Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-12-24

miles greater than by way Of Wiscasset, ow-
/ ing to the detours which the railway Is com
| PEELED to make 1t 10 two hundred and fifty
| miles nearer from the Northwest to Liver
pool by way of Montreal and Wiscasset than
| by any route connecting with the port of New
York.
| LOCAL BENEFITS.
| Besides giving the valley of the kennebec
] direct access to an open winter harbor, the
road would give the upper Kennebec towns
and townships their first railroad communica-
ton and encourage the working OF the granite
and slate qusrries. and the utilization ot the
valuable water powers and forests OF hard
wood which abound along the line Of the
road 1t would also open region full of in
terest and attra ctions the tourist and sports
man
| Since the road 10 a north and-sruth line
through the central portion of tue state and
crosses the Knox and Lincoln ard the Maine
| Central Railroads, large section OF the
| State will be in connection with il and VIII
profit by its facilities for reaching parts of
| the state now without railway communication.
and for direct commercial inIer-cht nge with
the dominion of Canada and the Northwest.
That the State of Maine has not hitherto
made that progress in material wealth and
development which its many natural endow-
ments and the character OF its people would
seem TO lead to, is due principally 10 the is
olated position it occupies relatively TO the
other states in the Union. The traffic across
the entire border of each and the coopera-
ton with each other in providing means of
communication which many 9th r states have
erjnyed and to which they owe in great meas
ure their growth and prosperity, have been
wanting TO the State of Maine.
| The political barrier which interposes be-
tween Maine and the communities on her
northern and eastern frontiers together with
| the natural obstruction of wide forest along
a great extent of the border, have combined
| to dabar Maine from that free intercourse
with her neighbors which her sister states er-
joy in unlimited degree with theirs
| 1t is significant that the Canadian Pacific,
which is now extending across the State, fur
nishes the first instance of the building OF n
railroad of any considerable length iu Maine
by foreign enterprise and capital While
other states have been crossed and recrOssed
| by railroads built by outside capital, and
have thus been provided with means of local
Inter communication and with access to great
commercial centres and important sections
of the country. Maine has been compelled to
provide her own means of communication
| throughout her widespread territory and her
| own connections with the outside world.
| Therefore, this new departure, this first gift
| of a railroad, and one 50 important and val
liable, transcontinantal line extending
across the State may well be hailed as the
beginning of new order of things, the in
auguration of fresh career of enlarged en-
terprises and heightened prosperity for the
!. people of Maine. Their position upon a
thoroughfare from Asia to Europe, which will
naturally attrac to itself the business of wide
and important belt of the American conti-
| nent, cannot fail to exert q stimulating iuf1u
ence. They will be quick to take advantage
of the new opportunities and to have their
part in the grand Interchange going on be-
fore their doors and under their eyes.
| Having climate exceedingly favorable to
| labor throughout the year, abundant water
power, numerous natural resources of great
| value, many and various manufacturing and
| industrial enterprises, a midway position upon
| a great highway seems the one thing needed
to make Name the seat OF multiplied and en-
larged activities in manufacturing trade and
CONNER
| The CHIEF ARGUMENT
| in favor Of the Wiscasset and Quebec Rail-
road lies in the fact that it's terminus upon
the coast of the Atlantic at Wiscasset is at a
| harbor the "natural advantages of which. to
| re-quote from the Atlantic Coast Pilot, las a
commercial port can hardly be surpassed"
Such natural advantages" heightened by
the convenient and commanding position
which Wiscasstt occupies upon the coast,
have only to become known in order to be
utilized A commercial port'in these days
does not necessarily imply large and wealthy
| community engaged in the storage and dis-
| tribution of exports and imports. In the
modern development of transportation tn
port is but the point of transfer from car TO
vessel and vice versa A hotel even is not an
indispensable adjunct The passenger may
| go directly from the steamer to the train and
there find all required comforts and conven-
fences without interrupting his journey The
great inland centres of business do not re-
quire The intervention of the coast cities in
their traffic with foreign countries; they rep
resent interests of such magnitude that they
can deal directly and on footing Of equality
with the markets of the world. Such being
the case, they cannot afford to neglect such
an opportunity as this route presents for sc
| cur ing the most direct and cheapest transpor
| tati0n under condition of things which
makes the cost of carriage determine the
prosperity or decline of communities and in
dustries.
Maine obviously has deep interest in the
building of this road but the value of il to
her sinks into insignificauce when compared
| with the benefits it would confer upon the
world-embracing circle of commerce in which
it would form link. and especially upon
| those sections of the Northwest which have
so much at stake dependent upon facilities of
transportation When all the interests con-
cerned are awakened to the merits Of the en-
terprise so trfling in cost and 80 magnificent
in promise, it cannot fail OF immediate exc
| cution
The following is the committee represent
ing the Wiscasset Quebec Railroad Co. {:
Henry ingalls,, Joseph Tucker, f. P. Erskne,
Wiscasset; j X. BodSell, uallowell; Selden
Common, J. Manchester HAYNES, Augusta /;
William Atkinson, North Anson.