Radio Script #127
Little Talks On Common Things
December 16, 1951
Mrs. E. H. Rockwood, whose copy of Governor Dunton’s 1830 proclamation I told you about a few weeks ago, has shown me other documents of surprising Interest. Mrs. Rockwood’s father, Horace Lovering, came to Waterv! lie In 1886 to begi n a long career wi th the Mal ne Centra I Ra I I road. He came from the Eastern Railroad, later merged with the Boston and Maine, where he was clerk. The interes tl ng documents I n Mrs • Rockwood t s possess I on are two huge sheets, one a monthly report, the other an annual report, showing the performance of locomotives on the Eastern Rai I road In 1882. 8eisdes the signature of Mr. Lovering, the papers bear the signatures of A. Pillsbury, master of rolling stock, and Charles S. Sergeant, auditor.
These documents are amaz I ng examp les of beautl fu I penmansh I p. Many persons who have seen the papers refuse to be I I eve that they are hand-wri tten, but careful examination, showing erasures and corrections, reveals that indeed they were done by hand — and the hand was that of Mr. Horace Loveri n9, whose letters and figures look like meticulous steel engraving.
When did the railroads completely substitute coal for wood as a fuel? I should certainly have guessed that the conversion became complete, except on obsolete branch lines, long before 1880; but such was not the case. During the year ending September 30 .. 1882, the consumption of wood by all locomotives of the road was 9,,514 cords. To be sure the road used 56,000 tons of coal in the same period, but nearly ten thousand cords was a lot of wood. Wood was already prov! ng more expens I ve than coa I, as we I I as be I ng more cumbe rsome to carry, for whl Ie the rai I road paid $4.94 per ton for its coal and $3.38 per cord for its wood, it got 41 miles to a ton of coa I and on I y 26 mi les to a cord of wood.
In 1882 the Eastern Rai I road had two divisions. The longer was called the Eastern and Portland Division and Branches; the shorter was the COOlpany Division. Total wages paid TO englnemen and firemen for the whole road, switching engines and a II, was a I itt Ie over th I rteen thousand doll ars • Another interesting point was that in 1882 the rai I roads were sti II using -tallow for certain lubrications. That year the Eastern used 15,000 pints of 01 I and 51 pounds of tallow. A printed heading tells us that one pound of tallow was equal to one pint of oi I. Some of the other printed heads read: ”Headlight oil not I nc I uded in mi les run to a pint of oi I ; one passenger car I s rated equal to three loaded freight cars, when one engine hauls both; five empty fre I ght cars rated equa I to three loaded fre i ght cars.”
This ‘-882 report lists 104 locomotives operated by the Eastern. They are consecutl ve Iy numbered from one to 104. May we assume that those were the acTua I engi ne numbers? I f so, the road’s or! gl na I Engl ne No. 1 was stl II I n operation. At any rate No.1 on This list Is the smallest of the 104, weighing only 17!- tons, conTrasted with No. 98’s 41 tons. IT had four drives of 50-inch diameter and had been made by Hinkley and Wi Iliams. About twenty of the engines had been made In The Eastern’s own shops, though the largest were products of The R. I. LocomoTive Works.
In 1882 No.1 was a switch engine at Salem, and Its engineer was H. F. Carleton. Big Nt:). 98 ran between Boston and Portland In charge of F. Carter. have a Iways been struck by how many ral I road engl neers bear old Amari can names, and In this reporT of Horace Lovering’s we find the fami liar names of Adams, Hayes, Brown, Gray, Page, Fuller, Franklin, Dodge, Thomas, Emery and Lormard, and of course half a dozen Smiths. The old American fami lies certainly took to rai lroading.
Bi II Flaherty, custodian of the Keyes Science Bui Iding at Colby College, has given me a copy of a True collector’s Item — the specia I issue of the Bangor Commercl a I printed on The occasion of the famous Bangor fl re (;11 1911. I t Is printed on coated paper wiTh very clear cuts, shOflng the fi re at various stages and the burned districts after the fire was over.
I am sure many of our listeners remember that fi re we I I. I was a sophomore in Colby at the time, and it was an exciting event, because the W:lterville Fire Department went to the scene by special train. A vast area on the east side of the Kenduskeag Stream and up over the hi II all the way to Broadway was swept by the flames. The damage exceeded three ml II Ion dollars. NOT only business blocks and residences, bUT also several churches were deSTroyed. The state milItl a was ca lied out, and aT the he Ight of the conf lagratl on the city was under martial law to prevent lOOTing. The city was without electric power or telephone service for days; The electric railroad line to Old Town and other points was totally disabled.
A visitor to Bangor Today would never realize the awful destruction of that windy April night forty years ago. A new and much better Bangor arose like a phoenix from the ashes. One result was Bangor’s attractive and convenient civIc center, where are now located the Post Office, the high school and the public library.
A very unusual prinTed item is owned by Mr. Jarvis Thayer of Pleasant Street. It Is a pamphleT of 24 pages, printed in Portland at the office of Thomas Baker Walt In 1791, and sold by him at nine pence a copy. like nearly all the printed wor;ks::,of thaT day, It bears a long title: “A narrative of the extraordinary sufferings of Mr. Robert Forbes, his wife and five chi Idren, during an wnfortunate Journey through the wi Iderness from Canada to the Kennebec River in the year 1784; In which three of their children were starved to death. Taken partly from the mouths of the survivors and partly from an Imperfect Journal, and comp lied at the I r request.” It is an amazing story for which the author, Arthur Bradman 1 vouches the solemn truth In a one-page appendix.
Under the ,guidance of what The narrative calls three Dutchmen, Mr. Forbes with his wi fe and fi ve chi Idren set out from Nouve lie Bois on the Chaudlere RIver. Winter still held on In thaT region, for it was the 17th of March, 1784. The ch I I dren we re Mary aged 7, Peggy 5, Katha r Ine 3, Robe rt 15 monThs and the oldest, John, a lad of 13. Their goods, provisions and The four youngest chi Idren were hauled on hands I eds ca lied I nd I an s Ie I ghs. The adu I ts and the boy John made the i r way on snowshoes. After nine days of difficult traveling, they were obliged TO leave the ri ver valley and soon found it imposslb Ie to get the sleds any farther over the rough terrain. So they decided to leave the woman and four children in a rudely constructed camp whl Ie the others pushed on to what was various Iy called lake Chaudiere and Megantlc Pond. Now let us pick up the story In the writer’s own words.
“The next morning, to the dismay of Mr. Forbes, the three Dutchmen took to Themselves the provisions and al I the baggage of any consequence, and frankly Told Forbes that they had no intention of returning with him to his family, but would now leave him and make thei r own way through to the Kennebec. Notwithstanding Forbes’ importunities, They left him with only one poor axe, a small fi relock, and two I ittle loaves of bread, Here was a fami Iy, now without guides or compass 1 and destitute of provisions, nine days’ Journey from the nearest Inhab I tants of Canada and not less than 150 mi les from any dwe II iogs on The Kennebec.”
They had to make the Important decision which way to go. Because he had found a not long deserted camp aT Megantic Pond, Mr. Forbes thought the Indian who had lived there might stili be in the viCinity. If they could find that In- dian, they might find both food and guidance to the Kennebec. So they decided to go on. The oldest girl — though on Iy seven — now had to join her mother on foot, while the oldest brother tried to haul one child on a sled as Mr. Forbes hau led the other two.
Because of a raging storm it took them three days to reach the Pond, where Mr. Forbes had hidden the two loaves of bread. Hew relieved the family were when they did find the Indian, who proved to be a Christianized Indian called John BapTist, whom they had known before in Canada. John had shortly before Ki lied a moose and gave the Forbes fami Iy a II the meat they cou I d carry, and agreed to pi lot them to the Kennebec. But be,f.ore they could start out the In'” dian’s squaw was taken violently i II and he could not leave her. So he made for Forbes a crude map on a piece of bark, marking carefully the bends, falls and carryl ng p I aces a long the ri ver.
Their relief caused by the new provisions and the Indian’s help was short lived. They found traveling very difficult — rocky ledges, high mountains, and steep preci pi ces block i ng the I r way. Long before they got to the ma In ri ver, their provisions again got perilously low. So they decided that Mrs. Forbes and the young children should remain in the forest In a hastily constructed camp whi Ie husband and son kept on until they should find a habitation, secure aid, and return for those left behind.
It was on April 12 when Mr. Forbes and John left Mrs. Forbes and the small children. Ten days later the travelers had not yet reached any settlemenT, but they did encounTer two hunters, JonaThan Crosby and Luke Sawyer, who supp lied them wi Th food and conducted them to The sett lement at Seven Mi Ie Brook, a short distance above Norri dgewock. Three men of the settlement agreed to return with Mr. Forbes to rescue the wife and chi Idren. After thirteen days the party returned, unable to find Mrs. Forbes. It was now 24 days since Mr. Forbes had left his family, with only a pound of moose meat and half a pound of tallow. Everyone, therefore, believed they mwst be dead. By th Is tl me the Kennebec and Its tributaries were in fu II flood. Mr. Forbes could not prevai I on the settlers to help him make further search untf I the waters abated, for they said, ”What is the use of our risking our lives when we know your famt Iy cannot possibly be living?”
On May 28 a party led by James McDona Id of Seven Mile Brook di d set out to seek the remains of Mr. Forbes’ fami Iy. Now let us pick up the narrative again In the words of the old pamphlet:
“On the second day Qf June they arrived at the place where Mrs. Forbes and he r ch i I d ren ha d been left. He re, to the I rg reat as ton i shmen t, they foun d the mother and one of her chi Idren al ive. It was now 50 days since they had been left with nothing besides the small quantity of moose meat and tal, low. Nor had they found any other nourishment except cold water and the ins I de bark of the fir tree. And in addition to this, they had been forty-eight days .wlthout fire.”
All the chi Idren had lived for 38 days after Mr. Forbes departure; then the youngest was first to succumb; wi th in two more days Katharine and Mary died. It was fi va-year old Peggy who proved strongest of the ch I Idren, and who was found alive with her mother. The rescuers carried Mrs. Forbes and the chi Id on a bier by land and in a canoe by water unti I they arri ved safely at Norri dgewock. Now remember that this pamphlet is a contemporary account. It was published not as a legend, years after the event, but as a recent occurrence only seven years after the Forbes family’s harrOlting experience. On the final page the author has pri nted the fol lowi ng postscript:
“Mr. Forbes and his wife with their two surviving children, one born only a month after her rescue, are now I lying ir:’l the town of New Gloucester about 25 miles fran Portland. Mrs. Forbes, far from the emaciated state in which her rescuers found her, is now a I arge and corpu lent woman. And the ch i I d, to which she give birth soon after her arrival at Norridgewock, Is a healthy and very promising boy.”
This program in the course of a year uses a lot of words, probably far too many. But I hope even we are more economical of words than are some of the folks down in Washington. Listen to this contrast. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address contains 266 words; the Ten Commandments have 297 words; the Declaration of Independence took 300 words; and the order of the Office of Price Stabilization on the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words.
Year: 1951