Litchfield enquirer., 1867-06-13
4itts6slb &nqnirer. Litchfeld, Ct. Thursday, June 3,'67.
Bridging the Connecticut.

We published last week letter from S. W. Kellogg, Esq, one of the counsel in- terested in favor of the Bridge, attacking the positions taken by us the week previ- ous, and we clip the following letter of Mr. David Lyman of Middlefeld, one of the chief advocates of the Air Line route, from the Duly Cosrdnt of June D.
 10 ase Editor of 0e ComuM:-My attention has been called to article in the Times of last even ing, headed On Bridging the Connecticut" quo- ting an article from the Litchfield Enquirer, which asserts m substance that if the Air Line railroad shall be chartered and built, the extension of the road from Waterbury to Fishkill, through Litch- held County, will be prevented and killed And lurtners that combination exists between the managers of the Boston, Hartford, and Erie rail- road and the petitioners for the C Air Line," by which a new route 70 the Hudson, by way of New Haven, Derby, Norwalk, and Danbury, is to be adopted in preference to the route through Ltch- field County.
 In reply to this, allow me to say that the asser- ton is tOtdIy aud uaquGedly fdlse; it is without shadow of foundation and IS fabrication of the opponents of the bridge, set aioat and persistent ly sworn to for the purpose of influencing the votes of representatives from Litchfield county. The &bsurdity of the idea may be seen from the fact that If the Boston, Hartford, and Erie road wished or intended to reach the Hudson by way of Derby they are already at Waterbury, within fifteen miles of Derby, with their own road and their own cars and have been there for years. If they contem- plated that route; it would be better for them to proceed by way of Waterbury than by way of New Haven 10 Derby. The whole idea is a h,.,n5uq winch needs only to be exposed to be harmless.
 DAVID LYMAN.
 June 1, IS67
 We propose briefly to explain why we see no reason to change the views we ex- pressed fortnight since.
 We then stated that the building of the Air Line Road would probably indefinitely postpone the construction of the Hartford and Fishkill route. This seems to us a common sense view of the facts. No one who has studied the movements of the con- trollers of the Boston and Erie road for the last four years, as We residents of Litchfeld have had occasion to study them, can doubt that they have had two projects m view-one to obtain control of the new line from Boston to New rk-another, and We fear, a subordinate one, to finish the Hartford and Fishkill road. How much they have been in earnest in their design of pushing through the Boston and New York road, Is evident from the testimony of their chief engineer, Gen. Terrill, who testified on the 2lst ult, before the rail road committee of our Legislature that the Boston and Erie Company actually intended last year to build the road, even though compelled to construct a suspension bridge at the expense of half a million. His testimony is this: "The contract was made last summer in good faith, with the Boston, Hartford and Erie -akH oompamy karing intended 10 buiM C 'saEi from WINimdstic to Ne,c Hacen,' ria tle .SrGiis ' Here We have no mere sSasemeNts. but fdcts. Now let us examine the reply to our charge. MT. Kellogg states it most clearly thus:-
 '' The fact that the Boston, Hartford and Erie Cs- have their road built from Willimantic to Wat erbury, Wdh bridge already built orer tue Con- seScEt, ought to be a sufficient answer to so fool ish a story. The idea that Company would aban- don their road alreadO built so far on the way to fsshkin, and build new road from Willimantic to New Haven, bridge and all, and then to Fshkill by Derby and Danbury, IS too much to believe"
 Were the Air Line road only intended as a part of the road from Boston to Fishkill this reply would be conclusive The fallacy lies in the fact that the Air Line will be built principally as the connecting link in the great thoroughfare from Boston to New York-incidentally it would also be & link in Lke shortest route fom WiNinaatic rO FiShkiU and by its construction the Bos- ton and Erie would kill their two birds with their single stone. Just so New Haven needs a road to Derby so much that its stock is, we believe, already fully subscrib- cd. Here Is also another link in the road from Willimantic to Fishkill A look at the map will now explain the whole matter. From Willimantic to Derby by the Air Line is 6l miles; from Willimontic to Waterbury by the present Hartford route is si.rty7fom miles. From Derby to Fishkill is far ca sier route than from Waterbury to Fishkiu; and, we think, even by tue most favorable survey yet made, a considerable shorter one.
 When therefore We take into considera- ton the fact that other interests than those of the Boston and Fishkill road are suffi- cient to justify the building of the road from Willimantic to Derby we begin to un- derstand the meaning of that otherwise un- accountable last years contract of the Bos- ton and Erie to build road ssfrom Willi- mantle to New Haven ria the Straits.'' Let us suppose that the Boston and Erie. Air Line, and New Haven and Derby roads and interests are united. Then the S3 coo. 900 from Massachusetts would come i, most neatly to build the remaining distance from Derby to Fishkill. The road from Willimantic to Waterbury would not in such an event be ''abandoned' but tho building of the road from Waterbury to Fishkill through Litchfeld county would. we think, be considerably postponed"
 Moreover, the Boston and Erie might perhaps obtain the $3,OO0,OOO appropria. ton, even on still cheaper terms, by ex. tending their fine over the Norwalk and
 Danbury route, as suggested in the House
 on Friday last, by Mr. Norton of Canton.