USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 2 > Part 50
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The remaining boats belonging to the defunet Mereliants Steamship Company were bought by the Providenee and New York Steamship
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Company. Amasa Sprague, of the great manufacturing firm of A. & W. Sprague, was the principal owner, and the boats were man- aged by George C. Nightingale, T. D. Bowen, Cyrus Taft and Samuel Foster as trustees, until a charter was obtained in 1867, when the company was organized with Isaac H. Southwick as president and Zephaniah Williams as treasurer. This line was prosperous from the start, as the Spragues, then in the height of their success, sent all their freight by it, while their influence and prestige attracted to it a large amount of traffic. One of the steamers, the Oceanus, was burned at her dock in New York in 1868. She was a passenger as well as a freight carrier, but the Metis was at once fitted up as a passenger boat to take her place. From 1868 to 1871 Benjamin Buffum was president of the company and general manager of the line and in 1871 was succeeded as president by Gov. William Sprague. A project was then conceived to build two boats, which in size and splendor would rival the Bristol and Providence of the Fall River line, but the loss of the Metis off Watch Hill, August 30 ,1872, by collision with a schooner, entailing a great loss of life, put a stop to this enterprise, although the contracts were prepared and ready for signature. The boats might have been built, nevertheless, by the company in the next few years had it not been for the fact that in 1873 the disastrous failure of the Spragues occurred, which blighted for a time all enterprises in the State of Rhode Island with which that great firm were connected or associated. The next year, 1874, Capt. D. S. Babcock, president of the Stonington Steamship Company, was like- wise elected president of the Providence and New York Steamship Company, and this prepared the way for the union of the two lines, which took place in 1875, under the name of the Providence and Stonington Steamship Company.
The failure of the Merchants Steamship Company in 1866 wiped out the line of boats between Stonington and New York and no steam- ers plied between these ports in 1867; but in that year the Stonington Railroad Company and some outside capitalists organized the Stoning- ton Steamship Company with Capt. D. S. Babcock as president. Capt. Babcock was also vice-president of the Stonington Railroad Company and the two enterprises, although distinct corporations, were operated in harmonious conjunction. Capt. William P. Williams, whose func- tion seems to have been to build new boats and start new lines for Providence people, had at this time built two palace steamers. These vessels were purchased by the Stonington line and named the Ston- ington and Narragansett. In 1873 the steamer Rhode Island was
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built and put on the route, and in 1877 the Massachusetts was eom- pleted and began her trips. Both these boats were magnifieent vessels and the Massachusetts was at the time of her launehing considered by her owners "the palace steamer of the world". The Rhode Island was subsequently wrecked on Bonnet Point, but was replaced in 1882 by another boat of the same name. The Rhode Island and the Massa- chusetts were used on the Providenee line and the Stonington and Narragansett on the Stonington line, the two lines having been eon- solidated in 1875. For many years the Providenee line earried passengers during the summer only, while in the winter freight was earried by the many substantial vessels that had been inherited by the company from its predecessors, the Neptune and Merchants Steam- ship Companies.
In July 1898, the Providenee and Stonington Steamship Company eeased to exist, and its steamers have sinee then been operated as an integral part of the "Consolidated" Railroad, by which name the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company is aptly known eolloquially. At the same time the railroad company also eame into similar control of the Fall River line and the Norwich line. These four great lines of steamers, which traverse the length of Long Island Sound, have sinee that time been operated as the "Marine Distriet" of the great railroad corporation. The New Haven Steamboat Company began running steamers from Lonsdale Wharf, Providenee, to New York in June, 1899, and earried passengers and freight at redueed rates by the steamers C. H. Northam and Riehard Peek, which ealled at New Haven on their outward and inward trips. This constituted a very serious competition for the Providenee line, and in order to avert the consequences the railroad corporation purchased the New Haven line early in 1900, and promptly removed the two boats from the l'rovidenee routes. By this purehase all the established Sound lines beeame the property of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company, and the five passenger lines, namely, the Provi- denee, Stonington, Fall River, Norwich and New Haven, now eonsti- tute its Marine Distriet, which likewise ineludes freight lines to Fall River and New Bedford. The steamers on the various lines, in 1901, were as follows : Fall River line-Priseilla and Puritan ; Providenee line-Plymouth and Conneetieut ; Stonington line-Maine and New Hampshire; Norwich line-City of Lowell and City of Worcester; New Haven line-Chester W. Chapin and Riehard Peek.
Early in March, 1899, the Joy Steamship Company began running
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steamers from Providenee to New York, but discontinued them soon after the New Haven line started its boats on the Providence route in June of that year. After the New Haven line was absorbed by the Consolidated, the Joy line resumed business early in 1900, and has sinee continued to carry passengers and freight at lower rates than the Providence line. This was only a repetition of past experience in the history of steamboating in Rhode Island waters. To meet this opposition the railroad corporation started a new line, conducted independently of its Providence line, and carried passengers at a still lower rate than the Joy line, utilizing for this purpose the old but still serviceable steamers, the Massachusetts and Rhode Island. This state of affairs still continued in 1901 and both lines were operated summer and winter.
The Providence, Norfolk and Baltimore Steamship Line was es- tablished in 1873 by the Merehants' and Miners' Transportation Company. The same company tried to establish a line between Providenee and Baltimore in 1859, but the boats only ran a few times, as the experiment proved unremunerative. From the time of its establishment until 1895 the steamers landed at Lonsdale wharf, foot of Hope street, but sinee that time larger wharf facilities nearer Fox Point were seeured, and at this location a large and increasing busi- ness is transacted. At present there are four large iron serew steam- ships on this line, and three trips a week are made from Providence, the sailing days being Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The vessels are specially designed for freight, but they have aeeommoda- tions for a limited number of passengers. The Merehants' and Miners' Transportation Company, which was incorporated by the General Assembly of Maryland, April 24, 1852, operates, besides this line, the Boston, Norfolk and Baltimore Line, the Baltimore and Savannah Line and the Baltimore and Philadelphia Line.
The Winsor Line of steamers, at first called the Empire Line and later the Keystone Line, was established in 1866 by J. M. Huntington & Co., of Norwich, Conn., and operated freight steamers between Providenee and Philadelphia. In 1872 the line was sold to Henry Winsor, of Philadelphia, by whom a new company was soon after- ward formed and ineorporated by the Massachusetts Legislature with the title of the Boston and Philadelphia Steamship Company, with its shipping ports at Providence, Fall River and Boston. The line began business in 1866, at the Boston Railroad Company's wharf on India street, foot of Ives street, where it remained until 1872, when it moved to the foot of South Main street. In 1875, on account of increase in
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business, another removal took place to Ives wharf, where the line has a freight yard of about 30,000 square feet, with a water frontage of 225 feet. Here there are ample conveniences for loading and unload- ing freighits, including a freight house 60 by 225 feet. On the line are two iron screw steamers, and two trips a weck are made from each end of the route. The steamers take out large freights of manu- factured goods, cottons, woolens, hardware and machinery, and bring back large cargoes of cotton, wool, leather, iron, hides and other Southern and Western products.
During the early years of steam navigation, when a new boat was put on the run to New York it was the fashion to make, first, a few excursion trips to points in the bay. This was done mainly to ex- hibit the boats to the public, and also because there was a popular demand for steamboat excursions. All the steamers that plied be- tween Providence and New York, until about the year 1840, did more or less of this duty. Since then the excursions to shore resorts, and to other points on the bay, have been made by steamers specially devoted to this branch of the business.
Regular excursions to the shore resorts in Narragansett Bay may be said to have first begun in the decade between 1850 and 1860. Previous to that time the principal work of all steamers employed on the bay had been to carry passengers and freight to places where business and not pleasure called the people, and the occasional excur- sions were only episodes in the history of the boats, as well as in the lives of the people. But during the period mentioned, a change began and special places for resort were fitted up, and, one after another, opened to the public. Not, however, until after the War of the Rebellion did the business begin to assume anything like its present proportions. Now, during the season, a fleet of elegant and commodious steamers is entirely devoted to the accommodation of the summer tourist; to the seeker after a clam dinner; to one who, on a pleasant afternoon, would enjoy the refreshing influences of the sea brecze that comes wafted up the bay ; to the excursionists who may wish to spend a longer or shorter period of relaxation at any of the many pleasantly located retreats opened for their reception ; or, to the visitor of any sort, whom pleasure or business may call to make a trip to these beautiful and attractive places. For one weary and oppressed with the heat, noise, and bustle of the dusty city, there can be no better restorative thian a few hours of quict repose and recreation "down the bay". The amount of travel and business in connection with these places is increasing year by year. The principal summer resorts are Rocky Point on the west shore, and Crescent Park on the cast shore.
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The steamers running between Providence and New York, from the year 1822 to 1847, stopped at Newport each way. With occasional intervals of a season or two, there was, however, during this time, a Providence and Newport line of boats, which, besides plying between these two places, sometimes ran to Bristol, Warren and Fall River, and occasionally carried excursion parties to any desired point. The first boat on this route, as already mentioned, was the Firefly, in 1817. Next to appear on the scene was the Bristol, which ran for a few weeks in the fall of 1822. During the summers of 1823 and 1824 the steamer Providence plied between Providence and Newport. The next year there was no steam conveyance, except by the New York steamers. In 1826 the steamer Babcock was running, which, under the most favorable conditions, took three hours to make the trip between Provi- dence and Newport ; but at the close of the season she was transformed into a schooner. In 1828 the steamer Rushlight was put upon the route and continued running until 1835. The Wadsworth commenced her trips in 1829, and continued on the route until June 25, 1831. Thus it will be seen that for a number of years there were two boats running independently between Providence and Newport. In 1836 there was no steamboat on the route, but in that year the Narragansett Bay Steamboat Company was organized, and in 1837 its boat, the Kingston, began to make daily trips. She ran two seasons. Again, in 1839, there was no exclusive steamboat communication between Newport and Providence. Daniel Drew, in 1840, sent hither the steamer Balloon, and during the summers of that year and the suc- ceeding one, she made daily trips. From 1842 until 1845 the Iolas plied between Providence and Newport; during 1846 the steamer Roger Williams was run; in 1847 the steamer Perry commenced her trips and continued on the route for a score of years.
The American Steamboat Company began business in 1865, and in addition to the Perry, which was its first boat, it afterward put on the line the Bay Queen in 1865, the What Cheer in 1867, the Montpelier, the River Queen, the City of Newport, the River Belle, the Day Star and the Crystal Wave. January 1, 1878, its property and business passed into the control of the Continental Steamboat Company, under whose direction the excursion traffic increased to very large proportions. Capt. George B. Hull started the Shore Transportation Company in 1885, with the propellers Baltimore and Philadelphia, which were chartered boats. The vessels were run dur- ing 1885-6-7, and were replaced in 1888 by the propellers Squantum and Pomham, built for the company, and which continued to run
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until the end of the season of 1890. The following spring these two boats were chartered by the Continental Steamboat Company, and the Shore Transportation Company discontinued business. January, 1895, the business of the Continental Steamboat Company, as well as that of the Fall River and Providenee line, was absorbed by a new corporation known as the Providenee, Fall River and Newport Steam- boat Company, which sinee then has eontrolled the greater part of the steamboat travel on Narragansett Bay. The steamers comprising the fleet of this company in 1901 were the Mount Hope, Bay Queen, City of Newport, Richard Borden and Warwiek, all large side wheelers; Rambler, Squantum and Baltimore, propellers; What Cheer, side wheeler ; Favorite, propeller.
Various attempts had been made previous to 1827 to establish a steamboat line between Providenee and Fall River, but with only partial sueeess. In 1827, however, Col. Riehard Borden, under the auspiees of the Fall River Iron Works company, started the steamer Haneoek on this route, and for several years she ran regularly.1 In 1832 she was sueeeeded by the King Philip; the King Philip was sue- ceeded, in 1845, by the Bradford Durfee, which continued to run until 1883. The Canonieus was placed on the route in 1849, and the Richard Borden, July 17, 1874. In 1888 the steamer Mount Hope was built for the line, and she was, at that time, the largest and finest exeursion boat on the bay, which position she still retains. This line continued under the control of the Fall River Iron Works Company from the first trip of the HIaneok in 1827, until it was acquired by the Providenee, Fall River and Newport Steamboat Company, in 1895; but in 1880, while still eontinuing in the same ownership, it was incorporated as the Fall River and Providenee Steamboat Company.
For many years the Fall River and Providenee Steamboat Company ran a steamer to Bloek Island several times a week, and the steamer Mount Hope was, in 1889, built specially for this route. Until the line was sold to the present company the Mount Hope made two trips a week from Providenee and one from Fall River to Newport and Bloek Island, and the remainder of each week she was used for general exeursions. Sinee the transfer to the present company this steamer has made daily trips, Sundays ineluded, fron Providenee to Bloek Island, stopping at Newport each way, and sinee the building of the long pier at Narragansett Pier, in 1898, she has stopped there on both the outward and inward trips. A steamer from Fall River eonneets daily at Newport with the Mount Hope, so that passengers ean make
1Fall River and Its Industries, pp. 27, 49, 192-3.
A VIEW OF NARRAGANSETT PIER.
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the trips either to Narragansett Pier or Block Island and return by this means to Fall River.
The facilities afforded by the frequent trips of the stcamers to the resorts on the shores, a few miles below Providence, have been largely instrumental in helping the growth of those localities as residential suburbs. This has been especially true of the east shore of the bay from Providence down to Bullock's Point. From 1890 to 1895 steamers were run by the Continental Company, during the entire year, to the landings on this shore, and in this period there was a very noticeable increase in the population, and in the number of dwellings erected. Since then the trolley lines have ministered to the transportation demands of this countryside, while the steamers carry the excursionists during the summer.
The excursion traffic on Narragansett Bay has steadily increased with the growth of the population. For the season of 1881, the Con- tinental Steamboat Company transported 75,000 more passengers than in any season during the previous ten years. The total number of passengers carried between Newport and Providence during 1881, was 156,105; between Rocky Point and Providence, 139,918; between other places on the bay and Providence, 278,374; making the entire number carried 574,397. For the season of 1882 a total number of about 600,000 passengers was carried on all the routes. In 1900 double that number, or about a million and a quarter persons, was carried on the bay steamers of the Providence, Fall River, and Newport Steam- boat Company to and from the various resorts. The number carried to the principal resorts during the excursion season was : To Newport, on regular steamers, 158,882; on chartered steamers, 50,000; to Nar- rangansett Pier, regular steamers, 33,536; chartered steamers, 19,200; to Block Island, regular steamers, 43,672; chartered steamers, 2,800; to Rocky Point, Crescent Park, and the east side shore places, 533,530; to and from Fall River about 35,000; from Fall River to Newport, 50,000. Since the extension of the trolley lincs the travel by boat to the east side shore places, Silver Spring, Riverside and Pleasant Bluff, has fallen off considerably, but as many people go by the steamers to Crescent Park as formerly, and the excursion traffic to Rocky Point has increased.
A small freight steamer, the William Marvel, has plicd between Fall River and Providence for many years. It is now owned by the Dyer Transportation Company, which also utilizes two steam lighters, the Sagamore and the Isaac N. Vcazie, in the same traffic.
At various times there have been small steamers running between
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Warren and Providence. One was running in 1847, and, with some intervals, communication by steamboat was kept up for a number of years. For many years there have been no steamers on this route. Bristol is reached by the steamers plying between Fall River and Providence, and also by the Seaconnet line steamers. East Green- wich has had steamboat communication with Providence on several occasions for brief periods.
A line of steamers was started in the '80's to ply between Provi- dence and Seaconnet Point at the eastern entrance to Narragansett Bay. The steamer Queen City for some years was the only steamer on the line, but a new vessel, the Awashonks, was added several years ago. She was burned at the beginning of 1901, and hier place was taken by the Islander. Excursions are made daily during the sum- mer, while in winter the boats arc run several times a week.
The steamer General, at present running from Wickford to Newport across the bay, connects at Wickford Landing with the trains of the Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company, which was organized in 1870. This road, which is less than four miles long, connects with the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad at Wickford junction. For a number of years the steamer Eolus ran on this route.
For several years early in the '90's two small steamers, the Wyona and the Anawon, were run by Stillman Saunders from Providence to Wickford and Saunderstown. The latter was burned, but the former is still employed in freighting and to carry parties. Captain George B. Hull has, since 1897, had the small steamer Corsair on the route between Providence, Wickford and Saunderstown. In 1897 and 1898 she ran to Saunderstown and to Wickford. Part of the time during 1900 and 1901 she ran in connection with the Sea View Electric line, thus making a through connection from Providence to Narragansett Pier. The Corsair is a converted steam yacht and was built in 1888. For some years during the summer, steamer Herman S. Caswell ran between Newport and Narragansett Pier, making con- nections there with the Narragansett Pier Railroad, which connects at Kingston station with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. She was succeeded by the Manisees, which ran for several seasons, but since the building of the long pier, steamer Mount Hope supplies all neccessary facilities between Newport and Narragansett Pier.
There is a connection by a steam ferry between Newport and Narragansett Pier via Jamestown and Saunderstown. The steam ferry
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boat Conanicut runs between Newport and Jamestown, connecting by a stage across the island of Conanicut-a distance of about a mile- with the stcamer Beaver Tail, which runs over to Saunderstown, where electric cars can be taken for Narragansett Pier, Wickford or Provi- dence.
Steamer George W. Danielson has for a number of years plied between Providence and Block Island, via Newport during the winter, and in summer between Block Island and Newport, connecting there with the boats of the Providence, Fall River and Newport Steamboat Company of Providence. Late in the summer of 1901 a larger steamer, the New Shoreham, owned by the town of New Shoreham, Block Island, began to make daily trips from Providence to Block Island, landing in Great Pond Harbor, thence going to New London and returning to Providence the same way.
The Clyde Steamship Company began in May, 1900, to run one of its large steamers from Providence to Wilmington, N. C., Georgetown and Charleston, S. C., Brunswick, Ga., and Jacksonville, Fla. At all these places close connections are made with leading railroads, and consequently by means of this line direct communication is secured with the South and Southwest.
With all these coastwise and local lines of steamers now sailing from her wharves Providence is a very busy port and her water front presents great activity. Commencing at Lonsdale wharf, on the harbor, is the new daily line to New York, served by the sound steam- ers Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Next adjoining is Ives Wharf, occupied by the Boston and Philadelphia Steamship Company, and then comes the immense wharf of the Providence, Norfolk and Balti- more linc. At the foot of South Main and South Water Streets is the long pier of the Providence line, where a palatial boat leaves every evening during the summer for New York. Turning out of the harbor into the river, a short distance up South Water Street is the wharf of the Clyde line, while a little further up is the wharf of the Joy Steam- ship Company. A short distance above, at the foot of Transit Strect, is the wharf of the New Shoreham. Near by is the dock of the little steamer Corsair which runs to Saunderstown, and still further up the street is the busy wharf of the Providence, Bristol and Fall River steamer, while a short distance away is the wharf of the Seaconnet Steamboat Company at the foot of Planet Street, and directly across the narrow channel of the river is the wharf of the Providence, Fall River and Newport Steamboat Company. The latter wharf is the busiest place on the water front of Providence river during the sum-
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mer, as here the vast majority of all the excursionists come to embark for the various shore places.
A small steam propeller, named the Pioneer, built by James A. Moncrief, Robert M. W. Horton and James McLay, Pawtucket me- chanics, plied between Pawtucket and the shore resorts during the summer of 1882. The next year the same mnen built another vessel in East Providence, also named her the Pioneer, and she was used on the same route, taking the place of the first steamer, which had been sold. This company of men built the steamer Peerless in 1892, and these boats were all at first used to run from Pawtucket to the near by shore places on the bay, but were afterwards sold and transferred elsewhere. The Pioneer, built in 1883, is still in use on the river and bay, although she does not run regularly but is utilized occasionally for excursions.
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