Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/ICC valuations/Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge

Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Reports, Volume 30

Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge

Location and General Description of Property

The property of Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge consists of a wooden bridge on pile foundation, built in two sections, one about 251 feet long, extending from Mainland to Ham Island, in Portsmouth, N. H., and the other about 1,650 feet long, extending from Ham Island to Kittery, Me. This bridge, which is operated by the carrier, is used for both railroad and highway purposes.

Corporate History

The Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge was originally incorporated in New Hampshire under a special act of June 28, 1819. This act was confirmed in Massachusetts, of which Maine was then a part, by special act of February 25, 1820. Subsequently the Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge was incorporated in Maine under special act of January 23, 1821. The Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge was authorized to build, in addition to the bridge between the points named, a bridge across the Piscataqua River, commencing at any place on the margin of this river between Rindge's Wharf in Portsmouth and the town of Newington, N. H.

No records of the Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge are obtainable.

The first bridge, opened on September 10, 1823, was constructed for highway purposes only. This bridge has been replaced with the present structure. In 1842 the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad Company, a predecessor of the carrier, built a railroad bridge across the Piscataqua River adjoining the bridge of the Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge, and supported by the same superstructure between Portsmouth and Kittery. Under a contract, dated January 13, 1844, between the Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge, the Eastern Railroad in New Hampshire, and the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad Company, the two companies last named, their successors, and assignees obtained a perpetual right to maintain their several railroads across said bridge without any charge whatever or any claim of demand on the part of the Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge, provided, however, that these two companies were to maintain the bridge and reconstruct certain parts of it. At the time of this agreement the stock of the Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge was owned one-half by the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad Company and one-half by the Eastern Rail-road Company. The latter, a Massachusetts corporation, operated at that time the property of the Eastern Railroad in New Hampshire under sole lease, and, jointly with the carrier, the property of the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad Company. When the carrier acquired the properties of the Eastern Rail-road Company and the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad Company it became the owner of all the capital stock of the Proprietors of Portsmouth Bridge, in the amount of $40,000. This stock it still possesses.