The Portland daily press., 1869-11-26

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Ogdensburg.

opponents reply, WeakenS MS cause ana dam-
ages mainly himself.
The stale cry of "stipendary" Of the Mon
treal interest, deceives no one in Portland
any more than that, year and more ago, OF
my being in the pay of Boston. The silly
talk that served to enliven the brainless gas
conade of public meeting in Portland can
not aid much in building a line of railway
from Portland to Ogdensburg. Not being
able to concur in the opinion of certain advo-
Gates of that measure, l have since enjoyed
the distinction which comes of their opposi-
ton. But this sort OF talk deceives no one
and harms no one but those who fabricatt
falsehCOds.
On careful examination of all information
within my reach; and tolerable famillarit!
with the country between OgdensDurg ant
Portland, failed to discover the wisdom 0
building line OF railroad through the White
Mountain Notch by way OF ST. JohnsDur.
and the Lamolle Valley to Ogdensburg. Bu
in expressing my opinions, L have intended
no injustice to OgdensburS, its business or lt
people. They are bound to do all that is pos
sble for the prosperity Of their town, ant
they have undoubtedly been mised, havin!
build such line, to have full control OF
route from Ogdensburg to.the sea.
1t will be obvious to every man Of business
and to all those fimiliar with railroad move
ments, that capital cannot be obtained for Sc
vast work as the one in question, when the
all but universal admission on all sides is, thai
such line, If bull, can never pay its running
expenses.
Portland can build a line of railway to Sc
bago Lake and to the State line at Fryburg
and pocket the loss. We have only to double
one years taxes in Portland, to pay the STA,
300 subscribed to the stock of the Portland
and Ogdensburg railroad. And t is no more
than fair that this sum should be raised by
tax the coming year. Many think it would be
better to donate this sum OF S714,300 at once,
to the managers, rather than to entail
perpetual loss and curse, to the city, by keep
ing up a line that will not pay.
L do not give this as my opinion, for q
cheap line, by the valley of the Saco, touching
the mouth of the Ossipee river, by the most
direct route, making use as far as possible OF
the Portland & Rochester line, will have
some value, and Portland need not suffer
much in her credit by adopting such course
in season. But let it once be believed, that
Portland is to build the line of railway to
Ogdensburg, striking down, or at, all Other
enterprises on the way, as proposed-the cred
it of the city and all the property in the city
would feel it in every nerve, pore and ave-
nue..
Coming to the question in issue, the expe-
diency of attempting to build line of railway
from Portland to the West,-to reach western
trade,-we mnst look at Ogdensburg, Oswego
and Montreal as commercial points, an6
their chances for business in the future fol
lowing the safe guide ofexperlence in project
ing new lines of communication. There is nC
doubt of the great capacity of the water
frontage at Og1ensburg, any more than thera
is of the capacity of Castine or Wiscasset har
bors, for the transaction of great CONNER
cial business, il the business would only come
there. We have plenty OF harbor room in Maine
and have always had it;-North Yarmouth
Freeport and Brunswick competing with
Portland, but have done but little, toward
building up great cities at these points. There
are places between Ogdensburg ard Oswego,
with splendid frontage on deep water, upon
the st. Lawrence and the Lakes, but this
dooe not justify the building OF railroad tc
one OF these points to tap the Lake trade
western trade, has become sufficiently devel'
oped to show what are the commercial points
on the st. Lawrence waters, at any rate be-
low Lake Huron.
A deep ship channel enables ocean steam
ers and sailing vessels to reach Montreal
They can never 60 farther up. A lake chan
mel, recently constructed through st. Clai
flats, enables propellers of 1900 tons burthe1
to run from Chicago to Buffalo. The deel
waterrs of Lake Ontario and st. Lawrence
river above Ogdensburg, enables large steam
ers and sailing vessels to run from Ogdeus-
burg to the various deep harbors upon the
lake, and steamers of lighter draft to enter al
her shallow harbors. Lake Ontatioincludins thu
st. Lawrence above the rapids, is navigabl'
island sea its chief town on the American
side is Oswego, and on the Canadian side, To
ronto.
The question for capitalists and men o
business to ascertain, is, to what points here
after, the business of Lake Ontario will con
verge. Some yet hope for the Niagara shi
canal, so that large steamers, larger thai
those passing the Welland canal may pass ou
of Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, forming
connected line of transit by water, between
Chicago and Ogdensburg, and all ports on th(
lake.
am one of those who have been forced to
give up all hope OF the Niagara ship canal il
my day. But for the sake of argument, viii
assume that the Niagara ship canal IS to b
built forthwith, and steamers of 1900 ton
burthen pass from Chicago to Ogdensburg
Would such work make Ogdensburg grea
commercial point, greater relatively than sh'
is now? I l1ink not, and will give my rea
sons
In the first place, if a large ship canal i
built from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, a de
would at the same time be constructed to thu
navigable waters OF the st. Lawrence at Mon
treal, descent of 23l feet, and into LAX,
Champlain a descent OF 153 feet only iron
the st. Lawrence at Ogdensburg and sea go
ing ships would pass from Chicago to Europ
and return, without stopping at Ogdensbur
either way. Chicago and Buffalo would no
consent to the Niagara ship canal, unless th
st. Lawrence and Champain canals are ais
provided. Such ship canals upon the st. Law
renee waters, are too remote to enter into thi
discussion.
With the present condition of rail and Wa
ter transit, what is now the practical thing t
be done? The railways are cutting into tn
"Lake business" as water transportation
called, at every point upon the Lakes and 81
Lawrence waters. Go TO Cleveland, Buffalo
Detroit and Chicago, all tell the same story.
The great Touring establishments at Osweg'
attract vast grain trade to that port, which
finds outlet through the railways and canals
to New York city. Montreal draws to he
harbor large grain trade-sent through thu
st. Lawrence in the summer months, and u
New England and the lower British province
all the year round by the Grand Tr,mk line
A cut off built from Island Pond to Montreal
reducing the distance to 250 miles, making tn
outlet by way of POI ltland, the shortest oD
possible between the St Lawrence watsS.o
and the open sea, will add to the impp'"i''e
of Montreal and help Portland als9od hv tho
The Ogdensburg road was s~..TW noof ut onI
Boston people after their dses' ;,nndn a. mo AZ
in 1S45, who built c-.in eo, oi Ia 100 % ao
miles in len eth, at a cost y, @-'''io'0o'' "
cure the st. Lawrence uaue.
s.~e che names of the companies, length
of line and cost of the different sections
which GO to make up what is popuarl,
known, as the Boston d Ogdensburg railroad
N-lne of Company. Length Of line. Cost of line
Boston u Lowell, 26 miles a. 4e4. SO
Nashua, IA Isl 10
Concord, 35 $40 90
Northern of n H., GO s., 40
Vermont Centra lO5 s,42 70.
Vermont & Canada, AZ 26e''0s,SS
Ugdensbuig, 1lS S,'a-,oao
M, S24 42f5,s39
emf lines as opened through. Inc Preseht
oost Of Son,sof them is now more tnat ,, OF lne
Varn,,sI Central is stated at vd0ooo'oOV w IA ana
vefpIN1U , Nodeneburg road S6S00,S ,S35, or 80 2l5,-
OF o. 'ue nonniing stock and debts wiped out with
out any interest. a., h,.z
nassed the Welland canal, could not run the
St. Lawrence rapids, and that by atfording an
outlet at a point at the head of the rapids,
with ample accommodations and all possible