USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Gardiner > The centennial of Gardiner; an account of the exercises at the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, June 25, 1903 > Part 5
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- factory will exceed that of the entire town sixty years ago. Our business was of a character to make considerable stir, as most of it required much teaming, and Water Street seemed a busy place, but the railroad up the Cobbossee has changed all that and does the work of a good many teams, with less noise.
It is a favorite pastime of most old people to compare the cost of living in the old times with that of to-day. If we should also compare the kinds of living we should find a still greater difference. In those times we didn't have most of our daily food done up in dainty, artistic packages, costing nearly as much as the food itself. We didn't have the grocery man come to our houses two or three times a day, and after that telephone him to bring up a yeast cake. We had neither the telephone nor the yeast cake, but took the staff of life mostly in the form of good, yellow saleratus biscuit, with dyspepsia plainly apparent all through it. We didn't have street lights, and in the winter we walked in the road, because what few sidewalks we had were buried in snow and never cleaned. Our taxes were lighter and we had less to pay them with. Our water supply in most houses was from an old molasses hogs- head at one corner of the house, in the proportion of one drop of water to two mosquitoes in embryo. Taking baths was a habit not yet beyond the intermittent stage. When cisterns came into more common use they were regarded as a distinct advance in civilization.
It is said that a good criterion by which to judge of the civilization of a people is the amount of soap they use. This, of course, implies the quantity of water also, which, if true, illustrates most fully the difference between the ways of living in the old time and the new.
The whole tone of our life as a community is on a higher plane. We have cleaner streets, better dwellings, more neatly kept premises, all of which have an elevating effect on society in general.
The lawn-mower was a thing unknown forty years ago ; but it is an important factor in the beautifying of our homes and streets at the present time.
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CENTENNIAL OF GARDINER.
The professional rowdy has disappeared. If there is no less vice, it is certainly less apparent, and the fact that it has the grace to hide itself may be considered a gain.
To the revolution in our business affairs many causes have contributed, some applicable to the whole country, and others affecting our immediate section. Labor-saving machinery has so increased the productive capacity of labor that all manu- facturing industries are running on a smaller margin of profit, necessitating the doing of business on a larger scale, and the elimination of the smaller concerns. Gardiner is a conspicuous example of this change in business affairs, as most of our business in the past was in the nature of small individual enterprises.
Our water power has always been employed in manufac- tures requiring great power for the labor employed, a fact more in evidence to-day than ever before. This has had the effect of keeping the population within limits which seem hardly to correspond with our apparently natural advantages.
In the old days, when we were shut in through the long winters, we were a little world by ourselves, and small affairs assumed greater importance than they do now. We knew less, perhaps, but felt more, and our theories and beliefs, whether in politics or religion, were likely to be of a rather intolerant order, which affected social conditions much more than at present. The level of society is a broader one.
Millionaires are not very plenty among us, and the spirit of exclusiveness in social life is less apparent than it is in most places of the size of this. Of the class who do nothing nine months of the year and go away to rest the other three, we have but few.
That we have made a steady advance, as a whole, in the essentials of a broader, fuller life - in the line of more attrac- tive and more comfortable homes, better schools, cleaner streets, and better sanitary conditions - must be apparent to the most pessimistic observer. When we feel disposed to grumble about our expenses it will be well to take into account
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LAST HALF CENTURY, WILLIAM MORRELL.
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the fact that water will run downhill in spite of the most accomplished street commissioner, and that we have a good many hills ; that if we must have an electric light on our cor- ner and a new sidewalk on our street and all the accessories of a high state of civilization, we must have also the accompa- nying high rate of taxation. Thus if, after counting the cost, we can find a balance in our favor, where we have given full value for the benefits we receive, in the things which tend to broaden and strengthen our lives, to be transmitted with increasing effectiveness to those to come, then we may say of our century-old town, though it may never make a distin- guished record on the page of history, it is a good place in which to live.
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Capt. Jason Collins was born on the 22d day of February, 1817. The first steam craft on the Kennebec River came in 1818, the first steamboat came in 1819, so his life spans the history of steam navigation in this vicinity. As a boy he saw this first steamboat. As a boy he saw the launching of the first steam vessel built at this place. In 1836, when nineteen years of age, he was employed in the engineers' department on the steamer "New England," and for a period of twenty-five years had charge of the machinery of various steamers. He was made master of the Eastern Queen in 1861, and for forty- two years held command of the largest boats running on our river. For two-thirds of a century he has been in continuous steamboat service ; a record probably unequaled in this coun- try. What Capt. Nathaniel Kimball was to the pioneer days of steam navigation on this river, Captain Collins has been to these later days. In the forty-two years during which he has been master, he has carried at least 1,700,000 passengers, and has sailed his steamers over one million miles, without a single loss of life, and without financial disaster to any craft under his command. In his full steamboat service, he has traveled on water a distance of seventy times around our globe. No wonder that his passengers trusted him implicitly, for his very presence seemed a guarantee of safety. Thoughtful and solic- itous for the welfare of his patrons, he assumed no unnecessary risks, but in times of danger was always collected and brave. His name was as well known as the line on which he ran, and the traveling public learned with regret of his resignation from the route. Captain Collins has contributed the following brief sketch of his recollections of early steamboating on the Kennebec River, and of his connection with this service here and elsewhere. J. S. M.
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REMINISCENCES, JASON COLLINS.
REMINISCENCES OF STEAMBOATING.
BY JASON COLLINS.
In the year 1818 there arrived at Gardiner a scow pro- pelled by steam ; this had been fitted up by Jonathan Morgan, a lawyer of Alna, and was the first steam craft of any descrip- tion on the Kennebec River.
In the following year a small steamer, called the "Tom Thumb," was towed from Boston to the mouth of the river by a sailing packet. The "Tom Thumb" was thirty feet long, with side-wheels, and was open, with her engine exposed to the weather. From the mouth of the Kennebec she steamed to Bath against the tide, creating quite a sensation among the people along the river. Of course she was not suitable for outside work, and so was put on the route between Bath and Augusta. This steamer remained on the route for several years. I remember seeing her in 1834, when she was towing the ship "Constitution " from Gardiner to Bath ; and, incred- ible as it now seems, it required six days for her to make this trip.
In 1823 the steamer "Waterville" was built on King's Wharf at Bath by Capt. Seward Porter; and she was probably the first steamer built on the banks of our river. Her route was from Bath to Augusta.
During the same year the "Patent," Captain Porter, ran from Boston to Portland, and soon after the route was extended to Bath, where she connected with the "Waterville" for Augusta. This was the beginning of steamboat service from Boston to the Kennebec.
The first line from Gardiner to Portland was established in 1826, when the "Patent," Capt. Henry Kimball in com- mand, was placed on the route; at Portland she connected with the steamer for Boston.
In 1832 the stern-wheel steamer, "Ticonic," was built in Gardiner upon the space in the rear of the present Gardiner
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National Bank, and she was launched across the street into the river. I attended this launching and distinctly remember the incident. She was built to run from Gardiner to Water- ville, and was the first steamer to go above Augusta. On her first appearance in the little village of Waterville she was greeted with cheer upon cheer, ringing of bells, and firing of cannon ; and a public dinner was given, where speeches were made and songs sung to celebrate the event. The "Ticonic" continued to run on the Waterville route until the building of the dam at Augusta, when, on account of the small size of the lock, she was unable to pass through.
In 1833 the steamer "Hancock" was put on the route from Bath to Augusta, where she made connection with the "Ticonic" for Waterville.
In 1835 Capt. Nathaniel Kimball, afterward so prominent in steamboat navigation upon our river, assumed command of the " McDonough," which ran between Gardiner and Portland.
In 1836 a company was formed at Gardiner and some $40,000 subscribed for the purchase of a suitable steamer to run between Gardiner and Boston. The principal stockholders were R. H. Gardiner, Parker Sheldon, Capt. Nathaniel Kim- ball, David Bowman, Myrick Hopkins, John Henry, Col. John Stone, Edward Swan, and Capt. Arthur Berry. This was the beginning of the steamboat line between this place and Boston, and which has continued without interruption ever since. This company purchased the steamer "New England" and placed her upon this route, with Captain Kimball in com- mand. The fare to Boston, including meals, was four dollars. The boat contained no staterooms, and the middle berth in the cabin was considered the best choice.
Off Boone Island, at midnight on the first of June, 1838, when on her passage from Boston, the "New England" was run into by the schooner "Curlew." The steamer immediately began to fill, and the passengers were transferred to the schooner with the loss of but one life. The schooner sailed for Portsmouth, that being the nearest port. Captain Kimball,
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with his officers and crew, remained by the wreck in boats until eleven o'clock on the same morning, when the steamer rolled over and floated, bottom upward. She was later towed to Portsmouth, but lost her machinery on the way and proved a total loss. Captain Kimball and his crew were picked up by a passing schooner bound for Boston.
As soon as the news of the wreck reached Gardiner, Parker Sheldon left for Portsmouth, where he was joined by Captain Kimball. The two then proceeded to Norwich, Conn., and there chartered the new steamer "Huntress," arriving with her in Gardiner on the tenth of June.
At this time the "Clifton," owned by Commodore Vander- bilt, was running to Portland, where she connected with the large boats for Boston. This was the beginning of the Van- derbilt opposition.
The same season the new steamer, "Augusta," built by Vanderbilt, was placed by him on the route from Hallowell to Boston; but, not proving fast enough to compete with the " Huntress," she was withdrawn, and the "C. Vanderbilt," supposed to be the fastest boat on the Atlantic coast, took her place.
There was great rivalry between the "Huntress" and the "C. Vanderbilt," and the people of the Kennebec Valley were ardent supporters of one boat or the other. After a few trips Captain Kimball received and accepted a challenge from the " Vanderbilt," for a trial of speed from Boston to Gardiner. The officers of the "Huntress" were instructed to put all in order for the trial ; the best of wood, the fuel then used, was selected for the fires, and everything possible was done to get the boat in trim for speed.
When the hour for sailing arrived, the " Vanderbilt " took the lead, but by the time Boston Light was reached the "Hun- tress" was alongside ; and long before Eastern Point was sighted the "Huntress" was ahead. The boats were so evenly matched in speed that during the entire night they were near together. Great excitement prevailed on both steamers, and little sleep,
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if any, was enjoyed by either crews or passengers. To the great satisfaction of the Gardiner people, the "Huntress " won the race, reaching this city three-fourths of a mile ahead of her rival. The "Huntress" made this trip from Boston in ten hours and forty-five minutes, a sailing time without a parallel on this line from that day to this, a period of sixty-five years.
At the close of the season the "Huntress " was returned to Norwich, but was rechartered for the following year by the Gardiner Company. Commodore Vanderbilt, convinced that he could not find another boat as fast as the "Huntress," pur- chased her, subject to the charter, but without the knowledge of the Gardiner Company. He then notified the Company that they must take the steamer and give him a bonus of $10,000, upon his agreement to withdraw forever from the line, or he would put her on the route himself and pay whatever damages the law would allow for breaking the charter. The Company accepted his offer of purchase, and in 1839 the "Huntress" returned to her former route, with her old officers.
In 1840 business had increased to such an extent that the " Huntress" proved too small to accommodate the public ; accordingly the steamer "John W. Richmond " was purchased and placed on the route, while the " Huntress" ran to Boston by the way of Portland.
In 1841 the Eastern Railroad reached Portsmouth, and the steamer "M. Y. Beach " was put on to connect with their trains from that place to Hallowell. This service was continued until the railroad reached Portland, when the steamer "Tele- graph" was put on to make connection with Hallowell.
In 1843 Captain Sanford, of New York, put on the steamer "Splendid" from Hallowell to Boston, in opposition to the regular line. On account of this opposition rates were ruinous ; the competition was so great that passengers fre- quently paid whatever they pleased.
The next year the "John W. Richmond " came on as usual, and ran until the night of September 3d, when she was burned to the water's edge at her wharf in Hallowell. The Company
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BUILT BY MAJOR REUBEN COLBURN, 1765. Occupied by Arnold in Sept., 1775.
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REMINISCENCES, JASON COLLINS.
- then put on the steamer "Penobscot," with Captain Kimball in command.
In 1845 another opposition appeared-a new Company, called the " People's Line," which was composed of prominent citizens of Gardiner and Pittston. They purchased the steamer "John Marshall," and again low fares were in order. The old Company, headed by Captain Kimball, then built the steamer "Kennebeck," and placed her on the Boston route, while they had the "Charter Oak," Captain William Byram, on the outside route. The steamers "Flushing " and " Belling- ham" also formed a daily line between Augusta and Bath, while the " Huntress," on the line from Gardiner to Portland, connecting with the railroad, completed the fleet of six steamers, all running from this port.
As the "People's Line " did not prove profitable, in the following May the "Marshall" was sold and the old Company regained full control.
On the second of July, 1847, the "Huntress" made a special trip, bringing President Polk and his Cabinet, with other prominent men, from Portland to Hallowell. At about midnight they reached Hallowell, where carriages in waiting took them to Augusta to pass the night. On the following day the distinguished guests drove to Gardiner, visited R. H. Gardiner at "Oaklands," and left for Portland on the "Huntress." There was a large gathering of citizens at the wharf, where speeches were made by the President and the Hon. George Evans.
In 1837 the first steam ferry boat ever operated upon the river was built in this city and ran between Gardiner and Pittston. Her machinery was made by Holmes and Robbins, of Gardiner. She was called the "Kennebis," and was in service until the completion of the bridge in 1853. The wife of Captain Joshua Warren was the first woman to cross the bridge.
In 1849 a steamer was built in this city, and was then taken apart and shipped to San Francisco, where she was set up and ran on the Sacramento River.
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CENTENNIAL OF GARDINER.
In 1836 I began steamboat service on the "New England" in the engineers' department, and was in continuous service from this port to Portland or Boston until 1849, when I engaged with Commodore Vanderbilt as engineer of his steamer, "Independence." While in New York, superintending the setting up of the steamer's machinery, I daily observed the building of the famous yacht " America," the first winner of the "cup."
On the first day of January, 1850, the new steamship "Independence," with a crew of sixty officers and men, sailed from New York for San Francisco. She reached port on the first of July, after a detention of a month at Rio Janeiro on account of yellow fever, from which we lost four of our men.
The "Independence" was then put on the Nicaragua route from San Francisco, a passage of 3,000 miles, usually made in from twelve to fifteen days. The "Independence" was the first steamer carrying passengers over this route, and she sailed regularly, with no accident, until the morning of February 16, 1853, when she ran on a coral reef, off S. Margarita Island, near Lower California. She was backed off and run on shore, but was leaking badly, and it was soon discovered that she was on fire. Her boats were immediately lowered, but all of them were lost in the heavy surf, except one, which, containing a few women and children, succeeded in reaching the shore. Many, suffocating with smoke, leaped from the vessel to meet death in the sea, where even good swimmers were sinking, in vain attempts to save themselves and their friends.
The survivors were long in reaching the shore, where the scene was truly heartrending. The bodies of the dead and dying came floating in on the waves, and many perished, who, with proper care, might doubtless have awakened from uncon- sciousness to life again.
The men from Maine, forty in number, were all saved; but, of the five hundred passengers, only two hundred and twenty-five escaped with their lives.
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REMINISCENCES, JASON COLLINS.
S. Margarita is a barren volcanic island, thirty miles long and five wide. As soon as all were on shore a rude shelter was built for the women and children; and here, during the first night spent upon the island, a baby was born and named Margarita Vanderbilt. The father of the child had been drowned in the struggle to reach land.
There was no food or water upon the island, but on the second day a crude condenser was made from materials picked up from the wreck, and water was slowly distilled at the rate of three gallons an hour-a precious boon to the thirsty sufferers.
Toward evening on the next day a small cannon from the wreck was carried across the island, and by discharging this and kindling fires at night time we succeeded in attracting the attention of some whaling vessels, which brought us relief. By ten o'clock that evening food had reached the island and all were on board the three hospitable ships, the "Omega," "Meteor," "James Murray," and the bark "Clement." The ship "Meteor" was afterward chartered to take the survivors to San Francisco, where we arrived on the first day of April. After a short stay in San Francisco I decided to return to New York, and sailed by the Nicaragua route, on the steamer " Brother Jonathan," arriving on May 12, 1853.
To resume the history of the Kennebec steamboats; in 1850 the "T. F. Secor" was placed on the line from Hallowell to Bath, where she made daily connections with the railroad. When the railroad reached Richmond, she plied from that point to Augusta.
The new steamer ."Ocean" then came on to the Boston line and ran until November 24, 1854, when she was run into by the Cunard steamship "Canada," in Boston Lower Harbor. She took fire, burning to the water's edge, and in this accident seven lives were lost.
Captain Kimball, who for eighteen years had been actively engaged in the Kennebec steamboat service, and who, more than any other one man, had contributed to its success, retired as master in 1853, though he still retained a large interest in the line and acted for a time as its General Manager.
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CENTENNIAL OF GARDINER.
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In the spring of 1855 the steamer "Governor," Capt. James Collins, took the place of the "Ocean," and during that and the following year she was the only boat on the line.
In 1856 the steamer "Eastern Queen" was built in New York. She was a palatial steamer for those days, and cost $100,000. She was owned by a new company : Isaac Rich and Nathaniel Stone, of Boston, and Capt. Nathaniel Kimball, William Bradstreet, William S. Grant, and Jason Collins, of this city.
In the spring of 1857 the " Eastern Queen," with Capt. James Collins in command, began her trips to Boston. After running for three seasons she was partly burned, in March, 1860, while in winter quarters at Wiscasset. While she was being rebuilt in East Boston, the "State of Maine" was char- tered to take her place. The "Eastern Queen" resumed her trips in November of the same year.
In the spring of 1861 Capt. James Collins died at his home in Farmingdale and Jason Collins was appointed in command. At the close of that season the "Eastern Queen" was chartered by the Government for the Burnside Expedition to Hatteras. We sailed from New York December 11th, with the right wing of the 24th Mass. Vol. Regiment, accompanied by Gilmore's Band. After disembarking the troops at Annap- olis, we took on board the 4th R. I. Vol. Regiment, sailed for Hatteras Inlet, arrived at anchorage a few days later, and waited until February 5th, when the signal was given for the first division to get under way. The "Eastern Queen," with General Parks and staff on board, was the flagship of the first division, and followed the gunboats ; after her came the trans- ports, cach with vessels in tow, making seventy-five in line, and carrying 12,000 troops. When off Roanoke Island we anchored and disembarked the troops in whale boats, while the Federal gunboats were shelling the woods. The next morning our troops captured the Confederate army and forts. During the winter we were engaged in the transportation of troops and were frequently in the midst of danger, often wit-
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REMINISCENCES, JASON COLLINS.
nessing engagements between our gunboats and the Southern forts. We returned to Boston on the 15th of May, and on the 17th of June resumed our route on the Kennebec. That spring, for the first time since it had been established, the regular steamboat service from this river to Boston had been interrupted.
In the following November the "Eastern Queen" was again chartered, this time for the Banks Expedition to New Orleans. On December 6th we left New York, with troops on board, under sailing orders for twenty-four hours' continu- ous steaming, and with sealed orders to be opened at the con- clusion of that time in the presence of the commanding officer of the troops. Our destination was then found to be Ship Island. Afterward we went to New Orleans, and during the winter were engaged in the transportation of troops, supplies, and dispatches from that city to Baton Rouge, Pensacola, and other places.
We returned to the Kennebec on the 15th of May, and the "Eastern Queen" remained on the Boston route until the spring of 1870, when she was sold to New York parties. Her name was then changed to "Tamaulipas." She ran from Havana to ports in Mexico and was finally lost in a gale off that coast.
In 1864 the Kennebec Company bought the blockade runner, "Scotia," which had been captured by a Government steamer, and placed her on the route from Hallowell to Port- land ; but she proved unprofitable, was taken off and sold. She then sailed for China, and was never heard from afterward.
In 1865 an opposition line put the steamer " Daniel Web- ster" on the route from Boston to Gardiner. In this year the "Star of the East" was built in New York at an expense of $180,000, and at that time she was the most finely equipped boat running out of Boston. After superintending the build- ing of the "Star" I took command, and Captain Samuel Blanchard was placed on the "Eastern Queen."
In 1866 the Bath Company, with the steamers "Daniel Webster" and "Eastern City," ran a daily line to Boston in
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CENTENNIAL OF GARDINER.
opposition to the "Star of the East" and the "Eastern Queen," owned by the Kennebec Company. There was great competi- tion between these lines ; the fares to Boston were reduced to twenty-five cents, and exciting times followed. Crowds of people took the trip who had never been to Boston before, and probably some of them then saw a steamboat for the first time. At the close of that season the Bath steamers were withdrawn, and for the past thirty-seven years there has been no opposition to the Kennebec Company.
From 1870 to 1889 the "Star" was the only boat on the Kennebec route, and during that time she made but two trips weekly ; these, however, were very profitable and paid her owners handsome dividends.
The stern-wheel steamer "Della Collins" was built to take the place of the "Clarion," running from Gardiner to Augusta as a tender for the Boston boats.
In 1889 the up-to-date steamer "Kennebec," the first steamer of the line built at Bath, was launched from the New England yard in the presence of thousands of people. On board were the Governor and his staff, with the stockholders and their friends. The owners of the boat were principally from the cities and towns along the river.
After taking charge of the building of the "Kennebec," I assumed command ; and on July first of the same year the boat made her first trip. Her service has been without adventure.
Captain W. J. Baker was placed in command of the " Star of the East," and each of these boats made two trips weekly to Boston. In 1891 the "Star" was rebuilt at a cost of $50,000, and the name was changed to "Sagadahoc." In 1902 she was sold, her name was again changed, and she is now running on the Sound.
In the winter of 1896-7 the Kennebec Company built the steamer "Lincoln" for the winter route from Boston to Bath, and the summer route to Boothbay, but, after two years' service, at an advance of her cost, she was sold to run from Miami to Havana.
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REMINISCENCES, JASON COLLINS.
In 1901 the Kennebec Steamboat Company sold their steamboats, wharves, and other property to the Eastern Steamship Company. They have since built the fine steamer "Ransom B. Fuller," which, in connection with the "Kennebec," is still on the route to Boston. Thus the line, established in this city in 1836, and owned by the citizens of the Kennebec Valley, has passed into other hands.
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