Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-01-14

P. H. W.
Coventry, December 81, 1868.
Rutland and WoodstOck Railroad
We'give place to the following letter
from Mr.. Geo. E. Evans, a competent
Railroad Engineer, who.assisted Mr.. Ran
dali in the survey of fthe..'Rutland and
| Woodstock Railroad, who speaks quite
| plainly in reference to criticism Of the
| Rutland Independent on the survey of the
Woodstock route.
LOWELL, Mass, Jan. 9Th, 1869.
JOHN CAIN, EsQ.-Dear Sir: / noticed
in the Rutland paperssan account of the
town meeting on the 23d ult., at which il
was voted to bond the town in aid of the
| Rutland and Woodstock Railroad. Hav.
| ing had something to do with the prelim.
mary survey of the route, / naturally feel
| an interest in whatever is done toward
| the building of the road, and am glad to
| see SO much energy put forth to that end
/ think, however, that one of your co
temporary journals must be very strongly
in favor of the route known as the Kill
ington or Healdville route, as it seem to
advocate that route in preference to the
Chittenden route.
That is proper if the proprietor himself
thinks the killington route the best one,
but it seems to me that Rutland's interest
lies wholly with the Chittenden route.
But as | am not citizen Of Rutland, 1t
may not be proper for me to discuss this
question. There is one feature, however,
in the discussion of the journal in ques-
ton, that | do feel at liberty to refer to.
1t seems to me that its inslnuations that
the engineer who made the survey of the
Chittenden route Mr.. Randall, is ilc0nl-
peteitt to make the survey, and also, by
implication that he has made an untruth-
full report of the same, is. simply ridicu-
ldus and wholly uncalled for.
/ speak not of the part which | took in
that survey, nor of my own abilities as an
engineer, but of Mr.. Randall; and think
the people of Rutland and vicinity ought
to know, and will some day know if they
do not already, that Mr.. Randall is not
only competent to make the survey of,and
to build the Rutland and Woodstock Rail
road, but to survey and build any other
road which will be likely to be built III
Vermont or any other state very soon.
know not your opinion on this subject,
and should not allude to it here, had not
one of the newspapers in the same town
with Mr. Randall undertaken to do him
an injustice in this matter.
l do not see how the journal in question
presumes TO Judge of the correctness OF
Mr.. Randalrs report, when the report has
not been made public, or if it had, in the
absence of any proof that he has misrepre-
scented the practicability of the route.
Now, it happens that had something
to do with the making of the survey, the
maps and profiles; and l think the survey
was very thorough one for preliminary
survey.
have had some experience as an engin-
eer under and with some of the best
engineers in the country, with Messrs.
Weston, Walker, Linsley, Green, Grant,
Barker, Campbell and Sumner, and | feel
competent to judge of Mr.. Randalrs com
potency, and | am astonished to see any
one who knows him, call in question his
ability.
/ know not, and care not, how much or
how little experience he may have had in
the field, but [ know from my association
with him and from tollosriHg him across
tie Green Mountains from RU9dtd 10
Woodstock, that no man with whom | am
acquainted, would have made a better
survey. 1t was Mr.. Randall's solicitude
all the way, to be as expeditions as possi-
BILE, for, as he often told us, the money to
pay for the survey was raised by voluntary
subscription, and be wished to make the
cost as little as possible, and | think he
did so, and it is an outrage for any man
or any Journal to find fault with him.
Mr.. Randall, as chief of party, looked
out the route, | ran the line, and Mr.. Wy
man ran the levels And here let me say
that Mr.. Wyman, TOO, did his duty in a
very acceptable manner.
Pardon this long letter. | have been
prompted to write it by the injustice
which | think one of the Rutland papers
has attempted to do Mr.. Randall and his
party of engineers
Mr. Randall, perhaps, don't need this
defense, but could not Withhold it from
you.
When newspapers, shall have become
to instruct him in any scientific
department which he undertakes, there
will have been wonderful change
wrought in newspapers.
Very truly yours,
H.