The Portland daily press., 1885-12-04
DEEPENING THE HARBoR.
Important Meeting OF the Board of
Trade.
Resolutions Passed in Regard to the
Matter.

| the daily papers, signed by many OF the
leading shipbuilders, shipowners, and mer-
| chants of Portland, for a meeting of the
Board Of Trade to ask the general govern
ment to further dredge Portland harbor in
order to facilitate the movements of the
| largest ocean steamers afloat, as well as
those now building, there was good attend
ance yesterday morning. President Blabon
in the chair.
After the reading of the call by the Presi-
dent, the Secretary, Mr.. M. N. Rich, was
| called on to state what had induced the
action of the signers.
Mr.. Rich replied that at different times
suggestions had been made by the various
steamship lines running vessels to this port,
and by the masters of the vessels, that there
| should be more water in the harbor, as they
were frequently subjected to annoyances
from the lack of it. Portland has boosted of
| the best harbor on our coast, but, said the
speaker, it is not the deepest, for vessels can
go to Baltimore, virtually an inland city, $50
miles from the sea, drawing more water than
| is drawn by the steamers which enter our
harbor. The original Portland harbor inn
provement plan of 1888 has been completed.
| We have now at low water only q feet on
| the Middle Ground, whereas steamers have
| been here and departed drawing % feet.
| The Partisan, of the Allan line, has ground
| ed with the present depth of water The
| Numidian which is coming here, is thous-
and tons larger than the Partisan. The har-
| bors that can offer to passengers and freight
! quick entrance to the docks after voyage
| and a quick departure are the ones that will
do the foreign carrying trade. Portland
should possess all the advantages Of other
ports. Our harbor is our best hold, and Mr..
| Rich thought the general government would
| be inclined to give us all we might reason
| ably ask for. We ought to have % feeto
water, up to the Commissioners line, at low
| tide The government engineer thinks that
| what our citizens ask for that is right in this
matter, Congress will grant. The great
| drawback in the past in regard to appro-
| priations for harbor improvement, has been
that when the engineer asked for $4,000 to
| do the job properly, Congress would grant
| $4,000, and thus proper work was prevented.
| It is always the case that when money for
| improvements is contributed in driblets
| thorough work cannot be done.
| Odpt. h6tu, pun Ctlptdlli Va tllO DOlnullOil
line. asked if the dredging of the Middle
Ground also included the ground in front of
the elevator wharf, where there was only II
| feet now at low water.
Mr.. Rich thought the appropriation, if
| granted, would have to be applied to the
| purposes asked in the petition. Government
| dredging would extend to the Commission
ers line. We couldn't well ask the govern
ment to dredge inside of that line, or in the
docks, as that would come rather under the
head of private property. We could ask that
| the channel be deepened to 30 feet which
would give all the water desired
Capt. Reid said the Oregon had to leave
| her dock yesterday morning at 10 o'clock and
wait in the stream for the train with passen-
| gers from Montreal as she was drawing %
feet of water.
Hon. Jacob Mcclellan, one of the Harbor
| Commissioners, thought if the ship waited
until high water before leaving her dock she
would have plenty of water in the Middle
| Ground Steamships at other ports take
! the course of sailing at high water.
Capt. j. S. Winslow, of j. S. Winslow
& Co., shipowners, thought the size of
steamers and vessels had increased so fast
that it was necessary to have the dredging if
it could be obtained. We don't want to be
| behind inland cities like Baltimore. Twenty
years ago there was 10 feet of water for the
vessels. The speaker was strongly in favor
of the proposed appropriation. 1t was
necessary to accommodate not only our pres
ent lines of steamships, but others that
might come here
Capt. Mcclellan offered the following reso-
| luton:
Resoloed That in view of delays incident to the
free passage at all tides of the large sized ocean
steamships entering this port, the Board of Trade
| of Portland be hereby instructed to ask the Hon.
| Thomas b. Reed, member OF Congress from this
| nv Congress for The purpose Of dredging Inc
| Middle Ground or any adjacent shoals to the
| channel to give depth at mean low water of not
grain elevators on Calls Wharf, the vicinity Of
| departure for vessels of the greatest draft
Before the resolution was put, Mr.. ]. l..
Farmer asked to be allowed to say word
| He said:
| The resolution offered by Capt. Mcclellan ask
| ing an appropriation from Congress for dredging
| and old bar up to Galts Wharf to 20 feet at low
tide. This approve fully; but if it is expected
to extend it upon this point to the bridge, it will
this so as to make an ocean steamer station on
either side of the upper end of Fore River it will
not make a good one, the width of the channel at
its upper end being but about 700 feet-practica
canal-too narrow to turn in steamer 500 to
$50 feet long.
barrass steamers arriving at half tide as there is
but la feet of water at the entrance of the docks
of the Grand Trunk railroad have had more or
less to do in past time with the deepening of
water in the haTbor have always found all the
Dsde Se ne nor viii thew Iofk
in the future, saying it was private work and
must be done, if wanted by owners of the
wharves and docks at their expense.
The increasing size of steamers will require
more depth of water in the future. The model of
late steamers has changed; formerly they were
built with sharp floors and narrow in beam; now
the large steamers are built with long Halter
floors and great width of beam. This gives
greater buoyancy to the ship and enables her to
take much larger cargoes, relatively reducing at
the same time her draft of water. This fact is
Illustrated here by the Allan steamers The
water than the Partisan Of $500 tons, carrying
double the cargo Twenty-nine feet at low water
will pass the largest steamer that viii be built on
the more modern models.
will digress from the subject and say that in
looking at the map of Portland harbor it will be
seen that we have natural channel of the
Almightys creation with to 10 fathomS, 80 to
80 feet Of water, at low tide, straight course
from Portland Head light to the end of wharf
built from the shore on solid fats to the edge of
deep water on our northeast front, thus enabling
~ dre to Fer wharf AZ any Of Of
tide. This unoccupied front and channel needs
no dredging. 1t is the act OF God, and is the same
today as it was in 1870, when surveyed by the
British government
If the Canadian Pacific or any other Western
railroad intends to come to Portland, leasing
or owning the Portland g. Ogdensburg,
they can do so and reach it by a level route over
the low land from the Canal Basin and Bradley's
Corner to Back Cove and over the Marginal Way
to the water front, which will give steam packet
station unmatched and superior to that of any
other city on the Atlantic seaboard, if wise
enough to avail of it.
Mr.. Blabon then proceeded to put the reso-
luton again, when Mr.. Farmer moved to
amend by asking that memorial be sent to
Mr.. Reed, but Hon. George Walker said the
resolution and petition would cover the
ground, and the original resolution was then
unanimously adopted
The Board then adjourned.
ST. LAWRENCE STREET CHURCH.