Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-09-26

; street. AS q preliminary to these i'm
i provementS it was necessary to
; make some arrangements for the re-
moval of the mail loading station at
| the nOrtherly end of the street and
also to make arrangements with the
| Name Central Railroad company
whereby additional land could be
| procured from them for the purpose
! of widening the street.
The United States government was
interested in the matter of the load
ing of the mail and it seemed for a
time that there was no other place on
the tracks of the Maine Central Rail-
! road available for the purpose. AS a
| result however of much negotiation
and a splendid spirit of cooperation
of all concerned and particularly of
the Maine Central officials, arrange
ments Were finally made whereby it
was possible to obtain land within a
few feet of the Maine Central tracks.
1t was not, however. until July this
year that contracts were finally
drawn up between the Maine Central
Railroad company and the city as
surfing the undertaking of this very
important piece of work.
The construction of a new curbing
and granolithic sidewalk the whole
length of Commercial street on the
easterly side (some $50 feet) was at
once undertaken and has not been
completed Before, however, this
splendid walk could be built it was
necessary to make arrangements
with practically every property
holder on the street to remove some
kind of an obstruction as the old
sidewalk adjacent to the buildings
was full of runways. gratings, stair
ways and other distractions. The
heartiest cooperation, however, on
the part of every property holder was
met with with the result that there
was no delay in the construction of
the walk.
This improvement also occasioned
the removal of 1000 cubic yards of
earth and building of retaining wall
the entire length of the street on the
westerly side. This excavation has
been made and the retaining wall
partly constructed.
The laying of bituminous street
will be begun shortly. This improve
ment when completed will result in
the, removal Of the old wooden build
ing now occupied by Stone & Cooper
and of the Commercial street filing
station. BY the action of the City
government. Tuesday evening It is
assured that there will be construct
ed opposite the entrance to Oak
street an up-to date comfort station.
Thomaston Road Improvement
The next largest Improvement and
which is now nearing completion is
the building of modern gravel road
on the Thomaston Road for approx
mately 1000 feet, extending westerly
from the National Home. Some idea
of the extent of this construction can
be obtained from the accompanying
photographs. The highway at this
point was widened not only by blast
ing out number of lodges but in
some instances cutting trees more
than is inches in diameter This
piece OF construction when completed
will cost approximately $4,000.
In addition to the foregoing a large
amount of gravel has been hauled on
the balance of the Thomaston Road
and the whole road has been ma
chined so that for the first time in
history 1t is now for a part of the
distance an Al road and for the
whole of the distance from Augusta
to Togus reasonably good road.
Permanent Improvements have also
been made on the North Belfast road
The road has been graveled for more
than mile westerly from the point
where the crawling was stopped last
year and the balance of the road
cvened up with gravel and the whole
OF the road machined so that now