The Republican journal., 1904-02-18
BANGOR & ARoosTooK TERMINAL
The Depth of Water in stockton Harbor
The New Road will Increase the Business


The New Road will Increase the Business
of Other Railroads. The Extent, Re.
sources and Population of Aroostook.
Unused Water Powers.
Since announcement was made of the
proposed terminal of the Bangor & Aroos-
took railway at Cape GellisOn (that is the
spelling of the name on the chart) there has
been some discussion as to the depth of
water in Stockton harbOr. The sOundings
as marked on the U. S. Government chart of
of Penobscot river (No. 311) shows the area
of p foot soundingS to be II miles long
from the southern point of Cape Jellison
up the harbor, and close to the Cape shore.
The narrOwest part of the q foot sound
ings, between Cape JelisOn and Sears
Island, is / mile, expanding farther up to
tion of the upper harbor, from J mile to a
mile wide and II miles long, shows a depth
of not less than IA feet. These soundings
and measurements are from government
surveys and are given for mean low water.
About 10 feet is to be added for high water
Is it reasonable. to suppose that men who
have built up a prosperous railroad would
expend over 100000 for land to be used as
a terminal without first aScertaining that
the water facilities were adequate? At all
events the water is there, plenty of it.
Then at Mack's Point there is 15 feet near
the shore, with g fathoms farther out.
Not only is there a sufficient depth of water
at Cape Jellson, but the harbOr is one of
the best on the coast; easy of access and
sheltered from every wind that blows.
There is another point that has caused
some discussion-the supposed hostility Of
the Boston & Maine and Maine Central to
this new railroad. We print on the 7th
page an article from the Bangor Daily
News on this matter, and agree with it that
such antagonsm would be poor policy. Fur
ther than that we do not believe that such
policy was contemplated by the railroads
in question. Certainly the projected rail-
way is in no way nimical to their interests.
1t will take nothing from them, but will
create business that must largely increase
travel and the transportation of the finer
freights over their lines. An economical
outlet for the coarsest of products is what
is wanted. Of the 16O million of lumber
that passed through Bangor two years ago
probably IS per cent. went by water, while
it is estimated that as much more did not
come there at all because the rail and wa
ter conditions were inferior to those via
Canada. Our big rivers in northern Maine
flow northward and for decades have been
feeding Canadian mills with logs. These
logs cannot be fed into Maine mills and
over Maine railroads until ArooStook has a
Maine port outlet Without such outlet
the development of the great Aroostook
county must be retarded, and increasing
quantities of her staple products find an
outlet through Canadian territory.
If this railroad enterprise serves to en-
tighten our own people as to the extent, re-
sources and possibilities of the section
known as the Garden of Maine it will have
served a useful purpose. In a brief visit to
Aroostook some years ago the writer was
greatly impressed with what he saw, al
though it was comparatively little. In the
statistics given last week were some errors,
typographical and otherwise. Aroostook
county contains about 100000 acreS-say
6,S0O square miles. 1t is almost as large as
the State of Massachusetts, which contai ms
1900 square miles, including islands. OF
this vast territory probably less than 40O,-
600 acres are cleared. The remaining area
is heavily wooded, containing timber
enough for all time. The growth is up to
the railroad companies capacity to move it.
Contiguous to Aroostook county are Piscat-
aquis and Penobscot counties, also rich in
timber, the aggregate improved area being.
probably, in excess of seven million acres,
splendidly watered, rich in water power,
storage basins for water as well as for logs,
much of high land, even to mountains, the
king of which is Katahdin, its summit be-
ing something over a mile above sea level
streams, rivers and brooks abounding in
trout and salmon and the forests with game
from grouse up to deer.
Since our article of last week was printed
we have obtained some later and additional
statistics of interest AroOstook's potato
crop we find was underestimated. The
actual quantity of potatoes shipped from
crop of 1908, up to Feb. II, 1904, is 3,122, 900
bushels, with indications that the total
shipments from that crop over the Bangor
Il Aroostook alone will reach five million
bushels. 1t is fair to assume that nearly,
or quite one and one-half million bushels
will have found their way out over other
routes, while the shipments of starch bid
fair to exceed 1000 tons, indicating that
we'll up to two millions of bushels were
sold to the starch manufacturers. Then it
is estimated that one million bushels have
been held for home consumption and for
seed. Assuming the average price received
for those sold to have been only 40 cents a
bushel and you have total of between
three and four million dollars. If prices
hold up through April the average may ex-
ceed 80 cents per bushel. The growth of
this industry will be realized when it is
stated that in 1872 only about 10000 bushels
were sent out and 80 cents per bushel was
considered a fair price. 1t is believed that
the industry, great as it now is, is yet in its
infancy, as there is a growing demand for
seed from all parts of the world and the
superiority of the Aroostook seed for the
table is everywhere recognized. New Eng