Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-10-22
WORLDS SHIPYARD.
The New Industrial Era in the
City Of Bath.
Mays Visit To Water Front Of
Shipping City.
The impressions Of q Boston Visitor Am i'd
Scenes New to Him.

If WAS on a crisp morning a tritie be-
fore sunrise twhen the swift kennebec
noNs black and cold 'between her high.
Green banks. and the forest makes IT.
self into lace openwork against the
cl,ar yellow easO that the adventurous
skinner Weymouth first saw the spot
,,-bare Rath was afterward Ia be. little
wonder is il that he took such allurinS
scrounts of it back with him to Eng
land writes benjamin Brooks III the
BOSTON Transcript. e
nm, that ii should have retained so
much of its pristine rustic loveliness
through 50 manyeears is NOT 50 easily
.vn,aiued. You hearof Bath All oversthe
world AS Il boy in my own haroor.
halfway round the earth from Bath by
water | used to wonder what manner
of great city il was that had itSsDame
ON the stern of 50 many ships: yet
,rhen Won finally reach Bath. il is but
j country town after all. The official
cock NAV be heard growing long before
The rumble of the first car. In the
hare shabby office of your hotel.
whose interior decoration is almost
-
learn that breakfast before seven is a
rare attainment, that daily papers
from the rest of the world arrive not
Til long after eight. and that the only
lncal Observation-Disclosures 23o0-doeI nor
make it's appearance till -four IN the
afternoon, and begins lis columns al
local news, There We're no arrests III
the city Tuesday night. Up and dow u
The main street. running middle
course between the dingy waterfront
below and the quaint, neat residences
above YOU find the chief topic Of inter
u 10 he not ships. and freights. ana
lumber and foreign policies as YOU
might expect. but 'hoss - shame
100. To race trOttin' bosses agin pacin
hosses''-and poultry-"Sech chickens
never see before Is right out mere
Yesterday at Topsham and 'aigs
ANA cattle Knock out the props from
under the huge ribbed hulks that rise
above the green foliage. and slip them
irto the river: burn a few thousand
e-i Gf crazy Wharves and plant con-
ealing row of trees in their ashes.
and the worlds shipyard." as far as
ior the one steel derrick at the Iron
Works wharf and n tower or so on the
heights. would have been cffaced from
the earth.
don't know the reason Of this un-
less il be that il requires a very small
layout OF land and a very small number
Of people TO carry on very important
and far-tamed mechanical industry so
long as YOU stick to that one particular
thing. 4 Boston. for instance. that
goes in tor baked beans, brown bread.
sacred Goldfish, cultivation and refine
mrut. and demands fame and con-
sideration III all these varied interests
II once. must proceed on far greater
scale than a Bath that is simply the
worlds greatest shipyard
The faithfuiness with which the
Maine community keeps its one object
before il is apparent on its face. Look
in whatever direction YOU please, the
first sign YOU see in Bath is Sail
Loft" You will find them all in opera
ton too-the clean. white areas grow
ing strip by strip as they run seam
after scam through noisy. powe"driV-
~ sewing machines. the men with the
long, bright marin-Sp spikes. overgroNn
needles waved cords and leather
thimbes in tht. palms of their hands.
stitching industriously at The edges and
lmdng them with fragrant, tarred
rope all in the midst of piles and piles
OF canvas Gor fifty thousand yards nj
il often go out from Il single loft in
month";. coils Of rope. and all manner of
blocks and attachments hanging from
the rafters. There are the rigeerS.
too. with their heavy wire ropes
stretched taut for 4 hundred feet or 50
between TWO stout timbers. forcing
their stiff strands apart with pointed
spikes and hammers ana splicing
eyes into their ends to fit over the
maatheads Of ships. Up and down the
waterfront YOU come to places full of
spinning lathes and flying chips ana
"u""r odors Of hard woods where they
are making blocks-pulieyS that is:
and farther on, little machine shops.
where patent anti-friction roller bush
lhSs are made for the blocks Out Of
town short way. your longshore
st?olling brings you To within sound of
y
there, in a little open space covered
deeply with fragrant pine chips. they
are making SparS-first stripping the
rough trees of their bark, then. guided
ny chalk line snapped on With a
taut string. hewing them out four sid
ed, then eight-sided. and finally round
ana smooth and gracefully tapering
lhere Is pleasure in Watching the d-x-
rritN OF an equilibrist. hut | love bet
Ter 70 see the big broadaXeS flashing in
III" sun and descending with a power
'uii iull-arm swing true on their mark
WIN precision that seems to suggest
'hat the fathers and grandfathers and
N'V'''srandfatherS Of their wielders
""uls axes in that very same way.
FARTHER along are the shops where
We ifeboats and tenders OF the vessels
"'e made. The principal boat builder
'"'hs out as many as sixty boats a
'etf IL the shipyarls are busy. If
10y ic .iI9. so is he: and ii il the
Sdihe from one end of town to the
"'""f. 1t IS all for the Ships-sails.
'Ssihs, spars. boats and blocks-all
me one object in the end. If the
'"'f!ards are busy Bath is busy. and
vice versa.
Inc shipyards themselves are inst
nv" more than usually interesting. AS
e spot. or one of the spots. where orr
SlllDDlillipo