New-York daily tribune., 1850-05-02
The Erie Railroad.

homo 10 celebrate in Dunkirk the completion
of this grand, bcnehcent enterprise. There
will bc a strong thousand of us there from
this City. and many thousands from the sur
rounding country, and the day will be fifty /
commcmoratcd as new nativity of all the |
adjacent region. The Counties Of Steuben,
Alcgany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauque
with those Of Pennsylvania and Ohio stretch
ing over two hundred miles further west, !
form the finest Dairy region in the world.
Tho soil is cold though strong much rain
falls and il is not favorable to Grain-grow-
ing MS a whole, though good crops Of Wheat
and Corn are grown there but for Grass,
Oats, Potatoes and Roots generally, It is not
to bc beaten. Most Of the soil yet reclaim
ed has been wrested from the dominion of
wild nature within the last twenty years,
and probably more than half the entire area
is still covered BY the primeval forest-as
stately and dense as can be found this side
/ Of the Cascade Mountains Of Oregon. Thou
sands and thousands Of acres Of the hnest
| White-Oak, Whtewood. &c. are still IN
touched in Western Pennsylvania and Ono:
so of White Ash, Cucumber Cherry, and
other valuable woods in our own State, but
the White Pine has in good part been cut
of and RATED away. Of Hemlock, there Is
still prolusion, and it is admirably adapted
80 the cheap and profitable construction Of
the Plank Roads leading into and feeding
the great commercial highway for distances
Of ten to forty miles from either side.
But the great local business Of the Erie
Railroad on its Western as on its Eastern
section will spring from Cattle and Dairles
Ten years ago Chautauque County did not
make its own Butter and Cheese now 1t eX-
ports hundreds of thousands Of dollars
worth, and has only Just begun. It's pro-
ducts are brought down by way of the Erie
Canal. and unayoidably subject to delay and
deterioration thereby. They do not net the
producers threc-fourths of their value IN
New York when sold that is to say, Butter
IS sold bv the Western farmers at twelve
cents which would readily command sixteen
in this market. though by the time it arrives
here it Is hardly worth fourteen. With
scmi-dailv communication to this city IN not
more than twenty hours, that same Butter
will be worth fifteen cents at Dunklrk, anu
tber If production within a radius OF one
hundred miles from that point will be quad
rnpled within four years. No single track
will nor can do the business which Will
press upon that Road within two years IRON
is completion. The conveyance OF Cattle
and Hogs alone would proftably employ one
single-track Railroad.
But this Road will not really stop at Dun
kirk. though that will be its chief depot IN
Western New-York The arrangements have
lust been perfected which secures the COM
pletion within the ensuing year Of the Lake
Shore Railroad some fifty miles westward to
Erie. Pa. where is one Of the best natural
harbors on the Lake and this Road IS to be
ofthe sir-toot or Jroad-guage Of the ET1e SO
that trains wW run direct from tbs cayt to
Erie. the terminus Of the Pennsylvania Ex-
tension Canal, connecting with the Ono
River at Beaver below Pittsburgh. From
Erie west to Cleveland the grade is not yet
settled, but we trust the broad-guage will be
adopted, and the Road completed before the
close of 1851. Whenever it shall be- we
mean 10 serve The Tribune of each morning
TO its subscribers in Cleveland at an early
hour next morning, and to those in Cincln-
natl on the evening of that second day, or IN
thrtv-six to thirty-eight hours from New
York. These connections will be perfected
in 1852 certainly: we trust they will be IN
1851.
When the Erie Road was projected, 1t was
regarded almost entirely as Freight road,
little reliance being placed on Passengers
II is now rather more than half finished, but
has no through travel, not one fourth OF
what it W ill have in time yet its receipts
from Passengers the last month were at the
rate of more than 100000 per annum. If
it were now completed with double track
from New-York to Dunkirk its receipts
from Passengers alone would be at least
II, 500, 600 in 1850, and s, 100000 in 1851.
with an equal income from Freight. 1t is
more sure to be & paying Road to-day than
the Utica and Schenectady was when in a
like stage of construction.
No Railroad ever shows what il is good for
until the feeders which ultimately run into
it have been constructed. True, the Erie
| MN. nrnssns tho nalawnre and undsnn