Radio Script #582

Little Talks on Common Things

September 22, 1963

Last spring I was told by Mr. Higgins of the M.C.R.R. that, in the process of abandoning the old station, preparatory to completion of the underpass and the new station on the east side of College Avenue, there had been found several boxes of old papers that might have some historical interest, especially to listeners to Little Talks on Common Things. I spent some time examining those papers and taking copious notes. The result is a series of broadcasts that begins today. The story of those old papers begins with Waterville’s first railroad, whose puffing, woodburning locomotive brought the first train into this community in November, 1849. It was called the Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad.

Construction of the A & K from Danville Junction to Waterville was not done under a single general contract, but was let out, piece by piece, directly by the railroad company to numerous small contractors. Typical of those contracts was one with William Cole, dated July 31, 1849. Cole agreed to do all grading, beginning at a culvert on the south side of the Hallowell Road in Readfield, and ending on the north side of Craig’s Swamp, to be completed by September 1, 1849. at 18 cents per cubic yard.

When it came time to start building the Pen and Ken road from Waterville to Bangor in 1853. it was the A & K. under terms of their lease to operate the new road, that made a general contract with Moore and Dunning of Bangor. Let us see how that contract read.

A & K agreed to run, with their own equipment and men. on the following sections of the Pen & Ken, as soon as they should be ready: from Waterville to Kendalls Mills. from Kendalls Mills to Burnham Village. from Burnham Village to Pittsfield, and from Pittsfield to Newport Village; and to provide all the men for the stations and switches. and to run such number of trains as should seem sufficient to the A & K directors, and to keep the sections in repair.

For all this service Moore and Dunning agreed to pay to the A & K at the rate of $1,100 per mile per year, for each mile of road operated, the compensation to be paid in stocks of the Pen & Ken. Gross receipts of the only part of the road expected to be completed in 1853, the short section from Waterville to Kendalls Mills, were estimated at $5,000 per year, to Burnham Village at $30,000, to Pittsfield at $40,000 and to Newport at $60,000. The contract specified the following distances: to Kendalls Mills 3 miles, to Burnham depot 14 miles, to Pittsfield depot 20 miles, to Newport depot 27 miles. The A & K agreed to treat all business originating on the Pen & Ken as business of the P & K, and agreed to carry the same over the tracks of the A & K at the rate established between Waterville and Portland, and the A & K agreed to accept from Moore and Dunning in payment for such transportation, during construction of the P & K, compensation in the form of P & K stock at par value, provided such compensation did not exceed $1,500 per month during the time the P & K ended at Kendalls Mills, nor exceed $9,500 after the road should be opened to each of the other named stations. It was also provided that the whole amount of business done by the A & K for P & K should not exceed $50,000.

The informal manner of handling railroad business in the early days is strikingly revealed by some papers concerning the man who became Superintendent of the A & K, Timothy Boutelle’s son-in-law, Edwin Noyes.

Evidently Noyes bought all manner of articles for the railroad on his own account, then turned around and billed them to the company. On March 24, 1853 John Marsh & Co. of Boston, dealers in stationery, billed Noyes for 1 scrap book, $1.00. Noyes promptly submitted a bill for the same amount to the A & K. In the same month the Providence Iron Co. billed Noyes for two 100 pound casks of wrought nails at 12 cents a pound. A few weeks later F.E. Hopper of Providence wrote to Noyes: “I have just paid for the nails and herewith enclose the receipt. The Treasurer deducted three per cent for cash. I will retain the difference and make you no charge for my trouble. I should have acknowledged the receipt of the money you sent me before this, but I have just been able to meet the Treasurer. I showed him your letter.” In January, 1853 one William Barrett came to Waterville and performed some sort of service for the railroad. Like so many other cases, his bill was not issued to the A & K Co., but personally to Edwin Noyes:

“Waterville, Feb. 7, 1853
E. Noyes, Esq., to William Barrett, Dr.
To Board Bill from Nov. 15, 1852 to Jan. 1, 1853, 6 3/4 weeks at $1.50 per week, $9.85. Services from Jan. 1 to Feb. 1, 1853 $16.00. Total $25.95.”

One bill submitted to the railroad by Noyes covers not only bills like those just mentioned, but also Noyes’ own expenses for the months of March, April and May in 1853:

“Expenses at legislature in Augusta $ 1. 75
Painters’ pencils .50
Horse and sleigh to Winthrop 5.60
To Boston for tools for the shop 3.62
To Boston for locomotive 2.25
To Washington and back 22.25
Hauling dirt to make pathway . 75”

An especially interesting bill was one submitted to the A & K for trucking baggage in Portland during August, September and October of 1850. That bill is one long, consecutive paper, made up of sheets attached end to end vertically. Edward Scarmon. the baggage carrier, got 50 cents a load for transporting trunks. etc. between the Atlantic & St. Lawrence and the Boston and Maine stations in Portland as well as between other stations — for at that time Portland had no Union Station, but a separate depot for every line entering the city. Scarmon’s biggest day was October 10, when he had five loads. More commonly he had not more than two loads a day.

In 1860, just before the beginning of the Civil War, and two years before merger with the Maine Central, the Directors of the Pen & Ken reported the following facts to the Secretary of State: Miles of single track, 54.7 miles; double track, none except sidings. Capital stock, $1,000,000. Amount paid in, $557,433. Whole  cost of the road, $1,866,639.12. As for rolling stock, this report states that passenger and freight cars had cost $104,019. The road had been in operation all the way to Bangor for five years, but the debt of the Company still represented two thirds of the cost of the road, or $1,320,000. Except for the bills payable, that debt was in the form of company bonds and City of Bangor bonds. The latter represented an obligation assumed by the voters of Bangor in order to bring the road finally to that city. In 1860 the P & K had 11 depots, two engine houses, 4 locomotives and 103 cars. Stock was distributed among 677 holders, 574 of whom lived in Maine.

In March, 1850 A & K Treasurer Samuel Benson was concerned about the railroad’s finances. He reported to the directors that there was due to be paid on notes before the end of March a total of $13,454, while there was available to meet that payment only $4,078. The Treasurer added that Mr. Barrett would soon produce $2,000 on his guaranteed sales of preferred stock. Then Treasurer Benson said:  “I must again emphasize the necessity of paying the arrears of our running expenses. Calls at this office are made every day by some of the men employed. QUite naturally they want their pay, and there is already due a large amount on orders drawn by the Committee on Accounts. Of the stock subscribed amounting to $245,000, only $188.000 has been paid in. We must make strenuous eff9rt to secure the balance.”

How did Waterville’s first railroad get started in the first place, and how did it happen to come via Lewiston rather than Augusta? In March, 1845 the Legislature granted a charter to the Androscoggin & Kennebec R.R. Co., to construct a line from some point of intersection with the Atlantic & St. Lawrence, through Lewiston to some point on the Kennebec River between the north line of Waterville and the south line of Hallowell.

The promoters originally contemplated a road from Lewiston to Gardiner, Hallowell or Augusta, but Augusta interests preferred a connection with the Boston road in Portland rather than with the Atlantic & St. Lawrence. That dispute made the A & K directors decide to ignore Augusta altogether and locate their road from Danville Junction through Lewiston and Winthrop to Waterville. The line was opened to Lewiston in December, 1848; to Winthrop in July, 1849; and finally reached its terminus in Waterville when the first train arrived on December 5, 1849.

The stock of the A & K was nearly all owned by Maine people, and was at one time distributed among 1,854 stockholders in 87 Maine towns, and had only four stockholders outside the state.’

When the road was first opened, there was no connection with the Boston road at Portland. The Atlantic & St. Lawrence did not complete that connection until later in 1850, and even then the difference in gauges made through traffic impossible, both passengers and freight having to be transferred at Portland.

When the Portland & Kennebec R.R. extended its line from Augusta to Skowhegan, by way of a road called the Somerset and Kennebec, it did not connect with the A & K at Waterville, but rather with the A & K’s Bangor extension, the Penobscot and Kennebec, and the connection was made nearer to Fairfield Village. The exact point where the junction was established is not clear. The S & K built a station at the foot of Temple Street in Waterville, and its tracks did not cross College Avenue, but went up the river bank behind the college buildings. After the S & K was merged into the Maine Central system in 1870, a new central station was built, the Te~l~e Street station was abandoned, and the S & K tracks crossed the Avenue at the point Waterville people have known for years as the Lower Railroad Crossing.

Year: 1963