USA > Maine > Waldo County > Belfast > History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine v.I, 1770-1875 > Part 65
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1806.
Packet Eliza . . 98.17 Ezra Ryan, owner.
1807.
" Superb .
188.14 Jona. & R. White, J. Patterson, owners.
1807
Greyhound . 118.87 Nathan Cram, John Hartshorn, Isaac & Alanson Senter, owners.
1807.
Harriet & Jane 85.66 John Doyle, Andrew Derby, owners.
1812.
" Washington .
34.86 Benjamin & William Davis,
1812.
" Belfast . 124.52 John & Samuel. Gilmore, "
1818.
" Creole 21.92 Eben. Meader,
owner.
1816.
" Superb
95.78 Ephraim McFarland,
1817.
Polly
30.23 Thomas Stewart,
1817.
"
Sally
60.44 C. & N. Smith & D. Mclaughlin, owners.
The above list is imperfect. It does not include the ships " Fox " and "Belfast " or the brig "Illuminator." The " Fox," the first ship launched here, was built by Major William Cunningham, near the upper bridge, in 1805. Her tonnage was about three hundred. People from far and near came to the launching, and wondered at her immense size. The number of vessels owned here that year was twelve: viz., schooners " Trial," owned by Captain E. Mc- Farland, " Ranger," "Humbird," "Friendship; " Major Cunning- ham's schooner, William Griffin's schooner, Samuel Peirce's schooner, William Patterson's schooner ; sloops " Mary," " Indus- try," "Endeavor; " and Samuel Bird's boat.1 The ship " Belfast" was built in 1811, by Walter Hatch, for western parties, on the eastern side of the harbor, near Goose River. The same year, the brig " Illuminator," 2 built for Jonathan and Robert White, James Patterson, and John Angier, of Belfast, and James A. Allen, of Boston, was launched from a yard on the site of Con- don's Wharf. The ship " Alfred," three hundred and twenty tons, built by Hutson Bishop, in 1823, was the first copper-fastened ves- sel launched here.
A complete list of vessels built in Belfast, from the establish- ment of the collection district, in 1818 to 1874 inclusive, will be found in the Appendix. The whole number of vessels owned in the district in 1874 was 337, with a tonnage of 73,772.
CALIFORNIA EMIGRATION.
Following the discovery of gold in California, in 1848, many persons from this vicinity started for the new El Dorado; the
1 Valuation lists.
2 In 1873, a lot of ship-carpenters' tools used in constructing this vessel were found in an unoccupied attic of the old Robert White house, where they had remained for- gotten for over sixty years.
45
706
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
more venturesome by the uncertain and dangerous route of the Isthmus ; others with ox-teams, overland, through a pathless wilder- ness. The first direct voyage from Maine was projected in and started from Belfast. Early in 1849, the bark " Suliote," of 263 tons, just launched, owned by Asa Faunce and others, and com- manded by Captain Josiah Simpson, was announced for San Fran- cisco, provided forty passengers were obtained. To the surprise of the owners, the requisite number soon applied. The freight that offered was of curious and miscellaneous kinds. Old stocks in the stores were sifted, and the less marketable portions sent out as ventures. Dry goods, groceries, clothing, medicines, and all imaginable articles went. Many of the passengers were forecast- ing enough to provide small frame buildings ready to put up, and these proved the best investments. In order to fill the hold of the vessel to a suitable height for the construction of passenger accommodations, a large lot of hemlock boards, the readiest thing that came to hand, was bought on ship's account, and taken in. This lumber, which cost about $10 per thousand, was sold in San Francisco at $300 per thousand, - a crowded and shelterless population having forced building materials up to that enormous figure.
Towards the end of January, every thing was in readiness. The event was one of no small importance, and created much excite- ment in all this region. The Bangor passengers, on their arrival, were met by a deputation of citizens, and escorted into town with a band of music. On the 27th, a meeting was held in Washington Hall, on High Street, where a collation was spread and partaken of by the voyagers and their friends. Ex-Governor Anderson presided. Speeches were made by Rev. Dr. Palfrey, Rev. Mr. Cutter, W. H. Weeks, Esq., Captain Simpson, Benjamin Griffin, Esq., W. O. Poor, and others. And it is remarkable to note the fact that, notwithstanding the adventurers were about to sail to an almost unknown land, the future foreshadowed in their speeches was almost precisely what California is to-day, - a region of won- derful resources, great development and unbounded wealth, per- vaded by New England enterprise, and controlled by its regard for law and order.1
On Tuesday afternoon, January 30, at two o'clock, the bark set sail ; and, although the day was bitterly cold, a large crowd wit- nessed her departure. The passenger list numbered fifty, among
1 Journal.
707
COMMERCIAL HISTORY.
whom were the following from Belfast: Thomas Farrow, car- penter; Benjamin Griffin, printer and editor; Curtis B. Merrill, boat-builder; William L. Torrey, artist ; F. Patterson, sailmaker. After a passage of one hundred and sixty days, in the course of which she touched at Cape de Verde Islands and Valparaiso, the vessel 1 reached San Francisco on the 19th of July. In a gale off Cape Horn, April 16, Edwin P. Simpson, son of the cap- tain, was washed overboard and lost. This was the only death or accident during the voyage. Soon after the "Suliote " left, Charles B. Hazeltine and Justus G. Miller started by the Isthmus route. They arrived at Chagres March 1, and were until the following September in reaching San Francisco.
Among the other earlier passenger vessels which sailed from here for California were the schooner "Mary Reed," 103 tons, Nov. 27, 1849, " with a cargo of lumber, provisions, wagons, wheel-barrows, marble chimney-pieces," &c., the brig "San Jacinto," and the bark "W. O. Alden," which left December 9, spoke each other off Cape Horn, and entered San Francisco together. The latter vessel took out fifty persons, of whom thirty-one resided here, viz. : -
OFFICERS. - Wm. O. Alden, captain; James T. Tilden, 1st officer ; George D. Palmer, 2d officer.
CREW. - Leonard Townsend, steward ; Jacob L. Solomon, cook ; Lorenzo G. Coombs, Franklin Havener, George W. Elwell, Henry Dunbar, Jr., George W. Blodgett, Prescott H. Nason, Peter Gilson, Jr., seamen.
PASSENGERS. - Wm. F. Abbott, Stephen Caldwell, Edward Crosby, James M. Craig, Henry Dunbar, Wm. C. Frederick, Benj. P. Hazeltine (Secretary), George C. Hall, Joseph L. Havener, V. R. Lancaster, Samuel Locke, Thomas W. Lothrop, Jesse Townsend, John N. Stewart, George E. Wight, John Wilson, Samuel Walton, Wm. W. West, Henry J. Woods, Jr.
On Thanksgiving evening, November 29, a public ball and sup- per were given to the adventurers in the foundery building, then
1 The subsequent history of the "Suliote," as the first vessel which went from Maine to California, may be interesting. She returned to the Atlantic, and remained in the hands of her original owners. On the 12th of August, 1864, wbile on the way from Cow Bay to New York, she was captured by the rebels, bonded for $5000, and com- pelled to take on board three hundred passengers from the ship " Adriatic," burnt at sea. In 1867, she was dismasted, towed into Boston a wreck, sold, and rigged into a schooner. In November, 1870, while bound from Bangor to New York, she was brought here in a leaky condition, and repaired.
708
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
just completed, at the foot of Main Street. Such departures soon lost their novelty by frequent occurrence. It is to be regretted that no accurate list of those who at different times went from here is preserved. It would be curious to trace the history of the hun- dreds of our citizens who flocked to the land of promise, to seek that fortune which many realized, but which a much larger num- ber only saw in the distance. In a letter from Sacramento, under date of June 12, 1850, to the "Journal," Cyrus Rowe, the former editor of that paper, mentions sixty-one Belfast men whom he had recently seen or heard of. Mr. Rowe started overland, April 9, 1849, accompanied by Solyman Heath, William S. Heath, Charles Treadwell, Annas Campbell, Hiram E. Peirce, and A. V. Parker. The party reached the mining regions safe and sound, Septem- ber 21, after experiencing numerous dangers and hardships.
709
FIRES AND FIRE DEPARTMENT.
CHAPTER XLIII.
FIRES AND FIRE DEPARTMENT.
First Fire. - Samuel Honston's House burned by British in Revolution. - Fire-wards. - Municipal Precautions. - Fire Club. - First Engine. - Original Members of her Company. - Named the "Vigilance." - Her History and Destruction. - Fires from 1820 to 1843. - Hydrant Engine No. 2. - Officers of her Company. - Engine- houses, - Reservoirs. - Fires from 1843 to 1865. - Great Fire of 1865. - Incidents. - Buildings destroyed. - Map of Burnt District. - Fire Department reorganized. - Restrictions upon Wooden Buildings. - Washington No. 5 purchased. - Officers. - Fires from 1865 to 1873. - New Engine for the Hydrant Company. - Great Fire of 1873. - Incidents. - Engines arrive from Bangor, Searsport, and Castine. - Build- ings and Property destroyed. - Insurance. - Pecuniary Donations. - Plan of Terri- tory hurned over. - Reconstruction. - Fires to close of 1874.
Nº TO authentic record of the ravages of fire in Belfast before 1820 has been preserved. It is believed that the first destruction of any buildings was during the Revolution, probably in 1781, when a party of soldiers from Bagaduce burned the un- occupied house and barn 1 of Samuel Houston, on the east side of the river. About the same time, another party burned the saw- mill of John Mitchell, on the Wescott stream.
In 1805, an article was inserted in the warrant for town meet- ing, " to see if the town will purchase a fire Ingine for the Safety of the town, by request of a number of inhabitants." The vote was not passed.
The first fire-wards were chosen in 1814. George Watson, Benjamin Whittier, Thomas Cunningham, William Moody, and William Crosby composed the board. From that year until the formation of the city government, similar officers were annually elected.
The earliest municipal precaution against fire is under date of April 17, 1820, when it was voted in town meeting as follows : -
" That all persons are hereafter forbidden the burning of crack- ers and gunpowder within the limits of the village.
1 White's Hist. According to Mrs. Tolford Durham, the barn only was destroyed. She remarked that " the house was so poor I suppose that they did not regard it worth burning."
710
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
" That hereafter no person shall be allowed to carry any fire in any of the streets within the limits of the village, excepting it be in an iron or earthen covered vessel.
" That any person caught contrary to the above regulations shall forfeit one dollar for each offence."
This was before the days of matches, when fire was only pro- curable by flint, steel, and the old-fashioned tinder-box, or, what was more expeditious, by obtaining a few embers of a neighbor.
On the night of Tuesday, Jan. 2, 1821, at about eleven o'clock, a fire was discovered in a large wooden building on Main Street, which stood upon the ground now covered by the Allyn granite block,1 owned by Ladd & Morrill, and occupied on the lower floor by them as stores. The front chambers were occupied by Rufus B. Allyn, attorney-at-law, and by Sylvanus Gallison, tailor. The weather being calm, and the town-pump in good order, the fire was prevented from spreading beyond the building where it originated, and a small dwelling-house adjoining, occupied by Archibald York, which were consumed. A large building, about four feet from the store, owned by Judge Crosby, and occupied by Captain Benjamin Hazeltine, was saved by great exertions.2
The perils to which lives and property in the village were ex- posed from the want of a fire department were forcibly realized by the last-mentioned conflagration. On the following week, a public meeting was held at Mr. Biglow's school-room for the pur- pose of forming a fire club and procuring suitable apparatus. This resulted in the organization of the " Belfast Fire Club," and in the purchase of a fire-engine subsequently called the "Vigilance." The constitution of the club admitted as members every citizen " who shall furnish himself with two good substantial leather buckets, twelve inches in length and eight inches in diameter, marked with his name ; and a good substantial bag, four feet in length and two feet three inches in breadth, marked with his name." Each member was "constantly to keep his buckets and bag in some conspicuous and accessible part of his house, where he may lay his hand upon them as well by night as by day," and
1 A block of three brick stores was erected on the site the next year, being the first brick block in town. This was partially burnt in 1844, and remained in a ruinous con- dition until 1849, when the Granite Block took its place.
2 Hancock Gazette. At the town meeting in 1823, it was voted " not to pay Benj. Carver $20 for a schooner's mainsail destroyed in checking the fire that cousumed Joseph P. Ladd's store."
711
FIRES AND FIRE DEPARTMENT .:
upon an alarm of fire to immediately repair to the place of danger, where he was to be under the order and direction of the fire wards. This association was maintained for several years, and rendered efficient service.1 Some of the fire buckets are still sus- pended in the front halls of several old houses.
The " Vigilance " was purchased by subscription in the spring of 1821, for five hundred dollars. In June, the selectmen issued pro- posals for building a house twenty by twelve feet, "to be divided into two compartments for the hearse and fire-engine." Apart from any express statutory provision, the power of. towns to raise money for maintaining a fire department was considered question- able until 1837. Ten years previously, however, it was voted " that fifty dollars be appropriated for repairing the engine and purchasing new hose." This was the first sum raised in aid of the Fire Department.
The engine does not appear to have been under the charge of any regular organization until April 7, 1823, when Thomas Mar- shall, Samuel Spring, Herman Abbot, Samuel Sinkler, Job White, John H. Conner, William Quimby, Samuel Tyler, Samuel A. Moulton, Henry Peaks, James Shaw, Frederic A. Lewis, Hutson Bishop, William R. Simpson, Ephraim Fellowes, John Anderson, John Tenney, William Stevens, Henry Cargill, Asa Eastman, Wil- liam Barnes, F. C. Raymond, James H. Kellam, Benjamin Morrill, Alexis Morrill, Joseph Y. Gray, James B. Hanson, William Fred- erick, Charles Clark, Sewall Gilbert, and Asa West formed an association called the Belfast Fire Engine Company. A code of by-laws was adopted, which provided for the annual election of a captain, vice-captain, and clerk, who should also act as treas -. urer, establish monthly meetings, and impose fines for non-attend- ance at the same, and at fires. The following extract from the code illustrates the rigid economy of the times in the matter of salaries : -
" ART. 5. It shall be the duty of the Clerk to keep a record of all the doings of the Company, to call the roll at all meetings, to notify members of all special meetings, to collect all fines and demands
1 The original members of the club were as follows . Daniel Lane, President ; George Watson, Vice-President; John S. Kimball, Treasurer ; Philip Morrill, Clerk ; Alfred Johnson, William Crosby, Zaccheus Porter, Peter H. Smith, Alfred Johnson, Jr., N.H. Bradbury, Thomas Pickard, Bohan P. Field, Samuel French, Stephen Longfellow, George W. Webster, Joseph Williamson, William White, William Moody, Francis Hathaway, John Angier, Joseph P. Ladd, John H. Conner, Benjamin Hazeltine, James McCrillis. They have all deceased.
-
.
712
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
due to the Company, of which he shall keep a true account, and present a correct statement of all demands to and from the Com- pany, at their annual meeting ; and it shall also be his duty, at the expense of the Company, to procure some one or more persons to clean and oil the Engine, and to do and perform every kind of labor in and about the Engine and appurtenances, that shall be necessary, whenever the captain shall order it; and shall receive two dollars annually for his compensation from the funds of the Company." 1
Thomas Marshall was chosen the first captain ; Samuel Spring, vice-captain ; and Dr. Herman Abbot, clerk.2
Until about 1820, fire engines were of a very primitive kind, many of them having wooden tubs. The Belfast engine was a " Thayer machine," so called from its manufacturer. It had a copper tub, with a large air-chamber, and when well manned, and in good order, yielded a continuous stream of some power, if kept supplied with water. There was no display of varnish and gild- ing ; no bell, torches, lanterns, crane-neck, hose-carriage, or suc- tion-hose. The records of the company, which are regularly kept, from 1823 to 1865, furnish some interesting light upon the man- ners and customs of the firemen of half a century ago, as fol- lows :-
June 2, 1823. Monthly meeting. Conner and Quimby tardy, but were excused by treating the company.
Sept. 4, 1823. Another alarm, and the company turned out. We returned with the engine to the town-pump at dusk, and left it for the night.
Feb. 11, 1825. Voted, that Conner, Lewis, and Tenney be a committee to make arrangements for a supper, and that twelve dollars be appropriated for the purpose.
May 1, 1826. Voted, " to expend the funds of the company in the purchase of lottery tickets." Under this vote, two whole and three quarter tickets in the Cumberland and Oxford Canal Lottery were procured.
1 Records of the Company.
2 The captains (called foremen from 1844) who have succeeded Mr. Marshall are Samuel Spring, F. C. Raymond, Robert W. Quimhy, John Dorr, Helon Brooks, S. A. Monlton, L. R. Palmer, Asa Faunce, J. P. Furber, Daniel Faunce, Stephen B. Day, Amos R. Boynton, George R. Lancaster, A. N. Noyes, Axel Hayford, Horatio H. Car- ter, J. W. Frederick, and Jacoh Y. Cottrill, Jr.
While the militia system was maintained, the members of any engine company who had been approved by the selectmen of a town were exempt from military duty. It was therefore an advantage to belong to the fire department.
713
FIRES AND FIRE DEPARTMENT.
July 6, 1829. Voted, that the clerk be authorized to purchase, at the expense of the company, pit tickets for the theatre on Wednesday evening.
June 7, 1830. Voted, that the captain be authorized to em- ploy some person to paint the engine ; that the name of " Vigil- ance " be given to it, and be painted on the sides. This is the first recognition of a name.
In January, 1844, a majority of the members of the company having become connected with Hydrant Company No. 2, it was voted to disband, and deliver the records to the selectmen. A new organization was however formed on the 18th of that month, which elected J. P. Furber captain, A. R. Boynton vice-captain, and E. H. Hall clerk. The by-laws of the old company were temporarily adopted, and a committee chosen to request the select- men to put the engine in repair. This was done, to the satisfac- tion of the members. On the second day of September, the engine was removed to the new house erected for it on Church Street, on the land now covered by the store of A. D. French. " We found the new house," says the record, " far more convenient than old one; still, it wanted several things, such as furnishing, fire- place," &c. October 7, the new hose-carriage was first attached, and the hose reeled on.
On the 6th of January, 1845, both engine companies met in convention, and resolved that, unless their respective rooms were comfortably furnished, the department must be dissolved. This movement induced a sufficient subscription by citizens for the pur- pose. In the fall of 1846, the " Vigilance " was converted into a suction engine ; the expense of the change, three hundred dollars, being defrayed by subscription. By a vote of the town in March, 1847, the purchase of new hose for its use was authorized. Sept. 8, 1849, the company voted to disband, owing to "indifference on the part of the authorities to provide those necessities which, on many occasions, the season and the night have required after duty." A new organization succeeded in the following May, and continued three years. This was disbanded, because the city council " refused to appropriate the sum of a hundred and fifty dollars for the ensuing year." A few weeks later, several ener- getic young men revived the company, which existed until March, 1854, when after voting that the balance of fifty dollars remaining
1 The first house was located on High Street, where the Johnson Block now stands. It was afterwards moved to Franklin Street, near the south-westerly corner of the lot now owned by the United States. It was demolished in 1856.
714
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
in the treasury be given to the poor of city, and to the Wash- ington Monument Association, a motion to surrender the appara- tus and to adjourn without day prevailed. Still another company was soon after formed, which continued until June 23, 1865, when, at the burning of the store of C. A. & J. A. Russ, at the foot of Main Street, the engine proved unserviceable, and, in the language of the last entry upon the records, " we hauled her back to the engine house, declaring we would never take her out again." She was used, however, at the great fire of October, 1865, and, after the purchase of Washington No. 5, she was transferred to the ship-yard of C. P. Carter & Co. At the great fire of 1873, she was worked as long as men could stand at the brakes, and was finally abandoned and burnt. "Her warped and blackened remains lay on the scene of the last conflict with her old enemy, near the vessels on the stocks, where took place one of the hard- est struggles of the day."1 Such was the end of the old " Vigil- ance," that for nearly fifty years had done efficient duty in our fire department.
The next serious fire which occurred was on the 12th of No- vember, 1823. It broke out at about eight o'clock in the morning, in the large tavern house of Samuel Jackson, where Phoenix Row now stands. A part of the building was being finished, and the flames spread through the shavings, and scattered combustibles with such rapidity that but little was saved. The rescue of an amiable and accomplished daughter of Mr. Jackson, named Mary Eleanor, who was in bed in the upper story, was impossible, and she perished by suffocation. The dwelling-house of George Watson, the stores of John Angier and Samuel B. Morrill, with several barns in the rear, including a part of their contents, were also consumed.2
1825. During the summer, extensive fires prevailed in the forests ; and many valuable wood-lots near the village were in- jured.
1826, Feb. 1. The barn of Luther Gannett, on the east side of the river, together with a horse and cow, was burnt. Loss, two hundred dollars.
1827, Aug. 15, Sunday. "During divine service," say the records of the Fire Company, "the alarm bell for fire was rung, congregations dissolved, and both men and women, with engine,
1 Journal.
2 Phoenix Row was built the following year.
715
FIRES AND FIRE DEPARTMENT.
pails, and buckets, ran to the top of Wilson's Hill. The fire ap- peared to be raging in the woods in front of Jona. Durham's house. After remaining until dark, the company was dismissed."
1827, Nov. 24. A new saw-mill, at the Head of the Tide, owned by John T. Poor, was burnt. The loss was eight hundred dollars, and there was no insurance.
1828, Oct. 16. In the forenoon, a building on the south-east corner of Market and High Streets, owned and occupied by Thomas Marshall as a store and currier's shop, took fire from : defect in the chimney, and was burnt. It was once the publishing office of the " Hancock Gazette." A bark-house, six feet in the rear, narrowly escaped destruction.
1828, Nov. 28. The saw-mill of Hon. John Wilson, about two miles from the village, was entirely destroyed by fire.
1829. On Sunday morning, January 11, at three o'clock, the schooner " Albert," Captain Shute, lying at the head of Bishop's Wharf,1 was discovered to be on fire. The only means of saving the vessel was by scuttling her, which was done by boring holes in the run, and the fire was thus extinguished. A sad incident of this fire was that two of the crew, Thomas Reed, Jr., aged thirty- five years, and George W. Merriam, son of John Merriam, Esq., both of Belfast, were suffocated in the forecastle. Their bodies were shockingly burnt. The fire appeared to have caught under the fire-place, by the heating through of the bricks, and consider,- ably injured the vessel and cargo. The weather was intensely cold.2
1829, Feb. 20. At about one o'clock A.M., a two-story wooden building, south of the site of the Granite Block on Main Street, occupied by F. A. Lewis as a store, and by William G. Crosby, Esq., as an office, took fire, and with its contents was destroyed. The adjacent wooden building, occupied by James B. Norris for a store, and by Hon. William Crosby as an office, was also burnt. The demolition of a small shop arrested further progress of the flames. Judge Crosby lost his valuable law library and many private papers. Mr. Norris was fully insured. The night was calm, and the roofs of the neighboring buildings covered with snow. The supply of water was very limited.
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