Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-01-11
Portland Sunday Times. }


Fifty years OF progress such as the
world has never before seen have passed
since that glorious independence day
when Judge Preble, with a silver plated
shovel, threw out spadeiul OF earth be-
low Mupjoy hill, the commencing Of the
first railroad built east OF Portland,
which WAS destined to creep slowly
uorthward until II reached the st. Law
renee, become consolidated with the
Grand Trunk, system and to-day be one
OF the connecting links In that great
chain which binds this city TO the great
| Northwest.
II was July 4th, 1916, when this cere-
mony Was performed but IL was two
years later before the first train WAS run
over the road. Among other young
men who were employed In the work Of
construction of this railroad Was MIR. j..
j. Gerrish OF Portland. At present he
Is, with one exception, the only man now
living that he knows Of, who worked on
the construction Of the first stretch OF
the Atlantic and ST. Lawrence from
Portland to Yarmouth. The one ex-
ception IL Charles Edwards who worked
carrying chain for the surveying party
which laid out the road. Naturally Mr..
Gerrish has many interesting things to
tell OF these early days OF the Atlantic
aud ST. Lawrence railroad. He went to
work for the company itself In lSlS and
remained In its employ until 1868, when
he left Il to build the first line Of the
1 Portland street railroad. His stories Of
early rsilroading are unequalled 10 enter
/ tanning power and his memory IL so
keen that he recollects every date and
circumstances as well a. II IL were but
Yesterday when the events took place.
AT the time when Judge Preble took
that silver plated shovel In his hand to
begin the construction OF that great
road" said Mr.. Gerrish to Times man,
''the city OF Portland was not much like
the city "a you see Il to-day. Munjoy
hill beneath whose shadow this cere-
mony occurred was then almost bare OF
houses. The only houses which were
then standing on the hill that can recol-
lect were on the streets now known as
waterville, st. Lawrence and Atlantic
Streets. Further up the hill stood the
old Mansfield house, the Moody house
and one or two others which | cannot
now remember.
"The work on the st. Lawrence and
Atlantic road progressed but slowly at
! first. The facilities for railroad con-
struction were not what are known and
deemed essential to-day for they were
crude and necessarily the work went on
slowly. The hsrdestiwork which,,had to
be done WAS the construction OF the
bridge across back bay and the Presump-
scot River at Yarmouth.
"Ou July +th, lS+s, thelflrst stretch OF
the road from Portland to Yarmouth
WAS opened and the first engine and
train Of cars passed over the line. But
the road WAS not really opened TO the
public. II remember correctly, until
the 22d Of the month. The road for this
section and for some distance further up
the line, MAS built with the old fashion
ed ~" rails on longitudinal sills instead
Of sleepers. The ~" rails were shaped
as is that letter and were hollow, the
lower part Of the ~" being uppermost.
The engine and cars were queer looking
things and would be stared At with
wonder II they were TO be seen to-day.
The locomotive WAS about twenty tons
10 weight and burned wood altogether.
The cars had fat tops and were very
poor affairs wien compared with the
passenger coaches of today. but then
We thought they were all right. Surely
they were palaces OF comfort and con-
venience when compared with the old
stage coaches which were still In use In
the 'forties' and 'fifries.'
There were no air brakes or modern
arrangements for shsckling cars togeth-
er. A brakeman was q brakeman then
nd the old hand brakes were relied upon
10 stop the train on down grade IL any
thing was the matter ahead. A locomo-
tive could haul a train OF from ten to
twenty freight cars and with fair track
could make good many miles an hour.
When wss the conductor Of the Mon
treal express train some years later
have made 65 miles an hour coming into
Portland behind one OF these old fash
ioned wood burners but could count
the times that did this on my fingers
and must say that II was always done
on down grade
The Atlantic and st. Lawrence road
was opened for public business along Its
line on the following dates and you can
see by reading them how slowly the
work went on. From Yarmouth TO
Danville the road was not opened for
public business until Nov. Is. lS4s; from
Danville to Mechanic Falls Feb. 10, ls49 {;
from Mechanic Falls to North Oxford,
July, lS49; from North Oxford TO South
Paris Jan. IL, 1850; from South Paris to
Bethel, March 20, 1851; from Bethel to
Gorham July 2, 1851; from Gorham to
Northumberland, since called GrOveton,
July l3. 1852; from Northumberland to
Island Pond, Feb. 9, 1883; from Island
Pond to Montreal July Is, 1853.
"The same year that thes road reached
Montreal IL was leased to the Grand
Trunk system, but the Atlantic and St.
Lawrence was projected by, and largely
built by American capital. The road
was Of 5 l-2 feet gauge and was not
changed To the standard guage until
some time in 1876.
IL well remember that Tom Chamber
lain and distributed the telegraph poles
for the first telegraph which was built
from Portland to Augusts. We dis
tributed these poles from Portland to
Bethel on our freight trains and 1t took
US several days to do 1t. The father OF
j. w. Plaisted built the first telegraph
line from Portland to Augusta, and, II
am not mistaken, j. w. Plaisted himself
helped him in the work though he Was
only boy at the time. This telegraph
line was constructed along the old stage
road and little while after 1t was built
the railroad put up telegraph line for
itself. For a long time however there