Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 27

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 27

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

was to Europe in the ship Powhattan, commanded by Captain Thomp- son.

In 1836 our young sailor became a fireman on the steamer New England, Captain Nathaniel Kimball, holding that position until the vessel was wrecked off Portsmouth, June 1, 1838. He was then made assistant engineer of the¿Huntress, and four years later was promoted to the responsible position of chief engineer of this, the fastest steam- boat ever on the Kennebec river. In 1850 he went to California as chief engineer of the steamship Independence, and ran on a Pacific coast route until she was wrecked, February 16, 1853, on Marietta island, Lower California. Returning home he was first engineer on Atlantic coast steamers until the summer of 1861, when he succeeded his cousin, Captain James Collins, in command of the coast steamer, Eastern Queen, in which capacity he was eight months with Burnside's expe- dition in North Carolina. The next year (1862) he commanded the same boat at New Orleans, under General Banks, getting thereby a practical knowledge of the naval operations of the great war. Four years later he was assigned to the splendid steamer, Star of the East, of 1,400 tons burden, in which responsible position he faithfully served his company and the public, for twenty-four years.

Upon the completion of the Kennebec, in the construction of which he had been the active man on the building committee, he assumed the duties of his present position. The details of making, as well as of running a boat are familiar to him, having superintended the build- ing of several. He has long been an owner in the Kennebec Steam- boat Company, and is one of its directors.

Jason Collins married Louise, daughter of Nathaniel Kinneston, of Farmingdale. Their children have been: Anna Augusta, Louise Blanche, who died at the age of nineteen; Della H., Eugenia and Wal- lace J., who was educated at Bowdoin College, graduating in 1883. Choosing the medical profession, he entered that department of Bow- doin, receiving his degree in 1886. He is now practicing at Monte- video, Minn.

Captain Collins has been fond of mechanics and machinery from his boyhood, and wisely chose a calling in which his talent has always had stimulus and opportunity. His practical ability and sound judg- ment brought him to the presidency of the Boothbay Steamboat Com- pany, also to a directorship in the Merchants' Bank of Gardiner. Captain Collins' life has been useful as well as active. Few men have as many acquaintances as he, and fewer still as many friends.

Besides the passenger steamers on the Kennebec, there were also numerous steam tugboats employed in towing sailing craft up and down the river, but only brief mention can be made of two of the earliest specimens of these craft. The first was the Jefferson, built to ply on Lake Jefferson. About the year 1838 Captain Wyman Morse

Jason, Collins

PRINT, E. BIERSTADT,

N. Y.

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purchased this boat, moved her overland to tide water, and launched and brought her up the Kennebec, where she became the first regular towboat on the river, and the nucleus of the fleet of powerful steamers owned a generation later by the Knickerbocker Steam Towage Com- pany, in which his son, Captain B. W. Morse, was a large owner and also the business manager. This company owned the barge Yosemite, that was so well known as a pleasure boat on the river in the seventies.

The other of the pioneer towboats was that owned by Ebenezer Beard, who came to Pittston in 1843, and contracted with Deacon Fo- linsbee to build him a sixty-four ton towboat. When completed, he took the vessel to Kimball's wharf, where he placed in it two small steam engines attached to two screw propellers of an improved model, invented by himself. This craft, the first screw propeller ever seen on the county's waters, was called the Experiment.

RAILROADS .- Turning from the use of steam power on the river to its employment on the rail, it is found that the county was somewhat backward in sustaining the march of improvement in that direction. In 1836 the Kennebec & Portland Railroad Company was chartered, with authority to construct a road from Portland to Augusta. Noth- ing further was done, however, until 1845, when the time to build was extended ten years. In the same year charters were given to the An- droscoggin & Kennebec railroad, which was to enter the county at Monmouth and pass through Winthrop, Readfield and Belgrade, to Waterville, and to the Penobscot & Kennebec railroad, which was to start from Augusta, cross the river, and run along its eastern bank through Vassalboro and Winslow, meeting the Androscoggin road at Waterville, and running thence through Benton and Clinton, toward Bangor. Among the early promoters of this extension from Augusta. were John D. Lang and Eben Frye, of Vassalboro, and Joseph Eaton, of Winslow.

On July 4, 1849, the Androscoggin & Kennebec railroad, known as the " back route," entered Winthrop, and on October 8th following,. the road was completed to Readfield. During this month a daily stage line was started from Augusta to connect, as now, with the railroad at Winthrop. On November 27th the railroad was opened to Waterville, the event being celebrated by a grand jubilee.

During this time the Portland & Kennebec railroad, afterward known as the " main line," was slowly progressing along the west bank of the river, and in the spring of 1850 meetings were held at Augusta, and at other towns, to assist in pushing forward the road. At length the first train entered Gardiner, November 10, 1851, amid general rejoicing. On the 15th of the following month the first loco- motive entered Augusta, followed on the 29th by the first train of cars ;. and on the morning of the 30th the first train of cars left Augusta for Portland.

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These two pioneer roads, and the Penobscot & Kennebec extension from Augusta to Waterville and eastward, are now embraced in the Maine Central system. From Leeds Junction, which lies in three counties, another branch of the Maine Central runs to Farmington, · touching the corner of Monmouth, thence following the western boundary of Wayne, and thence running, within a few miles, the en- tire length of the western line of Fayette.

The Somerset Railroad Company was conceived, planned and its construction begun by Reuben B. Dunn and Joel Gray. It was their original intention that this road should be a branch of the Maine Cen- tral, of which Mr. Dunn was then president. The work of building the roadbed was begun in 1868, but in less than three years, and be- fore a rail had been laid, the control of the Maine Central passed into ·other hands, and the new management refused to countenance the en- terprise. At this crisis, John Ayer, one of the directors of the strug- gling company, took the lead in the direction of its affairs, and to his ·energy and financial ability the existence of the road is undoubtedly due. Trains began running to Norridgewock in 1873, and the line, forty-one miles long, was subsequently completed to Bingham. The road was sold, in 1883, on the first mortgage, and reorganized as the Somerset railway. Joel Gray was the first president, F. W. Hill, of Exeter, Me., the second; and John Ayer has been president since 1872. George A. Fletcher, the first treasurer, was succeeded in 1874 by Major Abner R. Small. The superintendent is W. M. Ayer, of Oakland

The Kennebec Central Railroad Company was chartered Septem- ber 12, 1889, with a capital stock of $15,000, afterward increased to -$50,000. It is five miles long, running from Randolph to Togus, has a two-foot gauge, and was opened for business August 1, 1890. The first eleven months' operation showed total receipts, $13,242; expenses, $8,392. This money was earned with two engines, four passenger, two box and six flat cars-the total rolling stock of the road, costing $18,200. The road bed, with land damages and terminal facilities, · cost $12,000 per mile-as much as the average cost of a good many standard gauge roads. The nine directors are: H. W. Jewett, David Dennis, Weston Lewis, E. D. Haley, A. C. Stilphen, J. S. Maxcy, J. B. Dingley and S. N. Maxcy, of Gardiner, and Franklin Stevens, of Randolph. Weston Lewis is president; P. H. Winslow, treasurer and general ticket agent; F. A. Lawton, superintendent; H. S. Webster, clerk, and A. C. Stilphen, attorney and auditor.

Electricity, which is fast superseding horse power on the street railways of cities and suburban towns, has as yet been employed in the county for that purpose in but two instances. In 1890 the Augusta, Hallowell & Gardiner Electric Street Railroad Company was incor- porated, with a capital, authorized by charter, of $150,000. The length

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of the line is seven miles, and the road is reported to be earning a substantial income. The officers are: President, J. Manchester Haynes, Augusta; superintendent, E. K. Day, Hallowell; treasurer, George E. Macomber, Augusta; clerk of corporation, Henry G. Stap- les, Augusta.

The Waterville and Fairfield Power & Light Company opened in July, 1892, the electric road running north from Waterville, on what had been operated as a horse car line since 1888.

CHAPTER X.

THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.

BY MR. HOWARD OWEN.

Newspapers of Hallowell and Augusta .- The Press of Gardiner .- Waterville Press .- Newspapers of Oakland and Winthrop .- Journalistic Ventures at China, Vassalboro and Clinton.

A UGUSTA has long been the center of the newspaper business in the county, and as far as the number is concerned, the news- papers started here have been legion. We shall not attempt in this chapter to mention the multitude of publications of world wide circulation, issuing from the extensive publishing establishments of The Allen Publishing Company, of Vickery & Hill, and of the more recently established house of the Gannett & Morse concern. These belong more especially to the commercial and manufacturing indus- tries of the city and will have attention in another chapter of this work.

Several ephemeral newspapers have been started here of the " Jonah's Gourd " variety, such as the Augusta Courier, the Liberal Re- publican, an anti-temperance periodical-not living long enough to es- tablish for themselves a place in history.

The first newspaper in Kennebec county was started in Hallowell -then called " The Hook "-August 4, 1794, nearly a century ago. It was published by Howard S. Robinson and called the Eastern Star. It had the life of a yearling, and was succeeded in 1795 by The Tocsin, published by Wait & Baker, of the Falmouth Gazette. In September, 1796, it was transferred to Benjamin Poor. This paper was also short- lived, being discontinued in 1797.

The American Advocate, a democratic-republican newspaper, was begun at Hallowell in the year 1810, and was published first by Na- thaniel Cheever, father of the late Rev. Dr. George B. Cheever, of New York; then by S. K. Gilman, who published it for six years and sold to Calvin Spaulding, who in turn disposed of the establishment to Sylvanus W. Robinson and Henry K. Baker, the latter gentleman so long judge of probate and still residing in Hallowell. In 1835 the paper was united with the Free Press and called the Free Press and Ad- vocate. It was sold to the Kennebec Journal in 1836. The Free Press,

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published by Anson G. Herrick and edited by Richard D. Rice, was a violent anti-Masonic paper. There was at that time great prejudice against the institution of Masonry, and during its brief career the paper had an immense circulation. In the meantime a paper called the Banner of Light was published for a year or two.

The Genius of Temperance, a paper of small size, devoted to the cause of temperance, was established in Hallowell in January, 1828; printed semi-monthly by Glazier & Co., for P. Crandall, editor and proprietor. It continued about two years, and then died for want of patronage.

The Liberty Standard, printed at the Hallowell Gazette office, was commenced about 1840 and published in Hallowell by the anti- slavery martyr, Rev. J. C. Lovejoy. It was devoted to the cause of negro emancipation, Mr. Lovejoy, the editor, wielding a very vigor- ous and aggressive pen. Rev. Austin Willey afterward conducted the paper with great ability. Its name was finally changed to Free Soil Republican, the free soil party having become a factor in politics. It was a failure as a business enterprise, and died after a precarious ex- istence of about seven years. It was printed by Newman & Rowell.

For a year or two during the war of the rebellion a paper called the Kennebec Courier, was published at Hallowell, by T. W. Newman. It was afterward removed to Bath, where it sickened and died.

A paper with the heavenly title of the Northern Light, was pub- lished in Hallowell for a few months, by J. W. May and A. C. Currier.

The Hallowell Gazette, federal in politics, was established by Eze- kiel Goodale and James Burton, jun., in January, 1814, and was pub- lished until 1827.

September 28, 1839, the Maine Cultivator and Weekly Gasette was established in Hallowell, by T. W. Newman and R. G. Lincoln. For two years its editor was Rev. William A. Drew, afterward of the Gospel Banner. It was devoted primarily to agriculture and the me- chanic arts, though later it became more of a local organ. It received a fair support from the people of Hallowell and surrounding towns. Newman & Lincoln continued the publication of the paper until March, 1842; T. W. Newman from that date until September, 1843; T. W. & G. E. Newman to September, 1845; T. W. Newman and E. Rowell from September, 1845, to June, 1852; E. Rowell and H. L. Wing to June, 1854; E. Rowell to November, 1859; E. Rowell and Charles E. Nash (later of the Kennebec Journal) to June, 1862; E. Rowell to June, 1865; Charles E. Nash to September, 1869, and Henry Chase from that time until it was discontinued, December 9, 1871. In 1850 the headings of the paper were transposed to Hallowell Gazette and Maine Cultivator; and at the beginning of the fifteenth volume, in September, 1853, the second heading was dropped, retaining only the Hallowell Gazette. Some time after Mr. Chase became publisher,

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the character of the paper was entirely changed from a local to a story paper, and it was called the Saturday Gasette. Mr. Chase tried to imi- tate E. C. Allen, but failed. Major E. Rowell, so long identified with the paper, continues a much respected citizen of Hallowell.

The Saturday Gazette died on the hands of Mr. Chase, December 9, 1871. Hallowell had no paper from that time until December 22, 1877, when the present Hallowell Register was established. Its proprie- tor and editor, W. F. Marston, not only conducts the paper, but has in connection a commercial job printing office. The Register is a spicy local paper, filling well its rather limited field. While non-partisan, it has republican leanings.

The first paper established in that part of Hallowell which is now Augusta, was the Kennebec Intelligencer, published by Peter Edes, than whom no one was more respected by the members of the craft. It was established November 14, 1795, and was a little affair, the dimen- sions being only eleven by sixteen inches. Political action at that time found expression through the federal and republican parties, the federalists in this section of the country being in the majority. The Intelligencer was changed to the Kennebec Gazette in 1800, and in 1810 became the Herald of Liberty. Under this name it was published until 1815, when it was discontinued on the removal of its proprietor to Bangor.

A non-partisan paper, "far removed from party turmoil," the Augusta Patriot, was started March 7, 1817, by James Burton, jun., but it died in a year or two for want of patronage.

The Kennebec Journal grew out of the dominant political sentiment which afterward became crystalized in what was known as the whig party. In the fall of 1823, two young men, journeymen printers, came from Washington, D. C., and started the paper. Their names were Luther Severance and Russell Eaton. The Tufts hand press on which it was to be printed was set up at what was called the Branch brick block, at the corner of Bridge and Water streets, where the first num- ber of the Journal was struck off, January 8, 1823. The size of the subscription list at that time did not seem to be taken at all into ac- count by the publishers. Indeed, they thought they were doing a big business if their list of subscribers numbered four or five hundred. Advertising was also at a discount; and we have known a publisher who in those early days received but forty two cents a week for a half column "ad," taking his pay " in country produce at market prices."

So the Journal's upward progress was from the smallest possible beginning. Luther Severance, whose name is to-day a tower of strength in the county, stood at the editorial helm, and gained a great reputation among the rank and file of the party for the clear and com- prehensive style in which he clothed his editorials. Like Horace Greeley, he was able to go to the case and put into type an elaborate,

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unwritten editorial. In 1829 Mr. Severance was called to represent his party in the legislature, in 1835-6 in the state senate, in 1839-40 again in the house, and in 1843 and 1845 in the national house of rep- resentatives. Beginning in 1850, he was for three years United States commissioner to the Sandwich Islands. But his labors were nearly ended. Stricken with a hopeless cancerous disease, he reached his home in Augusta on the 12th of April, 1854, and died on the 25th of Janu- ary, 1855, at the age of fifty-seven years. During his last sickness, and as a means of diverting his attention from his intense physical suffer- ing, Mr. Severance, under the heading of "Brief Mention," weekly contributed articles full of wisdom and suggestive thought to the columns of his favorite paper.

In the early stages of the Journal's career, the two young men struggled on, doing most of their own work, with the help of two apprentices. Mr. Eaton had special charge of the mechanical and business departments of the paper, and here were laid deep and broad those business principles that ripened so successfully after he became connected with the Farmer. Full of years, and highly respected by his fellow citizens, Mr. Eaton went to his rest some two years since.

In June, 1833, Mr. Eaton retired from the Journal, leaving Mr. Sev- erance the sole proprietor and manager until the beginning of 1839, when he sold half the concern to John Dorr, who had been engaged at Belfast in the publication of the Waldo Patriot. Mr. Dorr brought business tact and shrewdness to the performance of his tasks, and the paper entered upon the high road to success. Mr. Dorr continued as clerk and bookkeper in the office under subsequent administrations. In 1850 the Journal passed into the hands of William H. Wheeler and William H. Simpson, and was edited by Mr. Wheeler, who afterward sold his half to his partner, Simpson, and removed to Bangor, where he engaged with John H. Lynde in the publication of the Whig and Courier. Simpson sold the paper in the fall of 1854. to James G. Blaine and Joseph Baker. A stock company was formed, new material pur- chased, and the paper attained to a new prominence under the able and vigorous management of Mr. Blaine, who also contributed to the editorial department of the paper long after he had severed his busi- ness connection with it. The Maine liquor law now became the lead- ing issue in politics, and after a short ownership Mr. Baker sold his interest to John L. Stevens, who became one of the most profound political thinkers and vigorous writers in the state. Mr. Stevens is at present United States minister to the Sandwich Islands, having served in similar capacities at Montevideo and at Stockholm.

In 1857 Mr. Blaine was succeeded by John S. Sayward, who came from the Bangor Whig. During a portion of the war of the rebellion a daily leaflet, containing the telegraphic news from Washington and

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

the seat of operations, was issued from this office; and this was the beginning that led to the thought of establishing a permanent daily, which appeared later. In May, 1868, Owen & Nash bought Mr. Sayward's interest, and the January following the other half interest in the paper was sold to Alden Sprague, of the Rockland Free Press. Howard Owen had for fifteen years served in various capacities in the Journal office, and Charles E. Nash was of the Hallowell Gazette. The new firm was known as Sprague, Owen & Nash, Mr. Sprague being the political editor, Mr. Owen the local editor, and Mr. Nash having charge of the business affairs. Several times enlarged, the paper was again enlarged by the new firm, and the Daily Kennebec Journal started on the first of January, 1870.

In August, 1879, the partnership was abolished by the sale of Owen and Nash's half to Charles A. Sprague, and the office was conducted under the firm name of Sprague & Son. They attained to the entire ownership of the paper by the purchase of all the floating stock, and sold the entire concern in April, 1887, to C. B. Burleigh and Charles Flynt, by whom the paper has since been conducted. The new firm enlarged the paper and greatly improved the plant. With a large and able corps of editors and correspondents, with excellent arrangements for obtaining the telegraphic and other news, the Daily Journal has taken its place among the leading dailies of the state, while the weekly, enlarged and improved, has attained a large state circulation.

The adherents of the once despised faith of Universalism, of which Hosea Ballou was the pioneer preacher in this country, felt the need of an official organ in the state, where afterward they gained a per- manent foothold. Accordingly, a weekly religious newspaper, called the Gospel Banner, devoted mainly to advocating the doctrine of the salvation of the entire human race, was established July 25, 1835, with Rev. William A. Drew, editor and proprietor. He was assisted by two associate editors, Rev. Calvin Gardiner and Rev. George Bates. Arthur W. Berry became in some way interested in the paper, and printed it in 1839. It, however, soon returned to the proprietorship of Mr. Drew, who, in 1843, sold it to Joseph A. Homan (who retired from active business pursuits several years since, and remains one of the respected and honored citizens of Augusta), and his brother-in-law, James S. Manley, long since deceased. The firm of Homan & Manley pub- lished the paper until January, 1859, when they purchased the Maine Farmer, and sold the Banner to James A. Bicknell and Rev. R. A. Ballou. Mr. Drew, after long and able service, retired from the editor- ship of the paper in October, 1854, when he was succeeded by Rev. J. W. Hanson, who became editor and part owner. Mr. Hanson, in 1859, was succeeded by Mr. Ballou, who was the editor of the paper until it was sold, in 1864, to Rev. George W. Quinby, whose vigor and interest in the work was not only equal to the editorial tasks imposed, but also

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to the exacting business demands. He was not only an editor, but an able author and an aggressive preacher, and was honored by Tuffts' College, with the degree of D.D. After a brief sickness, Doctor Quin- by died in Augusta on the 10th of January, 1884.

The Banner was purchased on the 14th of July, 1883, by Rev. Isaac J. Mead and George W. Vickery, Mr. Mead having charge of the edi- torial columns, and Mr. Vickery of the business department. A strong pressure being made upon his time elsewhere, Mr. Vickery sold his interest February 14, 1889, to B. A. Mead, and the paper has since been published by The B. A. Mead Company. It was changed to a quarto, and enlarged October 9, 1890.

The Kennebec Journal being at that time the undoubted leader of the press in this section, an effort was made in 1827 to establish an opposition paper which should advocate the claims of General Jackson for the presidency. Accordingly, the Maine Patriot and State Gazette appeared on the 31st of October, 1827, published by James Dickman, and under the editorship of Aurelius V. Chandler. In May, 1829, the paper was sold to Harlow Spaulding, by whom it was published, Mr. Chandler continuing the editor. Mr. Chandler went South to recruit his health, and died at Charleston, S. C., December 31, 1830, at the age of twenty three. James W. Bradbury took his place in the edi- torial chair, but relinquished it July 1, 1831. The following Decem- ber the paper was absorbed by The Age, a new paper of similar politi- cal proclivities, and the Patriot ceased to exist.

After the removal of the state capital to Augusta, The Age was es- tablished, December 23, 1831, by Ira Berry & Co., Frank O. J. Smith, a brilliant lawyer and able journalist from Portland, being its editor. One of the earlier incidents of its career was a libel suit growing out of one of Mr. Smith's caustic and personal items, charging a promi- nent citizen of Belgrade with being a deserter from the army in the war of 1812, and that he was tried, convicted and sentenced to be shot. The publisher of The Age was arrested and tried on a criminal libel. The trial, which excited the most intense interest, lasted a week. The result was the sustaining the paper in its charges, and this gave the concern a great boom and influence among its political adherents. The paper also had the state patronage. Mr. Smith was chosen to a seat in congress, and retired from the paper August 10, 1832, when George Robinson, a law student, became the editor, and continued in that capacity several years. In 1834 Berry & Co. sold the paper to William J. Condon, who had been connected with the Saco Democrat. He continued the publication of the paper for about a year, when William R. Smith, who came from Wiscasset, and who was at that time"working at the printer's case in the office, bought a quarter in- terest, forming a partnership with Robinson, who continued to edit the paper. Mr. Sinith was a printer almost from birth, having entered

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Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 27

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