 They refurbished the boarding house as the "Silver Lake Hotel" for the tourist trade; and hired a Swedish mining engineer in 1877 to improve the iron by reducing the silicon content.The 19-mile (31-km) Bangor and Katahdin Iron Works Railway was built in 1881 to connect the town with what would become the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad at Milo, Maine.The railway began operating in 1882, but a hurricane fanned sparks from the kilns into a fire which caused major damage to the plant.