<\/p>\n
Through the courtesy of ‘Mrs. Ina Stinneford of the Cushman Road in Winslow, I have examined an account book kept by John Lang in 1856. John Lang was the most prominent of Vassalboro industrialists in the middle of the 19th century. He had a shipyard on the Kennebec at his farm just below the one long operated by Mrs. Nettie Burleigh, and from that shipyard Lang launched the Ocean Bird, a vessel that crossed the Atlantic to Africa and came home with a cargo that included the first peanuts seen in this country. John Lang also owned saw mills, grist mills, and carding mills, and it was he who promoted the woolen industry at North Vassalboro. Later his son John, father of Miss Sarah Lang, a Waterville teacher of art, carried on the North Vassalboro business, while young John’s brother managed others of the family’s industries.<\/p>\n
The particular account book shown me by Mrs. Stinneford carries the accounts of a saw mill, apparently operated somewhere near North Vassalboro, possibly at one of the power sites on the Outlet Stream. As I have said, it covers the year 1856, and is in the name of J.P. Lang and Sons. That was the very year when the Kennebec and Portland R.R. was completing its tracks to Waterville, actually in the name of another chartered road, the Somerset and Kennebec, through to Skowhegan. So the book has several charges against the K&P RR: 34 feet of plank delivered to Peasley; 229 feet of spruce joint and 431 feet of spruce and pine plank.<\/p>\n
Charged directly to the Somerset and Kennebec RR were items described as “small pieces of oak used between the sleepers and the rails and under the chains”. Those pieces, totaling more than a thousand, were delivered at Seven Mile Brook station, at Stevens Section, and at Augusta section. The early railroads were notorious for their frequent accidents. We should therefore not be surprised to find that one of John Lang’s charges against the S&K RR was for “2-t hours’ labor of four men and four oxen in assisting in getting the engine back on the track”.<\/p>\n
Some of the charges were against one of Lang’s own companies — the woolen mill of the North Vassalboro Manufacturing Co. On one occasion Lang’s saw mill charged the textile plant for 800 feet of two inch plank; on another time for 100 winding boards and 12 cases of boxes; in a third instance for 500 feet of merchantable pine boards planed on one side; and finally for eight pair of blinds, for which the charge was $10.20. One of the largest charges in the book was to John G. Hall, who owed Lang $48.98 for 3,160 feet of spruce boards planed on one side and jointed, and $17.42 for 1,840 feet of planed pine. For window sash Lang charged five cents a foot, getting out 84 feet of it for Joseph Low at a cost of $4.20.<\/p>\n
Prices were, by modern standards, indeed low in 1856. For two complete window frames Lang got only $1.33. For unplaned pine boards, two inches thick, his charge was $15 per thousand feet.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Stinneford has also shown me a number of interesting items of the 1870’s and 1880’s. One of these is an elaborately printed notice in the style and type of a wedding announcement. It is, however, a business ad, and this is what those who received it in 1875 read: “Notice. Having leased the carding mill privilege on Emerson Stream at Crommett’s Mills and having secured the services of a first-class miller (Mr. F.A. Bailey, formerly of West Waterville) we propose to run in connection with our feed store at Waterville a first-class grist mill, where we shall do all kinds of custom grinding except flour. We shall keep a full stock of feed of all kinds at both mill and store, which we will sell at bottom prices. We have constantly on hand a large stock of St. Louis flour, bought direct from the shippers in the West, which enables us to sell it at a very low figure for cash. Hoping to receive a call from you, we remain yours, etc. Runnels and Co. Country produce of all kinds will be taken in exchange for goods at our store.”<\/p>\n
The modern trade gimmicks of stamps and horse racing and bingo was preceded a hundred years ago by almanacs and booklets put out by traders and manufacturers.<\/p>\n
They were especially favored by makers of patent medicines. In 1878 the Forest Tar Co. of Portland, Maine circulated a 16-page booklet small enough to go into an ordinary 6-t inch envelope. The book, entitled liThe Forest Tar Book for the Home Circle”, contained puzzles, charades, mathematical problems and jumbled sentences.<\/p>\n
But most of the space was given to loud praise of Forest Tar. On one page we learn that crude tar had been used as a remedy for centuries, but only for outward application, chiefly for healing wounds. Then in 1817 the Royal Physician to the Emperor of Russia recommended tar vapors for throat and lungs. Mr. Morton of Philadelphia, the physician associated with the development of anesthetics, first used the inhaling of tar vapors to treat tuberculosis. But tar was too disagreeable for effective use, and it was not long before refinements were made. The booklet says: “The best article of tar for medical purposes is made from the pitch-wood of the long-leaved yellow pine of North Carolina. by burning similar to the process of making charcoal. That is the way Forest Tar is produced.”<\/p>\n
In the 1870’s the Company was putting out four products: Forest Tar Solution for inhaling; Forest Tar troches for the throat; Forest Tar Salve for healing wounds and Forest Tar Soap for the skin.<\/p>\n
In April, 1880 Waterville grocer J.A. Vigue announced he was reducing prices. His long list of offered bargains included the best Java coffee at 28 cents a pound. Rio coffee at 18 cents, round common crackers at five cents, New Orleans molasses at 50 cents a gallon and Barbados molasses at 40 cents. Japanese green tea he would sell for 40 cents a pound, but for the best formosa he got 65 cents. As late as 1880 not all soap came in cut and wrapped bars. A lot of soap still came in long bricks and was sold by the pound. Vigue offered 15 pounds of American Family Soap for one dollar. Flour was high in 1880, the best St. Louis flour bringing $8.00 a barrel, though a cheaper grade could be bought for $7.00 Vigue does not mention baking powder by name, but that is what he meant by Hosford’s Bread Preparation, which he advertised at 18 cents a can. Vigue especially wanted customers to take advantage of his offerings of canned goods: 6 cans of corn and 6 of blueberries, all 12 for a dollar, or seven large size cans of peaches or 7 of tomatoes for that dollar bill.<\/p>\n
Like many ads of that time, Vigue’s ended with these words: “Every article warranted to give satisfaction or the money will be refunded.” I wonder if anybody ever claimed a return on goods they had already consumed. One of the liveliest topics of discussion at the close of the Civil War was that of soldiers’ pensions. Many lawyers did a thriving business collecting for discharged soldiers of the war, or for their widows and orphans. One such enterprising lawyer was Everett R. Drummond, then a young attorney of Waterville. He put out a handbill in 1866 that read as follows: “More Pension. Soldiers who have lost in the service a hand or a foot or have been permanently disabled. so as to render them unable to perform manual labor, can get their pensions increased to $15 or more per month by applying through EcR. Drummond. Also pensions to widows who have children by their deceased soldier husband may get increased pensions. Also bounty which it is expected the present Congress will provide for those who enlisted in 1861 or 1862, will be promptly collected by Mr. Drummond. Leave your claim with him immediately. References: Hon. D.L. Milliken. Waterville; Hon. J.L. Hodgdon. Adjutant General of Maine; Hon. Josiah Drummond, Portland; Hon. Lot M. Morrill, U.S. Senator.”<\/p>\n
As long ago as 1875 the Waterville Fair was an annual event well known all over the state. Its handbill announcement for that year is interesting and informative. Its headline says: “North Kennebec Agricultural Society Show and Fair of 1875, to be held at Waterville. October 5, 6,7.” The three days of events were distributed as follows: “Tuesday, an exhibition of neat cattle, sheep, swine and poultry on the show ground at 10 olclock. Hall open all day. Trotting at 2 o’clock, with a purse of $20 for the four-year-old class; one of $15 for three-year old colts; and one of $35 for stallions owned within the limits of the Society. Wednesday, plowing match, and more horse racing. Thursday, a horse show in the morning and a grand climax of racing in the afternoon, with a purse of $100 for a grand free-for-all.” The notice said: “The secretary will be at the office of the Waterville Mail in the Phoenix Block on Saturday and Monday previous to the Fair, to receive entries.” That secretary was J.M. Garland. The Fair’s treasurer was Waterville banker Joseph Percival.<\/p>\n
Under the regulations one item is a little surprising to modern readers. It says: “Entries of crops and manures must be made with the secretary before the first of the preceding November.” When the ad said that the hall would be open all day for exhibits, that did not mean a hall on the Fair Grounds. That hall was not built until much later than 1875. The exhibit space for the 1875 Fair was the Waterville Town Hall. A later generation knew the building as the Armory on Front Street, but in 1875 it stood near the site of the present City Hall and faced Common Street. The regulation concerning exhibits in the 1875 folder said: “Arrangements will be made at the Town Hall for the exhibition of manufactured and such other articles as may be presented. A competent committee will have charge of them and will properly arrange them. All articles entered for prizes must be in the hands of the committee by Tuesday morning.”<\/p>\n
What did it cost to attend the Waterville Fair in 1875? Annual dues of one dollar entitled a member of the North Kennebec Agricultural Society to attend the Fair, with his entire family, everyday free of charge. Persons not members of the Society had to pay 15 cents to get on to the grounds, and 35 cents more to see the races and the pulling matches on the show grounds, and on Thursday, the day of the climax. the price was raised to a total of 65 cents. Carriages were admitted without extra charge.<\/p>\n
It was a big fall attraction, that annual Waterville Fair nearly a hundred years ago.<\/p>\n
Year: 1968<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #767, Broadcast on May 5, 1968<\/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":[1199,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825"}],"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=8825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}