Radio Script #1114

Little Talks on Common Things
February 20, 1977

On this program we have told the story of the development of the Kennebec Water District. It is now time to tell how Waterville got electric power. The Waterville Light and Power Co. was formed in 1886 and at the March town meeting in that year the voters of Waterville granted the company permission to set poles in the streets for the purpose of carrying lines for arc and incandescent lighting. In 1892 the Waterville and Fairfield Railway and Light Company was organized, took over two four year old horse car lines between Waterville and Fairfield and converted it to electricity. Then Frank Chase built a stone dam for electric power on the original site of the Waterville Iron Works on the Messalonskee off the West River Road. He sold it to a third company, the Union Gas and Electric.

In 1889 the City of Waterville made a contract with the Waterville Electric Light and Power Co. for 27 street lights at a cost of $2,550 a year. The company agreed to keep the lights burning all night every night for one year, and agreed also to remove without charge the old kerosene street lamps.

In 1890 the City Council voted to place 60 arc lights on the streets and contract with the Waterville and Fairfield Railway and Light Co. to run dynamos in a city built plant for $1600 a year. This decreased the expenditure. from the rate part in the former contract, but the plant itself had cost the city more than $10,000.

In 1899, Harvey Eaton and Walter Wyman formed the Messalonskee Electric Co. and quickly bought up rights on that stream with intent to provide services for Oakland, but eventually to compete for the Waterville market.

In 1890 the Waterville City Government felt that the rate charged for street lighting by the Waterville and Fairfield Co. were too high, and they put the Waterville contract up for bid. The Messalonskee Co. underbid the W& F and got the city lighting contract.

The Waterville Mail then commented: “It will be remembered how a contest was similarly waged between the Waterville & Fairfield Co. and the Union Gas and Ele ctric Co. and how the rest suffered because of that competition. The controversy ended by the W & F purchasing the Union Co.

The purchasing company then claimed that the rates charged were not on a living basis. An increase was granted. Now it looks as if the W & F no longer controls electric power in Waterville. Harvey Eaton and Walter Wyman, the latter formerly manager of the W & F have been buying land and acquiring water rights in Oakland on the Messalonskee, the same stream that feeds the plant which W & F bought from Union Gas. The last purchase by Eaton and Wyman was especially valuable, affording them opportunity to build a dam higher than that on the old Union Gas site, and to generate greater power. The new company has become a serious rival of the W & F. ”

The account in the Mail continued: “At the City Government meeting last week the report of the committee on lights was a bombshell. They recommended that a contract to light the streets should not be renewed with the W & F but should be made with the new Messalonskee Co. owned by Eaton and Wyman.”

George K. Boutelle defended the old company. He said the W & F was furnishing Waterville with 72 2000 candle power arc lamps burning all night. He estimated the value of the company’s poles, lines, lamps and generators at $6,000. The quoted prices paid by seven other Maine cities, averaged $87 per light, while Waterville’s cost was only $45.

“The Messalonskee Company agreed to furnish the specified services at $36 per arc light, and $4 per incandescent light, and they agreed to hold to that price for a term of four years. They will also change from the present direct current to alternating current, and the company will make the change without added expense to the city. As a final bonus, the Messalonskee Co. offered to light the new city hall for two years free of charge.

Arguments then became heated, and a recess was taken to allow contestants to cool off and give the alderman a chance to examine the offered contract in detail. When the session was resumed the alderman voted, and the common council concurred to award the contract to the Messalonskee Company.”

The account in the newspaper concluded: “Now the new company will do the city lighting. This will give them an opportunity to reach private patrons in Waterville as soon as the company plant is in full working order.”

The W.& F Co. did not take this decision without protest. They pointed to a section of the ci ty’s old contract with W & F which said, “The company shall have the right, for a period of twenty years, to the exclusive use of all poles erected by the city for the purpose of this contract, subject to the prior requirements of the city to use the said poles for its fire alarm system. “. The W & F declared that they would not allow the poles to be used by any other company.

Meanwhile the Messalonskee Company was seeking private business. It placed this announcement in the Waterville Mail. “The Messalonskee Electric Co. has recently acquired extensive water rights about three miles from Waterville. This power will be developed for electricity as rapidly as engineering and construction can be pushed. Requests for electric service of any kind may be left with Harvey D. Eaton, Walter Wyman or Edward Meader.” That announcement appeared in the newspaper on June 6, 1900.

A year later, in October 1901, the W & F was still putting up a fight. They filed with the Waterville City Council the following protest: “The Messalonskee Co. are using wires that carry a voltage largely in excess of that which is deemed safe by those who have expert knowledge of the subject, and it is an excess forbidden by all insurance companies. The company is now transmitting more than 5,000 volts for street lighting. It is practically impossible to insulate securely wires transmitting so high a voltage. We request that you cause the Messalonskee Co. to cease a t once the transmission of so high a current through the streets of Waterville. Signed, George K. Boutelle, Attorney for the Waterville and Fairfield Railway and Light Co.”

Eaton and Wyman responded with facts about other communities. They showed that Bangor transmitted 6,600 volts over its streets, Augusta 7,000 and Providence, R.I. 12,000 volts.

In the midst of this controversy the Waterville Mail published a long article, from which I now quote a few sections, “For the past five years Waterville has been watching an electrical fight of one kind or another. At first it was a fight for life by the Waterville & Fairfield Co., then between them and the Union Gas Co. Now it is between them and the Messalonskee Co. created by Harvey Eaton and Walter Wyman.

“Several weeks ago a hearing was held in Oakland on petition of the W & F Co. locating poles in this town. Attorney Herbert Heath of Augusta, acting for the Messalonskee Co spotted irregularities in that petition. If there has been an electrical fight in Maine during the past ten years that Heath has had no part in, it must have been a very small affair. In this case the hearing was stopped and petitions were sent back to try again. A new hearing began at 10 a. m. yesterday and did not finish until the last rays of the setting sun fell on the GAR Hall in Oakland, where the hearing was held.”

The Mail explained: “The Waterville & Fairfield Co., controlled by W. S. Spaulding, now has five power stations, two in Fairfield, two in Waterville and one in Belgrade. The Oakland Electric Co. is the successor of the Oakland Electric Light Co. It has been reorganized and is now a stock company controlled by Eaton and Wyman, who formed a company called the Messalonskee Electric Co. When Eaton and Wyman assumed control of the Oakland Electric Co., they had a contract with Frank Chase, who controlled the Union Gas Co. dam for power to run their system. A little later the Ea:ton & Wyman Co. began to negotiate for water power in Oakland. The two older companies were also looking for power. That caused friction and a race for power in OakJand ensued.

“The real fun began when the dam in Oakland broke leaving the Oakland Electric Co. withbut power to use its generator. About two weeks earlier the Messalonskee Co. had secured a contract to light the streets of Waterville. The old companies did not feel friendly to the Eaton and Wyman newcomers.

“When the dam broke, Eaton and Wyman offered, at the Messalonskee Company’s expense to move a generator to the site recently acquired by the Waterville and Fairfield Co. but the latter would not agree. Then the Messalonskee Co. tried to set a generator on the other end of the dam, but the W & F got there first. So the Eaton & Wyman interests began to prowl about under the mills and among the wheels to see if there wasn’t some old water power that someone had misplaced or lost. Perhaps after this all gets settled down, Oakland will have a rummage sale of water power. Anyhow one was found capable of 160 horsepower, owned by the Dunn Edge Tool Co. and Eaton & Wyman contracted to use it for ten years. They set up a generator, lights were switched on, and Oakland was once more happy. That new source was a lucky find. It is capable of lighting Waterville as well as Oakland and will be able to take also another generator until the Messalonskee Company’s new plant is built. Since the Messalonskee Co. got the contract to light Waterville streets, interest in that company has been greatly increased.”

The Mail also pointed out that prominent legal talent had been involved in the controversy. It said: “Herbert M. Heath of Augusta has represented the Oakland Electric and Charle’s F. Johnson the Waterville and Fairfield. When those lawyers got into a technical jam, they called on H. J. Patterson of the W & F, or on Mr. Wyman of the Messalonskee Co., but on legal questions they fought it out between themselves. Mr. Heath and Mr. Johnson crossed swords again and again, and the honors were about even.

“When Eaton proposed to show the relation of the W & F to the public in Waterville. Mr. Johnson objected on the grounds that it was immaterial to the case. That brought Mr. Heath to his feet with an indignant protest that elicited peals of laughter. He said, “This millionaire (meaning Spaulding) wants to crush these young men (Eaton and Wyman) by technicalities of the law. Now he even denies the right to protest. Good Lord, gentlemen, even the gladiators in Ancient Rome could appeal to Caesar before they were butchered.”

Next week we will tell you the outcome of that case and further development of electricity in the Waterville area.

Year: 1977