The Portland daily press., 1867-08-02
DAILY PRESS.
ND.
Friday Nor. ing, August 2, 1867.
Our Proposed Western ssailrona.

The opponents to charter of this contem-
plated railway in the New Hampshire Legis-
lature few weeks ago, finding they could not
succeed in preventing it, and persuading
themselves into belief that the road could
not be built through the gorge OF the White
Mountains, exercised all their wits and bent
/ all their forces to have this charter so framed
that the track must pass through The "Notch"
at all hazards. Ii they could have the re-
strction inserted in the charter they hattered
themselves that the enterprise would come TO
a dead stop. In this project Of restric ion
| they succeeded, and the friends of the road
were entirely satisfied, for they were assured
! that a route through the Notch is perfectly
feasible, and didn't want it to go anywhere
else. Their opponents gotno advantage from
| that operation. 1t was their last struggle
AGAINST the charter, and much good may it do
them.
The friends of this enterprise never con-
templated any other route than that through
the Notch. Nature herself has opened the
way through these mighty old mountains, and
the people, East and West, are determined to
take advantage of it and construct railway
in accordance with the invitation nature. has
thus held out to them When completed and
fully in operation in connection with the
Northern Pacific railroad, such a railway for
pleasure travel and traffic will have no superb
or on the continent. If the opponents ofthis
road in the New Hampshire Legislature could
have read letter recently published in the
Portland Star from the pen of Hon. j. G.
Blaine, now travelling in Europe, they might
have considered that Yankee enterprise and
skill were at least equal to the enterprise and
skill of the Italians. What have the Italians
done? What great feat have they accom-
plished in railroad enterprise? {? Let Mr. Blaine
answer In letter dated at Florence, he
says: sdt a"Nt
From Bologna to Florence--60 miles-the
railroad lis directly over and through the Apen-
mines and here begin the wonders to which l
have referred Such piece Of engineering
can be found nowhere else in the world
have always considered the crossing of the AL
leghanies by the Pennsylvania Central as a
wonderful triumph of human skill and enter
prise, but it is a performance absolutely tame
and inconsiderable compared with what has
been achieved in the Apennines. In the sixty
uulltS tlleTt dTC uO lcSS IOity uiSuhSo
tunnels, all long,-and some OF monstrous
length, none less than quarter to hall mile,
and three of them exceeding 2 IL miles EACH
Indeed for large portion OF the road, you
seem to be for the greater portion OF time uI-
der ground, coming out occasionally for breath
ing spells and to cross chasms at such fright
full heights as make ones head swim, even to
glance out of the car windows. AS we neared
the southern side of the mountain, the gaps,
as we came to them in succession, revealed
vast panoramas of the country stretching
away off in the valley OF thea rno and plainly
disclosing the little villages on the plains and
even the city of Pistoja with its $4,000 people
and its high cathedral towers. 1t is not possi
BILE for the mind to conceive, nor the eye to be-
hold a more splendid scene, embodying every
element of the sublime and the beautiful, the
grand and the attractive. The road was built
by the Italian government and is but just fin- |
ished. otietiW
He writes also that the masonry of solid |
stone to hold the road bed on the mountain |
cIe HOtufbdf,n e- ~ @A-ns;ntinn and oiues to |
immense Notifications in well-ni9h endless |
series and ever changing form. Now at the
Italians can build a railroad "eirectly over |
and through the Apennines,' it seems to us
that Yankee pluck and engineering skill may |
be able to construct way for the iron horse
through the Notch of the White Mountains,
especially where nature has herself done near
ly all the work necessary for such passage
Those who expected to stop this enterprise
by compelling its friends to go through the
Notch or nowhere. must have a very wrong
impression in regard to the enterprise and
spirit of the American people, and they will
yet find it so. This railway will be construct
ed in spite of all opposition, and the more it
is thought of and viewed in all its aspects and
bearings, the less opposition will be made to
it. The subject looks brighter every day, and
the Importance of the enterprise increases
Let us have this avenue opened to the teen
ing West and the waters ofSebago introduced
into our city, and Portland will take the tide
at its flood and roll Oh to fortune and fame.