Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-05-25
Fred |. Friend, Manager.
THE MESSALONSkEE.
Continued from page ID

t1phNi''"H AfRAft lf'fsN ~
put in operation. The next privilege
above the Hitchings' site is the one
now owned by Webbcr & Philhrick and
is the site Of the Asa Emerson saw
mill one uf the earliest In Waterviile,
It was In 1883 that Joseph Fairbanks
one OF the three famous scale builders
of ST. Johnsbury. Vermont, and Arha
Nelson built the present dam and be-
gan making cast iron plows. under the
firm name Of Fairbanks. Nelson & Co.
In 1915 John Weber and Fred =. Hav-
Hand bought this property and oper-
ated the plant OF the Waterville Iron
Manufacturing Company for % years,
In 1871 the firm had changed its name
In Webber. Haviland & Co. and that
firm changed in 1878 to Webber, Havi-
land & Philbrick now Webber * Phil
brick. The mill and foundry were
burned In 1895 and the firm has moved
into the city and are doing good bust
ness in their fine new plant at The
Head OF the Falls"
The next dam above was built in or
abou; 1850 by Erastus O. Wheeler on
this dam were built the mills of Apple
ton. Sanger * Eansted for the man
ufactur- Of newspaper stock. In 1873
Winslow Roberts and A. T. Marston
bought the privilege and built a large
factory in which they manufactured
wooden shanks for boots and shoes
employing fifty people. Their works
we're burned in 1878, rebuilt and again
destroyed by fire in 1879, since which
tftn,a M ~
dam. The tall shank factory chimney
is still standing like grim sentinel
amid the ruins where once the whir Of
the wheels and the voices Of toilers
swelling the voice of industry were
heard.
Next up the stream is the old carpet
factory built more than seventy years
ago by Windsor q Barrett for cotton
factory. Later additional buildings
We're constructed by William Pearson
* Sons. and large tannery was set in
operation. The next dam is the one
where the water company's station is
set and here it was that Dr. McKechnie
built the saw mill and the erist mill
mentioned in the beginning Of this ar
ticle, both of which disappeared before
the memory of anyone now living
Then comes the "Crommett Mills" site
and privilege. Here James Crommett
built a saw mill. a grist mill. card
ing and clothing mill, the griSt mill
running four runs Of stones and TWO
bolts
Along this length Of the Messalons-
kee, door. sash and blind factories. a
match factory, Il shovel handle fac
tory. saw mills. grist mills. cardinp
mills. cotton mill, machine shop have
come aud gone. The dams have rotted
away for the most part and aside from
the vicinity of the pumping station, the
hum of industry is heard no more.
The Messalonskee Is fed by six great
storage basins the North. the East
Great, Ellis. Long and Snow ponds
The pow CT is good the year round The
privileges mentioned can be improved
and the power become among the best
in the State.
One objection to building mills and
factories on the privileges is that tn.
distance to the railroad makes bust
ness less profitable than in the city
The writer has never known of an in
stance where the water power was
moved to the railroad but there are a
lot of cases where the railroad has been
constructed to confirm to the require
ments of the water power.
1t has been suggested to the Journal
that the Waterville & Fairfield Electric
Railway could be extended from its
persent terminus on the Plains through
Grove street past the cemetery to Sill
Yer street. thence up Silver street to
Main joining the present line This
line would be great thing for the
lower end of Silver street and the prop
erty along Grove street. At the Silver
street bridge spur track could be
iald extending down the MesSalonskee
to the lower privilege, freight cars
could be run for the accommodation of
any factory or factories that NAV he
Quilt along the stream Possibly the
better way to develope the resources of /
the MeSSalonSkee would be to build a
branch of the steam railroad from the
nearest point on the Oakland line along
the bank of the stream where the land
damages could not be great and by so
doing avoid the labor of TRANSFERRING
freight from the electric to the steam
road
1t may he said by some that the wa
ter power at given points along the
stream is not sufficient to drive the
machinery of large mills In reply the
writer can only say that water is water
and it is strong when properly CON
trolled and there is enough of it in the
Messalonskee at each point mentione6
above to drive the largest set of tur
olne In operation in Maine, today. or
course wheel pits must be dug out and
proper fumes built in order to get the
amount of power necessary.
Mayor Webb in conversation with
Inc Journal said, Saturday. Il think