Between 1905 and 1907 three massive piers were built out into the deep navigable waters of Stockton Harbor at Stockton Springs, ME, from Cape Jellison. Known as the "Big Docks" and measuring 1,100 feet, 1,600 feet, and 1,750 feet in length, they were serviced by the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad which thus joined the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad in nearby Belfast to provide a second rail connection with the Penobscot River region for the up to twenty or more cargo schooners and steamers arriving by then in Penobscot Bay each week. As railroads began to supersede ships for moving freight, however, by the end of World War I much of the docks' business had either disappeared altogether or had migrated to the BAR's larger bulk shipping facilities at Mack Point in nearby Searsport. Less than two decades after they were built, the docks had already fallen into almost complete disuse, and their brief "era" ended altogether when they were destroyed by fire on November 8, 1924. The pilings for the piers are still visible at low tide, however, as are some of their enormous granite runways.

Photographed by Collection Of Bruce C. Cooper (DigitalImageServices.com) [Restoration], 1910.
Added to the photo archive by Bruce Cooper, July 25, 2004.
Railroad: Bangor and Aroostook.

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