Evening star., 1916-11-12
FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN THE STAR

Notwithstanding discouragements in
the matter Of raising stock subscrip-
tions the project for a
Steamship steamship line between
pro;.,t New York and Washington.
under way at this time fifty
years ago. was enthusiastically pressed
by the citizens concerned, who felt
that such a means of transport would
be OF great benefit to the local COM
munity. In The Star of November 2,
1856. is an account of a meeting that
was held the evening previous in the
rooms of the Board Of Trade, with
Mr.. William Orme in the chair and
Mr.. T. B. Mohun acting as secretary.
letter was presented from friends
Of the project in New York urging
the local stockholders to organize at
once without waiting for the whole
amount of $4,000 to be subscribed. It
was figured that with the s55.o00 al
ready raised in Washington and the
amount raised in New York two first
class steamers could be purchased. a
third one to be bought with the pro-
ceeds of the remaining stock sales.
The question was raised whether this
could be done. as the local subscrip-
tlons had been made with the under
standing that the full amount of $780,
ooo would be subscribed, and it was
agreed that the subscribers should be
consulted on this point. A. r. Shepherd
declared that the success OF the line
would depend on the extent to which
the local merchants availed themselves
OF IT; 1t would be the only desirable
- frh 4 fIV1tr
way freight was too high to come in
competition with it and the canal line
was closed during winter months, and
the steamship line could make the
trips in half the time and carry freight
at half the expense of the canal. Mr..
John w. Thompson pointed out that
the first steamship line between Wash
ington and New York had always had
more back freight than it could take.
and that the Georgetown millers were
obliged to send their flour by schooner,
against their will. A committee of five
was named to visit New York and OBJ
tam information as to the organiza-
tfon of the company.
* x
The following paragraph in The
Star of November s, 1866. indicates a
keen pride on the part
Flre-Fighting of the people of Wash
A4 ington In their new
APpoAo'o fire department equip
ment. which was. for those days, ex-
ceptionally fine-looking:
I'm a very few weeks our city fire
department will be fully supplied with
new and handsome equipments, and a
parade and an inspection of the full
department is talked of. Messrs Nc
Donald and McDade, the contractors,
will in a few days turn over to No. 2
steamer the third hose carriage, a fine
piece of workmanship. which they con-
tracted some months ago to build for
the department. It's wheels are four
and four feet eight inches in diameter r,
with n two-inch tread. while the spool
is calculated for thousand feet of
hose. Under the drivers seat is a
basket for equipments. The latest inn
provements have been made on the
carriage-chocks work by a lever to
chocks for the spool. This carriage is
painted red. with black and white
stripes. and will make a very neat ap-
pearance. The truck for the hook and
ladder company has just been put in
service by them. 1t was contracted
and handsome piece of work. 1t is in
tended for six substantial ladders. from
fifteen to forty-five feet in length. and
the necessary hooks, axes and imple-
ment. The ironwork was done by Mr..
Langley, the woodwork by Mr.. Ed
ward Haines and the painting by Mr..
B. Donnelly."
During the civil war much work was
done in Washington in the making of
war munitions at the ar
Munjtion senal, and employment was
rr, given to a large number
no of persons who, when peace
was restored. We're apprehensive of
losing their positions. In The Star of
November 10, 1866, is the following:
From the fact that orders had been
issued by the ordnance department di-
recting the transfer of some of the
work being done at the WASHINGTON
arsenal to other points an apprehen-
sion was created that most of the force
now employed at the arsenal would be
thrown out of employment; in fact.
that the operations of the arsenal
would be virtually suspended. We
learn, however, that such will not be
the cas- Sc, and that as much of the work
will be retained here can be done
advanta geously to the interests of the
government
"A considerable quantity of cartridges
has been sent to the Frankford
arsenal to be broken up, from the fact
that from the large amount of dan
gerous material now stored at the
Washington arsenal it was not deem
ed safe to do the work here. The rife
shell establishment. which employs few
hands has been transferred to Fortress
Monroe as 1t was found to be incon-
venient to have it detac ached from that
point. In regard to the repairs upon
the large numbers of gun carriages ac-
cumulated in the arsenal ground un-
housed, we learn that as many of them
will be retained here for repairs as
can, in the opinion of Gen. Ramsey, be
properly attended to at the arsenal
shops. We are certain that Gen. Dyer,
Gen. Ramsey, the comnandant of the
Washington arsenal. have both the
kindest feelings toward this COM
munity and they will not unnecessarily
divert any work from this point
A meteoric shower was expected to
occur at about this time fifty years
ago, a nd t h e
Bells to Announce keenest interest
was manifested
phenomenon. The astronomers had
estimated that it would take place
some time during the night of Novem-
ber 1914, but in view of the uncer-
tainty as to the time. and especially in
view of the possibility that the earth
might pass through the meteoric
stream during daylight hours special