The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1905-04-20
Stockton Springs in Grasp of Great Boom
Operations at the Terminal of the Sea
board r. R. ~
I Narraguagus Times. J

perity of the time. There was little out
side of ship building, but that industry was
quite sufficient to impart spirit and actual
ity of thrift and enterprise to the towns
that has been the background or founda-
ton of whatever prosperity they may have
experienced since. But times changed. \
new kind of craft was required. Iron yes
sells gradually came to superSede the wood
en-; legislation was unfrienjly, and ship
building Oh the large scale on which it had
been conducted ceased. The great num-
Der of sea captains who had taken up
abodeS. on tle shore continued to follow the
sea, but together with the decline of ship
building the profits from the barter and
trade conducted by them diminished, toe.
The towns felt it. The substantial resi-
dences began to crumbe into decay through
neglect. and these in later years were
bought up at ridculouSly low prices by
summer residents, and converted into COM
modious and comfortable summer homes.
With the general decline the value of land
Went down. The oder residents lost hope
and were content to let the times bear them
on to whatsoever haven it might.
For twenty five, perhaps thirty-tive, years
these two sea coast towns fell into that long
sleep from which there seemed never to be
any awakening, but meanwhile part of the
citiZenry hoped on-had visions of the
future days, hoped that at some future time
the harbor facilities would be appreciated
and the towns again take on their pristine
Importance and growth.
And 10. That time has come
At the magician's touch the two towns
now stand in imminent danger of sharing
nightly in the general progress of the age
To-day, land which a year ago could have
been bought for few hundred dollars now
demands thousands Property on the main
thoroughfare of stockton Springs is not for
sale, the owners holding it against the
boom, the beginning of which is already at
hand, House rents have gone up, and un-
less the Wayfarlng man happens to boast
friendship with some of the old sea cap
tanS, or others of the hardy residents.
lodging would be hard to find Residents
have opened their homes to the new corners
the prospectors-and the little country
stores are bubbling over with the strange
symptoms of prosperity.
AS to the underlying cause of the boom.
Manager Cram of the Bangor & Aroos-
took doubtless yields the magic wand. No
one disputes the authorship. He conceived
long ago d great outlet for the riches Of the
whole northwest, and that natural outlook
must be necessarily some where in the vicin-
ity of Belfast Bay. Rumor had it at one
time that Belfast. then Camden, then Rock
and, might be the terminal of the line
might have the advantages of holding the
treasure houses for the northwestern ooun-
try. But of the intentions of the manage
ment of the B. Il A. nothing whatever leak
20 out. II Is Iehlafkaole indeed TO ma
"'1it W ny IA nueilt9 .iit ow sels hepl lle Sc
Sitt IN AURORA ooA l! que IullloI sot
place.
But one day a stranger came from Boston
and the object of his visit soon became
nlioMll. ne lsaue IL hn1mn. nv ialelue et
~ w ia.,H lui d ,si it ~ ~
,l,,a 20 Sttn SriraH Whiio he
800 f VI tal ~. ''i th .,ie n
.ha ,,."thsr .'hi,,t tis }itt.rrant inIS af
Glrds ma fshaS mt Nv in tho air and
s,r.,n in the streams hA nhs.rvaa lyiSalSe
and stored IN, for The f1fure dav. Jnciden-
t,tII,- he manfred ,Ihpur th4 land yalnes
lie made the acon,infnure Of two BRIGHT
,psIt.IIft. in fownE-r',ok a liking to them
AND tbai ba vent h1,.!, home ha,.ly to tba
TTuh uf The 1n,i,,nr.o
If wasn't lnnp howavor baforo tho +,,o
merchants gut Xnrd tn .f..t ontinns an oar
t..i; i,r,.I nf 1a,I b.,, .ni .har "a ,,,,,r
tTt c,a.r liz y.rr4G IA huiid tbo LII I'M
!. s,, An .tor po'la .i,9 ~
t ~ lhnr ot ,f'n rIe of tbo '1s,oS
H-,l ', +h ,,,r fn. 10 VIZ ih ,pnupi7'
Nv, ~ NV H. + ~ Wy oiu9 iiVoee-
am II"I'' ,iT atnau!.' u ianl oous1I IL was
euII- - ". s. y eolV1St'"H piS Vtuo 1ouse.
= Ah4 men thts founder OF a secona haf
HalpoI came 70 town. lie WASH tfldlng on
Z pony exactly, hut he got there by stage
ate had gwen up the cue house idea And
The. visions faded away. He was going to
hulld something else, perhaps a big casino,
park, a whole colony OF summer houses,
and the merchants, all ignorant OF what the
Intention of this NAH vas, went right on
buying land and paying cash down for it.
Then Dame Rulur hit the right trail.
The Il. R.-that mystic L. R-waS back of
the whole thing.
Then the man went comeback to Bos-
t0n
And then the land values went skv high
Why some of those old sea dogs doubled
and trebled and ouadrup ed and-no mat
ter-land went soaring skyward--until well,
some of the fabulous prices will get aWfully
cut down by the commissioners when they
appraise the property thereof,
A word as to the operations going on,
The line has been SURVEYED from Lagrange
to Belfast, while good portion of the road
way near the terminal on Cape Jellison i'm
Stockton Springs is already graded. The
immense wharf on Cane JellisOn will be. if
we have been correctly informed, over 700
feet long and of a width sufficient TO hold
several tracks, The ties and rails and
other essential material is arriving at this
new wharf, now building, daily, Sears
Island, large tract of land of nearly 1000
acres, one end OF which helps to form the
Harbor, has been bought at price exceed
ing $4,000. but to what use this island will
be put is a mystery to the inhabitants
thereabouts tits currently rep0rted that
il will be converted into a great summer
resort
Standing on the hill lust back of Stockton
Springs one can look down upon the town
and the bay and the islands. To the right.
some four miles away nm the coast. is sears