Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1845-03-28
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FRIDAY MORNING, MARCHES, lsi5
BURLINGTON AND CANADA.

onsly clrcn!la.ed ID Maaircal, -Rnsl.-- and
along the line of thu proposed Rail road from
Concord. N. II. to Connecticut River and
up the Passnmpsc, through Derby, to Cam
ada, tina, the county from Burlington to
Canada line is unf,vorable for a Rail-road.
II has even been asserted that such u road,
between those two points, is wholly imprac-
iicable We have thus far been silent upon
this subject, because we supposed that snch
n representation, from It's palpable absurdi-
~, would defeat itself. But since this most
unioundrd assumption has Income "A part Of
the capital stock Of other routes and is used
as n standing argument against the route in
question, We feel called upon TO brsiow upon
TIA passing notice. To all who have ever
travelled along the line of the proposed road,
and especially to those who are familiar with
the general features Of the country through
which il passes, no contradiction of state
ment SO graluilous and untrue, is necessary.
But The greater portion of the community
are personally ignorant upon the subject and
are consequently liable to be deceived and
imposed upon by the positive and reiterated
assertions of those who are both unscrupn-
ous and Interested to benefit their own
routes by dccryins and msr'prescnlng all
others. The greatest amount of travel from
this place to Mnnircal is IN the summer and
by The steamboats, to S.. Johns, thus afford
ing but little opportunity for forming an ac.
curalc Judgment of the character Of the conn.
try along the east shore Of Lake Champllin.
There is, however, even to travellers by the
boats, all the TESTIMONY in favor Of the route
which the eye Can derive from the appear.
dnce Of the country rs seen from the Lake.
From that direction the eve, 10 stretching
along the whole line, would look in vain for
the i"rnilable Obstacles which The optics of
gentlemen have seen with such marvellous
di>'incirrss from the banks of the Prmi.e-
wass"t aud the Androscoggin, the Cnnnecli-
cut and the Passumuslc. The gpnlrs, I'm.
dula,ions in the surface oi the valley Of Lake
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their mountains, and we are indebted To them
for the discovery that the ancient and easy
route by land from this place TO Canada, en-
lists no longer. The valley of our Lake,
north Of Burlington, has alternately swollen
into mountains and opened into impossible
chasms, while Tia" dividing ridges between
4 a.. ~
neclcur, aud of the latter river and the An
drnscoggin, have sunk into plains They
have also discovered that along our great,
wairr-course the headlands ia, IN and the
bays ui out in such manner as to qnaLru-
Pile the distance by the lake shore to ST..
Johns, besides presenting obstacles in the
way Of a railroad, wholly insurmoun,abe /!
Now all this may be very ingenious. but the
theory unfortunately assumes that the road,
if built, must necessarily pass on the imme-
date shore Of the Lake, following all ITS sin.
aosilies, doubling its points and headands
and running round its bays And upon this
or some other equally eroundless assumption,
the enemies of the Burlington route To Nom
lreal have pronounced aulhorila,ivrly that no
road can ever be made But surely, it can
not he necessary to inform the public thai
no one ever supposed the contemplated road
was TO follow the water line of the Lake.
Like other roads, it will seek the best route,
selecting lis course SO far from the lake on
the one side, and from the more elevated
land on the other, as to avoid the obstacles
peculiar TO each, and adopt course as near
ly direct as the nature of the country will
admit.
In great seriousness, the route, so far from
being deemed impraclicable bv those best
acquainted with il, has always been consii-
cred as a1urding extraordinary facilities for
such line of communication with Montreal.
There has been an abundance of general
assertion on tins subject by the friends Of
other routes from Bosom to Montreal, but "A
remarkable want of speeif ,oiion. And
while, in some quarters, people are whnlIy
incrednoms as To the praclicahilily of our
road, they give fall and implicit f,i,h to the
opinions of the engineer Of the Portland
route, who travelled in deep SHOWS in the
month of October, aud guessed a, grades and
excavations and embellishments, suggesting,
however, that IL woud be proper to use in.
struments in the final surrey!
a..
In the meantime, We are happy in being
able To say that measures will probably be-
shortly taken TO procure II scientific survey
of the route IN question, which will settle the
point. and prove for the lhousandh time thai
the valley of great waler-course is lower
and levrler than the highlands Of a summit
level between the waters Of great rivers.