The Portland daily press., 1868-05-27

feasibility. will however say that in nv
Judgment formed after passing many times
through it, it cannot present any engineering
difficulties greater than have been overcome
by the Northern New Hampshire, Boston'C Con
cord and Montreal, Cheshire, Rutland anu
Burlington, or Vermont Central, all oil which
are in successful operation and use for busl-
ness between Boston and Ogdensburg.
What wish more especially is to call the
attention of the business men and capitalists
of Portland to the local business which that
portion of the contemplated road which is in
Vermont will furnish. will hazard the as
sertion. and challenge a comparison of statis-
tics with other sections, that the same number
of square miles furnishes a far greater
amount Of the most valuable agricultural pro-
ducts than is raised elsewhere in the New En-
gland States on the same amount of territory
OF an equal valuation. The soil is of great
depth and being kept warm by the deep SHOWS
of winter, which usually lie on the ground
until May, it produces the choicest and sweet
est of clover and timothy or herds grass, upon
billy yet smooth surface, and is better adapted
to stock grazing and capable of sustaining a
greater population than any section of New
fact that the butter from Caledonia, Lamoille
and Franklin counties commands the very
highest price in the market, and the thou
sands of tons of this golden staple furnished
by the above named counties would appear in
credible to those who have not had opportun-
ity, as the writer has often had, of seeing the
enormous quantities both among the farmers
| in Vermont, and in the market at Boston.
| And this is not all due to superior skill in
making, but to a very great extent to the quail
| ity of the grass. The pasturage furnishes
most nutritive and sweet growth OF grass
which rarely if ever fails, as drought is almost
| unknown in that mountainous and ever YER
| dant locality.
| have in mind an instance where an indus
| trious Scotchman purchased about the year
| 1880, a farm of some 200 acres for $4,000.
| About five years later he also purchased some
| 60 acres of pasturage, six miles from the
| homestead at a cost of about 5000. This farm
| and pasture were devoted to making butter
| and raising beef cattle. In 1866 he sold his
| farm on account of the infirmities of age (be-
| ing nearly S0) and retired with nearly fifty
thousand dollars, that sum being strictly the
result Of his farming gains, the original pur-
chase being about all he was worth in 1880,
and he had never made investments to in
crease his accumulations beyond safe six per
cent loans.
This may be a strong case, but let us take
one of the townships in the Lamolle Valley.
In the year 1880 when the prices of all farm
produce were very low, the wheat crop,
which had long been the chief resource of
Vermont farmers, had become extinct or
nearly so, the hemp fever was running its ru-
inous course and doing its work upon the
farmers of Caledonia county, and more than
half, probably two-thirds, of the farms in
Hardwick were encountered by mortgages.
Soon after this an impetus was given to the
products of the dairy by a great advance in
prices; beef, pork, horses and wool all
became much increased in value so as
to stimulate an increased production of
all these staples. Since that time the farmers
of Hardwick have become examples of pecu-
MARY thrift and independence rarely to be
found. Nearly all of them are money lend
ers, and many instances can be quoted of ac-
cumulations of ten, fifteen, twenty and even
thirty to fifty thousand dollars by farming
alone, while several fortunes OF from % to IS
thousand dollars have accrued in trade and
business investments. A very general distri
button now exists among the yeomanry Of the
town, of government loans, bank stock and
other investments, amounting to many hun
dred thousand dollars, and this town now Of
fers to take sixty thousand dollars in stock of
the Portland and Ogdensburg railroad in its
corporate capacity besides something in pri-
vate subscription. What is said of Hardw lex
will hold true to a greater or less extent of
all the towns from Lunenburg to Swanton in
respect to their progress for 80 years.
This wealth Of soil, which has been favora-
bly, developed but little more than thirty years,
has the ability to pay for much of the merchan-
disc in the sale of which our enterprising
merchants wish for an opportunity of compe-
ting with Bostoniiat anadvantage of IS miles at
least in distance. The traders in the towns trib-
utary to this road are as a whole as prompt,
intelligent, shrewd, and reliable blu siness men
as can be found anywhere in the county,
Portland needs the patronage which they are
now compelled to give entirely to B oston for
the want of an opening to this nearer market
The towns in the Lamoile Valley are now
without railroad accommodations sufficiently
| near to open to them proper facilities
| for a market. The towns in Caledonia county
are suffering with them for the same reason,
| and sufficient has already been pledged by the
| towns to secure the construction of the road
through Vermont, which will greatly acceer-
ate the development of their yet unused capa-
bilites, give an increased value to their farms,
and worth to many articles of production
which are now nearly worthless. Could our
| Portland doubters of the desirableness of this
road but go through the various towns which
| in Vermont are determined that it shall not
| fail for want of their cooperation, and witness
| the evidence of thrift and taste, and even lux
ury SO generally diffused as to make poverty
the rare exception and comfort and independ-
ence the prevailing and general rule, they
would be satisfied that the Green Mountain
boys do not reckon without their host when
they affirm their ability to build their portion
| of it.
| Another fact which have not vet heard
named as an argument in favor of this great
avenue and thoroughfare of trade, is that it
shortens the distance between Portland and
Montreal The measurements given make the
distance to Rouse's Point 218 miles. The dis
lance from Rouse's Point to Montreal is "A
miles making the distance 262 miles to Mon
treal thus giving this route some thirty miles
advantage over the Grand Trunk route, which
is more than 300, or according to Appeton's
Guide 297 miles.
Citizens of Portland, whose interests are
identified with her growth and prosperity will
you by penny-wise and pound foolish eau
ton, fail to grasp the boon now offered you of
securing and combining in one scheme more
elements of prosperity than have been offered
you in any one investment in all your history?
Will you refuse an investment in your corpor-
ate capacity of $750,000 to secure an object in
which your city is so vitality interested, when
one business firm in the interior of Vermont is
ready to contribute $150000 for the same pur-
pose, and thus lose or fail to secure the bust
ness of that garden region of the interior
which without this road must of necessity con-
tinue to pour its rich treasures into the lap of
Boston? Let not the voters of Portland wan
torly and thoughtlessly refuse the benefit of
that business which the Creator seems evident
ly to have designed for us by placing it some
seventy-five miles nearer our unsurpassed har-
Dor than any other seaport, and by cleaving
gateway through the noun tains as if to say
to us, ENTER in and possess that goody land"
Rather let us with dauntless courage and in
domitable will surmount every obstacle, and
secure to ourselves and center in our splendid
harbor the vast transatlantic and Western
trade, the local business which we once to
some extent eIioyed but lost Inv tbe various