USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous settlements, colonial grants, and changes of government in Maine > Part 48
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557
TRADE AND TRADERS.
ton and occupied the Deacon Codman store, corner of Exchange and Middle streets, which he bought of him in 1788 ; he re- turned to Boston in 1794. Stephen Codman, John May, Shirley Erving, also came from Boston at that period and opened stores here. Robert and Joseph C. Boyd, also came ; Robert purchased the store where Mr. Deblois kept, and erected the brick block, now standing on that corner which his children still own. Joseph Mclellan and son, and Stephen McLellan, carried on a large business on Congress street where Blake's bake-house is, Edward Watts an apothecary, Nich. McIntire, tobacconist, John Motley, and others. Daniel Tucker, Thomas Hopkins, and Thomas Robison became large import- ers, and our little town was, at the close of the last century and beginning of the present, one of the most busy and thriving towns in the Union.
At this time there were great embarrassments upon trade arising partly from the want of suitable regulations by our own government, but principally from measures adopted already by Great Britain, by which the West India ports were shut against American vessels. While our own vessels were ex- cluded from a profitable trade which they had carried on before the war, and which from the abundance of lumber, our great staple, had been particularly favorable to this section of the country, British bottoms were allowed free ingress into our harbors, which supplied all their own markets and became the carriers of our produce to the great injury of our navigation. This state of things was seriously felt throughout New Eng- land, and the legislature of Massachusetts was urged to adopt some measures of protection. In 1785 the representative from Falmouth, Joseph Noyes, was instructed by the town to repair immediately to the General Court and use his utmost exertions to procure the passage of a law to remove the evils under which the people labored, by excluding British ships from be- coming carriers of our commodities, or imposing such duties on exports shipped in British bottoms as should produce a reci-
558
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
procity in the course of trade. They close their instructions as follows : "And in general we direct and instruct you to ex- ert your influence that such good laws be made and enacted as may promote and encourage our agriculture, manufactures, and fishery ; as may discourage and prevent the importation of wrought goods injurious to our own artificers and mechanics ; and that a heavy impost be laid upon foreign luxuries, gewgaws, and trifles, whether introduced by British agents and factors or by our own merchants and importers." At the same time they requested him to use his exertions to procure a light-house to be erected on Portland Point, as soon as possible. In pur- suance of the efforts made at this time by the people, an act was passed in June, 1785, to exclude British ships wholly from taking on board any articles, the growth, manufacture, or pro- duce of any of the United States, during the continuance of the prohibition of our vessels into the ports of the West Indies. But in case those restrictions were removed, and a free trade permitted, their vessels should be admitted on the payment of a tonnage duty of five shillings a ton and a light duty ; and Bos- ton, Falmouth, and Dartmouth were established ports of entry and delivery.1
The amount of the commercial operations of the town for a few years after the peace, may be gathered from the following table showing the number of arrivals at this port.
Year.
Ships.
Brigs.
Schrs.
Sloops.
Total. Tons.
Remarks.
From Nov. 12 to ) Dec. 31, 1783. S
5
3
8
16
1040
None over 120 tons.
1784,
2
22
21
37
82
6081 Two were for-
eign vessels, one a ship of 350
tons-the largest American vessel was a brig of 200 tons.
1 The act levying light money was passed October, 1783, to take effect Novem- ber 1, 1783 ; it required a duty of two pence a ton to be paid by all vessels not employed in coasting and fishing, and those over thirty tons to pay four pence per ton a year.
559
TRADE.
1785,
2
19
14
31
1786,
21
15
32
1787.
1
31
35
22
66 5245 One British ship 540 tons-there were 77 clear- ances, 26 of which were for foreign ports,
68 58 from foreign ports, principally the West Indies; Clearances 80; 30 brigs, 21 schooners, 29 sloops.
89 78 from foreign ports ; 99 clearances; 87 for foreign ports.ยบ
We have no means of ascertaining precisely the amount of tonnage that belonged to this port at that period ; there were few brigs at first, the vessels were principally schooners and sloops, which were employed in coasting, fishing, and in trading to the West Indies. The brief view exhibits a constant increase in the mercantile business and a striking change in the class of vessels employed, the sloops in which business was chiefly pursued before the revolution having given place to
I In 1827, the entries from foreign ports amounted to twenty-eight thousand two hundred and ninety-eight tons; in 1831, the foreign arrivals were two hundred, and clearances two hundred and eighteen; in 1832, there belonged to this port seventeen ships, ninety-three brigs, eighty-six schooners, eleven sloops, six barks, and two steamboats, measuring thirty-four thousand one hundred and twenty- eight tons. In 1849 the tonnage of Portland was fifty-one thousand one hundred and ten, consisting of twenty-three ships, seventy barks, seventy-eight brigs, one hundred and fourteen schooners, and four steamers. In 1860 the tonnage of the district of Portland and Falmouth was one hundred and thirty-one thou- sand eight hundred and twenty-five, mostly owned in Portiand. The whole ton- nage of Maine at the same time was eight hundred and three thousand and sev- enty-one, being the third in the Union, Massachusetts and New York only going before her. Massachusetts having eight hundred and twenty-five thousand, New York one million six hundred and sixty-one thousand one hundred and eighty- eight, and the whole country five million three hundred and fifty-three thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight tons. Of vessels built in that year, Maine ranks first, Massachusetts next ; Maine built fifty-seven thousand five hundred and six- ty-eight tons, Portland district, five thousand three hundred and eight, in seven- teen vessels, Massachusetts thirty-three thousand, New York thirty-one thousand and fractions. The tonnage of Maine in 1862 was eight hundred and sixteen thousand nine hundred and seven.
560
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
brigs. The West India trade has always been a source of profit to the people of this town, and more business has been done in that direction, than in any other port on the continent in pro- portion to its population. In 1787, out of the eighty-nine en- tries, seventy-three were from the West Indies, and the same number was cleared for the West Indies. For the purpose of making a comparison, we may be permitted to leap over a space of forty years to show that this branch of trade continued to re- ceive undiminished attention from our people. In 1826 the tonnage of vessels entering the port of Havanna alone from the United States, was one hundred seventeen thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, of which eleven thousand six hund- red and nineteen tons were from Portland, while from Boston there were but ten thousand nine hundred and thirty, New York eight thousand five hundred and sixteen, and Philadel- phia four thousand nine hundred and thirty-six.1
In 1787 there was not a ship owned in town; in 1789 the amount of tonnage was about five thousand, which in 1793 had increased to eleven thousand one hundred and seventy-three tons, of which ten thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven was registered, consisting of thirteen ships, twenty-four brigs,
1 In 1831 the importation of molasses into this place was thirty-six thousand four hundred and sixty hogsheads, three hundred and seventy tierces, and one thousand one hundred and twenty-one barrels-foreign exportations were boards, twenty-two million two hundred and forty-four thousand three hundred and six- teen feet ; shooks, fifty-seven thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, etc. In 1848 the import of molasses was three million six hundred and thirty-one thou- sand nine hundred and eighty-seven gallons, of sugar, four hundred ten thousand and thirty-five pounds, salt, one hundred thirty-five thousand five hundred and five bushels. In 1860 the import of molasses was six million eleven thousand one hundred and thirty-seven gallons ; sugar, six hundred and fifty-five hogsheads, two thousand two hundred and eighty-six boxes, seventy-five tierces. In 1862, molasses, five millions five hundred and twenty-four thousand and ninety-two gal- lons ; sugar, nine thousand and thirty-one hogsheads, five thousand six hundred and twenty-four boxes, six hundred and sixty-two tierces and barrels. The amount of imports in 1862 exceeded four million of dollars, and of exports four million one hundred and seventeen thousand two hundred and ninety-two dol- lars.
561
TRADE AND COMMERCE.
twenty-three schooners, and twenty sloops. The tonnage went on gradually increasing until 1807, when it stood thirty-nine thousand and nine tons of registered and enrolled vessels over twenty tons. It fell off the three following years in conse- quence of the restrictive system; but in 1811 it began to re- cover, and April 1, 1812, just previous to the declaration of war with Great Britain, it had risen to thirty-five thousand five hundred and twelve tons, when it underwent another heavy reduction. The highest point to which the registered and enrolled tonnage of this district has attained, was in 1862, when it stood at one hundred and thirty-three thousand one hundred and sixty-two tons, which included forty-five ships, fifty-three barks, thirty-eight brigs, one hundred and sixty- one schooners, five sloops, and twelve steamers. The sudden and immense increase of trade here indicated by the progress of the tonnage, may further be perceived by comparison of the duties received at the custom-house at different periods: In 1790 the whole amount of duties which accrued at the office was but eight thousand one hundred and nine dollars ; it had ad- vanced in 1801 to two hundred and four thousand three hund- red and thirty-three dollars, and in 1806 to three hundred and forty-two thousand nine hundred and nine dollars.1 On the 30th of September, 1832, the registered vessels belonging to
1 For further details on this subject see Appendix XXI. The amount of ton nage in Massachusetts, including Maine, in 1790 was one hundred ninety-seven thousand three hundred and sixty-eight, and the amount received for duties for one year in the Commonwealth ending September 30, 1790, was three hundred and twenty thousand four hundred and thirty dollars and ninety-eight cents. The whole tonnage of the United States in 1790 was four hundred seventy-nine thou- sand and ninety-one; in 1792, five hundred and sixty-eight thousand two hundred and eighty-three; in 1810, one million four hundred and twenty-four thousand seven hundred and eighty-three ; in 1816, one million three hundred and seventy- two thousand two hundred and eighteen; in 1860, five millions three hundred and fifty-three thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight. of which New York owned one million six hundred and sixty-one thousand one hundred and eighty- eight; Massachusetts, eight hundred and twenty-five thousand, and Maine the third State, eight hundred three thousand and seventy-one.
562
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
this port were twenty-eight ships, ninety brigs, and twelve schooners ; he enrolled and licensed, twelve brigs, two hundred and three schooners, thirty-three sloops, and three steamboats ; those under twenty tons, twenty-seven schooners, and four sloops, making the whole number of vessels four hundred and twelve, employing in their navigation about two thousand seven hundred seamen.
Dr. Dwight who visited the town in 1797, makes the follow- ing remarks respecting it : "No American town is more entirely commercial and of course none is more sprightly. Lumber, fish, and ships are the principal materials of their commerce."1 Probably no period of our history was more prosperous than the three years preceding the first embargo ; the navigation had increased twelve thousand tons, and the amount received for duties was higher than it has been until 1862. But the melancholy events of that period had a most disastrous effect upon all the springs of our prosperity.
As the trade and wealth of the town increased, stores were erected and the accommodations for business improved. Ten stores and seven shops were built in 1784, nine stores and seven shops in 1792, eight stores and nine shops in 1793, four stores and eight shops in 1794, and seven stores and five shops in 1795 ; these were all of wood. In 1793, Joseph H. Ingraham erected a block of wooden stores one story high, on the spot in Fore street now occupied by the mariners' church, which attracted much attention from their having been superior in size and style to any thing of the kind before erected in town. This will hardly be credited by those who remember the block, which was burnt down in August, 1827. The trade which before the revolution was confined to the neighborhood of India street, and which first revived there after the war, began rapidly to advance westward, and by the year 1800, Exchange street be- came the principal seat of business ; it was then filled with
' Dwight's Travels, vol ii. p. 168.
563
STORES ERECTED.
small wooden shops. Deacon Richard Codman's store on the corner of Exchange and Middle streets which Robert Boyd afterward bought and moved to make room for his brick block erected in 1803, was, Mr. Boyd informed me, considered when he came here in 1784, too far up town for business. In 1795, when Ebenezer Storer built the wooden store which stood on the corner of Union and Middle streets, it was thought to be far out of the way of business. But this illusion was soon dis- pelled, and trade advanced westward with a firm and steady step, creating a demand for larger stores and better accom- modations than had before been furnished. In 1798 Henry Titcomb built the brick stores on the corner of Union and Mid- dle streets, two in number, which were the second of that ma- terial constructed in town.1 The next year Capt. John Mussey commenced building the block in Middle street which bears his name,2 and James Deering the block on the corner of Fore and Exchange streets. In 1801 the large brick block extend- ing from Fore street on the west side of Exchange street, nearly one-third of the way to Middle street, was completed. It was built by the Rev. Elijah Kellogg and named Jones's Row, from Phineas Jones, a former owner of that tract of land. From 1800, ranges of brick stores arose with great rapidity in the business part of the town.3
1 The first was erected by Samuel Butts in 1792, connected with his house on the south side of Fore street, a little east of the passage way on to the Pier. Mr. Butts was a tailor, and came here from Boston in 1784, was successful in busi- ness, and afterward went into trade; he died in 1838, aged seventy-nine, leaving an only daughter married to Capt. Caleb Adams.
2 He first built two stores on the corner of Temple street; next year the two at the other end of the block, and the third year he moved his dwelling-house back on to Temple street and filled up the space with stores to complete the row : he made the bricks himself in the old yard of his father, near the foot of Center street. This block has been several times damaged by fire, but has been thor- oughly renewed and modernized by his son John, the present owner of this val- uable estate.
3 Stone was first used here as a material for building in 1828, in constructing the block, corner of Fore street and the passage way to Commercial wharf, built by Messrs. Willis, Harrod, and others. The first brick school-house was erected in 1802.
564
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
The wharves kept pace with other improvements in town. After the war, breastworks were erected along the shore by Mr. Deering and Mr. Fox, fronting their property at the foot of Exchange street, by David Smith and Daniel Ilsley at the foot of Union street, and by Thomas Robison near the foot of Park street. Mr. Ilsley and Mr. Robison erected distilleries upon theirs ; the others were occupied for mechanic shops and ware- houses. The first attempt to extend a wharf to any considera" ble distance into the river, was by the proprietors of flats, at the foot of Union street. The principal owners were David Smith, Robert Boyd, Hugh Mclellan and Son, Enoch Ilsley and Son, Woodbury Storer, John Mussey, and Daniel Ilsley. They held their first legal meeting, January 1, 1793, and the same year commenced Union wharf, on which in the two fol- lowing years they erected ranges of buildings containing fifteen stores.' This wharf has since been extended and is now two thousand two hundred feet long. This undertaking stimulated other gentlemen to a similar enterprise ; the owners of flats at the foot of Exchange street, called a meeting on the first of February in the same year, for the purpose of improving the land now occupied by Long wharf, and voted to proceed imme- diately to the construction of the wharf. The flats owned by the proprietors were one hundred and sixteen feet wide, ex- tending to the channel of Fore river and were held in common, one share being equal to fifty feet in length of the wharf.2 Soon after this, Joseph H. Ingraham commenced his wharf lying next east of Long wharf; to which several additions have been made, until at the present time it is about nine hundred feet
1 Their flats were sixteen rods wide to the channel, the passage way to the wharf forty-eight feet wide; the stores were thirty feet wide with a passage way on each side.
2 The following persons were the first proprietors, Nathaniel Deering, the heirs of James Milk, John Fox, Jamies Deering, Stephen Deblois, Joseph Jewett, Stephen Harding, John Waite, Joshua Rogers, James Jewett, Ralph Cross, Dan- iel Tucker, John Bagley, John Thurlo, Ebenezer Preble, and John Kent.
565
STORES AND WHARVES.
long, and is now called Commercial wharf. In 1807 the Pier was commenced between Titcomb's and Ingraham's wharves by Robert Boyd, Josiah Cox, Enoch Preble, Jacob Noyes, Will- iam Lowell, Ezekiel Day, Parker Ilsley, Jr., John Motley, Peter Warren, Jonathan Paine, Jr., and Benjamin Knight. In 1820 the number of superficial feet of wharf in town, was three hundred ninety-two thousand and ninety-six, which em- braced those we have just mentioned, and Titcomb's now Cus- tom House, Weeks's now Atlantic, Richardson's, Merrill's, and Robison's wharves, besides some breastworks. There have been since added Central, Widgery's, Railway now Galt's,1 At- lantic and St. Lawrence, Portland Co., Burnham's, Smith's, Brown's, Hobson's, Portland, Saco & Portsmouth and Victoria wharves. The most considerable of these are Brown's, Smith's, Atlantic and St. Lawrence, and the Victoria. The latter were completed in 1859, and were built expressly for the accommoda- tion of the Great Eastern Steamship, on the earnest application of the managers of that Company and of the Grand Trunk Rail- way Company. The city appropriated sixty thousand dollars, and the Grand Trunk Company, which superintended the work, applied the further sum of about twenty-five thousand dollars, making the whole cost about eighty-five thousand dollars. They consist of two piers extending into deep water with a wide space between for an open dock. A rail was extended
1 In 1826 a Marine railway was constructed on the east side of Clay Cove, by which vessels were taken up on an inclined plane to be repaired; the undertak- ing was very successful and profitable. It was removed to make way for im- provements in 1853, and the company dissolved. This was one of the most successful enterprises ever undertaken in Portland. They not only divided in profit much more than their capital stock, but the proceeds of sales of the real estate returned the stockholders, exceeded one hundred thousand dollars. The number of shares was two hundred and seventy-five.
A company was incorporated in 1864 to construct a new railway or dry-dock which is greatly needed in the city. A small one was built a few years ago at Cape Elizabeth, which has been recently enlarged to accommodate vessels of the highest class.
566
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
on each pier from the main track of the Grand Trunk, to the end, to furnish facilities for loading and discharging the vessel, and there was a sufficient depth of water at the end of the piers for the largest vessel ever built, to float at low tide. But this immense expense for this specific object was entirely lost to the city ; this monster vessel never came to our waters, and the wharves have never yielded any benefit to the city; what- ever benefit or profit is derived from them inures to the Grand Trunk Company.
The principal wharves in 1864, beginning at Fish Point and extending westerly, are the Victoria, Portland Company, Atlan- tic and St. Lawrence, Railroad, Atlantic or Steamboat, Galt's, Franklin, Burnham's, Maine, Custom House, Portland Pier, Long, Central, Widgery's, Union, Merrill's, Richardson's, Com- mercial, Brown's, Smith's, Hobson's, Sawyer's, Robison's or Sturdivant's, and Portland, Saco and Portsmouth, near Port- land bridge. The number of superficial feet occupied by the wharves is about one million.
For many years, the extension of wharves so far into the harbor, as many of them do, was seriously affecting its capacity and shoaling its water. The Board of Trade of the city in 1854 applied to the city government to adopt some rule on the subject and to take other measures necessary to improve or se- cure the harbor. The city government gave immediate atten- tion to the subject ; they promptly communicated with Prof. Bache, Chief of the Coast Survey, who organized a commis- sion for a survey of the harbor and the establishment of a shore line to restrict the extension of the wharves and other obstructions to the capacity and usefulness of our harbor. The commission consisted of Gen. Totten, Chief Engineer of the U. S., Prof. Bache, and Commander now Admiral Charles H. Da- vis of the U. S. navy, among the most accomplished men on this subject in the U. S. They immediately proceeded in their ex- amination and made a full report in March, 1855, which was published by the city government. This is so pertinent to our
567
DESCRIPTION OF THE HARBOR.
present work, that I shall be excused for making some extracts from their very able report. They say, "The plan of the report embraces three general divisions. 1st. A general description of the harbor, comprising its topography, its natural formation, and its past and actual conditions. 2d. The method of increas- ing its accommodations, and at the same time maintaining its depth and capacity."
They describe the harbor as consisting of an inner and outer harbor. The north-easterly side of the outer harbor is the line of Peake's, Great Hog, and Mackey's Islands ; the inner harbor lies between the peninsula on which Portland is built and Cape Elizabeth, and bounded westerly by Portland bridge. It is a sheet of water one thousand six hundred and eighty yards, or one and thirty-two hundredths nautical miles in length, and at average high tide eleven hundred yards in width. At mean low water, the average width is reduced to one hundred and nine yards." In form it is nearly a "parallelogram of which the longest sides are two thousand nine hundred and fifty yards, and the shortest sides eight hundred and twenty yards, and at low water four hundred and forty yards." The commis- sioners say, "The city of Portland stands precisely upon that spot, which a careful examination would pronounce to be the best. The area at mean high water of the harbor proper, or of the space between Portland bridge and the breakwater on one side and Fish Point on the other, is six hundred and seventy- seven acres. The area of the basin above Portland bridge, is, at mean high water, about nine hundred and eighty-eight acres, and at mean low water about one hundred eighty-two acres." All the conditions of the harbor and reservoir imply stability in the waters of Portland ; it is in part, they say, "a harbor of an original formation, and being well proportioned in its parts, it would be inferred that it was not liable to any changes ex- cept such as are slow and scarcely perceptible." The commis- sioners say, "It is very noticeable that a portion of the eastern end of the middle ground seems actually to have been removed,
568
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
while on the other hand the depth of water on the middle ground has scarcely diminished. The most interesting change is the creation of a sort of bar reaching across from Fish Point to the middle ground, making it much shoaler in this spot now than it was in 1820."
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