The Portland daily press., 1867-09-19
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A good deal has been said and written iateiv
about the Eastern Promenade and the avenues
of approach to the water at the base Of Mum
sloy ) h'ii. Into that controversy we do not now
propose to enter. 1t has been settled for the
present by the courts, and we hepe before long
10 chronicle the appointment of a suitable
commission to consider the whole. subject and
report a plan for the Improvement of the water
front at the eastern extremity the city which
shall also provide as far as possible for the
preservation OF the Promenade. There is a
conflict of interests-not merely private inter
ests but OF public interests--a question be-
tween beauty and utility; and there is need OF
a commission to know how far the, legitimate
demands of business in that quarter will JUS
tify injury to one of the most beautiful drives
in the world. If the promenade is to be defac-
ed or destroyed, the work should at least be
entered upon after deliberaton and the rea-
sons should be given to the public which will
be the loser. ,sgts5s.....t ,fs.,.-tt.f All and
It's essential to a right understanding of the
matter IN controversy, that both sides should
DE fairly stated. But while beauty and con-
Vehence 1.-THE promenade need no common
dation, the commercial facilities at the base of
the hill are not so generally appreciated. East
Commercial street, when it is built, will run
from Fish Point to Tukey's bridge, and will be
one mile long. The only means of access to
this street front side of the city, are either by
continuation of Commercial street through
the solid ledge near Fish Point, or by streets
crossing the: Promenade at right angles and
running down over the hill. Six such streets
are now represented on the plans OF the city,
though none of them have yet been construct
ed. The necessity of reaehing East CONNER
cial street sometime ia both these ways arises
from the fact that there alone exist the facili-
ties for increasing the wharfage of the city to
any considerable extent, without going above
bridges From Atlantic wharf to Fish Point
the shore is abrupt and no long wharves can
be built The Great Eastern wharyes were
built at great expense, but are necessarily
short and inadequate to any large amount of
business. The wharfage of the city is nearly
all on q line three-fifths ola mile long, between
| Atlantic wharf and Smiths wharf Whether
it is fully equal to the demands of business
now is disputed question That it will not
| always be, may however be assumed; and when
tue uufc COiutS loE our IaClllUleS 10r
| shipment, there is another line three-fif his of
| a mile long, from Fish Point to the Grand
Trunk fridge, from which the bottom slopes off
gradually, so that wharves as long as Browns
or Union wharf may be constructed, with deep
water at the ends and an average of two faith
orns in the docks with but very little dredging
There are i'll short three millions of superb
cial feet in the flats available at this point for
wharfage and docks, so that our present COM
merce can be doubled when the time comes
without going above bridges. The track of the
Grand Trunk railway already runs through
| this future thoroughfare, and only the side
tracks will be needed to enable the freight
trains.to discharge directly ON shipboard.
If the Portland and Ogdensburg railroad is
built, and it will be- these wharves will be
needed within the next ten years. The fac
that they will be needed and that some way o
getting to them must be provided, does moi
however compel us to adopt the first plar
whirh suggests itself and plunge headlong in
tothe execution of it without considering its
bearing upon other interests 1t is simply q
reason for providing some plan which shall pro
4 vide as wisely as possible for clearly foresee1
and not very remote contingency.