The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-11-17

e some 12 miles per hour. This is all the
rain nv which Portland merchant, ship
,wner. or manufacturer having business at
nburn. Lewiston, Winthrop, Readfeld,
Waterville, Skowhegan, Bangor,
DEXTER. Belfast, Rockland, Waldoboro, &C.,
sc.. which it is important that he should be |
ahc to transact upon that day, SO that he may |
return home at night, can leave home before
one o'clock P. NJ. And this tram takes him
to no one of the places aboue named or 10
very many other important towns on the line
Of the Maine Central road. 1t is enough 1or
Portland if her people can only go to Angus
ia in the forenoon by train which is some
six hours upon the road AS to reaching Lew
teton and Auburn, with their 25,OOO lnhaoi-
tants and only So miles distant, what need IS
,hore Of that before three o'clock L. NJ! DO
troirs from Boston arrive there before that
time? And what right has Portland TO reach
Lewiston before Boston? What right has the
PRESS. or the Argus to be distributed in
Lewiston, Readfeld, Watervile. Skowhegan,
Dexter, Bangor, &C., in anticipation of the
Boston Advertiser or the Boston Post?
What sense is there in enabling these papers
of our own State to enjoy the advantages
which the laws of geography give them?
What right has Portland man TO complain
that it takes him parts of two days to 60 to
Lewiston and return, so long as Boston
man cannot make the round trip quicker
than he CAM ..st
Your correspondent answers that it is i'm
practicable to run a passenger train fIom
Portland in the morning to Bangor 1873
miles-and return the same day. Let us see.
| A train leaving Portland at A. NJ, making
the same time, or about the same, that is
made upon the o'clock train, would reach
Bangor at P. Ma train leaving Bangor
at p. M. could easily reach Portland at 10
p. M. These trains would be exceedingly
convenient to Portland, Bangor, and the in
termediate towns, and could not fail, after
becoming fixed facts" and well understood,
to be profitable. The morning train from
Portland would take passengers 10 Lewiston
Winthrop, Waterville, &C., as well as to the
farther east, aud would enable people re-
siding in Waterville, Newport, Dexter, &C.,
to go to Bangor at o'clock P. M. and 10 le-
turn at 4. Thus between Portlandpand Lew
iston on the one end, and Bangor and;Water
vile, on the other, there would grow up very
certainly, large local or way business. The
afternoon train from Bangor would bring
out to the towns within 80 miles, the
many passengers who went to Bangor
by the local, early morning train, as
we'll as those who went by the train
| that left Portland at o'clock in the morn
| ing and Watervlle at about II o'clock. 1t
would, also, in addition to passengers to Port
| land from Bangor and the intermediate
places, take passengers from all the towns this
| side of Waterville for Boston by the Pull
man train the same night. This would
| give Lewiston the benefit of the Pullman
train. 1t might be found convenient to al
| tach Pullman car to this train at Lewiston
If this should be done, as the car would be
| detained in Portland for two or three hours
until the arrival of the night train via Au'
| gusta, it would be a convenient car for Port.
land passengers, who could enter it at 10 P
M. instead of being obliged, as they now are
| to leave their homes after midnight, mos
inconvenient hour to go to or return from
cars, although your pe-Q-liar correspond
ent seems to think it good enough hour fol
Portland passengers. The same car, returned
to Lewiston, might be attached to the morn
ing train. So, the bugbear of inpracticabi
ity disappears upon examination. Certainly
it is poor compliment to Portland to say
that she is not of sufficient importance to
need or require ordinary railroad trains con.
Meeting her with the surrounding country
until one O'Clock in the afternoon. WI en-
the people of Portland are told by the Maine
Central road that a mixed train at O'Clock
to Augusta and Bath, is all that they
need and all that they shall have, and
when they quietly assent to this they
need not be surprised if people elsewhere pu
the same estimate upon their city and it
| prospects that they do themselves.
I'd. Inoard: Your correspondent, as i
in part admitting that there would be some
ground of complaint as to outward trains, il
they were of any value to the city, says it i:
more important to inquire "whether the road
give. suitable opportunity for getting into
Portland" Here hs treads upon ground
where he is strong, and he announces with an
air of triumph that the people of Augusta
Bath and Lewiston, and the towns this side
OF. them can now reach Portland before nine
o'clock in the morning! But of all the rest OF
the people, north and east of us, OF those re-
siding in Rockland, Belfast, Bangor, Water
vile, &C.. what of these? Either they do not
wish to come to Portland, or they ought not
to come to Portland, Or Portland does not de-
sire that they should come. At any rate
Maine railroads should not concern them
selves to facilitate communication between
Maine towns.
Not only is the statement made in my for
mer communication, admitted-it is justified
Portland therefore knows what she may ex-
pect from this road so far as the running of
trains upon it are concerned. Will your cor
respondent now inform her what are the
passenger fares between the several stations
on that line and Boston and Portland, re-
specti7ely; also what is the freight tariff be-
tween such stations and there cities.
O.P.C.
History of the Kitiery Navy Yard.
KTTrERY, Nov, Is, 1871.
The next man-of-war built in Portsmouth
was the Congress. She was about the same
size as the America, and is still in our navy.
Who were her builders, and iu what year she
was launched 1 have not been ableto ascertain
but probably about 1899. In consulting the
Annals of Portsmouth, find that in June IS.
170S, the Crescent, frigate OF 80 guns, sailed
for the Mediterranean. She was built at this
port, under the superintendent of Col. James
Hackett, and was considered to be one of tie
finest specimens of naval architecture afioat.
She was present from the United States to
the Dey of A.giers, and cost about $500, 900.
ln 1906 the government purchased from Capt.
VIM. bennett, Ferna'd's Island containing
about go acres, for IS 500, and on this island the
navy yard was built. In 1918 Commodore
Isaac Hull was appointed AZ Commandant of
the Yard, and under his direction the shio
Washington was built. Commodore Thomas
Macdonough succeeded to the command of the
Yard the following year, and Commodore Chas.
Morris relieved him in 1917. In 1928 Com