Radio Script #263
Little Talks On Common Things
April 24, 1955
Postman Frank EI lis has shown me a remarkably wei I preserved map of Maine printed in 1871. It is a folding map, 16t x 13 inches, on comparatively thin but tough rag paper. It was designed to show especially the rai I road lines then traversing the state. At that time, 84 years ago, there were twelve different rai I roads operating in Maine. By that time the Maine Central had come into existence. It had taken over the old Androscoggin and Kennebec from Portland to Watervil Ie, and the Penobscot and Kennebec from Watervi I Ie to Bangor.
That, in 1871, was all there was to the Maine Central, 138 mi les of track from Portland to Bangor via Lewiston.
A second road was the Portland and Kennebec, with its Portland depot at the foot of Canal Street. It ran to Brunswick, whence a branch ran down to Bath, whi Ie the main line went on to Gardiner, Augusta, Watervi I Ie and Skowhegan. Between Watervi I Ie and Skowhegan were four stops. Let’s see if you recognize them: Kendal Is Mi lis, Somerset Mi lis, Fowler’s and Pishon’s Ferry. There was the famous European and North American, which then extended from Bangor to Mattawamkeag. Some of its stops, listed in 1871, the modern traveler would not recognize: Mount Hope, Basin Mi I Is, Eight Mi les Siding.
Of course there was John Poor’s rai I road, the Grand Trunk from Portl.and, all of the 297 mi les to Montreal. Besides its present day stations of Yarmouth Junction, Danvi lie Junction, Mechanic Fal Is, South Paris and Bethel, it stopped at Pownal, New Gloucester, Hotel Road and Empire Road. Hotel Road was the stop for Poland Springs.
The line from Brunswick to Farmington via Lewiston was cal led the Androscoggin Rai Iroad. It connected with the Maine Central at Leeds Junction, so The one I”j ne actua I I y extended from there to Farm i ngton, wh i Ie anoThe r went from Brunswick to Lewiston.
What later became a part of the Bangor and Aroostook was the Bangor and Piscataquis Rai I road from Old Town to Dover and Foxcroft. Between Old Town and Lagrange were the now forgotten stations of Pea Cove, Alton and Penny’s. The branch of the Ma i ne Centra I wh i ch now extends from Newport J unc,ti on to Dover-Foxcroft was then the Newport and Dexter Railroad, a short line of only Th i rteen mi les termi nati ng at Dexter.
In 1871 the Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad was going strong, its 35 mi les of track from Burnham Junction to Belfast having created a business boom in the coast town. At that time there was no rai I road through to Rumford, but the Portland and Oxford Central had already been bui It part way to what was to become one of Maine’s principal paper towns. It then ran, not from Rumford Junction on the Maine Central, but from Mechanic Falls on the Grand Trunk, and iTS northern terminus was Canton. Incidentally, was interested to learn, from Mr. EI lis’ map, that a station I came to know wei J in my earliest teaching days was in existence as long ago as 1871. That was the little station at West Minot, to which through al I my Hebron years I traveled by Glover’s Stage to take the train for Lewiston or Portland. /
I There were two Maine-chartered rai I roads west of portl~d: the Portland and Rochester and the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth. The Iormer was sti II operating under the name of Portland and Rochester in the 1920’s when I used to travel over the state for an educational publisher. It was a 52 mi Ie line from Portland to Rochester, New Hampshire, passing through Gorham, Buxton and Springvale. The other road, the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth, ran from Portland to Portsmouth via Saco, Biddeford, Kennebunk, Wells, North Berwick, Eliot and Kittery. At Portsmouth it connected with the Eastern Rai I road to Boston. On its line was a station cal led South Berwick Junction, where it connected with the Boston and Maine, which then operated the line from Boston to Portland via Dover. Later this became the western division of the B & M, whi Ie the whole extent from Boston to Portland via Portsmouth became the B & M’s eastern division.
I have saved unti I last the broad gauge line which I knew best as a boy.
Of course I did not know it so intimately as I did the narrow gauge Bridgton and Saco River Rai I road which was the only line that actually entered my native to~n of Bridgton. But whenever we went to Portland, and’ often went there with my father in the early 1900’s, we deft the little narrow gauge at Br i dgton J uncti on and ente’red the big cars of the Port I and and Ogdensb urg . By the time when I took my first ride on it, it had already become the Mountain Division of the Maine Central, but its chartered name was the Portland and Ogdensburg, and sti I I in 1955 holders of its stock receive annual dividends. It had started as an ambitious attempt to compete with the Grand Trunk for the winter grain shipments from the West. It was to tap the Great Lakes at Ogdensburg, New York. Actually it never got there. In 1871 it had been bui It only as far as Fryeburg — 49 mi les of track from Portland. It would take it several more years to reach Bartlett, and much longer to make the climb through Crawford Notch. Finally it would get to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, but never beyond.
Interesting are the stage connections indicated on Mr. EI lis’ 1871 map.
On the Port I and and Rochester, at a stop ca lied Saco Ri ver, one cou I d get a stage for Limerick, Newfield and Ossipee; at Waterboro was one for Limerick and Parsonsfield. The year 1871 was 11 years before the bui Iding of the narrow gauge Bridgton and Saco River. Hence there was no Bridgton Junction. One got to Bridgton by leaving the Portland and Ogdensburg at South Windham, and taking the stage through North Windham, Raymond, Casco and Naples.
There was no rai I line in 1871 across the river from 8ath. At that city a passenger for Rockland took the stage, was ferried across the Kennebec, and rode through Wiscasset, Damariscotta, Warren, Waldoboro and THomaston to his Rockland destinaTion.
Three stage lines met both the Portland and Kennebec and the Maine Central at Watervi I Ie. One ran to Norridgewock, another to North Vassalboro, and the third to Belfast. At Kendal Is Mi lis the P & K connected with a stage for Unity_ When the Trains of the little Newport and Dexter Rai I road arrived at Dexter, they were met by a stage for Moosehead Lake.
A dai Iy stage from Princeton and intermediate towns met the European and North American at Lincoln, and at its terminus in Mattawamkeag was a stage for Houlton and intermediate points.
How did one get to Rumford, if there was no rai I road to that town? By stage, of course. The connecting point was Bryant’s Pond on the Grand Trunk, where a stage ran to Rumford, Andover, Dixfield, Byron, Mexico and Roxbury. At Bethel there was stage connection for Newry, Grafton, Upton and Errol.
How did one get into the foothi I Is of the White Mountains? At West Baldwi n, on the Port I and and Ogdt::il~bur·g, he tooK a STage for Hi ram, Denmark, Frye’:’ burg and Conway.
On the back of Mr. Ell is’ map, where the ra i I road lines are listed, are also the notices of six steamship lines. Besides the Portland and Boston steamers, which some of us remember well, a much patronized line was the Portland, Bangor and Machias, whose boats stopped on the Penobscot route to Bangor and the coast route to Castine, Deer Isle, Sedgwick and Mt. Desert. The Maine Steamship Company ran boats twice a week between Portland and New York. Every Saturday the New England and Nova Scotia Steamship Company sent a boat out of Portland for Halifax, and the Damariscotta and Waldoboro Steamboat Company operated a line between.those towns and Portland.
Thanks to Postman Frank Ell is I’ve been ab Ie to te II you qui te a lot to- night about Maine transportation in 1871.
Among the other records kept by Dr. Theodore Ingal Is of Bridgton more than 100 years ago are some of his prescriptions for medication. Let’s take a look at a few of them. “For a cold that settles in the legs, producing pain, stiffness and soreness. Wash the legs with suds made of soap and greasy dish water. Use it hot. Then wash the limbs with strong brandy or New England rum. Wrap warm in blankets and go to bed.
“For rheumatism. Take a gi II of alcohol” a gi II of turpentine, a smal I piece of gum camphor. Mix it al I together, then rub the affected part smartly with flannel besmeared wiTh the liniment.!!
“For the bi te of a ratt lesnake. Take a strong so I uti on of sa It peter, externa I Iy and i nterna I Iy.”
“A sa I ve for burns. Three quarts of 0 live oi I, an ounce of ros in, an ounce of beeswax and 2i pounds of red lead. First boi I The rosin and beeswax in the oi I unti I me Ited. Then add gradua Ily the lead, and keep boi ling unti I the lead combines with the oi I and becomes nearly black. Then add t ounce of gum camphor pu I veri zed. ff
“1 nd i an remedy for asthma. One part lobe I i a, two parTs skunk cabbage root, two parts bark of the rooT of bitter sweet, one ounce of sTrummomium leaves, one part slippery elm, a bit of solomon seal. Cover the whole with spirits and let set for four days. Dose: one tablespoon.n
A few weeks ago I menTioned that not al I good epitaphs are found on tombstones, but that some of them are what we cal led literary epitaphs — much too caustic or even abusive ever to be cut in stone. A famous writer of literary epitaphs was the Scotch poeT, Robert Burns. And with some of his most noted epitaphs, let us add a liTtle humor to the program tonight:
“Here Souter Hord in death d~s sleep;
To hell if he’s gone thither,
Satan, gi ve him thy’ gear to keep;
He ‘ I I ho I d it we I I toget he r • n
“Here lies ‘Boghead among the dead,
In hopes to get salvation;
But if such as he in Heaven may be,
Then we I come, ha i I! damnati on. Tf
!tHere I ie Wi II ie Mi ch ie’s bones,
0, Satan, when ye take him,
Give him the schoolin’ 0′ your we’uns,
For clever imps he’ I I make ’em.”
“As Father Adam first was fooled
(A case that’s sti II too common),
Here lies a man a woman ruled,
The Dev i I ru I ed the woman. n
A hundred years ago it was the common thing for fami lies to stay within a sma I I radius, unti I some member took the notion of joining the great western migration. That story of how some members of fami lies went far away, I have to I din the chapter ca lied t’l tch i ng Feeti! in “Kennebec Yesterdays H • But today it is so common for fami Iy members to be widely separated, that we think little of it. And modern air transport is so rapid that the actual separation is nothing like what it was when Solyman Heath of Watervi I Ie went to California and Haley Bryant of Fairfield went to Australia.
Two members of my own fami I yare far away from Watervi lie toni ght. My son, a municipal administrator in Southern California, is today a motel noommate in Las Vegas, Nevada of Carleton Brown, manager of this radio station WTVL, where both he and Mr. Brown wi II be guests of the government at the atomic exploston test nexT Tuesday morning.
And Tonight, somewhere in Europe, my daughter is on her way home from far away Iran, the country which my generation of schoolboys knew vaguely as Persia.
I t has indeed becorrle a sma II wor I d and our young peop Ie, whether in the mi Ii …. , ” tary or not, do get around on it.
Year: 1955