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Buckland, L.L., Spofford, Parker.

E[astern].M[aine]. R[ailwa]y. Co. Buckland Surveys [title on wooden trunk].

Bangor, Bucksport, Ellsworth, Gouldsboro, and other Maine locales: December 4, 1872–November, 1876. Six manuscript notebooks, 12mo-18mo (165mm x 105–195mm x 135). 789 pp. manuscript, 150 pp. blank. Numerous manuscript sketches. Three manuscript profile surveys 10.5” x 208”–8.5” x 335.”.

An archive of six survey notebooks and three extensive profile maps for eastern Maine railroad lines, compiled in the 1870s.

This archive consists of railroad survey manuscripts generated by L.L. Buckland and Parker Spofford (b. 1842), the latter a noted civil engineer of Bucksport, Maine, who served as engineer of the Bucksport & Bangor Railroad beginning in 1872. The bulk of this material is attributable to Buckland. Spofford, who is responsible for one of the notebooks, was engaged in the surveying and construction of numerous railroads in Maine such as the Bangor & Katahdin Iron Works Railway; the Somerset Railroad; the Canadian Pacific Railroad; the Lime Rock Railroad; and the Portland & Rumford Falls Railroad. In 1893, he took part in the construction of a bridge across the Androscoggin River at Mexico and Rumford Falls. Spofford would also serve as a member of the state legislature in 1883 and 1889, and was subsequently elected a member of the Executive Council of Governor Burleigh in both 1891 and 1892.

Included are three profile surveys in scroll form on graph paper, as follows:

Profile of Shore Line Rail Road, 1st Division, Penobscot River to Fitzs Pond. Dec. 1872. Bangor Div. 10.5” x 208.” 13” a mile, broken up into 16 sections; 16 miles in total are surveyed. This topographical survey begins in Ellsworth and passes through Great Falls Village, Egypt Brook, Clarks Ridge, Hancock, Franklin, and terminates in Sullivan Falls. A less jagged prospective railroad line runs along the coastal shoreline that follows the shifts in elevation.

Profile From Ellsworth to Franklin Shore Line Rail Road, Preliminary Survey 1873. L.L. Buckland Engineer. Cherryfield. 8.5” x 335”. Sale of 13” to the mile, divided into 25 sections; 25.75 miles in total are surveyed. This topographical profile survey commences at the Penobscot River and passes through Harts Summit, Dead River, Fitz’s Pond (Fitts Pond), Reeds Pond, and Deer Summit; noted along the way are ice, bodies of water, roads, etc. A less jagged prospective railroad line runs along the coastal shoreline that follows the shifts in elevation. Several manuscript notes read, “This may be thrown out.” Another longer note reads, "This last portion was run in deep snow with not sufficient crust for snowshoeing and is not a fair showing as a much better line and profile may be had here. To re-run the same was deemed inadvisable at the time on act of the season and the expense attending surveys at such time.” The last landmark noted is the “road to Bangor.”

Shore Line Rail Road. Profile of Prelim. Location, Bucksport to Ellsworth. Sept. 1873. 8.5" x 329", broken up into 25 sections; 25.3 miles in total are surveyed. This topographical survey begins in Bucksport at the Bucksport and Bangor R.R. station and passes through Orland, Dead River, Hayford Mills, Gold Stream, Surrey, and ends in Ellsworth with the Union River. The survey records changes in elevation, bodies of water, town lines, etc. A less jagged prospective railroad line runs along the coastal shoreline that follows the shifts in elevation. A few manuscript notes read: “my idea is to get lower ground here as soon as possible and it may be had by following the hill brook,” and “swing line to Left and throw out this fill by finding a longer line on higher ground.”

[with]

Five survey notebooks by Buckland, and one by Spofford:

1872. Transit Notes, Book No. 1 Shore Line Rail Road. Bangor to Ellsworth. Buckland [cover title]. 18mo (165 x 105mm), 77 pp. of manuscript in pencil. Numerous manuscript sketches and coordinates. This notebook commences with a sketch of a tributary emptying into the Penobscot River. Also covered are various locations en route to Ellsworth, including Fitz’s Pond (Fitts Pond), Tisdale Mill, Reed’s Pond, etc. The subjects of the sketches include lodges, roads, meadows, rocky areas, gravel, ponds, ledges, bridges, buildings, and mills. The journal ends on Dec. 30, 1872.

Levels, No. 1. Shoreline Prelim. Survey 1872. Bangor to Ellsworth – Page 1. Ellsworth to Cherryfield p. 132. 1873. Buckland [cover title]. 18mo (175 x 105mm), 216 pp. of manuscript figures pencil, 10 blank leaves. A volume of tide levels beginning on the Penobscot River at the “falls above Bangor,” Dec. 4, 1872.

Transit Notes, Book No. 5. Prelim. Survey. Shore Line R.R. Bucksport to Ellsworth. Buckland [cover title]. 18mo (165mm x 105), 96 pp. of manuscript in pencil, 48 pp. blank. Commences on Aug. 27, 1873. A volume of coordinates and manuscript maps. Includes such locales as Bucksport; Dead River; Union River; Buck's Brook; and the Narramissic River, as well as maps of Congowis Lake; Mason's Mountain; and several of Allamoosic Pond. Survey ends Dec. 27, 1873.

Bucksport to Ellsworth. Levels, No. 3. Shoreline R.R. Prelim. Survey 1873. Sept. 1873. Buckland [cover title]. 18mo (175mm x 110). Bucksport Aug. 27, 76 pp. of manuscript in pencil. 82 bank leaves. A volume of tide levels arranged under a heading reading “Bucksport Me August 27th 1873 Survey to Ellsworth Shore Line RR High water level 25.00 taken from evident marks of recent tides.”

1876. B. and C. Shore Line R.R. Levels. Ellsworth to Gouldsboro &c. HH Buck Leveller. Buckland [cover title]. 12mo (195mm x 135), 160 pp. of manuscript tide levels in pencil. Pp. 1–24, Ellsworth to Falls Village; pp. 24–36, Ellsworth to Surry; pp. 37–141, Ellsworth to Gouldsboro; p. 142, Morancey Pond line.

1876. B. and C. Shore Line R.R. Transit. Ellsworth to Gouldsboro &c. P. Spofford. Buckland [cover title]. 18mo (185mm x 115), 164 pp. of manuscript of transit notes with manuscript maps. Commences on Oct. 20, 1876. Some of the locales detailed include Back Bay Pond; Franklin's Bay; Jones Pond; Smelt Cove; Flander's Brook; East Sullivan's Bay; Egypt Bay; Flander's Brook; Morancey's Pond, etc. The notebook ends in Gouldsboro. Also included are tables of expenses, a charming doodle of a "Druid's Alter," as well as a personal note on roasting coffee beans!

REFERENCES: Chase, Henry, Ed. Representative Men of Maine (Portland, Maine: Lakeside Press, 1893), pp. 178-9.

CONDITION: Very good.

Item #4468

Price: $2,500.00