The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1881-02-10
Name Miscellany.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE RAILROAD CoMMIS-
SIONERS

words for the various roads They report ali the
railroads not only safe, but most of them greatly
| improved. On the main lines progress seems to
have been the order of the day. The continued
remarkable exemption from serious casualty or
accident bears unmistakable evidence of the abil
lty and efficient management of the officials One
new road (Old Orchard Beach has been built dur
ing the year, from the Old Orchard Beach depot on
| the line of the Boston Maine road, to the Saco
river, a distance of three miles
| OF the Improvements made during the year by
each particular road, we extract the following
comments: The total number Of miles of railroad
now operated in Maine is 030 0S The New
| Brunswick Railway has changed ownership during
the year and the company intends TO change the
gauge from 3 feet to the standard gauge of feet
inches; fully repair the road and eXt tend it to a
connection with the Riviere du Loup railroad, and
thus open road to Quebec The Atlantic & St
Lawrence railroad is constantly being improved,
and all the bridges, except the pile bridge at Port
| land, are of iron. The Bangor d Piscaaquis rail
road has made small additions to Its rolling stock
and proposes to add more the coming season, AS
the distance from Its present terminus to Moose
head Lake is only i3 miles. the commissioners
hope to see the road completed to that point at an
early day.
The Boston d Maine has greatly improved its
station in Portland, and proposes to continue the
filing Of the pile bridges the Scarboro
marshes the coming season The road bed Of the
| Bucksport d Bangor railroad has been improved
! by baasting and widening, and the track has
| been aligned and surfaced i project fol the ex
tension of this road to Ellsworth and Bar Harbor
| is receiving considerable attention. and would add
materially to the business of the road The faulty
construction Of the European & North American
| railroad has been considerably improved. This
road mas the advantage of being the only railroad
| communication between the East and the " est,
and its usefulness must increase with the facilities
it offers for transportation. The Knox & Lincoln
| railroad is constantly improving its bridges and
construction.
The Maine Central Railroad Company designs to
put their road into the best possible condition to
secure the safe and rapid transit OF passengers and
freight and to fully provide for the constantly in
! creasing traffic The past has taxed the
resources of the road to the utmost The com
missioners pay tribute to the companys enter
prise in fitting up Lake Maranocook for excursions,
and also state that 1000 tons Of steel rails and 40
coo ties or sleepers have been laid upon the road.
Twenty miles of track have been ballasted and
raised, and two and one-half miles of new side
track built The long pile bridge at Pennington,
| on the Leeds a. Pennington branch, has been
built with ash piles and hard pine strngers, caps
and cross ties, making very strong and durable
structure. The Portland " Ogdensburg railroad
has been well and safely managed, and the rolling
stock is in good order A pile bridge, for
ice track, has been built at Portland, and the
freight track extended so as to connect with the
Maine Central The Portland q Rochester rail
road has laid hty tons OF new steel rails, besides
! large amount OF iron rails new freight shed
has been built in Portland, and two story addi-
tlon made to the passenger station at the same
place. The company has made quite extensive
purchases OF the Maine Central, at Portland, and
thus greatly increased the facilities OF the com
pany for transacting its business. The Portland,
Saco Il Portsmouth railroad was the first line
built into. and the second built IN the state
Quite extensive Improvements have been made
all along this line, during the year. The Rum
ford Falls a Bucktied railroad. since passing into
the hands Of the present company, has steadily
gained the confidence of the people and increased
its business.
OF the Sandy River railroad, the commissioners
say 1t Is to be regretted that III the first intro
duction Of the narrow gauge railroad in this state
it could not have been done under more favorable
circumstances than those that have controlled the
location and construction of this road. 1t was
| experiment to be tried and should have had all
the advantages of proper location and construc-
ton; but III this respect It Is an entire failure
The road seems to have been built without regard
to alignment or grade, and the structures bridges,
&c. were thrown together for temporary pur
pose, without regard to adaptation or safety Such
location as that upon which the road is built
would not be approved by the commissioners, as
it is altogether faulty and without precedents
The commissioners remark further, and quite
severely, upon the way the work carried on,
but acknowledge that 'the road rides smoothly
and has been successfully worked, and doubtless
will prove great convenience to the people along
the line. They do not want to be understood as
considering the road unsafe, aS it is not. for the
company have made marked improvements since
they received it from the contractors"
An ENCOURAGING VIEW or MAINE MINING
Professor F. l.. Bartlett, furnishes the New
York Mining Record the following statement in
regard to the condition of the mining interest iii
Maine:
Notwithstanding the exceeding cold weather
and deep snow in this part of the country. mining
is beng pushed with great vgor Fully thirty
five mines are in active operation in our State at
the present writing At least thirteen of these
are producing ore in paying quantities, yet none Of
them are over 200 feet deep. 1t is safe to assert
that. for the depth, much ore has been raised and
as great Improvement exhibited in these mines as
III any other group IN this country Confidence has
been restored, mills are being erected and mining
machinery of large capacity is going IN to take the
place of prospecting machinery; every indication
now points to permanent work Large blocks OF
stocks IN many of our mines are being taken IN
New York and Boston During the past ten DAYS
large stock transactions have been taking place
and the demand for Maine stocks is steady and in
creasing
The touldsboro' mine is producing steady
supply Of splendid The new mill for concen-
tratlng works finely The vein increases both
in quantity and quality as the shaft goes down
This company lsin first class condition financially
and there is no reason why it may not pay div
dends at least by the LIST of July.
The Cherrytield mine still continues to produce
large quantities of depth is attained the
zine rapidly disappears, and the prospect is fair to
see it leave the vein for good, before 300 feet is
some of it assaying over 300 ounces of silver per
ton
The usual activity prevails in Sullivan District
The mill Is now ready to run again. and large
quantities of ore piled up in readiness Drift
ing and stopping are going on in both the Waukeag
and Sullivan Thousands of feet of ore ground are
now exposed, and there is no reason why double
the quantity of ore may not be supplied than can
be treated by the Sullivan Mill The Milton,
Salem Sullivan. Portland Sullivan and Faneuil
Hall mines all in active operation. The Golden
Circle mine is producing large quantities Of free
gold ore. The company feel that they now have
ore enough on hand and in sight to warrant them
III erecting stamp MILL consequently they will
erect one in Portland.
Business so brisk in Blue H i'll district
as now. Eight of the mines are in active and full
operation. Three different sets of smeters go
ing up, namely: The Blue Hill Twin Lead and
Douglass. The Blue Hill mine is producing ore of
a high grade and in large quantities. The building
for the smelters is already going up and the mate
rial for the furnace all on the ground The Twin
Lead mine is roasting ore preparatory to smelling
The Stewart mine has commenced operations
again and now employs twenty men; they have
plenty of good ore in S ght but the management
are determined to put the shaft down to 200 feet
without delay; meanwhile ore will be extracted
from the drifts for Shipment. The Douglass mine
is in full blast several ore piles roasting and
the furnaces are rapidly approaching completion
| Fully 10000 tons Of good ore have already been
extracted from the Blue Hill mine ore that will
average four or five per cent, and yet no mine has
a shaft over 1870 feet deep The stocks in all these
mines are in active demand and the outlook for
1881 is extremely encouraging. | feel safe in pre-
dieting for the Blue Hill mines monthly output
OF 400 tons OF bar copper by the first of next Oco
Der. A new copper discovery has been made a
quarter of mile south of Douglass mines that bids
fair to rival anything hitherto worked at Blue
Hill. Enough good copper ore is now in shaft in
the Blue Hill mines to keep smeters running
long time. The future of this district as Il copper
producer is fully ensured.
The Hampden mines producing some good
ores The recent strike in the POO level Of the
Hampden Con. has given greater confidence all
around. The Deer Isle silver mine is turning ont
large quantities of ore daily; native silver is tre-
quently encountered; thousands of tons of ore
have been brought into sight in this mine. The
zinc ore will be shipped to England one cargo
has already been forwarded. Many mines
were discovered last fall in the town Of Brooks