Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-05-11
4 Down-Eas Hustler.

Probably the best speech. the most
practical and to the point. heard any
where during the visit of the Boston
men to Maine. was heard in the City
hall at Bangor. and was made by
man whose talk is as electrifying as
the stuff in which he deals. We refer
to John r. Graham. president of the
Bangor Railway & Electric Co. who
is one of the head pushers, if not the
foremost one, of the electric power de-
velopment at Ellsworth There is lit
tie danger of saying too much on this
subject. for it is the one that is en-
phatically to the fore and the one in
which the industrial future of the
State is perhaps more bound up than
in any other. Mr.. Graham evidently
knows what he is talking about. He
came to Maine some years ago from
Massachusetts. where as, he says he
had charge of nearly all the trolley
lines south of Boston, and undertook
to interest capital in electrical de-
velopment in Maine The most nota-
bic result is the Ellsworth dam. which
Mr. Graham made the chief text Of
his speech. and of which he gave an
interesting description, besides show
Doubtless everybody in these parts
has heard of the Ellsworth dam, and
some of our people have seen it: they
may know that it is a hollow struc-
ture of reinforced concrete, u feet
high, but they may not know that. as
stated by Mr.. Graham, it is one of the
most unique hydro electric develop
ments in this country. They have
A. L. nrfh
electric power is sent in one direction
to Bar Harbor and in another to-
Bangor and 25 miles beyond to
Charleston--that is. nearly hundred
miles between extreme points-that
it lights the streets and houses of the
summer resorts and runs the street
cars of Bangor and takes the trolleys
far out into the country. and that
when it is fully developed. it is capable
of 10000 horsepower; but they may
not have heard until now that the two
drawbacks in water power develop
ment have been eliminated in this
plant. that is. anchor ice and back
water In other words, it is made
possible to run the plant at full vol
ume in winter and summer, without
fear of the wheels being choked by
bottom ice on the one hand or failing
for want of water on the other. since
the storage capacity is so great as not
to be affected by a drought of six
weeks.
1t is pity that the Boston men
could not have extended their tour to
Ellsworth. and for the matter of that
to Millinocket and to Rumford Falls
there to see some of the marvellous
transformations wrought by the water
power OF Maine within recent years
Mr.. Graham appears to be promoter
in the best sense of the term. hustlinS.
enthusiastic and with the faculty of
imparting his enthusiasm to others.
endowed with the scientific imagina-
ton that sees into the practical uses
and possibilities of things. the dream
err of dreams that come true. One or
his dreams is of power transmission
trunk line across Maine. possibly ex-
tending to Boston. into which the
owner of the smallest water power
may pump his product for sale ana
from which the smallest manufacturer
may take power to carry on his bust
ness or the smallest village may
obtain its light" This may come true.
although ii, inevitably suggests that
water power trust" of which we have
heard. Another and humber dream of
Mr. Graham's is the supplying of the
Boston market with potatoes raised in
the Kenduskeag valley. but what he
says of what is doing and to be done
through the development and trans
mission of electrical energy captivates
the Imagination. His talk could not
have failed to make a deep impression
on the strangers. More such men are
needed for the work In hand. 4