The Portland daily press., 1894-01-04

Proposed. With Double Electric Ca
Tracx-Untiring Lewis Mcclellan Lead
Gorham Opposition.
In the Municipal court room of Deer
ing yesterday forenoon, the final con
ssderation of the proposed widening O
Forest avenue came up. This avenue, al
is well known, is the main line of trave
between Portland and Woodfords, having
upon it the electric car line, and beside!
taking care of most of the travel by
teams from the northerly part of thu
county into Portland. The avenue is
now supposed to be sixty-six feet wide,
but in some places ancient encroach
ments reduce this width by ten or twelve
feet. The railroad company propose tc
lay a double track next season; as the
| condition of travel is such as to demand
this improvement iniperatively The
avenue now is too narrow, and with the
| doubl track it would be still worse. Sc
the proposition is to widen it by adding
twenty feet on the east side. beginning
near Jos. L. Winslow's, and going as far
as the junction of Forest avenue and
Ocean street at Woodfords.
The subject first came up year or
more ago, when Mr.. W. w. Mitchell, then
a member of the board of aldermen, pre-
sented a resolution in the city govern
ment. The county commissioners were
appealed to and a public hearing was
held. After considering the matter the
commissioners rendered an adverse de-
cision; whereupon the city authorities of
Deering appealed to the Supreme court.
That court appointed Messrs. Augustus
F. Moulton, Joseph E. Blabon and E. B.
Mallet, Jr., commission to hear the
case and decide.
Accordingly, the hearing began yester-
day forenoon. There was large attend
ance of citizens of Deering, with few
from Portland and other places, when
the proceedings began.
Mayor Sawyer in behalf of Deering,
introduced first Hon. Andrew Halves of
Stroudwater, who was urgent in this
matter last year, and has been since a
very active friend of the proposition.
Mr.. Halves showed that this avenue was
and must continue to be the
Main Artery of Travel
for a very large number of people. 1t is
not only the route which serves the
people Of the northern portion of the
county, but is and must continue to be
the mainlroute from Portland to West
brook and up the Presumpscot valley.
1t is only forty rods further than the
road By Mitchell's HILL, which is not
practicable s. for. general travel. The
Presumpscot valley travel is large and is
destined tosben still larger Walter Wells
gives the waterpower of the Presumpscot
river at twenty to thirty Thousand horse
power. He estimates that 166 horse
power will support a thousand people at
cotton spinning. Lowell has but 5000
horse power, Lewiston 1900, Biddeford
and Saco $780, The Presumpscot has six
and a half times as much water power as
Biddeford and Saco, and therefore
might support six and half times their
population, or 1873, GOO souls On the
basis of Lewiston and Auburn this popu-
lation would be more, or 1913. 0OO These
were the future possibilities of the Pre-
sumpscot valley, and they should be
borne in mind in considering this i'm
creasing traffic Of the future will flow.
It wasra question affecting more than the
half Oh two thirds of the people Of Deer.
ing who use the way. lss@ ~
a Mr.. Halves was followed by Messrs.& C..
A. Wood bury, jim. Read, w - Mitchell
and Ira W Locke, who spoke earnestly
for the improvement. ~ 3,'sssl4s 49,,
citizen of Portland. He said he was not
one of those who believed that dry rot
was going to attack either Portland or
the county of sCumherland. He did not
believe there was any reason why we
should not have suitable accommodations
for transportation between Portland
and Deering and Westbrook. At present
the electric car service is Inevitably
tardy for lack of a double track. Now
is the time to remedy the difficulty.
Mr.. C. Jordan said that Mr.. Halves
had covered the ground so well that
little was left to be said in the main line
of consideration. All that Deering
asks Of the county is the permission to
go ahead She is ready to tax herself il |
permitted to do so. The land damages
today must be less than it can ever be |
again. When the land shall come to be |
divided into lots and blocks, the damage
will have to be on the square foot sys-
tenn, and the land viii bring it's maxi |
mum value. But now the proposed
widening deals with land that is virtu-
ally farm land, running back to the bay,
with no greater damages for the front |
land than the back land is worth. Then,
too, the development of the city of Deer
ing demands the proper grading and
draining of Forest avenue, and the
rounding of the road bed, so that the rail
road bed may be put into the middle of
the street. Mr.. Jordan hoped that the
twenty feet asked for would be given.
1t would be a nlggardly policy to make
the widening any less.
Judge Elder, being called on, said no |
had not made a study OF street repairing
or street building; but he did know that
the condition of Forest avenue was not |
such as it ought to be. -
There is no question that the road is
now a bad one. The electric road is
there to stay, and must be disposed in
such a way as to convenience the whole |
travel on the road. Judge Elder then
Mr.. Horace Milliken and |
asked him what he should recommend,
III view Of his long experience in road
matters, as the beat method of making |
Forest avenue better.
Mr.. Milliken thought the car track |
should be put into the middle of the |
avenue as the first move. This would |
make possible suitable drainage and |
the al of