The Portland daily press., 1883-09-24
Belfast.
Its Ship-Building, Granite and Minor In.
dustries.

BELFAST, Me-, Sept. 81, 1885,
The business interests of Belfast for sever
al years past have generally been considered
unusually slow. 1t is claimed by business
men that the railroad, which was finished in
1870, has proved an injury, financially, to
the city, both by increasing the burden of
taxation and by decreasing the amount of
trade. A large portion of the country whole
sale trade which formerly came to Belfast
is now done directly with Portland and Bos-
ton houses through commercial travellers.
Thus the city, it is claimed, has subscribed
over half million dollars to financial
scheme that has proved an injury to its bus
| mess interests.
Immediately following the building of the
railroad came the dull times of 1873 s.
which were especially felt in Belfast Since
that time, however, bushes, matters have
continued to improve and Belfast is now
Dusier and more prosperous than ever. Her
debt and the consequent rate of taxation are
still large and are the cause of considerable
wrangling in municipal affairs; but the true
solution of the difficulty is being silently
worked out by the increasing prosperity of
the town.
The principal interests of the town have
always been in some way connected with
shipping. Ship-building has for many years
been the leading industry, and, with the
possible exception of granite cutting, is still
the most important There are at present
four ship yards in Belfast, having five YES
sells on the stocks. Two large schooners
have recently been launched. These yards
employ about 125 men. The vessels built
here are mostly three-masted schooners of
from 300 to 700 tons. Most of these are built
for the coasting trade, some of them being
built with centre-boards expressly for the
Jacksonville trade, as the bar at the mouth
OF the river prevents the crossing of any but
light draft vessels. Formerly vessels of from
1000 to 1900 tons were launched from these
yards almost every year, but the superiority
of steamers for the foreign carrying trade
has largely destroyed this demand. Of the
vessels now built here the most are for Bel
fast owners and are sailed by Belfast mas
tiers.
Hay, ice and country produce are the
principal articles of shipment from this port.
The country produce finds market in Bos-
ton and is usually sent by steamer. The
farming country around Belfast is especially
adapted to raising hay, and immense guam
titles of this article are shipped by sailing
vessels every year. Most of this goes 70
Southern ports and especially to Jacksonville.
just across the harbor from the city is
an excellent location for storing and
shipping ice; and many vessel loads are sent
from here annually to Southern cities. One
cargo of ice was sent from Belfast to Liver
pool, England, year ago, being the first, if
not the only, cargo of lee ever shipped
across the ocean.
The 'ice-bound,'' "rock-rtbbed'' coast of
Maine has been often ridiculed by people of
an apparently more favored land; the time
has now come when Maine ice and granite
are among her most valuable productions
and are easily taking the foremost places in
the markets of the world.
Granite cutting, except for local trade, is
q NOi1i PoAnpifC1J AOW luultebly Ill DtlIdSL, DuL
it is rapidly becoming one of the most impor-
tant. About four miles north of the city is
situated Oak Hill, once considered an al
most worthless piece of property, now con-
tanning three quarries of the best granite for
monumental purposes yet found in this
country. These quarries were first opened
to obtain stone for a railroad bridge near
this city, but were not extensively worked
until after the Boston fire, when large guam
titles of fiat stone were sold to that CITY for
sidewalks. Extensive shipments of paving
stone are being made every month to Bos-
ton and other cities from these quarries.
The fineness of the stone and its beautiful
color soon attracted the attention of parties
engaged in the granite business, and it was
found to be peculiarly adapted to monu-
mental purposes. For some time past two
of the quarries have made specially of get
ting out stone for monuments. Orders for
these stones are constantly received from
parties in other States, the demand far ex.
ceeding the supply. The cost of polishing
the Oak Hill granite is about one-thlrd more
than that of other stones, but when finished
it presents very beautiful surface. A large
portion of this granite is used by the granite
companies of this city both for general and
local trade.
The largest granite works in this city are
those of Mr.. c. j. Hall, who, besides his
quarry at Oak Hill, owns two quarries at
Mt. Desert, one at Louis Sound and one at
Otter Creek. From the latter place beau
tiful red granite is obtained which is in
great demand. Nearly all of the granite
quarried by Mr.. Hall is brought to his gran
lite works in this city, where it is dressed
and polished. Several polishing machines
are in use at these works, being run by
steam power from the Belfast foundry, of
which Mr.. Hall is proprietor. A large
amount OF fine ornamental work is done
here mostly for the western market Re-
Gently Mr. Hall has taken large contract |
for finished stone for the granite front of the
Royal Insurance Company's building in Chi
cago; and also for the private residence of |
Mr.. G. Fl. Case, business manager of that |
company. The stone for these buildings |
will be of red granite from the Otter Creek |
quarry, and the contracts will amount to |
about $4,000. From 1875 to 100 men will be
employed in the work.
At CITY Point, about one mile from the