The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-03-29

"' II r. Ai'' Hhu dl U y CloCk OH TUESDAY morn
ing long and heavily loaded train with dry
goods, fruit, &C., left for Montreal and at 6
O'Clock Wednesday morning all that cargo was
In Montreal. In less than twenty-four hours af-
ter her arrival the ship had discharged her car
go of over 2200 tons and was under the elevator
ready to receive grain in bulk
Sheds Nos and 3 are devoted to outward
cargoes for Glasgow and are connected by tenn
porary bridges thrown over the Intervening
tracks. The ship taking freight lies at the
westerly side of No. 5 and while she is re-
ceiving freight from the sheds the railroad
train may be delivering goods for her or her
successor into the same shed.
THE LIVERPOOL SHEDS.
Westerly from these sheds is the group
known as the Liverpool sheds, three in mum
Der, across broad dock, wide enough to &C
commodate at least three steamers abreast and
allow coal barges to supply them or floating
elevators to discharge into them. The dimen-
sions of these sheds are: No. a. 1873 by 4S5
feet; No. 5, 347 by ITO feet, which, with the L
included, gives
AN ACRE AND A QUARTER OF STORAGE UNDER
ONE ROOF,
and No. 6, 321 by 4S1 feet Railroad tracks are
laid in pairs between these sheds Also and the
same ease of communication that we remarked
at the Glasgow sheds is preserved here
Railroad men and shippers will realize the
capacity of these great sheds when we tell
them that they will contain one thousand car
loads or fourteen thousand tons sufficient
to freight
SEVEN LARGE OCEAN STEAMERS.
Across narrower dock than either of the
others is the gram elevator of the Grand
Trunk Company, which has large shed room
attached, and which is described elsewhere.
The freight capacity of this strip of water
front aggregates
OVER THREE ACRES AND A HALF OF SHED
ROOM,
commodious loading and discharging berths
for eight steamships, where each vessel can
float in at least twenty-five feet of water at
low tide, and storage capacity of one thousand
cars Besides, the spur tracks contiguous to
the sheds permit eighty-6ve cars to be worked
at one time. Five steamers have repeatedly
laid at these docks at once, loading and
discharging. These sheds are all bonded ware
houses, in charge of the customs officers, and
are guarded night and day by trusty watchmen
In the employ OF the railroad company Goods
deposited in them are as safe as it is possible
for property to be, and the regulations in regard
to smoking and tho use of fire are regidly en-
forced.
Let us walk through No. shed, which is
pretty full now, but its contents will be re-
duced tomorrow, for ship of $500 tons lies at
the wharf completing her cargo. 1t is not a
very lofty building, but it is quite capacious.
Here is at least an acre of wealth before you,
-four, wheat and peas in bags piled as high as
your head boxes of meat, barrels of beef, pork
and lard TERED up, with butter, cheese, apples,
&c., in great stacks by themselves-the
load OF each Car as it came in piled by itself,
with just room enough to work between the
piles. You cannot conceive of starvation with
this acre of food before you; and yet it is but
as drop in the ocean compared with the mil
lions OF dollars worth that is poured annually
through our seaports to sustain the popula-
lions of Europe. And here is an interesting
spectacle-piles of black walnut butts from
Ohio-a dozen Or fifteen feet long. smooth and
clear as a Yankee pine, and squaring-some of
them-forty-f inches and sound as a rock
destined for Europe.
Receiving Freight from the West
With enlarged accommodations an oppor-
tunity was afforded for more order than
formerly in the reception and storage
of freight intended for Europe. The
cars are run down from the sidings in
the yard to the sheds and the work of
unloading begins. The contents of each car is
piled by itself, marked with the number of
the car bringing it, and the number of pack
ages in the pile; if more than one sort of goods
is con tanned in the same car each kind is dis
tinctly designated in marking Sufficient
space is left between the piles to allow the la
borers to work among them. If a bill of lad
ing calls for a particular lot, the shed master
can readily find it, and its quick delivery to
the ship is assured. The work of unloading
cars is performed very fast; 1876 cars having
been discharged into one shed in "A hours
The same system is observed, as far as practi-
cable, in storing goods brought by sea.
Running the Trains
The steamship business requires large num-
Der of special trains, and these added to the
ordir airy and regular SERVICE makes it impera-
under thorough system, aided by unremitting
vigilance on the part of all the employees in
this branch of duty. Accidents on the road are
extremely rare, and the instances of personal
injury and loss of life are so few that the Rail-
road Commissioners in a late report comment.
ed favorably upon the excellent management
OF the train department of the Grand Trunk.
All trains are run by telegraph. Upon the ar
rival of a train at station the fact is immedi-
ately telegraphed by the station agent to head.
quarters; also full description of the train.
and notice is given to the station ahead of the
departure OF the train with the exact time of
leaving; so that the station men are continual.
ly on the alert, and the movement of trains
on the road is continually under the control of
the officer at headquarters
The Elevator.
The grain elevator, to which reference is
made more or less frequently in this article, is
located on Galt's wharf, one dock westerly of
the freight sheds, and is the property of the
railroad corporation. To the ordinary observer
grain elevators are all alike, varying only ac-
cording to their reputed capacity. But i'm
provements in handling grain are as easily
adopted as anything else. The elevator we
speak of is rated at 100000 bushels capacity 1t
is of comparatively recent construction, hay-
ing been built in 1876, and contains some nov
ell and ingenious appliances to facilitate opera
tions and render it really more effective in re-
ceiving and discharging than most of the ele-
vators in the country of the same class. Dur
| ing the season of 1S79-S0 the enormous auanti
| ty of
TWO AND A QUARTER MILLION BUSHELS
were received and delivered by it, Let us
| watch its operations for a few minutes. Here
| is a train of loaded cars on the track leading
to the pits which run down into the
basement of the building. There are three Of
these pits. The services of locomotive
are not needed to move the cars. A stout rope
is run out of the elevator through friction pull
legs aud carried up the track and attached to
the cars. The inward end of the rope is car
rled around winch on a large pulley and the
elevator machinery draws the cars to the re.
quired position opposite the pits. Two men
knock out the front board in the car doors and