Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1857-06-04
SALE OF THE MAIN LINE.

| 0x1AE OF x1E 1MA4N Lin Ii.
The subjoined Argument and Analysis
of the bill for the sale of the main line oil
the Public Improvements, was prepared al
the instance Of gentlemen favorable to the
bill, and who wished the public to know
the real grounds upon which its passage
was urged.
What is the Main Line worth! What
is Its real intrinsic value! We do not
1 mean TO the Commonwealth, for to il, il
has never paid expenses. A close, fair
and honest examination of the result of It's
,cOrkng will show that ever since it has
been built, IL has been heavy annual tax
upon the other resources of the Treasury.
The yearly net loss TO the Stale since it
was said to be completed, has been in the
neighborho0d of q quarter of a million OF
| dollars. For the accuracy of this state
ment, we ask careful analy sis of the reports
of the Auditor General, State Treasurer and
| Canal Commissioners. We do not impeach
their reports, but we simply wish TO see
| their gross discrepancies reconciled. We
merely hold that those reports land you
may bring the originals from the Depart
ments,) exhibit, not only an inconsistency,
but variance so gross that suspicion at
least is fully aroused. A comparison of
the reports demonstrates in the most posi-.
live form that the Main Line has not only
not paid expenses, but has been a steady
and enormous charge upon the other reve-
nues Of the State. More than twenty i've
years OF this management, under all par
ties, satisfies US that it cannot be corrected.
Ii this is the case, could not the State pay
large bonus 10 get rid of IT! 10 the
Stale 1t has proved heavy and dead loss
All experiments have failed to correct il.
But the practical question is, what is it
worth TO individuals! What is its real
value under The provisions of the bill that
passed the House of Representalivesl-
That is the real question The valuable
portions Of the Main Line of the Public
Works, are the Columbia railroad. and the
Eastern Division of the canal, from the
Junction of the Susquehanna canals with
Main Line TO Columbia. The Columbia
railroad cost originally four and halt
millions of dollars. The common esti-
mate of the value of the road has been
fve millions Of dollars. The fact that in
a few months the Lebanon Valley and
Reading railroad will connec, Harrisburg
with Philadelphia, by a route but three
miles longer and far superior in grades
and in curvature, will bring the value of The
Columbia railroad down to its original cost.
Ii will take al least half million to remedy
its defective location. Assuming then that
the Columbia railroad is worth four mil
lions and a halt of dollars, and that the
Eastern Division, from the junction Of the
Susquehanna canal. with the Main Line 10
Columbia, is worth an additional million,
we have ffUe and a half millions of dol,
as the actual value Of the paying portion
of the Main Line.
Passing west from the Junction on the
Main Line, we find that by the provisions
OF this bill, the party purchasing, is re-
qulred 10 keep in navigable condition for
ever, one hundred and twenty one miles
west of the Junction and reaching to the
town Of HOllidaysburg. This Juniata ca
nal has been one of the great draw backs
Of the Maine Line. 1t never has paid and
never can pay. 1t should never have been
built. 1t is in such a dilapidated condition
at this time that immense appropriations
must soon be made TO rebuild decayed
parts of it. From the fact, that large and
valuable portion of country on what is
called the Upper Juniata canal would be
deprived of all facilities for getting to mar
ket, and thrown back to The condition it
was in thirty years ago, if it were aban-
doned, it is made one of the conditions Of
the bill for the sale, that this line shall be
kept up. An examination of The cost of
working it, will show that this one hundred
and twenty one miles of Improbable work,
UiH more than absorb the profits of the
Eastern division. The Westeren divis-
ion is worse than worth nothing. Yet the
bill requires large expenditure upon an
unfinished railroad between the canal at
Blairsvile and the Allegheny river at Free.
port, IN order that the people on the Ves-
tern diuision shall not haze withdraDr
from them any Of their present facilities.
The finishing up Of this link gives those
who live upon and near that canal CON-
plete railroad communication with Pitts.
burgh. The party purchasing, when they
conclude to abandon it, are bound to give
it to the citizens of the country through
which IL passes. We are thus, under the
several provisions and conditions of this
bill, brought TO do on to the Columbia
railroad as the actual Ualue of the Main
Line. The minimum fixed in the bill, is