Milford chronicle., 1960-07-15


operated by George Russell, but
for some reason this was discon-
tinued. The town again resorted to
kerosene or coal oil" for time.
Before that, I can remember the
whale oil lamps that my grandma
ther used. These were supplement-
ed by candles. / still have the
snuffer that she used for trimming
and extinguishing the candles. You
can imagine that our streets were
fairly dim at night Neither gas
nor coal oil yields much light. Now
that | look back, l believe that the
first electric lights were very little
better, but their introduction was
ample proof that Milford intended
to keep pace with the upcoming
twentieth century. Richard and
William Johnson came down from
Smyrna and built the first electric
plant. The light bulbs that were
used had carbon filaments and were
verify likely to peter out when they
were most needed.
Houses were wired by local car
penters. BY present day standards
the wiring must have been crude,
perhaps not even safe. Mostly, il
consisted of exposed wires fasten-
ed to the ceilings and set through
porcelain insulators. Nevertheless
electricity was in Milford to stay
In my neighb0rhood, most of the
wiring was done by Harry Wilker-
son who became quite an expert
and was in great demand. Finally
the Johnson brothers sold the cleo
trical Liant to the town and the
town authorities added another mu-
nicipal responsibility to their grow
ing tasks.
Getting out of Milford could be q
great event, too. A trip by railroad
was something! You had to go to
the Junction and Breakwater depot
and buy a ticket to Harrington
The excitement of waiting the ar
rival of the train from Lincoln was
almost too much. Thornton Vaules
was the ticket agent and his as
sistant, Henry Pierce, handled the
freigt. These men were important
The railroad was novelty and
anybody who worked for it drew
special attention, almost like the
interest people have in the strange
people connected with a circus
When the train finally came, if il
did, there was much putting and
blowing of steam and ringing OF
bell. Then the logistics began
OF forI1 Of
folding near the freight house. AS
the locomotive switched and back
ed and jockeyed into position with
much grinding of gear, Henry
would pull down a large pipe at
tached to the water tower. After
several tries (and misses) the ten
der was in place to take on water.
If you happened to be a passenger
you missed the next part of the
show because the moment the ten
der had quenched its thirst, all
passengers had to get on the
coaches. The engine was then un-
coupled and switched to siding
where it took on cord wood for
fuel. After an indeterminate time
| (strict schedules were not very i'm
portant in those days., the engine
was again coupled to the train
comprised of one wooden coach and
one combination baggage car and
smoker" The conductor wore a
frock coat just to show that he
was the head man. After a GER
tain amount of preparation, he
gathered up his Importance anC
gave the starting. signal. We were
Grier's Crossing, Haven Lake, ,anC
Redifer's Crossing, we might bt
doing twenty-five miles an hour
Incredible speed! BY the time VIZ
got to Houston, everybody wa:
covered with cinders and dust be
cause the excitement of the triI
obscgred the fact that there were
windows (of a sort).
Did we have "a rough ride? l ex
pect so. The bed was not firm. Tht
rails were made of soft iron which
had worn uneven after few
wheels had passed over. But wht
cared? This was a lark. Pulling
into Harrington the conductor anC
brakeman were already out on the
platform of each car spinning the
wheels that set the brakes while
the engineer set the brakes on the
locomotive. The Westinghouse all
brake came much later. At Har'
rington everybody got off, walked
up the platform and bought another
ticket to Wilmington on the New
York, Philadelphia. and Norfolk. In
Wilmington you had to get of
again and buy ticket to Philadel.
phia (if that was where you were
going) on the Philadelphia, VIII.
mington and Baltimore.
If you were the adventurous type
you could combine rail and sea fol
a trip to New York. First you tool
the j. B. Railroad to Lewes. Then
if you had made the proper prepa.
rations, you boarded the S. S
Breakwater for an uninterrupted
trip to New York.