The Portland daily press., 1870-02-26

He than gave brief and mastery sketch
of the history of railroads in this country and
England, going back to the Iram-road built
in 1926 to convey granite from the Quincy
Granite Company quarry 10 Neponset hiver'
He next gave an interesting account ct the
history of Boston and Lowell Railroad, one of
the earliest roads operated by steam in the
country and of which Col. George is the coun-
sci. He showed that the road was at first re-
oarded IS chimerical project and met all
sorts of opposition.
TO illustrate the slowness and costliness of
overland transportation in old horse mower
times he related how it took two weeks to
transport cannon to Lake Champlain in the
war of 1872, and the cost of TRANSFORMATION
exceeded that OF the cannon by several times.
Before the construction of the Erie Canal,
freights between New York and Buffalo cost
one hundred dollars per ton, and took month
in the transit. Now there are dozen trains
daily between those points, and freight is
conveyed for oIe-twentie. h of the old price
per ton. Speaking OF railroads, Ocean Steam
navigation: Paixhen guns, Iron-clad ships and
Minnie RIFLES Coz. George said they had COM
pletely changed the face of society.
The battle OF New Orleans would never
have been fought had there been an Atlantic
cable, Tor the treaty of Client was ratified on
the 4th OF Dec. 1914 and the battle was fought
a fortnight after, because the news of peace
came by the slow-saling ship and horse pow
| er express, taking from six to eight weeks to
| reach New Orleans. Col. George said that
| rairoad-less towns were of no accou 1T nova
| days. They stood no chance in the COMPETE
| tiol of business, and were constantly decn-
| ing in wealth and population. To show this
he read some interesting statis tics of towns in
this State without railroads, and showed how
they had dwindled in population, in some
cases from thirty to fifty per cent. in the last
| decade, while towns on the lines of railroad
formerly OF little account, had become some
| of them cities, and were constantly increas-
| ing
| Col. George made powerful and convinc-
| ing argument in favor of railroad consolida-
| ton with special reference to Concord. He
| showed how consolidated lines cot rid of the
expense OF host of railroad officials and
could economic in fuel, locomotives and roll
ing stock, and at the same time were
operated far more effectually by one board
than by conflicting boards of management
he said that Concord could be made
the Springfield of New Hampshire by con-
solidatlon. In old times forty stage coaches
conferred here daily. 1t had dore more than
any other town in The State towards building
railroads. 1t might easily be made, flom its
central position the seat of all the repair
| shops of the various roads passing through it.
thus increasing its population by two thou.
sand. During his exhortation to the people
| to alouse their local spirit to a generous ri
valry with their neighbor, Manchester, Col
George was loudly and repeatedly applauded
| and when he began tC speak OF the Concord
and Rochester railroad, as if it was a
road already built, and leased for a
| long term OF years to the Concord railroad the
thunders of applause fairly shook the hall
Col George said he had the pleasure to an.
nounce authortatively that the road from
Bradford to Claremont was a fixed and inevi.
table fact and that it would be put under con.
tract within two weeks, thus leaving only the
link between Claremont and Cavendish, vt.
and Concord and Rochester to be put in tc
furnish direct railroad line between Port
land and the West.
Ihsappeal to the energy, enterprise and
selt-respect of the citizens of Concord to al
low not another twelve months to roll by
without direct communication between Port
4 land and Concord ria Rochester and the
manner IN which appeal was received
proved conclusively the intense interest fefI
by the citizens of central New Hampshire in
the opening up of new line between the
East and the West, via the interior.
Col. George, coniessedly one OF the leading
railroad lawyers in the country, made al
together most interestering address ani
| wound up by a kind word for his native city
OF Concord, speaking of the beauty of it's loca
tion, the elegance OF its public buildings, its
good order, and the enterprise and thrift o.
its merchants and mechanics, and wishing in
the language OF the Psalmist that "Peace
might be within its walls and prosperity with.
in its palaces" The meeting broke up with
three cheers for the eloquent speaker.
MERRIMAC.
1.-The above letter has been wandering
about in the mails for four days and only
reached us yesterday. This will explain the
| apparent neglect of the editors.l