Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/748

 728 PORTLAND Trunk, the Boston and Maine, the Maine Cen- tral, the Portland and Ogdensburg, the Port- land, Saco, and Portsmouth, the Portland and Rochester, and the Androscoggin. The Grand Trunk line extends from Portland ma Mon- treal and Toronto to Port Sarnia, at the foot of Lake Huron, thence connecting with Detroit, a distance of 856 m. The commercial facilities of the city have recently been much extended by the construction of a marginal railroad of nearly 5 m. around the water front, enabling cars to pass directly to nearly all the wharves. There is a daily line of steamers to Boston, and steamers also make frequent and regular trips to New York, St. John, Halifax, and va- rious points on the Maine coast. The -Allan line of mail steamships (weekly) and a fort- nightly line ply between Liverpool and Port- land during the winter, and in the same season there is a freight line at irregular intervals from Glasgow. These lines during the season of navigation in the St. Lawrence run to Mon- treal and Quebec. The harbor is deep enough for vessels of the largest class, is very exten- sive and well sheltered by several islands, and in the most severe winters is seldom closed by ice. It is of easy access, and the principal entrance, which lies between the mainland and House island, is defended by Fort Preble on the former and Fort Scammel on the latter. There is also a granite casemated fort on Hog Isl- and ledge in the harbor, commanding the four entrances. The foreign trade is chiefly carried on with the West Indies, South America, and Europe, the exports being for the most part provisions, lumber, ice, and fish, and the im- ports molasses, sugar, crockery, salt, and iron. The value of imports during 1874 was $25,- 922,966 ; of exports, $26,665,646 ; total foreign commerce, $52,588,612. The value of the for- eign commerce in 1873 was $51,244,692 ; in 1872, $43,988,754; in 1871, $38,417,526; in 1870, $32,097,240. More than four fifths of these sums represent goods received at Port- land and immediately transshipped to Canada ; the remainder is the foreign commerce prop- er of the port. The number of entrances from foreign ports in 1874 was 386, tonnage 240,248 ; clearances for foreign ports, 759, ton- nage 268,952 ; entrances in the coastwise trade, 805, tonnage 574,494 ; clearances 626, tonnage 555,935 ; built during the year, 33 vessels, ton- nage 16,276 ; built in 1873, 18 vessels, tonnage 7,814; belonging in the district on March 1, 1875, 419, tonnage 110,771 ; on March 1, 1873, 372, tonnage 90,610. In 1874 there were 112 vessels, tonnage 2,751, employed in the cod and mackerel fisheries. The imports in 1874 included 7,635 hhds., 587 boxes, and 15,100 bags of sugar, and 21,080 hhds. of molasses; the exports, 412,939 sugar box shocks, 283,126 hogshead shooks and heads, 24,786 pairs head- ing, 1,462,237 hoops, 20,772,991 ft. of lumber, and 6,413 empty casks. The lumber was most- ly received from Canada, and the greater part of it was shipped to South America. The re- PRODUCE. 1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. Flour, barrels. Wheat, bushels Corn, bushels. . Oats, bushels. . Barley, bushels Peas, bushels.. 545,259 896,101 535,641 414,475 77,954 92,704 482,528 263,898 810.063 197,730 52,279 71,155 488,764 240,687 806,437 322,173 59,764 168,019 552,227 135,840 474,847 255,451 36,b98 65,946 66S.777 401.745 670.538 24-2,316 34.479 250,230 ceipts of lumber in 1873 amounted to about 150,000,000 ft. The sales of merchandise in the Portland market are estimated to amount to $40,000,000 a year. The receipts of pro- duce by rail for five years have been as follows : The annual value of manufactures is about $9,000,000. The principal articles of manu- facture are boots and shoes, moccasins, refined sugar, rolling mill and foundery products, machinery, locomotives, engines and boilers, kerosene, matches, hydraulic cement pipe, ker- osene burners and chemicals, leather, varnish, paints, soap, carriages and sleighs, edge tools, jewelry, and stone ware. The canning of corn and lobsters is extensively carried on. Ship building is an important industry of the vicin- ity, and there are two dry docks for the repair of vessels in the city. It contains six national banks, with an aggregate capital of $3,050,- 000; a state bank; two savings banks, with deposits to the amount of about $8,000,000 ; a safe deposit company; and three insurance companies. Portland is divided into seven wards, and is governed by a mayor and a board of alderman of one member and a common council of three members from each ward. It has an organized police force and a good fire department. Water works have been con- structed by a company organized in 1867, which supply the city from Sebago lake, 17 m. dis- tant. It is brought to a reservoir containing 12,000,000 gallons on Bramhall's hill in the W. part of the city, and is thence distributed to the buildings of whatever height. The assessed valuation of property in 1874 was $30,723,936 ($18,141,200 real and $12,582,736 personal), an increase of $900,000 over the previous year. The taxation for the year ending with March, 1875, amounted to $792,710 40, viz. : $147,274 42 for state, $34,019 23 for county, and $611,- 416 75 for city purposes; besides which there were receipts from city property amounting to $96,830. The total city debt March 31, 1874, was $5,195,800, including $2,347,000 bonds loaned to railroad and other companies and secured by mortgage; sinking fund, $570,332 31; net debt, $4,625,467 69. Sessions of the United States courts for the district of Maine are held here. The principal charitable insti- tutions are the almshouse, female orphan asy- lum, home for aged women, dispensary, and Maine general hospital, incorporated in 1868 and recently opened, besides a number of be- nevolent associations. There are 19 public schools, viz. : 1 high, 4 grammar, 2 with gram- mar and primary grades, 1 intermediate, 9 pri- mary, and 2 ungraded. The number of per- sons of school age (4 to 21) in 1874 was 10,-