Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 39

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716

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R. I .- 53

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Greenport, Long Island, connecting with the Long Island Railroad for New York. By 1848 the traffic between Providence and New York by steamboat had reached almost its lowest level, the factors contributing being (1) the Stonington line; (2) the removal of the railroad terminus from the water front and a direct connection through the Union station, and (3) the opening of the Fall River line connecting with the Old Colony line from Boston and Newport.

The Commercial Steamboat Company with three steam propellers, the "Osceola," "Peli- can" and "Petrel," opened a freight service in 1851, which was so successful that new boats were added in 1852 and 1853. Competition ensued, the new line for a while carried passen- gers to New York for fifty cents, and freight at reduced rates. In a compromise agreement passenger service was discontinued, and the company continued to increase its facilities, oper- ating a daily freight service in 1855. Other boats on this line besides the three named above were the "Westchester," "Curlew," "Albatross," "Penguin," "Falcon," "Eagle," "Seagull" and "Kingfisher." The Commercial Company was absorbed by the Neptune Steamboat Com- pany in 1864. The Neptune Company operated a fleet of nine vessels, the "Electra," "Gala- tea," "Oceanus," "Metis," "Thetis," "Doris," "Nereus," "Glaucus" and "Neptune." The Neptune Company was consolidated with the Stonington line in 1866, under a new corpora- tion called the Merchants' Steamship Company, the joint enterprise operating fifteen steamers, including the "Commodore," "Commonwealth" and "Plymouth Rock." The company was prosperous, and undertook the building of two new steamers out of earnings on a capital stock of $2,750,000. Disasters destroyed the company ; the steamer "Commonwealth" was burned at its dock at Groton, Connecticut, with the dock a total loss. The "Commodore" was wrecked, and the "Plymouth Rock" went ashore at Saybrook. The Merchants' Company went into bankruptcy in 1866; the new steamers under construction were sold for $350,000, entailing a loss of $1,000,000 on these alone. Renamed "Bristol" and "Providence," instead of "Pilgrim" and "Puritan," these vessels were the finest in the world at the time; they were operated for a time from Bristol to New York, but later were transferred to the Fall River line. The "Bristol" was destroyed by fire at Newport in 1888; the "Providence" remained in active service until 1899, and was dismantled in 1901.

The Providence and New York Steamship Company, a Sprague enterprise, succeeded the Merchants' Company as proprietors of the line from Providence. This company was pros- perous and planned the building of two steamers to rival the "Bristol" and "Providence." But the loss of the "Oceanus," burned at her dock in New York in 1868, and the sinking of the "Metis," off Watch Hill, August 30, 1872, delayed the enterprise. Then came the Sprague failure in 1873. The wreck of the "Metis" involved the loss of fifty lives, and for years affected traffic. Among the saved were Joseph Banigan, later builder of a vast rubber manu- facture in Rhode Island, and Bridget Riley, who floated away from the steamer on a mattress. She, like David Crowley, saved from the "Lexington," lived for many years afterward in Providence, where she was known as the Metis.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF STEAMBOATING-The Providence and Stonington Steamship Com- pany, in 1875, acquired both the Providence and the Stonington lines and operated them har- moniously with the Stonington Railroad. Four new steamships-the "Stonington" and the "Narragansett," 1867, and the "Rhode Island," 1873, and the "Massachusetts," 1877-were employed, the "Rhode Island" and the "Massachusetts" on the Providence line. The "Rhode Island" was wrecked in the West Passage at Bonnet Point, and replaced by another steamer of the same name. The steamer "Connecticut," a marvel in marine construction at the time, a "side-wheeler without a walking beam," and almost the last side-wheeler built for service on the Sound; the "Priscilla," "Puritan," "New Hampshire" and "Maine," all magnificent steamships, were employed at various times on the Providence line, which operated two boats, with nightly sailings in both directions. These steamers were floating hotels, palatial in pro-

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portion and equipment, affording all the accommodations that a traveler might find in the best metropolitan hotels of the period, and luxuriously fitted up and kept immaculately clean and meticulously spic and span. They were lighted by electricity before the same service was available in most hotels. The passenger might dine in a splendid restaurant, spend a cool and pleasant evening on the open deck or listen to a fine concert in a magnificent salon, and retire to a luxurious cabin for restful sleep while traveling. A business man having appoint- ments in New York might ride by boat during the night, spend a long business day in the metropolis, and return by boat the following night, fresh for business in Rhode Island. The steamers floated majestically and gracefully as swans, which in their coats of white paint they resembled, their size producing an illusion which concealed their steady speed. With the boats of the Providence line a direct railroad communication from Boston and White Mountain resorts was maintained by train, which entered Rhode Island over the rails of the old Boston and Providence Railroad, crossing the Seekonk River at India Point, and discharging passen- gers on the wharf, across which they might walk to the steamer. The nightly sailing was an event which attracted hundreds to the wharf, there to listen to the parting band concert, open- ing with the "Star Spangled Banner" at sunset. Along the shores of the bay the steamers were greeted by fireworks, and answered with the drone of whistles.

By 1898, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company, which had con- solidated steam railroads in Southern New England, including more than ninety per cent. of railroad mileage in Rhode Island, had acquired also control of four steamboat lines to New York, operating from Providence, Fall River, Norwich and Stonington. The Joy line, which started a competitive line from Providence in 1899, was driven off by the New Haven Steam- ship company, which also entered the competition. The dominating railroad company bought the New Haven steamboats in 1900, and at that time had no other competitor in Rhode Island waters than the Joy line, which had returned. To meet this opposition, the railroad placed two old steamboats-"Rhode Island" and "Massachusetts"-in commission. The railroad then operated six lines of steamers to New York, two from Providence, and one each from Fall River, Norwich, Stonington and New Haven, with a fleet which included the passenger steamers "Rhode Island," "Connecticut," "Maine," "New Hampshire," "Massachusetts," "Pris- cilla," "Puritan," "Plymouth," "City of Lowell," "City of Worcester," "Chester W. Chapin" and "Richard W. Peck," and, in addition a large fleet of steamers carrying only freight.

Other lines of steamers sailing from Providence were the Winsor line to Philadelphia, established in 1866, and operating, in 1900, two iron twin-screw steamers, making two trips weekly in both directions; and the line to Baltimore, established in 1873, and operating, in 1900, four iron twin-screw steamers, making three trips weekly in both directions. The Clyde line operated steamers to Southern ports for a few years. Besides the regular liners, a large fleet of steamers, sailing vessels and barges were engaged in the coal-carrying traffic, and Nar- ragansett Bay floated many an occasional visitor with cargo of cotton, salt, sulphur, rubber, iron, dyewood, wool, or other raw materials for Rhode Island factories.

RIVER STEAMBOATS AND SHORE RESORTS-Steamboats eventually replaced packets and other small sailing vessels in the territorial waters of Rhode Island. Additional to the service between Newport and Providence provided by steamboats to and from New York, which stopped at both Rhode Island ports on trips in both directions between 1822 and 1847, the steamers "Firefly," "Bristol," "Providence," "Babcock," "Rushlight," "Wadsworth," "King- ston," "Balloon," "Iolas," "Roger Williams" and "Perry" plied between Newport and Provi- dence at various times to 1865. The summer service was unbroken from 1847 to 1900, oper- ated partly as an accommodation for travelers and commuters, and partly to carry excursion- ists to the beaches and other attractions of the island city. A line connecting Providence and Fall River was maintained from 1827, the steamers employed being the "Hancock," "King

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Philip," "Bradford Durfee," "Canonicus," "Richard Borden" and "Mount Hope." The "Mount Hope" opened a service to Block Island in 1889. Other lines have operated from time to time between Providence and Warren, Fall River, Bristol, East Greenwich, Seaconnet Point, Narragansett Pier, Wickford, and Saunderstown; between Newport and Wickford, Narragansett Pier, Fall River and Saunderstown. The American Steamboat Company, oper- ating excusion steamboats between Providence and shore resorts along Narragansett Bay, began operations in 1865, its steamers including the "Perry," "Bay Queen," "What Cheer," "Montpelier," "River Queen," "City of Newport," "River Belle," "Day Star," and "Crystal Wave." The Continental Steamboat Company acquired the property in 1878 and continued operations. The Shore Transportation Company began competition in 1885 with the steamers "Baltimore" and "Philadelphia," which were replaced three years later by the "Pomham" and "Squantum." The Continental Company acquired the "Pomham" and "Squantum" in 1891, and in 1895, it was absorbed by the Providence, Fall River and Newport Steamboat Company, which controlled most of the excursion steamers in Narragansett Bay thereafter, its fleet in 1900 including the "Mount Hope," "Bay Queen," "City of Newport," "Richard Borden," "Warwick," "What Cheer," "Rambler," "Pomham," "Squantum," and "Favorite." Paw- tucket also had a line of excursion steamers, including the "Pioneer," "Pontiac," "Pawnee," and "Peerless."

Beginning shortly after 1860 favorite shore resorts were developed at Oakland Beach, Buttonwoods Beach, Rocky Point, Field's Point, Silver Spring, Golden Spring, Ocean Cot- tage, Bullock's Point, Camp White, Crescent Park, Pleasant Bluff, Hauterive, and later Vanity Fair. The outstanding attraction at each was a Rhode Island clambake, usually a bathing beach, and later the introduction of other types of entertainment. Of these, Rocky Point and Crescent Park were the most popular, although both Field's Point and Silver Spring achieved almost world-wide reputation for excellence of distinctive shore dinners. Both Rocky Point and Crescent Park were scenes for great popular meetings and political rallies, the speakers including Congressmen, presidential candidates, Governors of Rhode Island and of other states, a long list of distinguished men and great orators who came to Rhode Island to appeal for popular support of their causes. William J. Bryan, Governor Altgeld of Illinois, and Senator Tillman of South Carolina, addressed one Sunday afternoon gathering at Crescent Park. Today only Rocky Point and Crescent Park survive as shore resorts, and each is only a shadow of the past. Field's Point has disappeared to make room for harbor improvements and a great municipal wharf. The rotting spiles of abandoned wharves still mark old landing places elsewhere, at which excursion steamers discharged crowds of pleasure seekers or took on the tired-out men, women, and children, anxious to return home after a day at the shore. The dining pavilions in which thousands were fed have disappeared or have been converted to other purposes, and the noisy merry-go-round with flying horses is still forever, though it, invention of Benjamin Crandall of Westerly, was the greatest favorite with children, and with many grown-up boys and girls. Gone are excursion steamers, too; one by one they were retired from service, banished to other waters than those of Rhode Island, or tied up for the last time in some quiet place to rot slowly, or grounded to be burned for salvaging of iron. Only the "Mount Hope," of the proud fleet of Rhode Island excursion boats, is still in service, and she no longer stops as she speeds up and down the bay on express trips between Provi- dence, Newport and Block Island. An attempt to revive steamboat traffic in 1914 failed; a new type of excursion boat, planned for shallow waters and equipped with gasoline engines, was condemned as unseaworthy on her trial voyage. The decline in the prosperity of excur- sion steamers began with the building of electric tramways to Crescent Park and Rocky Point, and continued with the introduction of the automobile as the workingman's private carriage. The excursion steamers carried 600,000 passengers in 1882, and 1,250,000 in 1900. Another type of steamboat excursion that has been eliminated is the once favorite long Sunday

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or holiday trip to New London, Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard or Cottage City (Oak Bluffs), and the sail around the Brenton's Reef Lightship, Beaver Tail, or Block Island. The fashions, even in recreation, change from generation to generation.

CONSOLIDATION AND CONFLICT-With the opening of the twentieth century transporta- tion in Rhode Island was thoroughly organized in four principal divisions: (1) Steam rail- roads, 210 miles, operated with the exception of twenty miles of short branch lines, by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Company; (2) electric tramways, 218 miles, operated prin- cipally by the Union Railroad Company, or the Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company, both controlled by the United Traction and Electric Company; (3) two lines of steamboats to New York, operated by the dominating railroad company, one competing line, and two regular lines to Philadelphia and Baltimore; (4) a fleet of excursion boats on Narragansett Bay, owned, with few exceptions by the Providence, Fall River and Newport Steamboat Company. The railroads and commercial steamboats were not competitors; it required little vision to foresee that electric tramway competition would eliminate excursion steamers, since these were already experiencing a loss of patronage.

Electric tramways, paralleling steam railroads, had become active and successful competi- tors for passengers except on long trips, and were organizing a freight and express business that was cutting into railroad profits. Had these remained the only factors in the problem of transportation the solution lay in further consolidation, that is, in steam railroad control of electric tramways, or control of steam railroads by the electric traction companies. The unde- termined factor, the importance of which was scarcely perceived if, indeed, anticipated in 1900, was the development of the automobile. It was little more than a toy in 1900, jeered by the crowd when a failure of engine to function necessitated towing home by horse power. No one at that time foresaw 100,000 private passenger cars in Rhode Island, with seats for every man, woman and child in the state; an automobile public omnibus service competing with steam railroads and electric tramways; and an automobile truck service that would revo- lutionize freight and express business on hauls up to 100 miles. The inevitable conflict in 1900 lay between steam railroads and electric tramways, and the battle of giants was soon waged in earnest.

HARBOR IMPROVEMENT-The erection of a steel bridge across the Seekonk River near the site of the old Washington Bridge built by John Brown in 1793 was authorized in 1883 as part of a project for continuing the improvement of navigable waters of Rhode Island, which began as early as 1853. In the year last mentioned Lieutenant William A. Rosecrans, United States Engineers, afterward General Rosecrans in the Civil War, completed a survey of Provi- dence harbor, and a federal appropriation of $5000 was expended in dredging, under the direc- tion of Captain George Dutton, United States Engineers, at the "Crook," a shoal south of Fox Point having a depth of only 4.3 feet at low tide. The channel was lowered to nine feet in 1853, and by further dredging in 1867 to twelve feet. Congress made other appropriations in 1870, 1872 and 1873, with which the channel was made fourteen feet deep from Fox Point to Sassafras Point, and a part of a shoal opposite Sassafras Point was removed. Bulkhead rock was blasted, and in 1878 the work of dredging a channel twenty-five feet deep from Fox Point to Field's Point was begun. General G. K. Warren, United States Engineers, who was in charge of the work in 1880, in his report said: "Providence is a city of about 100,000 inhabitants and is the second city in size and importance in New England. It is a manufac- turing city of importance. Large quantities of arms of war are made here. It is a very con- venient distributing point, and its fine approaches from the ocean will give it a large oppor- tunity for foreign trade as soon as the contemplated deep channel is secured. The total num- ber of vessels that arrived at the port of Providence during the year 1878 was 5580, of which 1975 were steamers from Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Newport, and Fall River ; 3440

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were barks, brigs, schooners, sloops and barges from various American ports, and 112 foreign barks, brigs and schooners. Providence is in the Providence collection district, and that place is a port of entry. The amount of revenue collected there during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, was $405,682.73." Another project carried forward in the same period was the building of a breakwater at Block Island, 1879, thus to protect the old harbor.

Providence had visions of becoming a seaport for export trade with the development of the New York and New England Railroad and the completion of a direct rail route from the West, crossing the Hudson, first by ferry, and later by bridge at Poughkeepsie. The Gen- eral Assembly asked Congress to dredge a ship channel to the depth of twenty-five feet, thus to accommodate ocean-going cargo ships. The resolution recited :

Within the past few weeks a direct railroad communication has been established between the city of Providence and the western states, by which the varied products of that great section of the country that are transported over the main trunk lines of railroad may be distributed, not only throughout New England, but forwarded to foreign lands by the unequalled facilities of Narragansett Bay; . . . this new communica- tion has been secured by the completion of the New York and New England Railroad, the managers of which have declared their determination to afford the city of Providence equal advantages with the city of Boston in the transportation and delivery of freight at tidewater in said city of Providence; . . . the city of Provi- dence has declared its intention to improve its tidewater facilities by the vote of its city council to expend the sum of $75,000 during the present season in dredging that portion of the harbor within its jurisdiction; . . . the board of trade in said city has, by its action and through its officers and committees secured assurances from responsible parties that the large ocean steamers from foreign trade can and will be sent to said city as soon as the dredging and repairs shall be accomplished; and . . . it is desirable and necessary that . . . the sum to be expended by the general government . . . should be largely augmented, to the end that the present deep channel may be deepened to a depth not less than twenty-five feet at mean low water, and widened to a width of not less than 300 feet.

Dredging in the Seekonk River, with the purpose of developing the wharves from Fox Point to India Point, and thence northward to construct new wharves along the Seekonk, and to open a channel to Pawtucket, was begun in 1868. Ten years later it was reported that 350 schooners and fourteen barges had been towed, in 1878, up the improved channel to Paw- tucket, and that the freight carried amounted to 100,000 tons. The old wooden Washington bridge and the railroad bridge further south were obstructions not only to use of the channel, but to further improvement. The original Washington bridge, built in 1793, was carried away by storm in 1807. Replaced and strengthened, the second bridge went out during the September gale of 1815. When a third bridge was constructed the spiles were anchored by piles of stone, the first lot of which sank through the soft mud in the river bottom and disap- peared. When repairs were made in 1867 more stone was piled around the piers. Eventually the stone formed the basis for an underwater dam across the channel, which could not be removed without endangering the bridge. Down stream from Washington Bridge a railroad bridge had been constructed in 1835 and replaced in 1867-1868. In strengthening founda- tions for this bridge, stone and a layer of oyster shells four feet deep had been dumped into the river. Because of the obstructions the flow of water, restricted to a narrow space, some- times attained a speed of five miles an hour. Between the bridges and beyond, in both direc- tions, double lines of spiles had been driven, to hold vessels within the channel. Vessels going up, were warped through because a turn of forty-five degrees made towing imprac- ticable. Vessels going down raced with the tide in order to maintain steerage-way, and occa- sionally were damaged in collision with the spiles.

A state commission appointed to consider the problem reported in 1881 plans for a double-deck iron bridge to replace both the old Washington bridge and the railroad bridge, both of which were to be removed to permit suitable dredging of the channel. The iron bridge was to be carried on piers "of the least practicable sectional area," and to have a draw 160

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feet long, swinging on a central pier, thus to leave the channel unobstructed for eighty feet on either side. The lower deck of the bridge was to be devoted to railroad travel; the upper deck, twenty feet above, would carry vehicular travel and pedestrians. The upper level was to be reached by ramps at either side so planned as to eliminate grade crossings. The commis- sion suggested the possibility that Providence might become a port for Boston, large vessels entering Narragansett Bay and discharging cargoes for rail shipment, thus to avoid the dan- gerous sailing trip around Cape Cod. A part at least of this vision has been realized in the twentieth century, in the development of Narraganset Bay as a terminus for oil and lumber shipments by water, and as a distribution center for oil and lumber for New England.

The commission suggested also the need for a horse car line from Providence to East Providence, prohibited because of the dilapidated condition of Washington Bridge. The cost of a new bridge was estimated at $425,000, and it was recommended that the money be raised by a bond issue limited to thirty years at four per cent., the bonds to be retired by accumulat- ing a sinking fund, to which the state, Providence, East Providence, Pawtucket and the three railroads that might use the new bridge should contribute. Eventually the plan for the double- deck bridge was abandoned, and in 1883 a statute authorized the building of a new Washing- ton bridge by a state commission, if the city of Providence did not exercise an option to build the bridge on its own initiative. The new bridge was built by the state, with allocation of part of the expenditure to Providence and East Providence. It was planned to cross the river at a level that would eliminate grade crossings in East Providence, thus necessitating the building of approaches from either side, and the changing of grade lines on streets in East Providence. The original plans contemplated the payment of no damages because of street changes, on the assumption that much of the property affected by the change of grades would benefit because of the improvement. Governor Davis condemned as "unnecessary" the pay- ment by the state of damages and other charges in 1891 amounting to $50,102.07. The state ordered a new bridge built across the Seekonk on the site of the Red Bridge in 1894, assuming payment of $20,000 of the cost, the remainder to be apportioned to Providence and East Providence.

Another project affecting transportation within Rhode Island was proposed in 1887 and again in 1894, when federal aid was asked for the dredging of a canal across the Island of Conanicut to permit direct ferry connection from Newport to the west shore of the bay.

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Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 39

Author: Carroll, Charles, author Publication date: 1932 Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716