Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1854-03-23
Gastttn Times.


Lewiston and Tcpsham Railroad
No enterprise Of late years has presented so
many claims to the attention of the people OF
this city. as the. contemplated railroad from
ropsham TO Lewiston. Bath already possesses
as great natural advantages for commercial ex-
tension, as any other port in Maine. Situated
within few miles of the confluence Of noble
naviQabe river with the ocean, and with a
harbor of the beat anchorage almost limitless
in capacity, completely protected from ocean
storms and waves. Bath has in her power nat
Hral advantages fcr commercial enlargement
such as no other port in Maine can surpa~s.
The islands and forts of Boston harbor make
ii necessary to employ steam tugs to get in and
cut their largest ships; and when ships arrive
in the much vaunted harbor of Portland we
read that they sometimes stick in the mud.
No dangers of the latter description here, and
although steam is sometimes required for about
twelve miles, there is sufficient depth of water
in the river for ships of the largest class. Our
facilities for ship-building are unsurpassed
and they have been improved. as there is hard
ly an ocean or a sea or harbor in the world
where Bath ship has not plowed the wave.
There is one requisite to make us what we
are destined TO be, powerful rival to Port
land, and ultimately the most populous and
prosperous commercial city in Maine. That is
railroad connection ,oah the interior With
hardly an effort on our part, railroads have
been extending about US. SO that now We find
that by the construction of a road of about
twelve miles in length, Bath has an almost di-
rect communication with about an hundred
miles Of railroad directly in the interior of the
State. These twelve miles will carry us where
We tap the Androscoggin and Kennebec. ex-
tending through the very garden of agricul-
tural Maine, the fertile Kennebec interior, fifty
miles TO Wsterville and still further east in
wear or two. Then a few miles east of Lew
iston. we may branch off on to the Androscog-
gin Railroad, extending up the valley of the
Androscoggin TO Livermore Falls. and in a year
or two more to Pennington when We have the
whole Populous and fertile Sandy River valley
at our feet, and that too even before our up
River" friends get up from their Rip Van
miles of railroads right into the heart of the
State, already constructed and in operation,
built without dollar of Bath capital, and of
fering to pour into our lap the business of the
giant resources Of the country through which
they pass.
But there is another object of Prodigious
gain TO US growing out of the building Of this
Insignificant twelve miles of railroad We
shall have direct railroad connection with
Montreal and hence an indefinite railroad con-
nection west, even TO the prairies The diff
ference between the distance from Lewiston to
Portland and Lewiston to Bath, must be very
small, and perhaps in our favor. Then do we
not obtain, by these twelve miles of railroad, |
equal advantages to Portland. and that too af- |
ter Portland has bled and ''wiIted" and almost |
died to secure them to herself:
Look at the enterprise, whichever way you
will, citizens Of Bath, the construction Of this
Topsham and Lewiston road is really one of
the prizes thrown into your grasp by the in
Ecrutable order of events 1t opens to you re-
sources Of illmitable extent, just what Bath
needs, and the only thing she needs, to put
her on the top wave of prosperity, and make
her name synonymous with progress" in all
that relates to business extension and expan-
sion, enterprise, population and wealth.
II will be easy, we predict, to get the stock
taken up for this railroad, if the citizens of
Bath have examined the subject in lis impor-
tant bearings. We do not see anything to
prevent the construction of this road but indif-
ference. No man denies the advantages to ac-
crue. And shall it be said that our citizens
would not avail themselves of golden advan-
tages, such as are not repeated in generation
No. This road will be built. We have citi-
zens of wealth, and of public spirit and enter
prise to match. All will take hold. and put
through to completion, an enterprise promising
the richest returns and requiring hardly any
other effort than the taking.