The Somerset reporter., 1909-06-03
Conference on Athens Electric Line

An important conference was held
at the Office of s. w. Philbrick, Thurs
day afternoon of last week, between
the committee appointed by the town
of Athens at it's last annual meeting,
on the proposed electric line to con-
meet that town with Skowhegan, and
the railroad committee of the Skowhe-
gan Board of Trade. The Athens
committee was composed of W. N.
Saunders, Geo. G. Hight, Geo. F.
Aver, @. R. Oliver and Messrs. Chap
man and Collins. The committee of
the Skowhegan Board of Trade are
S. w. Philbrick, David A. Haig and
John H. Lancaster.
From the report of the Athens
committee presented at this confer
ence it appears that there are saw
mills at Brighton, West Brighton,
Athens and West Athens with an ag-
gregate annual output of five million
feet of lumber, practically all of which
would be shipped over the proposed
line. 1t is also estimated that the
communities of East Madison, Athens
and Brighton would call for the trans
portation of 1000 tons of general
freight each year. The district
through which the proposed road
would be built is developing its pota-
to acreage from year to year and bet
ter shipping facilities would lead to
very large business from this crop
The income from passenger traffic
would be a considerable item and in
this connection the fact that there are
nearly fifty cottages at Hayden lake
owned by Skowhegan people, which
would be accommodated by this line
should be taken into account.
The length Of the road as planned
would be about 10 miles, from the line
of the Somerset Traction Company al
Cold Brook to some point in Athens
village. The Athens committee esti-
mate the cost of road and equipment
to be 100000. Other estimates vary
from this figure to S150,000. Engineer
E. E. Greenwood Of this place has
been engaged to go over the pro-
posed location on Thursday of next
week with the gentlemen of the
Athens committee with view to a
subsequent preliminary survey, fol-
lowing which q more accurate esti-
mate of the cost can be made.
In the plan Of financing the enter
prise, SO far as worked out at the
present time by the gentlemen from
Athens, it is proposed to raise $4,000
in stock subscriptions and issue bonds
for the balance as needed. The town
of Athens has population of about
1000 and valuation of $4,000. The
town would undoubtedly take $4,000
in the stock of the road and it is be-
lieved that $4,000 would be subscribed
by private citizens of that locality
This would leave something like $50,
600 of the stock to be otherwise taken
care of.
Every member of the committee OF
the Town of Athens was full of en-
thusiasm and their report at the con-
ference indicates that their sentiment
is shared by practically everyone in
their section. 1t is apparent they
propose to make use of every re-
source in bringing to completion the
project with which they have been
entrusted by the vote of their town.
The gentlemen representing the
Skowhegan Board of Trade were of
course greatly interested in the con-
ference and will report its proceed
ings fully to the next meeting of the
board. The project is one to enlist
the sympathy of every inhabitant of
Skowhegan, East Madison, Cornville,
Athens, Brighton and adjacent terri
tory.