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[362] Burlington, Lexington, Stoneham, Andover, and their adjoining towns. Mr. Magoun's first purchase of it was trees standing in what is now Winchester. He gave six dollars per ton: the seller was to cut and deliver it. It was more difficult to get the white-oak plank. When the Middlesex Canal was opened, a supply came through that channel; and large rafts were floated into the river through a side lock, which was near the entrance of Medford Turnpike. With our first builders, their price per ton for building was twenty-five dollars; but they furnished only the wood and labor,--every thing else was furnished by the owner. The best oak plank can yet be procured, though at an advanced price. The “southern hard pine” is more used than ever as a substitute, because it is so cut into long plank as to make less work to the builder. The materials for building at Medford may all be procured at a rate which will allow as favorable terms as at any other place, especially when the comparative rent of yards is included. If the water in the river had been deep enough for the large ships of the present day, the yards above the bridge would never have been abandoned. The increase of size in our Medford ships has been gradual. The “Columbiana,” built in 1837, was the first of six hundred tons; and the “Ocean express,” the first of two thousand tons. The ship “Shooting Star” was the first clipper built here; and the “George Peabody,” the first vessel that passed the bridges on Mystic River, after the draws had been widened according to the direction of the Legislature. The Rev. A. R. Baker preached a sermon on ship-building, in 1846, to which is appended a “register of vessels built in Medford.” He says, “I have enrolled them so as to present the year of their construction, their description and name, the yard in which they were built, the name of their respective builders and first owners, the residence of the latter, the tonnage of each vessel, the amount of tonnage, and the value of the vessels built here, estimating the hull, spars, and blocks of each at forty-five dollars per ton.” The register has been brought down, for this history, from 1846 to 1855. From this register, it appears that five hundred and thirteen vessels have been built in Medford between the beginning of the present century and the year 1855, with an aggregate of two hundred and thirty-two thousand two hundred
John Wilson and son. 22 School Street. Boston. 1855.
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