were obliged to re- move it.
1878, August 5. A horse mackerel, nine feet long and weighing about eight hundred pounds, was taken by a porgy steamer seine in the harbor.
In July, 1881, the bay was full of bluefish.
A black bass was caught below the Upper Bridge, in 1883. It is supposed to have escaped from Swan Lake.
In 1884, a squid was found on the shore of the harbor. This fish rarely visits the Penobscot waters, but is plentiful off the Grand Banks and is jigged in the vicinity of Matinicus and Criehaven where it is prized as bait for catching cod, haddock, hake, and other bottom fish.
1886. In June, during a low course of tides, large quantities of small silver hake were left on the flats above the Lower Bridge. In September, a shark was killed near the western shore below Condon Street.
1887. A petition to the Legislature by Charles A. Burd, for the exclusive privilege of cultivating oysters in Belfast Bay, was refused. Subsequently fifty bushels were planted by Captain Grindle, but the experiment failed.
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WILD BEASTS, BIRDS, AND FISHES
In May, 1891, John C. Condon caught, near Moose Point, a lobster thirty-seven inches long, and weighing twenty-three pounds. The specimen was larger than any recorded in the Smithsonian Institution, whither it was shipped for examination and preservation. In this year, a fish taken in the harbor which somewhat resembled a smelt, was pronounced to be one of rare species called Argentine.
In 1893, a seal, weighing one hundred pounds, was caught on the East Side of the river.
The work of the Waldo County Fish Protective Association, a corporation organized here in 1899, has been carried on with excellent results. Under its direction, Swan Lake, Little River, and other waters have been stocked with bass and other fish.
1900. Tinkers visited the harbor late in September, and the next month some were caught at Citypoint. It is seldom that they go so far up the Passagassawakeag River. A lump fish, measur- ing six inches, and a racer codfish, three and a half feet long, were taken at the Lower Bridge.
Lobsters have been so extensively secured for canning pur- poses, of late years, that they are scarce and bring high prices. In 1883, it was estimated that seventy-five thousand were taken in the bay, and were sold at about four cents each. So far had the price risen that during the winter of 1900 they frequently brought twenty-five cents apiece.
CHAPTER XLVII
METEOROLOGICAL AND PHENOMENAL
Gales - Storm Signals - Ice Storm - Extreme of Heat and Cold - Tidal Wave - Record of Lucius Holcombe Murch - Ice - Bay obstructed for Three Months - Freshets - Bridges carried Away - Lightning - Earth- quakes.
BELOW will be found an account in brief of extraordinary weather conditions and the results in the vicinity of Belfast from 1875 to 1900.
GALES
1876, March 21. The equinoctial gale, commencing with snow and turning to rain, was very severe. Several casualties to the shipping in the harbor occurred.
1878, January 17. A sudden violent gale and storm did con- siderable damage. The schooner P. M. Bonney filled and sank, and other vessels were injured. Several buildings were unroofed, and a stock-house belonging to the paper mills on the East Side of the river blew down.
1878, in August, the Signal Service Bureau commenced dis- playing cautionary storm signals by red and white flags and lanterns from a flagstaff on Thombs' and Osborne's sail-loft, under the charge of Captain Charles H. Wording, of the Custom-House. The indications were telegraphed from Port- land.
1878, December 10. Vessels, wharves, and buildings were seriously damaged by a heavy gale accompanied by rain. The water rose three feet in fifteen minutes, and near the shore, sea- weed was blown across the telegraph wires. The schooner D. K. Arey dragged against the Lower Bridge and sank. A washout in Waldo rendered the railroad track unsafe, and for two days the mails came by stage from Bangor to Belfast. The loss in Belfast by the storm was estimated at $6000.
1879, January 1. No snow to date.
1880. A mild winter deprived other States of an ice crop, and proved fortunate for Maine. At Unity Pond (Lake Windermere),
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twenty-five thousand tons of ice were harvested, and brought to Belfast by rail.
1881, October 5. Snow whitened the ground, and ice formed.
1882. The year opened with no snow on the ground, little frost, mild temperature, and green vegetation. The first sleigh- ing was on January 8. Daily morning weather reports were posted by the Mutual Union Telegraph Company.
1884. A cold wave occurred in June, and on the 14th the ground was slightly frozen. Many plants were destroyed.
1885. There was good sleighing to nearly the close of March, and on the 26th the mercury fell to eight degrees below zero. A month later the streets were dusty. On the 3d of May a snow- storm put sleighs again in requisition.
1886. During the last week of January occurred a remarkable ice-storm, the like of which had never been seen by the oldest inhabitant. It commenced with a drizzling rain which froze as it fell. Trees were loaded down with ice, which enveloped the small- est twigs to the thickness of a man's wrist. Some branches bore twenty-five times their weight, and, as they yielded to the pres- sure, their snapping and crackling were heard in every direction. In some instances whole shade trees succumbed to the great mass and fell to the ground. Hardly one of the beautiful elms that arch across our city streets escaped injury. When the storm ceased and the sky cleared, the ice-coated pendants glistened like thousands of glass prisms. On Primrose Hill, a tree was bent down until the top rested upon the snow, forming an arch that completely enveloped the lamp-post. When the gas was lighted, the ice-coated, delicately wrought structure sparkled and glis- tened defying description. For several days telegraphic com- munication with the outside world was suspended and all trains were delayed.
1888. The 12th of July was very cold for summer weather, the thermometer registering only fifty-three degrees above zero F.
1889. "The average temperature for January," said the "Republican Journal," "was 28.15°, making it the warmest Jan- uary in the past thirty years. February averaged 21.52 degrees, and March 36.21 degrees. The mild winter - the mildest for many years - was followed by a warm summer, and a splendid autumn completed a year that will long be remembered for its genial warmth. The average temperature for April was 47.68°,
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HISTORY OF BELFAST
which was four degrees warmer than the average for thirty years, and the warmest April in all that time. May averaged 58.25° -- three degrees warmer than the average May for thirty years, and with one exception it was the warmest May in that time. June averaged 65.72°, July, 67.68°, August, 67.43°, September, 62.43º, October, 47.41°, and November, 41.20°."
1890. In mildness, January and February equalled that of the previous year. But December proved unusually cold. Ice twenty inches thick was cut during the month.
1890, July 8. A tornado, principally of wind, and resembling a Western cyclone, occurred. Barns were demolished, trees up- rooted, and chimneys blown down.
1892. There was but little frost, and no snow on the ground until January; but twenty-four days of that month were stormy.
1893. The month of January was extremely cold throughout the whole country, most harbors as far south as Baltimore being frozen. Favorable winds and other circumstances kept Belfast Bay open. On February 19 and 20, a heavy snowstorm delayed the trains. The first snow fell November 15. Thursday, Decem- ber 14, was the coldest day of the year, the mercury reaching fourteen degrees below zero F. in Belfast.
1894. The weather record for 1894 set the mark for the tradi- tional "oldest inhabitant" in several respects. May 2, the ther- mometer stood at eighty degrees above zero in the shade, the hottest ever known at that season; February 24 was the coldest day for over thirty years, the average being 11.6 degrees below zero; April 9 saw the deepest snows at that season for years; August 10 the mercury stood at fifty degrees at sunrise and there were frosts on low land.
1895, February 8. High winds, snow, and a tidal wave caused considerable damage. The water rose more than three feet above the height of the normal spring tides. Within ten hours the barometer fell from 29.3 to 28.6.
1895. On the 10th of May, the thermometer indicated eighty- four degrees above zero, but three days later a heavy frost occurred. There were warmer days in May and June than in either July or August. Snow fell November 2. During the third week of December, the frost came out of the ground; the weather being mild and foggy.
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METEOROLOGICAL AND PHENOMENAL
1896. The mercury reached sixteen degrees below zero Janu- ary 10 and February 17. Snow came November 21, but it lasted only a few days. For the remainder of the year the ground was bare. There were one hundred and nine rainy days during the year, and forty-six on which snow fell.
1897. The summer was the coldest for many years. On Octo- ber 16 the thermometer stood at eighty-two degrees above zero. A snowstorm occurred November 12.
1898. January was colder than the average for thirty-nine years. There were only three fair days during February, and on the first and second days of the month, the railroad was blocked. Nearly one half the rainfall of July came in a single hour on the 26th. Snow first came on November 10.
1899. A very cold spell began late in January and terminated February 11 in a severe gale and snowstorm. The roads were badly drifted, travel by rail was delayed, and by teams was nearly suspended. Considerable ice made in the bay, but not enough to stop the Boston steamers, and the smaller boats laid off but one day. A snowstorm March 15, followed by sleet, made the best sleighing of the winter, which lasted several days. April was the warmest in forty years, with the exception of April, 1889. The snow went off without rain, and by May 1 farmers were ploughing in fields where two weeks before the snow was two feet deep. There were two light falls of snow in October. Ten inches fell on November 11 and 12. The ground was bare at Christmas.
1900. The first few days of the year were very cold. Snow to the depth of three inches fell on January 1. April 9 was the warmest day of that date recorded here for forty-two years; the thermometer reaching sixty-nine degrees above zero. On the 1st of March a gale proved disastrous to many buildings, including a partial wrecking by a falling chimney of the screw-driver factory of F. A. Howard & Son in the rear of Phoenix Row. The ice wharf at Little River was carried away, and several sea-walls near the battery were destroyed. On November 8, a continuation of high tides and strong southern winds caused considerable damage in the harbor; vessels and wharves being injured, and several buildings on the latter flooded. What remained of the old Rag Wharf, on the eastern side of the harbor was carried away. A frost came September 19; the mercury reached the freezing point,
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HISTORY OF BELFAST
October 17; on December 10, it was two degrees below zero. Snow came November 25, and remained until Christmas, when rain and fog caused its disappearance.
During an unbroken period of over forty-two years, Mr. Lucius H. Murch has recorded the temperature and state of the weather thrice daily, together with the nature and duration of storms. For several years he has furnished an account of rain and snow- falls for the United States Government.
ICE
Although the winter of 1875 did not seem uncommonly cold, it was noticeable for a prolonged embargo not only of Penobscot Bay, but of the whole Atlantic coast as far as Virginia. On the 21st of January, with the thermometer at ten degrees below zero, ice began to form, and in a few days no blue water was visible from Owl's Head to Fort Point. January 24, the steamer Katah- din reached her wharf with difficulty through eight inches of solid thickness, accompanied by hundreds of people who escorted her along a narrow channel. Until April, horses and sleighs passed over the bay in all directions. On one bright forenoon, seventy- five persons drove from Belfast to Castine. Much of the surface was smooth, and afforded excellent skating and ice-boating. There was a fascination in passing over the water usually so unobstructed, with a feeling of security almost as great as if one walked upon solid granite. Until April 2, men crossed the bay opposite Turtle Head. The ice did not finally leave until April 17, one day after the river was clear to Bangor. The detention of the Katahdin lasted nearly three months. One of the incidents of the icy fetters was the displacement of the piles of the railroad bridge, which for some time compelled trains to stop at the foot of Peirce Street.
1883. During the early part of February, the upper harbor was frozen as far as the lower steamboat wharf. A heavy sheet of ice between the Bluff and Long Island was dislodged by cutting a channel through the centre.
1885, February 12. The harbor was filled with ice, and fears were entertained of a complete blockade. The steamers were delayed, but managed to make their regular trips.
1886. Up to January 7, the Passagassawakeag River, from Citypoint down, was entirely free from ice.
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METEOROLOGICAL AND PHENOMENAL
1888, January. The bay froze over, and navigation became obstructed until March 22. On the 22d of February, a party drove from Islesboro, with a dory placed on sleds, to be used in case they broke through. Saturday Cove was free most of the time. On March 10, a gang of men attempted to cut out the harbor, and, aided by the revenue cutter, Levi Woodbury, suc- ceeded in clearing a channel through twelve inches of ice to the steamboat wharf. A large floe in its passage out swept away the monument from Steele's Ledge. All the docks were clear on the 22d of March. The "Republican Journal" for Thursday, Feb- ruary 9, 1888, has the following: "Not since 1875 has there been so much ice in our harbor and Penobscot Bay as during last week. The revenue cutter reported every harbor, bay, inlet, and thoroughfare on the coast of Maine frozen over - ice from eight to sixteen inches thick. The main harbor of Belfast has ice fifteen inches thick; the outer harbor, six to eight inches. The Cutters Dallas and Woodbury reached Cottrell's shipyard with difficulty. The Dallas cut through to the wharf. The steamer Rockland landed freight Wednesday on ice opposite John Condon's wharf." The "Journal" speaks of "heavy storms and cold weather," but does not give the date of closing of the harbor to navigation.
1893. During January, the weather was intensely cold, and most harbors, as far south as Baltimore, were frozen. Belfast Bay kept open until February 9, when it was obstructed by ice for a few days.
LIGHTNING
1876, June 10. The house of Michael Casey near Union Street was struck, and the chimney damaged.
1876, June 23. The house of Lucius Stephenson, on the East Side of the river was injured. The electric fluid came down the chimney, entered every room, and passed out through the cellar drain.
1881, August 7. Lightning entered the office of the railroad freight house by the telegraph wire and a jar of vitriol, wrecking the operating instruments, and setting fire to the room.
1894, June 23. The house of Captain George R. Carter, at the corner of Union and Commercial streets, and the barn of Henry Carrow at East Belfast, were struck, and both were considerably damaged.
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HISTORY OF BELFAST
1894, August 19. The house and barn of C. H. Waterman were struck and burned.
1896, April 15. The house of P. G. Hunt, about three miles southwest of the city proper, was badly shattered. The lightning struck the chimney and demolished it.
1898, June 17. At Daniel H. Strout's in East Belfast, light- ning struck a large tree near the house, and thence scattered through every room, scorching woodwork, and blackening furni- ture. In the telegraph office wires were burned off.
1899. The house of William Lyman Hall, on Upper High Street, was struck and one chimney destroyed.
During a thunderstorm June 27, 1900, lightning struck numer- ous buildings and trees in and near the city, but did compara- tively little damage. Some of the inmates of houses had narrow escapes.
EARTHQUAKE
For some time in June, 1885, the surface of the bay and harbor was covered with a fine yellow substance, resembling sulphur, which deposited a sediment along the shore. It was not confined to salt water, but appeared on the Muck Pond and in the fields.
1897, September 25. Two distinct shocks of earthquake occurred, sufficient to rattle dishes.
FRESHETS
1876. Heavy rains early in April caused a freshet at the Head of the Tide. The flume of Richard Anthony Gurney's mill was washed away, and a portion of the mill destroyed.
1895, April 6. The Poor's Mills Bridge was carried away, and the damage to the roads exceeded a thousand dollars.
1896. On Sunday, March 1, the most disastrous flood ever known here occurred. Eight bridges on the Passagassawakeag River were either wholly or partially carried away, including a large section of the Lower Bridge. At the head of the stream, the Russ Bridge, so called, was the first to go. Then followed the Monroe Bridge, and after it that at Gurney's Mills, with the saw- mills and gristmills. A few rods below, a bridge on the road lead- ing to Poor's Mills was also wrecked. The next two bridges, one at George Ulmer White's, and the other at the Head of the Tide, escaped. The latter was much weakened. Near Negro Island,
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METEOROLOGICAL AND PHENOMENAL
the ice, lumber, and other débris piled up to a height of fifteen feet. When the jam broke, it struck the Citypoint Bridge, en- tirely destroying that structure. The railroad bridge, being of iron, and strongly built, withstood the torrent. From Citypoint, the freshet met the ice, which extended nearly to Beaver's Tail, and when this was dislodged, it carried most of the Upper Bridge. The mass soon reached the Lower Bridge, and that too gave way. There was a wild rush through the open space, and then the ruins became distributed over the harbor. When the electric wires on the Lower Bridge were hit, a brilliant display of fire- works took place, the arc light and cach circuit emitting sparks. On Monday, the only access to the city from the East Side of the river by team was by way of the Head of the Tide, a distance of six miles. Many minor bridges and dams on other streams were injured in this freshet. The cost of repairing and replacing the various bridges was estimated at six thousand dollars.
On the 9th of September another storm, with a rainfall of over five inches, produced a freshet, which carried away the Downe's Bridge near Gurney's Mills.
1900. A severe rain and gale on February 13 carried away the Hartshorn Bridge in West Belfast, and the dam at Kaler's Mills at the Board Landing.
CHAPTER XLVIII
BIRTHS
A List of Births which occurred from 1875 to 1900, in Belfast; and of some Chil- dren born to Present or Former Residents Elsewhere.
THE following list of births in Belfast was compiled expressly for this volume in 1912. It is necessarily incomplete, owing to the state of the city's records of vital statistics covering the early part of the period. The information these city records afforded has, however, been supplemented by consulting every available source, as the school records, the newspapers of the times, etc. These also proving inadequate, a personal canvass of the families of the city proper, and of the outlying districts, was made by competent persons familiar with the localities. Unless otherwise indicated, the place of birth is Belfast. The State is given only in the case of towns outside of Maine. Where the birthplace of parents was unascertained, a blank is left, -thus (b. ). Abbreviations: b. = born ; d. = daughter; s. = son. The names in this list, being arranged alphabetically, are not indexed.1
Achorn, Sarah, b. 20 September, 1897; d. Joseph O. Achorn (b. Mor- rill) and Annie L. Wentworth.
Achorn, Walter Ross, b. 15 June, 1892; s. Eugene Storer Achorn (b. Camden) and Mary Eliza Michels.
Adams, Jacob C., b. 22 April, 1893; s. John H. Adams (b. Islesboro) and Mary M. Small (b. Swanville).
Albee, b. 22 April, 1887; s. Henry B. Albee and Annie B. Hart.
Albee, Lizzie and Augusta P., twins, b. 21 April, 1888; d. Henry B. Albee and Annie B. Hart.
Aldus, b. 10 August, 1900; s. Samuel P. Aldus and Bessie A. Thomas.
Aldus, Calvin James, b. 29 April, 1897; s. James V. Aldus and Eliza E. Robbins.
Aldus, Edith Silvia and Ethel Goldia, twins, b. 28 February, 1899; d. James V. Aldus and Eliza E. Robbins.
Aldus, Helen Evelina, b. 20 July, 1895; d. Wm. Oakes Aldus and Inga Olson (b. Isaksmala, Sweden).
Aldus, Mary Ann, b. 18 May, 1894; d. James V. Aldus and Eliza E. Robbins.
1 The Deaths and Marriages are arranged chronologically and are indexed. The Index of Deaths begins on page 675. The Index of Marriages begins on page 651.
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BIRTHS
Ames, Ida Marcia, b. 5 May, 1881; d. Henry W. Ames (b. Hope) and Viola M. Wellman (b. Belmont).
Ames, Jennie L., b. September, 1877; d. George Ames and Mary C. Curtis. Annis, Merl Bertrand, b. 17 December, 1898; s. Bert E. Annis (b. Bangor) and Hattie A. Dunbar.
Arcy, b. 19 July, 1892; s. William A. Arey and Caroline Hatfield (b. Newport, R. I.).
Armstrong, Leon, b. 5 May, 1879; s. Andrew P. Armstrong (b. Bel- mont) and Elvira Knowlton.
Arey, Donald D., b. 14 January, 1900; s. Walter E. Arey and Edna M. Trull (b. Lowell, Mass.).
Arnold, Mildred F., b. 8 January, 1898; d. William H. Arnold (b. Searsmont) and Harriet C. Freeman (b. Camden).
Bachelder, Rutherford, b. 5 April, 1899; s. Freeman W. Bachelder (b. Prospect) and Ruth M. Staples (b. Searsport).
Bagley, Abbie Marian, b. 24 June, 1899; d. Harry P. Bagley and Eva Cook.
Bailey, Alice Marie, b. 8 March, 1899; d. Franklin Merrill Bailey and Mary Emily Holmes (b. Waldo).
Bailey, Harold Elmer, b. 8 January, 1881; s. Henry Clay Bailey (b. Washington) and Marianna Brier.
Bailey, Marian Holmes, b. 14 May, 1889; d. Franklin Merrill Bailey and Mary Emily Holmes (b. Waldo).
Bailey, Marjorie Frances, b. 15 January, 1894; d. Franklin Merrill Bailey and Mary Emily Holmes (b. Waldo).
Bailey, Ralph Elmer, b. 4 December, 1896; s. Franklin Merrill Bailey and Mary Emily Holmes (b. Waldo).
Baker, Doris, b. 16 September, 1894; d. William J. Baker (b. Cornwall, Eng.) and Grace Wight.
Baker, Elmer Fred, b. 16 July, 1886; s. Fred A. Baker (b. Winter- port) and Annie E. Brown.
Baker, Merle J., b. 16 February, 1892; s. William J. Baker (b. Corn- wall, England) and Grace Wight.
Baker, Minnie, b. 5 June, 1894; d. James N. Baker (b. St. George, Canada) and Lottie J. Winchester (b. Bangor).
Baker, William H., Jr., b. 5 December, 1887; s. William H. Baker (b. Winterport) and Marian E. Hall (b. Appleton).
Banks, Cassie, b. 5 June, 1877; d. Joseph W. Banks, and Elsie E. Brown (b. North Haven).
Banks, George Westley, b. 1 October, 1888; s. Fred Luscum Banks and Evelyn Estelle Mudgett.
Banks, Gertrude, b. 15 November, 1886; d. Fred Lusenm Banks and Evelyn Estelle Mndgett.
Barr, Annie Leonora, b. 18 April, 1876; d. Thomas Dyson Barr (b. Liverpool, Eng.) and Mary Rebecca Speed.
Beckwith, Hermon Oswald, b. 19 October, 1885; s. Siłas S. Beckwith and Ellen Rumrey (b. Hurricane Island).
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HISTORY OF BELFAST
Beckwith, Ross Elmer, b. 10 September, 1879; s. Silas S. Beckwith, and Ellen Rumrey (b. Hurricane Island).
Beckwith, Virgie May, b. 9 May, 1894; d. Alonzo Thomas Beckwith and Lizzie M. Choate (b. Winsor).
Benson, Bessie Almeda, b. 2 April, 1897; d. George E. Benson (b. Maine) and Sadie A. Hamilton.
Benson, Edward W. (mulatto and white) b. 11 September, 1893; s. George E. Benson (b. Maine) and Sadie A. Hamilton.
Bickford, Katherine Pendleton, b. Sept. 1878; d. William Ezra Bick- ford and Leonora Marriner (b. Lincolnville).
Bicknell, Louise, b. 2 June, 1875; d. Henry Bicknell and Luella M. Brown (b. Appleton).
Black, Alexander, b. 20 March, 1888; s. Franklin Hall Black (b. Frank- fort) and Carrie F. Durning (b. ).
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