The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-01-22
UNCLE SAWS VINE CELLAR.
He Doesn't Drink, but He Has Lots of Rare
Wines on Hand.

He Doesn't Drink, but He Has Lots of Rare
Wines on Hand.
A ghostly silence pervades the place.
1t is like the silence of the tomb. The
outside world seems already centuries
away. The air is cool and soothing,
and three faring gas jets cast an intri-
cate combination of shadows upon the
massive masonry of the arches, says
writer in the Boston Herald, in describ-
ing the wine vaults under the Boston
custom house.
After hundreds of years, when Bos-
ton is only hole in the ground like the
ancient cities in the Mediterranean,
some archseologist will dig down
through the accumulated dust of CEN
turies and find those hewn arches stand
ing as they stand now.
And yet the whole substantial struc-
ture is like the foolish mans house,
founded upon the sand and mud of Bos-
ton harbor. Three thousand tall pine
trees. stripped of their limbs, were
driven down close together in the black
ooze to form foundation for the build
ing. These piles would last but a few
short years in the outer air, but sunk
in the harbor mud they are believed to
be as indestructible as the earth itself.
When it was built, the custom house
was upon the water front, and even now
the cellar is below high water mark,
yet there is no drier cellar on Beacon
hill. The builders seemed to have beer
the builders of pyramids and cata-
combs reincarnate, and the work was
done to stand after the builders them
selves were long forgotten. Upon the
heads of the piles, in the form of a
Maltese cross, was laid Gaping of
granite in hydraulic cement. Around
it were built the massive walls of solid
granite feet thick, which were to be
protection against heat and cold, fire
and water and all the elements. With
in these walls rose the puzzling scheme
of sturdy pillars and arches which made
the cellar maze of low rooted cham
bers, inches, crypts and passages.
When the visitor enters the basement
and storehouse, which is on the street
level. he feels instinctively conscious of
the huge pile of granite over his head.
This floor, within the surrounding row
of offices, is used for the storage of
champagne and bottled wines. The
cases, which hold two dozen bottles, are
piled in regular tiers as high as the cell
ing, and under the main entrance they
are packed in solidly. There are usually
between 5000 and 1900 cases, or over
10000 bottles, which if popped all at
once would make the granite dome
tremble and might drown the attend
ants in a foaming food.
When consignment of rum, which
means anything from champagne to
brandy, is landed from foreign vessel,
the government orders it to be sent to
the custom house cellar. If no owner
appears to claim it, it is kept for year
and then is sold at auction to pay the
duties and warehousing charges.
II the owner appears, he can pay the
duties and withdraw his liquor for i'm
mediate consumption, or he can give
bonds for the duties and keep his stock
stored in the government vaults until
he wishes to withdraw it. The govern
ment charges him storages according to
the capacity of packages and allows
him to take it away by degrees as he
needs it, paying duty only on the
amount withdrawn.
Very often an importation of wine
and spirits may change hands several
times while it lies in bond deep under
the granite dome. In such cases it is
sold in bond, and the owner, instead OF
the importer, pays the duties and makes
the final entry Of the merchandise.