Even in the midst of the greatest crisis our nation has known since 1860\u00a0our government can continue a lot of foolish expenditures. No sensible American\u00a0denies the necessity for appropriating billions for defense. We must have an\u00a0incomparab~y strong Army, Navy and Air Force. But that is all the more reason\u00a0Why some of the luxuries of peace time ought to be eliminated by the federal\u00a0government just as th~y will have to be eliminated in your family and mine as\u00a0we increasingly feel the pinch of higher taxes.<\/p>\n
The other day in the U. S. Senate Senator Tobey of New Hampshire called\u00a0attention to one of those silly inconsistencies that cost the taxpayer unnecessary\u00a0millions every year. The Senator pointed out that, on the one hand, the\u00a0Department of Agriculture is spending money to teach the people how to raise\u00a0more cats, while the Division of Wild Life is spending fully as much telling\u00a0the people how to exterminate cats.<\/p>\n
Now Senator Tobey’s exposure would be just a humorous anecdote if it did\u00a0not illustrate all too plainly how costly it is to have different agencies in\u00a0our government at cross purposes, the right hand not knowing what the left hand\u00a0is doing.<\/p>\n
At this time of crisis, instead of forgetting about the Hoover Commission’s\u00a0report, which I discussed on this program last winter, we ought to consider it\u00a0more important than ever. Never has there been a time When economy in the ordinary\u00a0expenditures of government is so badly needed, for the very reason that\u00a0we need that wasted money to keep America free.<\/p>\n
On several occasions we have mentioned one or another of the old-time Kennebec\u00a0steamboats. We once referred to the whole fleet of boats equipped and\u00a0operated by the Vassalboro tycoon,Benjamin Brown. We also told the story,\u00a0with its tragic and humorous overtones, of the maiden voyage of the City of\u00a0Waterville from Bangor to the Elm City. Tonight we want to devote a few minutes\u00a0to more thorough consideration of Kennebec steamboats.<\/p>\n
In 1943 Mrs. Eleanor Sager Adams of Gardiner found in the attic of her home\u00a0a handwritten manuscript entitled “Reminiscences of Steamboating”, written by\u00a0Jason Collins. We do not know when this was written, but the latest date mentioned\u00a0in the account is 1902. Mr. Elliott Hale of the Kennebec Water District\u00a0has kindly furnished us with a copy of Jason collins’ manuscript, and it furnishes\u00a0the principal source of tonight’s remarks about the old steamboats.<\/p>\n
CUriously enough the man who. is <\/em>credited with the first steam craft on the\u00a0Kennebec River did not live on the Kennebec. He was Jonathan Morgan, a lawyer\u00a0of Alna, one of Maine’s most interesting old towns, situated between Gardiner\u00a0and Newcastle. Morgan’s scow, propelled by steam, was the first steamboat of\u00a0any description on the Kennebec. The year was 1818.<\/p>\n Only a year later, in 1819, a sailing packet boat towed from Boston to the\u00a0mouth of the Kennebec a small steamer called the “Tom Thumb”. It was a sidewheeler,\u00a0thirty feet long, and all open with engines exposed to the weather. When\u00a0the “Tom Thumb” steamed up to Bath against the tide, she created a sensation\u00a0among people along the river. Word of her coming preceded her just long enough\u00a0to gather the whole citizenry of Bath down to the wharves.<\/p>\n Mr. Collins himself saw the “Tom ‘lhumb” in <\/em>t834; so he must himself have\u00a0been well along in <\/em>years in 1902, the last date mentioned in <\/em>his account. He\u00a0says when he saw the steamer she was towing the ship “Constitution” from Gardiner\u00a0to Bath, and he adds: “Incredible as it now seems, she took six days to make the\u00a0trip”.<\/p>\n Waterville enters the picture by name in 1823, when Capt. Samuel Porter\u00a0built at King’s Wharf in Bath a steamer which was christened “waterville”. If our\u00a0conjecture is right that she was the first steamboat ever built at a Kennebec\u00a0yard, Waterville holds\u00b7 a\u00b7\u00b7 distinct. honor in the river’s steamboat history. It\u00a0is somewhat of an anti-climax to report, however, that the 1823 steamer “Waterville”\u00a0never tied up at one of those old slips down below what are now the\u00a0Lockwood Mills. Her route was between Bath and Augusta. She never came above\u00a0the Cushnoc Rapids.<\/p>\n The same Captain Porter operated a steamer named the “Patent” between Boston\u00a0and Portland. In 1824 he extended her route to Bath, where she connected\u00a0with the steamer “Waterville” for Augusta. It was 126 years ago, therefore,\u00a0that the first steamboat service was established bet”‘e\u00b7en the Kennebec ports and\u00a0Boston.<\/p>\n The first steamer to go above Augusta was the “Ticonic”, a stern-wheeler\u00a0built in 1832 on the lot in the rear of the present Gardiner National Bank. She\u00a0was hauled across the street and launched in the river at that spot. Mr. Collins\u00a0says he attended the launching and remembered it vividly.<\/p>\n The “Ticonic” was built to run between Gardiner and Waterville. On her\u00a0maiden voyage to our City of the Elms she was greeted with cheers, ringing of\u00a0bells, and the firing of cannon. At a huge public dinner, the crew and the\u00a0owners were feted and congratulated. The “Ticonic” might have continued on her\u00a0Gardiner-Waterville route for many years, had not the hand of inevitable progress\u00a0interfered. A dam was built at Augusta. To be sure, a canal and lock was\u00a0constructed around the dam, so that small boats could pass, but the “Ticonic”\u00a0was too big. Waterville had to bid her good~bye. Before she quit the upper\u00a0stretch, however, the “Ticonic” had become part of a run connecting Waterville\u00a0with Boston. The Boston steamer came to Bath, from where the “Hancock” ran to\u00a0Augusta, there connecting with the “Ticonic” for Waterville.<\/p>\n By 1836 the need was clear for a steamer to run from Gardiner straight\u00a0through to Boston without any change at Bath. The leading spirit in this plan\u00a0was Captain Nathaniel Kimball, who is perhaps the most famous of all Kennebec”\u00a0steamboat men. with the help of R. H. Gardiner, David Bowman, Edward Swan, Col.\u00a0John Stone and other prominent citizens, Captain Kimball formed a company and\u00a0secured stock subscriptions of $40,000. Such was the beginning of the direct\u00a0line to Boston, which was still running when Mr. Collins wrote his reminiscences.<\/p>\n That first through-to-Boston steamer was named the “New Ehgland” and was personally\u00a0commanded by Captain Kimball. The fare to Boston, including meals, was\u00a0four dollars.<\/p>\n The life of the steamer “New England” was regrettably short. On the night of\u00a0June first, 1838, on the way to Boston, she collided with the schooner “Curlew”,\u00a0and so quickly filled with water that her passengers were transferred to the\u00a0schooner. The latter sailed for Portsmouth, the port nearest to the collision.<\/p>\n Captain Kimball and his crew remained by the wreck until the following noon, when\u00a0the steamer rolled over and floated bottom up. She was later towed to Portsmouth,\u00a0but lost her engine on the way and proved to be a total loss.<\/p>\n By 1840 the formidable opposition of the Vanderbilts confronted the local\u00a0steamboat owners. Commodore Vanderbilt outfitted the steamer “Augusta” and put\u00a0her on a regular run between Hallowell and Boston. Meanwhile Captain Kimball and\u00a0Parker Sheldon had replaced the ill-fated “New England” with a new boat called\u00a0the “Huntress”. Because the “Huntress” proved to be a faster boat than the “Augusta”,\u00a0Commodore Vanderbilt decided to put on the river a boat that no one could\u00a0beat. That boat was christened the “C. Vanderbilt” and had the reputation of\u00a0being the fastest boat on the Atlantic coast.<\/p>\n The rivalry between the “Huntress” and the “Vanderbilt” was much like that\u00a0between the Mississippi steamers of Mark Twain’s day. Each boat had its ardent\u00a0supporters along the river. When the Captain of the “Vanderbilt” challenged Captain\u00a0Kimball for a trial of speed from Boston to Gardiner, the skipper of the\u00a0“Huntress” was quick to accept. Every member of both crews put up money on the\u00a0outcome, and Com. Vanderbilt himself is said to have ventured a few dollars in\u00a0judicious wagers.<\/p>\n Those old steamers were wood burners and the crew of the “Huntress” went\u00a0to a lot of trouble to secure just the wood they needed for pushing the boilers\u00a0to their utmost. When the boats left their Boston moorings, the “Vanderbilt”\u00a0took a quick lead, but when she reached Boston Light she found the “Huntress”\u00a0alongside. Before Eastern Point was passed the “Huntress” was ahead. All night\u00a0long the two boats were in sight of each other, so closely were they matched.<\/p>\n Great excitement prevailed on both craft; no one had a thought of sleep. What\u00a0rejoicing there was in Gardiner when the “Huntress” arrived three quarters of a\u00a0mile ahead of the “Vanderbilt”. She had made the trip from Boston to Gardiner in\u00a0ten hours and forty-five minutes, a record that stood for more than sixty years.<\/p>\n Com. Vanderbilt did just what one would expect of him. Convinced that he\u00a0could not get a boat fast enough to beat the “Huntress”, he bought the “Huntress”\u00a0himself. Then he turned around and told the old company that they must take the\u00a0steamer and give him a bonus of $10,000, upon his agreement to withdraw forever\u00a0from the line, or he would put the “Huntress” back on the route himself and ruin\u00a0their business, because no boat could beat the “Huntress”. The company accepted\u00a0the wily commodore’s terms, and the “Huntress” returned to the river with her old\u00a0officers.<\/p>\n In 1841 another port got a chance to rival Boston for the Kennebec travel.<\/p>\n In that year the Eastern Railroad reached Portsmouth, and a . steamer called the\u00a0“N. Y. Beach” ran between Hallowell and Portsmouth, where train connections to\u00a0Boston enabled the traveler to reach the Hub several hours earlier than by the\u00a0Hallowell-Boston steamer. P’ortsmouth lost this remunerative traffic a few years\u00a0later, when the railroad reached Portland.<\/p>\n From 1843 to 1850 steamboat passengers on the Kennebec had a wonderful time.<\/p>\n The toughest of cut-throat competition lowered the rates to a point where at one\u00a0time one of the lines actually granted a round-trip rebate greater than the\u00a0one-way\u00a0fare. It all began when Capt. Sanford of New York put on the steamer “Splendid”\u00a0between Hallowell and Boston, in opposition to the regular line. Mr. Collins\u00a0says that on some trips passengers paid Whatever they pleased, and that one man\u00a0bragged about going all the way from Gardiner to Boston for twenty-five cents.<\/p>\n Then in 1845 prominent citizens of Gardiner and pittston entered the competition\u00a0with their “People’ s Line”. Their steamer had a grand old American name,\u00a0the “John Marshall”, but the venture did not prove profitable, and by 1850 the\u00a0old company once more controlled the river traffic.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most memorable voyage of the fastest and most famous of all Kennebec\u00a0boats, the “Huntress”, was made on July 2, 1847, When she made a special\u00a0trip, bringing President Polk and his cabinet with many other prominent men,\u00a0from Portland to Hallowell. Reaching Hallowell at midnight, the distinguished\u00a0company transferred to carriages for the trip to Augusta, where they spent the\u00a0night. After visiting the State House and attending a banquet, the entire company\u00a0were guests of R. H. Gardiner at “Oaklands”. They then left for Portland on\u00a0the\u00b7 “Huntress”. At the Hallowell wharf before their departure speeches were made\u00a0by President Polk and Hon. George Evans.<\/p>\n Ten years before President Polk’s visit, in 1837, the first steam ferry boat\u00a0went into operation on the Kennebec. It ran between Gardiner and Pittston. She\u00a0was built entirely in Gardiner, even her machinery being made by the Gardiner\u00a0firm of Holmes and Robbins. She was called the “Kennebec” and continued in service\u00a0until the building of the Gardiner bridge in 1852.<\/p>\n Jason Collins, writer of the “Reminiscences” began his own steamboat service\u00a0on the ill-fated “New England” as an engineer’s helper. He was in continuous service,\u00a0on one boat or another, from 1836 to 1849, between his home port of Gardiner\u00a0and either portland or Boston. In 1849 he entered the employ of Com. Vanderbilt as\u00a0engineer of the “Independence”. While in New York, superintending the installation\u00a0of that steamer\u00b7s engines, Mr. Collins watched daily the building of Vanderbilt\u00b7s\u00a0famous yacht “America”, first winner of the racing cup.<\/p>\n His service on the “Independence” took Jason Collins far from his beloved\u00a0Kennebec, for in July, 1850 that vessel was at San Francisco, having made the\u00a0voyage around the Horn. She had been held up a month at Rio de Janeiro because of\u00a0yellow fever which cost the lives of four of her crew. Then the “Independence”\u00a0went on a regular run between San Francisco and Nicaragua, until in 1853 she ran\u00a0on a coral reef off\u00a0St.. Margarita Island, took fire, and was a total loss, 245\u00a0of her passengers and crew going to their deaths. Engineer Collins was one of\u00a0255 survivors. Some evening on this program I hope to find time to tell you ‘Jason\u00a0Collins\u00b7 thrilling story of that shipwreck.<\/p>\n Right here we must leave the account of Kennebec steamboat days. But I assure\u00a0you there is more to come. We have brought the account only up to 1850. In spite\u00a0of the coming of the railroad, there was plenty of steamboating after that. So be\u00a0ready for more of this subject some Sunday soon.<\/p>\n Year: 1950<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #90, broadcast on December 31, 1950<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1153,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}