Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-11-24
YES, IT'S COMING.
Location Granted for Augusta
& WaterviIIe Electric Road.
CITY Fathers and Citizens Anxious Il
See Road Built.
Another Link in Electric Line from
Bangor to Boston.

At the special meeting of the alder
men, Saturday evening. the petition OF
the Augusta & Waterville Electric
Road for location on the Ticonic
bridge and certain streets of the city
was granted. Mr.. Lynch of Augusta
the attorney for the company, did not
arrive until after o'clock, coming or
the evening train, so the hearing was
rather late in starting. Warren C.
Philbrook appeared at this meeting as
the representative of Mrs. l. ;. Bangs
who owns considerable property neaI
the bridge. and objected to having the
location on Lockwood street granted
He explained that the street ut that
point is narrow and ends in Il blind
corner. The business of the grist mill
the next building but one to the corner
is such that it is necessary for heavy
teams to stand in the street In front OF
its doors to load and unload. The track
in the street and the cars passing al
frequent intervals would seriously in
terfear with this.
In the summer there is considerable
trouble caused by the water flowing
down over the street and this. Mr.. Phil
brook thought. would be aggravated
by the car tracks. In the winter thf
corner is rather a dangerous one any
way, as there is usually moistur:
enough there to keep it icy and the
Slowing of the teams around the corner
makes it Il dangerous place and this
would also be increased by the cal
tracks.
But before Mr. PhilbroOk had had
time to finish his argument against the
location on the street Mr.. Lynch inter
rupted him, stating that If there was
serious and good objection to having
the location there granted his compan!
was perfectly willing to have il
changed. SO the order was amended
to cut out Lockwood, Front and Com
mon streets and to substitute Bridge
street instead, the course as changed
being from the bridge to Bridge street
and thence to the easterly line of South
Main street.
The question of the ability of the brids
to safely carry the track and cars wa
then taken up and discussed for over an
hour This was the only objection that
has been raised by anyone to granting
the locations and, as was said at the
meeting, there have been about as man!
opinions regarding the matter as there
are people in the city.
Some have objected to having the track
on the bridge at ALL claiming that it is
too narrow for it. A very few have OBJ
jected to granting the road the right to
cross the bridge, saying that if they want
to come into the city they ought to build
their own bridge. But this is more of 4
relic than an argument and had no force
whatever in the discussion. The real OBJ
lection was the condition of the bridge
If the track could be laid without any
danger to the stability of the bridge and
without any serious hindrance to traffic
the aldermen were perfectly willing to
grant the location.
Mr. Lynch had his hands full answer
ing all the questions asked and meet
ing all the arguments advanced. 1t was
pretty lively at times but he held his
own very well and finally won the fight
The thing that won his case was his
statement that his company would put d
recognized expert engineer onto the
bridge TO give it a thorough examination
and that whatever he said would be need
ed to put it into first-class condition fol
the cars and general traffic would be done
at the expense of the company. HI
would be willing to have the city employ
its own expert to work with the one EN-
ployed by the company. Then in addition
to these the bridge would be examined b!
the engineer on the board OF railroad
commissioners and what he said woul,
be necessary would have to be done ans
way and the company would foot TIT
bill. If the commissioners said the bridS'
would not carry the cars that would set
tie it, and if they said it would the cit!
might rest secure in their Judgment. H'
thought this was sufficient guard.
NJ. c. Foster was present and statct
that he had examined the bridge that da!
and he considered it perfectly capable o.
road go through and thought that there
would be no trouble whatever with tEt
bridge. Horace Purinton. it is under
stood, has expressed the same opinion
Both these men are among the leading
contractors in the State and their judS
ment in such matters can be relied on.
While the discussion was in progress
Mr.. Lynch stated that only medium size,
cars would be run over the road. 1t hat
been found that too large cars were beins
used on some of the roads. On some trips
they were loaded, but most of the tins
only partially and it was only costly
waste Of power to keep them going. liz
said that his company owned two as
handsome cars as could be found in New
England and used them in Augusta, bu
that they would sell them at hand
some discount as it cost altogether toe
much to run them. On the new road he
said that it was proposed to run cars oi
about 10 tons weight as this size had beer
found the most economical.
When it was settled that whatever re-
pairs or strengthening that the bridge
might require would be paid for by the
company, the aldermen raised no further
objections and promptly passed the order
as amended.