Radio Script #788

Little Talks on Common Things

December 29, 1968

Several times on this program I have mentioned the great Portland fire of 1866. Only recently. however, did I learn what happened to the city’s most prominent newspaper at that time. That paper was the Portland Press. Like every other Portland paper, it had lost its office and its press. The management succeeded, however, with the help of a job printing plant outside the ruined area, to get out two days after the fire, on July 6 1866, a tiny edition of only two pages. Devoid of advertising, the little sheet told the story of the fire and the plight of the newspaper.

The headlines, only a column wide, in the left hand column of the first page, pretty well summarized what had happened. Those headlines said: “Terrible fire! Largest that has occurred in the United States! 1,500 Buildings Destroyed. Eight churches burned. All the banks destroyed. All law offices gone. City Hall destroyed. Every newspaper office in the city burned down. Six hotels burned. General sweep in the business part of the city.”

Concerning the Portland Press itself the paper said: “Like all other newspapers in Portland, the Press has lost nearly everything by the fire. We have saved our subscription list and our accounts. The files of the Press, our library, reference books. presses and type have all gone in the general ruin. The publication of the Press, however, will not be suspended. An order was sent by telegraph yesterday morning for a new press and new fonts of type. Arrangements have been made to continue publication in some form until the new materials arrive. We shall be able to issue only a small sheet, but at least a summary of each day’s news will be laid before our readers. For the privilege of issuing today’s little sheet we are indebted to Mr. F.G. Rich, whose job printing office was one of three that was saved. It was a tight squeeze for Mr. Rich, as his building caught fire several times and was saved only by the greatest exertion.”

Editorializing on the disaster and the prospects ahead, the Portland Press said: “How painful it is to look upon the dissolution of solid structures of brick and stone, which two days ago were homes and shops. The post office stands solitary in the midst of a forest of stark chimneys and a labyrinth of crumbling walls. The dome of City Hall and the spires of churches have passed away like evening clouds. Where was once Exchange Street is now only a heap of ruins. A third of our City’s surface lies desolate. A great deal of wealth has been destroyed. Half of our population has been turned homeless into the streets.

“The patience and enterprise that built our beautiful city have not been destroyed by this disaster, and our people will surely rise to this great challenge. Commercial Street has suffered comparably little, and our West Indies and coastwise trade will be but slightly affected. Even where destruction was worst we hear only talk of rebuilding and resumption of business as soon as possible. A public meeting was held yesterday to provide for the immediate wants of homeless families. The prompt aid which came from our generous neighbors in Lewiston, Saco and elsewhere will be long and gratefully remembered.”

Briefly but graphically, the Press told the story of the fire: “The blaze broke out in Degulo’s boat shop on Commercial Street and was caused by a lad’s firing a cracker among some shavings on the outside of the building, which in a few minutes was a mass of flames. The adjoining building at the corner of Maple Street caught fire and burned quickly. A high wind spread flames and cinders over the extensive buildings of the Portland Sugar House Co. and at once enveloped the foundries of Staples and Son. With great rapidity the fire spread to York, Maple and Danforth Streets. all the way to Center Street. taking every structure in its path. Soon it had reached Middle. Temple and Exchange Streets. From Fore Street it swept rapidly to City Hall. On India Street every building except the Custom House was destroyed. So on and on it went, consuming everything on both sides of Federal Street and both sides of Congress all the way to Washington Street.

“It is estimated that 1,500 buildings have gone. The total loss exceeds twelve million dollars. We understand there is insurance of about four million. Eight churches have been utterly destroyed: First Baptist on Federal Street, St. Stephen’s Episcopal on Pearl Street, Second Parish on Middle Street. Universalist on Pearl Street. Roman Catholic Chapel of the Immaculate Conception on Cumberland Street, the Swedenborgian on Congress Street, Bethel on Fore Street and Third Parish on Congress Street.

“The seven hotels that are now no more were the Elm House. the International, the American House, the Commercial, the Franklin. the Kingsbury and the Sturtevant.

“Everyone of the City’s newspapers has lost its plans. all seven of them. Besides the Press, there are the Argus. the Advertiser, the Mirror, the Transcript. Zion’s Advocate. and Prices Current.

“Before the fire. Portland had six prosperous banks. Now all of them are gone the First National, the Traders, the Casco, the Canal, the Merchants. and the Cumberland.

“The Custom House was partially destroyed. its upper floor containing the court rooms has been gutted by the flames. The Post Office fared better and mails were regularly made up there yesterday.

“From the point where the fire started to its farthest point, running South to North, is more than a mile. and its width about a third of a mile. About 200 acres have been burned over,”

Then the Press gave a resume of the destruction. street by street. One of those paragraphs interested me especially. It said: “Fore Street. With the exception of a block of three brick stores belonging to the estate of John Fox. every building on the north side of the street. from Center to India was destroyed. and buildings on the south side were damaged.”

Now let me tell you why that statement interests me. On the north side of Fore Street, near India Street. in July. 1866, lived Frederick and Rebecca Marriner and their two children, Alberta and Willis. Willis, then five years old. grew to be the man who was my father. On that terrible evening of July 4, 1866 my grandparents lost all of their furniture and much of their clothing.

Now I want to tell you about a paper published in our own part of Maine in Civil War days. It was the Somerset Farmer, published by Joseph Patten in Skowhegan at $1.50 a year. Patten called it “a family paper devoted to agriculture. mechanic arts, literature and general news”. The particular issue of this paper that recently came to my attention was that of November 13. 1862. Like most other weeklies of the time, its columns are filled mostly with what printers called “boiler plate”, items and even long articles furnished ready for the press by an agency to which the publisher subscribed.

Naturally the paper had to give some attention to the war, although it devoted three times as much space to practical suggestions for farmers. The Somerset Farmer’s comments on the war echoed what was then general Union discontent at McLellan’s failure to get his big army into action. A h~ndred years later we know that McLellan was not an aggressive general and that he missed several good chances to bring the war to a much quicker end.

The paper was utterly devoid of local news. Not a single item concerned Skowhegan or any other town in Somerset County. In fact its only State of Maine reference was to the completion of a new woolen mill at North Berwick. So. as you have heard me repeatedly say, it is to the paper’s ads that we must turn to find out what was going on in Skowhegan in 1862. From them we learn something about wartime food prices. Flour was $8 a barrel, potatoes 40 cents a bushel. hay $10 a ton, dry cod fish 40 cents a pound. eggs 30 cents a dozen, butter 18 cents a pound. smoked hams 7 cents a pound. oats 45 cents a bushel. and molasses 40 cents a gallon.

You will at once observe that a year and a half of war had caused no inflation in the upper Kennebec Valley.

From other ads we learn that Skowhegan’s principal milliner was E.R. Flagg, in the Williams Block on Madison Street. where she announced she had a generous supply of bonnets, ribbons and flowers, and she was ready to bleach and press bonnets to order. W.R. Estes said he had a well stocked store of men’s clothing near the railroad crossing. He called special attention to his assortment of overcoats. including Moscow Beaver. Pilot and Broadcloth. He would turn mixed goods into suits if wanted, and he didn’t want folks to overlook his fur caps, buck gloves, and mittens of every description. C.A. Williams would pay cash for 40,000 feet of beech lumber, and Elmer Morrison would likewise part with cash for oats, beans, barley and beeswax. A.H. Fletcher would let some of his cash go for 10,000 bushels of potatoes.

The claim agents that were to be a mixed blessing to soldiers and their families were already doing business in the fall of 1862. The Somerset Farmer carried the following ad inserted by Coburn and Wyman: “Pensions. Arrears of Pay and Hundred Dollar Bounty. All claims for military service in the present war. Pensions for soldiers wounded or diseased; pensions for widows or minor children of men killed in service; hundred dollar bounty for heirs of deceased soldiers. Information by mail or otherwise given gratuitously. Fees for services moderate and suited to the times.”

We learn that T.N. Dinsmore was interested in Horace Greeley’s injunction. “Go west, young man. go west!” Dinsmore’s ad said: “Save money. Are you going west? If so, call at Dinsmore’s Western and California Ticket Agency, and procure tickets to any point at the lowest figures. Choice of three popular routes. Call early for best accomodations.”

You could in 1862 get at Morrison’s in Skowhegan a brown buggy, a Concord buggy, or an Express buggy. At Dyer and Cushing’s you had your choice of a variety of bird cages. John Vosmus assured people there was no need to be cold. All they had to do was buy one of his Home Comfort Heating Stones. And George Warren declared that his shop was the best place in Somerset County to get your oxen shod.

So, in spite of the lack of news in that war-time issue of the Somerset Farmer, we can from its ads get some idea of what life was like in Skowhegan in 1862.

Year: 1969