Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 26

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790

USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892 > Part 26

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CHAPTER IX.

TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION.

Early Methods of Travel .- Stage Routes .- Water Routes and Steamboats. - Captain Jason Collins .- Railroads.

I N THE present day of rapid steam and electric transportation by land and water, when the people and products of towns and cities removed from one another by the length and breadth of the state are transferred in the course of a single day, it is hard to adequately appreciate the almost insuperable obstacles that lay in the way of intercourse between the early settlements. The river was of course the main thoroughfare, whenever practicable, and in the warmer months was traversed by bateaux, shallops and other primitive craft, while in the winter rude sledges were employed in conveying stores and family goods upon its frozen surface. The means of communica- tion with the county from the earlier settlements to the westward were many-fold more difficult, and days and weeks were consumed in toilsomely driving ox-teams, loaded with the lares and penates of the household, through a wilderness to which the early guides were the blazed and spotted trees, commemorative of a still earlier migration of hardy pioneers.

In 1754 the first military road in the state was made between Forts Western and Halifax. This was done by order of Governor Shirley, who at the same time made arrangements for the transmission of ex- presses by whale boats from Fort Halifax to Portland in twenty hours, returning in twenty-four. The military road being impassable in winter, owing to the depth of snow, barrels of provisions and other stores were carried from the lower to the upper fort on hand sleds. This occasioned Captain Hunter to say to the governor that he had been obliged to give the men who had hauled the sleds large quanti- ties of rum, without which it would have been impossible to have done anything. Thus it seems that in those days, long before the use of steam power, rum power was used-the active spirit of progress.

The rude vehicles used at that time made transportation doubly slow and tedious. Augusta was the center of cart lines to the towns up the river, and the roads, even in the early part of the nineteenth

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

century, were little better than rough clearings through the forests. Over these primitive "thoroughfares " Major Thomas Beck ran a truck team for goods to Bath, during the winter; and as late as about the winter of 1836, Samuel C. Grant, who owned the cotton (now a woolen) mill at Gardiner, sent his son, William S., to Wiscasset with a rude sled, on which was a bale of cloth to be shipped to Boston.

Prior to 1790 the only mode of individual travel was by foot or on horseback. The first wheel carriage was a venerable chaise, already outlawed by fashion in Boston. It was brought to Gardiner about 1790, by Mr. Hallowell, and was called by its owner "the parish chaise," for the appropriate reason that the entire parish borrowed it. When General Dearborn returned from congress the first time, he brought a Philadelphia wagon, which was the wonder of the inhabit- ants, though there was not more than a mile of road on which it could be run.

As may be readily imagined, the transmission of the mails in the early days was conducted in the most primitive manner. About 1790 the first mail was carried on horseback to Gardiner, from Portland, through Monmouth and Winthrop, and it is chronicled that " the road was very much improved about this time." The next mail was car- ried in 1794, from Portland, via Wiscasset to Augusta. In 1795 Ben- jamin Allen, the first postmaster of Winthrop, and Matthew Blossom, of Monmouth, took the contract to carry the mail once a week on horseback between those places. In 1803 Jacob Loud, the second post- master at Pittston, carried the mail from Wiscasset to Gardiner on horseback and from Gardiner to Augusta in a canoe. Early in the present century, however, the stage, usually carrying the mail, began to make its appearance in the county. The first stages were rude and torturing conveyances, and in speed and comfort bore about the same relation to the Concord coach of later days that that vehicle now bears to the railway passenger coach.

STAGE ROUTES .- The first stage came to Augusta in 1806, and the · first to Gardiner in 1811. Both started from Brunswick. Colonel T. S. Estabrook, of the latter town, ran the Augusta stage, making bi- weekly trips. From thirteen to twenty-three hours were required for the transit, the route being the same over which Colonel Estabrook had carried the mail on horseback, in 1802, for the first time. Peter Gilman, who still carried the mail from Augusta to Norridgewock, in- formed the public, in June, 1806, that " he leaves Norridgewock with a stage on Monday and Thursday at six o'clock in the morning and arrives at Hallowell the evening of the same day at seven." Truly a wonderful performance !

In 1807 John and Meshach Blake and Levi Moody began running the first line of stages from Hallowell to Portland, via Augusta, Mon- mouth and New Gloucester. They left Hallowell at 4 A. M., and ar-

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TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION.

rived in Portland at 7 P. M. In 1810 the western stage left Augusta early in the morning, in season for passengers to breakfast at Bruns- wick, dine at Freeport and reach Portland in the evening. Leaving Portland early the next day, breakfast was taken at Kennebunk, din- ner at Portsmouth and the night was spent at Newburyport. The following morning it left Newburyport at two o'clock, arrived at Salem about daylight and reached Boston early in the forenoon. In 1812 Peter Gilman contracted to carry a weekly mail from Augusta to Bangor, via Vassalboro and China, at which places fresh relays of from four to six horses were in waiting. Previous to this, Colonel Moses Burleigh, grandfather of the governor, conveyed the first car- riage mail between Augusta and Bangor. In 1810 John Homan, Vas- salboro, carried a weekly mail on horseback from Augusta eastward, and afterward, in 1815, drove a bi-weekly stage over the same route.

In 1827 an hourly stage between Augusta and Gardiner was at- tempted by Smith L. Gale, of the former town; and William E. Robin- son, of Hallowell, began running a coach once in two hours between that town and Gardiner. The first venture was not a success, and it was not until 1834 that the enterprise became permanent. At that time David Landers, father of William J. Landers, began hourly trips between the two places, and continued the business until the opening of the Maine Central railroad.

About 1830 Solomon Brown was an old mail contractor between Augusta and Freeport, connecting at the latter place with Kennebec and Portland stages. This was called the Union Line. It was sold in 1848, to Crowell & Baker. From 1850 to 1854 Joshua Strout was the stage proprietor, and Thomas Holmes was one of his drivers. The route was afterward sold to Addison Townsend, and lastly to Vassal D. Pinkham, the latter only running from Augusta to Little River.

It was not until shortly before 1840 that mail coaching entered upon its palmiest days, and four and six horse teams, crowded with passengers, ran daily between Portland and Augusta, passing through Litchfield and West Gardiner.

Of more importance than the railroad to the community now was the old stage line for the transmission of inail and passengers between Augusta and Bangor. It was the direct through line. Leaving either town at 7 A. M. each day, the place of destination was reached in early evening. The old thoroughbrace coaches were first in use, but about 1849 the Concord coaches were adopted. A change of horses was made at Vassalboro after a short, sharp drive from Augusta, then again at China, then Unity, and every few miles until Bangor was reached. The same horses were changed and driven back by the same driver the next day on his return trip. Seventeen horses were kept at Vas- salboro, and this was an average number for each station. The pres- ent large barn of'the Vassalboro Hotel[was then the stage barn. Shaw

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

& Billings, of Bangor, were the proprietors. They perfected the busi- ness, and the older residents well remember the richly caparisoned coaches and the two or three spans of well matched horses to each coach.

The drivers were men of note in those days, and he who could dexterously handle six horses and safely make the schedule time, was a greater personage than the proprietor and, in his own opinion at least, held a superior position to that of the chief magistrate. Many will remember John Deering and his two brothers, Jabe Sawings, Libby, Bennett, Hale Freeman, Crowell, Isaac Holmes of Augusta, David Crockett, and Benjamin Mitchell, the crack of whose whips was familiar all along the line, as the rocking, heavily-laden coaches wound their way through shady vale and over lofty hill.

WATER ROUTES AND STEAMBOATS .- During the development of the facilities for transportation by land, a like progress was being made on the river. Waterways, the world over, were the first thorough- fares, and rivers are the oldest highways. The Kennebec afforded the Indians an open passage from the Sebasticock to the sea, before Columbus was born or Cæsar had crossed the Rubicon. Equally ser- viceable was the river to the pioneer-its shining way with undeviat- ing flow, his one sure path, by sunless day or starless night. Its buoyant bosom was his highway of exploration, and from its friendly banks diverged the tree-blazed roads that led to his clearing and his home. At once a producer and a consumer, the river was his natural avenue of commerce, and the vehicles and methods that were first in use are matters of curious interest. The settlers had little time or skill to construct bark canoes such as the Indians made, and when made they were too frail for lasting service, so the " dug out " was the primitive boat, and after saw mills were running flat bottomed boats of various kinds came into universal use. Of these, the bateau, a long, narrow boat, is the principal survivor, being still the log driver's favorite.

But there was one kind of river craft-indispensable in its day, that has become extinct, known as the " long boat "-built from 60 to 95 feet in length, 15 to 20 feet wide, especially designed for transport- ing heavy freight, but fitted also with comfortable cabins for passen- gers, including lodging and meals. Each boat had two masts that could be lowered going under bridges, with square sails, main and wing, above which was the top-gallant-royal sail. The peculiarity of these boats was, that they went down the river with the current, but could return only with a good southerly wind, for which they must wait-sometimes indefinitely.

Some of these carried over one hundred tons. Mathews & Gilman built the Eagle at Waterville, in 1826, and loaded her with wheat in charge of Walter Getchell as supercargo, who sold it at the various

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landings " down river " for from sixty to eighty cents per bushel, dis- posing of the last at Bath, where he took on a return cargo of one hun- dred hogsheads of salt.

These boats could and did go through the rapids at Augusta before the dam was built there, and with a good wind they had no trouble in returning to Waterville with full loads. Occasionally, however, they met with mishaps, and sometimes they were wrecked. This was the fate of the Eagle. On a return trip, with a full load of merchan- dise and a light wind, oxen were employed, as was often the case, to pull her up the Old Coon rapids. By some cessation of the towage, the current swung the boat athwart a rock with such force that it broke completely in two, dumping its cargo of molasses, sugar, rum, hardware and dry goods into the river, whence the damaged packages were recovered when quiet water was reached; but the poor Eagle was a dead bird. A like misfortune befel the Kite, built by William and Walter Getchell. With a load of 700 bushels of potatoes she was twisted and dashed broadside against a pier of the Augusta bridge -- boat and potatoes a total loss.

As early as 1796 George Crosby, of Hallowell, ran the Kennebec Packet, Captain Samuel Patterson, master, between that place and Bos- ton; and before that time, but in the same year, Captain Patterson re- ported the fourth trip of the.sloop Courier, the settlement of accounts naming as owners George Crosby, John Sheppard, David Cutler, John Molloy, Edmund Freeman and Chandler Robbins. Other packets that were irregularly run, later on, from Augusta and Hallowell, were the Catharine, owned by Thomas Norris, which was dismasted in 1814 on a trip to Boston, and the Kennebec Trader, commanded by Captain Carr, who lost his mate, Elisha Nye, overboard in the same storm. The channel not being deep enough for these vessels to reach Waterville, the " long boats " previously mentioned were employed at Augusta to convey consignments from them to points above.

In 1824 the Traders' Line, plying between Augusta and Boston, was established. It comprised the schooners Actress, Captain G. O. West; Sidney, Captain G. A. Dickman; and Emerald, Captain P. B. Lewis. It is said that their accommodations secured "comfort and convenience to passengers." The first regular line of passenger packets, with the time advertised, between Hallowell and Boston, was started about 1831. One of the captains was Andrew Brown. In 1845 two lines of packets were started from Hallowell to Boston, and were to leave from Augusta when the river channel had been deepened. Flagg's Line was composed of the schooners Gazelle, Captain Elisha Springer; the Van Buren, Captain T. R. Pool; Advent, Captain Soule; and Jane, Captain T. S. Ingraham. The Union Line contained the schooners Somerset, Captain Hinckley; the Waterville, Captain W. H. Heath; Harriet Ann, Captain William Reed, jun., and Consul, Captain

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

A. L. Gove. Other old captains on the Kennebec in those days were: Major Thomas Beck, Charles H. Beck, Jo. Beck, George W. Perry, Tillinghast Springer (son of Job and brother of Elisha), Jacob Britt, Joshua Bowler, Samuel Gill, jun., Gustavus Dickman and Samuel and Alfred Beale.

During the era of the packet boats steam was of course being grad- ually used for locomotion, both on land and water; and long before passenger sailing craft ceased running on the river, the steamboat, in a crude and ungainly form, began to ruffle the surface of the beautiful stream. The first of these vessels was fitted up from an open scow at Alna, by its owner, Jonathan Morgan, a lawyer. In it he paid Gardi- ner a visit in 1819, tying up at Gay's wharf. Captain Morgan came by way of Wiscasset, and his queer craft drew crowds wherever it made a landing. Another steamer, called the Experiment, made her ap- pearance on the river soon after Attorney Morgan had produced his pioneer boat.

The year 1823 is memorable as the date of the building of the steamer Waterville at Bath, by Captain Samuel Porter, and the open- ing of the first steam route from Bath to Augusta the same season, by this boat, under command of Captain E. K. Bryant. Captain Porter bought in New York, the same season, the steamer Patent, which he put on the route from Portland to Boston, advertising to make the run in 173 hours. The next year (1824) the Patent ran from Boston to Bath, where she connected with the Waterville for Augusta. In 1826 the Patent, Captain Harry Kimball, opened the first through route from Gardiner to Portland. The Waterville was laid off that season, and the small steamer, Experiment, ran from Bath to Augusta. For the next three years the Patent held and made popular the Gardiner and Portland route. In 1830 the Patent did not run above Bath, at which place she connected with the Waterville for Augusta; and in 1831 no steamer ran regularly on the river above Bath.

The village of Gardiner was a center of great activity in 1832. A boat that became noted, the stern-wheel steamer Ticonic, was built where the public library building now stands, and completed in May, for a Mr. Blanchard, of Springfield, Mass., at a cost of $8,000. On the first day of June she made the historic trip to Waterville, whose citi-" zens received her with manifestations of the wildest joy. This stanch little steamer, under the command, successively, of Captains J. Flitner, S. Smith and Nathan Faunce, ran regularly from Gardiner to Water- ville until interrupted by the river dam at Augusta in 1835. The dam company made the lock so short that the Ticonic could not pass. After this the Ticonic was the only regular boat, for a time, between Gardi- ner and Bath. There was, however, a petite little steamer called the Tom Thumb, that made irregular trips on the river. In 1835 the

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steamer McDonough, Captain Nathaniel Kimball, was put on the route from Hallowell to Portland, but was taken off in 1836.

In the spring of 1836 a stock company was formed in Gardiner, and bought a steamer to run between Gardiner and Boston. Nathaniel Kimball, Parker Sheldon and Henry Bowman were chosen directors and at once purchased the steamer New England, a fast boat built for Long Island sound travel, and opened the new route from Gardiner to Boston about the first of June, making two round trips per week, Cap- tain Nathaniel Kimball commander, and Captain Solomon Blanchard pilot-" fare $4 and found." The New England was an elegant boat in those times, 170 feet long and of over three hundred tons burden. The Teutonic connected with her at Gardiner for upper towns.

In 1837 the McDonough, Captain Andrew Brown, was again run on the Kennebec, from Hallowell to Portland, but the next year her place was taken by the little steamer Clifton, Captain William Bryan.

The New England made the Gardiner and Boston route so popular and profitable that an opposition movement had culminated in the construction of the Augusta. It was built by Cornelius Vanderbilt, and was advertised as about ready to run from Hallowell to Boston when, on the morning of June 1, 1838, while on a regular trip. the New England collided with the schooner Curlew, off Boon island, re- ceiving injuries from which she sunk, having barely time to transfer her passengers to the schooner. Parker Sheldon and Captain Kim- ball went at once to Norwich, Conn., and chartered the new steamer Huntress, and put her in the place of the wrecked boat. Competition on the Kennebec route now became active. Cornelius Vanderbilt, of New York, put on the W. C. Peck, Captain A. Brown, as an opposition boat, running from Hallowell to Boston. This boat not proving fast enough, Captain Brown was transferred to the new steamer Augusta, which was substituted in her place.

But the Augusta was not fast enough to compete with the Huntress, and Commodore Vanderbilt sent on a steamer bearing his own name, which arrived here September 3d, under Captain Brown. Competition became intense and a trial of speed was inevitable. The Vanderbilt sent a challenge one day at Boston, which the Huntress accepted and won the race, arriving at Gardiner the next morning about a mile ahead, after a most exciting night. The warmth of public feeling over such contests in those days can hardly be understood in our rail- road era. At the close of the season the Huntress was re-chartered for the next season. Commodore Vanderbilt, beaten at racing, changed the game and won. He bought the Huntress, subject to the lease, and notified the Kennebec company that he should run her, paying them, of course, what damages the courts should award; or he would sell them the boat for $10,000 more than he had given for her and forever

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

leave the route. The offer was accepted, the money paid, and there was no more opposition for several years.

In 1841 a new era began in the transportation of passengers to and from Boston. The steamer John W. Richmond, Captain Kimball, was placed on the route by night twice a week, and the Huntress, Captain Thomas G. Jewett, was on the route by day twice a week. The steamer M. Y. Beach went three times a week to Portsmouth, where she con- nected with the Eastern railroad, This schedule was continued through the season. In 1842 the Richmond cut down the fare to two dollars. The Huntress then combined with the railroad line, via Port- land, with fare one dollar to Boston-the lowest yet seen. In June, 1842, the steamer Telegraph was put on as an opposition boat, with fare one dollar; and July 10th the steamer Splendid was commissioned, with the cry " No opposition, fare one dollar, or as low as any other boat on the route." She was followed, July 28th, by the Richmond, advertising " fares to Boston, until further notice, twenty-five cents." The Richmond was burned at her dock in Hallowell Sunday night, September 3d. She was valued at $37,000 and was owned by Rufus K. Page and Captain Kimball, who, within a week, replaced her with the Penobscot, a larger boat than any that had preceded her. During the season of 1844 the Penobscot ran on the all water route from Hallowell to Boston; the Telegraph first and then the Huntress run- ning four trips per week from Hallowell, connecting with the railroad at Bath.

In the spring of 1845 the People's Line, a stock company, was or- ganized, with William Bradstreet, Samuel Watts, John Jewett, Green- lief White, E. W. Farley, B. C. Bailey and Henry Weeks, directors. The citizens of the Kennebec valley bought the stock readily, and the People's Line placed the new steamer John Marshall, Captain Andrew Brown, in opposition to the Penobscot. After June the elegant Kenne- bec took the Marshall's place, and a small steamer was run in connec- tion with her between Hallowell and Waterville, to compete with the Water Witch and Balloon, which ran to the Marshall.

The season of 1846 opened briskly, the fare to Boston being only twenty-five cents. The Kennebec was the regular line steamer, while the People's Line put on the John Marshall, Captain Brown, and the Charter Oak, Captain Davis Blanchard. The steamers Flushing and Bellingham formed a line between Augusta and Bath, a boat leaving each of these places every morning. Before summer came the two lines were consolidated, the John Marshall was sold, and the Kennebec and Charter Oak ran on alternate days the balance of the season.

In the spring of 1848 the Huntress resumed her trips from Hallo- well to Portland, the Charter Oak and Kennebec running alternately to Boston. Several small steamers ran on the river to Waterville, often racing in their fierce competition. These hazardous practices

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culminated in May this year, by the Halifax bursting her boiler while passing through the Augusta lock, and killing six people.

The season of 1849 was marked by the advent of the new steamer Ocean, Captain Sanford. She took the outside route to Boston and held it several years. July 4th the railroad was finished to Bath, to which city the Huntress made daily trips in connection with the cars. In 1851 the steamer T. F. Sccor connected with the railroad at Bath, and, later, at Richmond. During the spring of 1854 Richard Dono- van was made captain of the Ocean, and commanded her till November 24th, when she was run into by the Cnnard steamer Canada, off Deer island, Boston harbor, and burned to the water's edge.

In 1855 and 1856 the steamer Governor, Captain James Collins, ran from Hallowell to Boston, and the T. F. Secor, Captain Donovan, from Augusta to Portland, tri-weekly. The new steamer Eastern Queen, Captain James Collins, was put on in the spring of 1857, and ran that year and the next. She was partially burned at Wiscasset, in March, 1859, and the State of Maine filled her place during repairs. In 1861 the steamer Union ran daily between Augusta and Bath, connecting with the T. F. Secor for Portland. The Union was afterward sold to the government and was taken to Fortress Monroe, where she was noted for her speed.

In 1865 parties in Bath bought the steamer Daniel Webster, Captain William Roix, and placed her on the route from Gardiner to Boston, in opposition to the Eastern Queen, which, since the death of Captain James Collins in 1861, had been commanded by his cousin, Captain Jason Collins. This last named steamer ran from Hallowell to Boston from 1866 to 1870, when she was sold. Previous to this, in 1866, the new steamer Star of the East, was placed on the Boston route, under the command of Captain Collins, who ran her until the spring of 1889, when he was transferred to the palatial new steamer Kennebec, of the same line.

Captain Jason Collins, the genial and popular commander of this fine vessel, is a resident of Gardiner, and from his long connection with lines of travel and transportation, must have a place in this chap- ter. He was born at Bowman's Point, and is the only surviving son in a family of nine children. His father, James Collins, came to what is now Farmingdale when he was a young man, married Elizabeth Tyler, and passed his life in rural pursuits. Jason grew up on the home farm to the age of fourteen, when he shipped as cook with his father's brother, Captain John Collins, in the coasting schooner, Hope. The next year he again went to sea with his Uncle John, this time as a sailor before the mast, in the Adventure, bound for Mexico and sev- eral South American ports. After this trip he was on the brig Corin- thian, with Captain Sampson, in the coastwise trade. His next voyage

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Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 26

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York, Blake Number of Pages: 1790

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790