Page:New Brunswick Magazine Issue 1.djvu/178

The shipyard fire of 1841 was the most disastrous known in the history of Portland, up to that period; and it was only surpassed by the great fire of August, 1877, which followed closely on the heels of the destruction of the business part of St. John in June of the year last named.

In 1841 Portland was a village and was a suburb of the city, with a population in the whole parish of some 6,000 people. Many of the now well known streets had then no existence. Douglas avenue and Harrison streets, for instance, were not laid off as highways, nor was Sheriff street much of a thoroughfare, but Simonds, Portland and Acadia streets, with High street and the Strait Shore road, bounded blocks which were the centre of a busy population. There were houses along Main street, under the side of Fort Howe, and on the road leading up over Fort Howe hill. Shipbuilding was then a very prominent industry, and there were no less than seven yards in active operation between the Long wharf and the head of Strait Shore. The first of these was that of Owens & Duncan. Next, at Rankin's wharf, was that of George Thomson, the builder and occupant of "Thomson's Ark."^[1] Along the shore, to the westward, were the yards of Messrs. Hawes, Briggs, McLellan, Smith and Ruddock. When these were all in operation they gave employment to hundreds of men.

The Owens & Duncan yard was situated on the ground south of Main street and east of Acadia street,