New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-02-27
PRICE FOUR CENTS.
OUR RAILROAD SYSTEM.
THE NEW RAILROADS IN THE VICINITY OF
THE METROPOLIS.

atey great will be perfectly apparent to any person
Of observation on contemplating the changes for the
better which have taken place. 1t is not very long
since Brooklyn and jersey City and Newark were
places of comparative insignifcance; but now they
have grown TO be busy populOus and wealthy, owing
solely to the influence exerted upon them by the city
of which they are suburbs. The whole island OF
Manhattan from the Batteryt the Harlem River has
become crowded: many men who must do business
upon it because they cannot elsewhere trade as all
vantageously to themselves, driven away to find
room for residence and are obliged to build houses
and homes for their families in some one of the sur
roundings of the great city, This necessity alone
creates imperative demand for speedy transporta
ton to and from NewYork. But further thanthat the
citys also becoming vast depot for goods of import
and export and the great Pacific Railroad, being
built. cannot fail to preserve it long the coun
try lasts, what it already is-the commercial head
and heart of the Western Hemisphere. New-Engand
is rapidly growing to be the virtual workshop and
her inhabitants the band-workers for the mechanical
needs of the great city: and NewJersey is becoming
fact, the garden, and her population the farmers
of the metropolis For all these changes. gradual
yet inevitable and immense in their effects, there
must be corresponding improvement in facilities
for transportation. Business men forced from the
island must have easy and quick transit 10 their
which they dispatch to the West require for them
sure and safe devery the people of the city and
its envirOns must live, and the means of subsist
ence must come certainly and regularly. The
unavoidable consequence of all this is that railroads.
the best avenues of traffic. must be improved,
tended. and multiplied and it is to show what is
now being done in this respect that give to-day
map accompanied by verbal descriptions aud STA
tistca facts, of of the most important lines
regards this city, which being about to be
constructed. The scope Of the article is necessarily
limited, for all roads lead to Rome, and track Of
three miles in the far West will have end turned
in this direction and will depend, directly or ind
rectly. upon New-York for support and existence.
Since the first mile of rail was laid in the United
States there has never been a time when snch aety-
ity and enterprise in railroads was displayed as the
present The lines projected and under construction
in the entire country may be numbered by hundreds
1t therefore follows that only few of those about
and Immediately affecting the interests OF the City
of NewYork can be considered 1t will be seen that
in most the purpose of each road is peculiar To
itself and does not conflict with the business of any
line already in operation and where it does, the
axiom, that the railroads there the better it
is for ALL may be applied satisfactorily Also, that ia
most instances great object in view is to shorten
distance, and thereby save time. When this is not
pay to supply the physical wants of the inhabitants
of the city and at the same time, develop the sec
ton of country traversed by them With scarcely
an exception the statements and figures in each ease
have been furnished by individuals having authority
or deeply interested in the enterprise and are there
fore, deserving of some attention.
THE BOSTON. HARTFORD, AND ERIE RAILROAD,
In July 1862 the State of Connecticut chartered tho Boz
ton Hartford. and Erie Railroad Company TO open rail
A.. tI.N
State extending TO and cOnnectng with the Erie Railroad
at Fish on the and the harbor OF Boston and the
City Of Providence the east The charter further
authorized the Company to purchase the franchise and
property OF the Hartford Providence, and Fishkill,
Thompson and wllimantic, Southern Midland, and Bos
ton Hartford and Erie Extension Railroads, which was
done the same year In December, 1864 the Boston,
Hartford and Erie, and New-York and Boston Railroads
merged united BY these purchases and this union
the company Of the road under notice acquired about 25
miles Of chartered and miles of constructed and
ning railroad. In order to complete the line between
Fshkill and Boston IL necessary 10 construct Io3
miles Of road-26 miles between Mcchanicsville and
Willimantc and n miles between Waterbury and Fish
kand for that purpose the State Of Massachusetts, was
solicited to loan the Company 100000 This was done
6y an act 81 h ., 1e ~ nsd an
act authorizing the City of Hartford TO grant inc Coh
the Company pledged as security. The main line
Of road from the foot OF suInmerst ~ Boston,
ford and Waterbury to Fishl distance Of 900 miles,
aud for the greater part OF the route nearly cqdstant
New-Haven The trunk line railroads in opera
ton each of which is an important business ronte
time, and the reports OF engineers proved that the
1t shown that the least radius of curvature is ve
degrees 10 the thousand feet. The maximum gradient
ascending east is 60 feet straight lines with dmnuton
of q feet for each degree OF curvature The maximum
gradient ascending west is 66 feet The highest summit
is the range between the Harlem Railroad and Hudson
River and is 763 feet No railroad entering Boston has
as good location for business the Boston, Hartford
and Erie 1t enters the business center the foot Of
Smmer-st and passes over under all the streets Il
vessels Of the largest tunnage can noat and Oad
at fs wharves thus afordng facilities for foreign and
coaswise trade. At the other terminus Of the line the
company has large and valuable depot grounds and 10
about 100 acres Of fat; at Fshk 1t is estimated that
the road will about s45 900 mile and that it can be
entirely completed for slooOoOOO and other estimates
show that after deducting the expenses Of operating
will annually have about IL per cent OF the total coat with
interesting TO consider of the sources OF the antc
pated this road One OF the greatest s that
OF coal The Boston Hartford and Erie, when completed
will supply millions OF tuns OF coal to the people Of Mas
ehnsets ana me northern portion OF o lna ~
gland Railroad, since that line will run south OF TINS
branch of Erie Railway of the projected Branch
vile Road On the line OF this road. too, are large beds
immense quantities OF which are now transported
down to tidewater then up the Hudson River, where
transported back to England All Of thi; II ATTENDED
with great expense and 1t is believed could DO entirely
coal to the and the iron to the market thus making
heavy freghts in both directions The transpofipa1n "'
cattle that come from tho West over the Ere RAILWAY,
and in some cases are driven East across the conntry
is expected would develop INTO d La barrels ar Of four
como TO Boston alone from the West every year, "nu
s gram, T case the present routes Of transpora
ton are long both in time ana uislaee, Ius iHR ne
A. fines frelchs from the East TO the West, and FROM
the West to East are delayed Tor weeks Tor want OF
traders of England greatly desire that new avenues