The Portland daily press., 1871-07-10

So much attention has of late been gwen
TO the Ogdensburg road considered merely as
alocal enterprise, rendering the White Noun
tains and many other pleasant resorts access
ible to summer tourists, and bringing Portland
into more intimate business connectionswith
towns lying west of us in Maine and New
Hampshire, that the main purpose of It's pro-
jectors to make it great trunk line, consti-
tuting the shortest and most available rail-
road route for the transportation of Western
produce to the seaboard has been almost
forgotten. People have come to think of it
as a line running to the White Mountains
They have forgotten that there is Vermont
Division OF the road, and that under another
corporation that part of the line is being as
vigorously pushed forward as the Eastern
Division has been.
IL Is SO long since anything ineligible has
been published here concerning the progress
OF the Vermont Division of the Ogdens-
burg road, which will be united with the
Eastern Division nnder one name and one
management on the completion of the whole
line that we are glad TO find some definite
particulars in pamphlet just published at
st. Johnsbury by the officers of the road.
This division comprises the Montpelier and
st. Johnsbury and Essex County roads. as
well as the Lamoille Valley road, the latter
being part of the trunk and the two former
being branch lines. The total subscription to
the stock of these companies is ST. .2OO. 900.
and the first mortgage bonds which are now
put IN the market are expected TO furnish
sufficient means to complete the road. AS to
its present state of progress and other inter-
esting particulars quote from the pan,
phlet to which we have already referred 1t
states that the Eastern Division, now COM
pleted TO Conway, will be pushed through to
the Vermont State line by the close of 1872.
1t then says:
The middle, or as it is officially styled, the
Vermont Division, of the Through Line is
also well advanced, and preparations are
made for pushing the construction as fast as
is consistent with proper regard for econo-
my. 1t will be completed and in readiness
for operation by the time the Eastern Divis-
ION is READY to make the through connection.
About 40 miles are now graded, and upwards
OF 5000 tons of iron have. been bought and is
class, with but light grades.
This line, which is about III miles in
length, passes through the very best agricul-
tural portion OF Vermont, and through the
heart of the celebrated Franklin county dairy
district. Thirty-five towns in the State will
DO nearly all their transportation on this road,
ana some twenty others will contribute more
or less Excepting st. Johnsbury and Swan
ton, these towns are distant an average of 1fi
miles from any other railroad, and for the
entire business of a great majority of them
there can be NO competition. A telegraph
line is being constructed connecting Portland
with Swanton and Burlington, with GOOD
connections to all points South and West, in
Guiding the Dominion of Canada
rms Division is a conspicuous link in a
great East-and-West Trunk Line. 1t also
performs an important function in uniting
several railroads with which it must always
exchange more or less business. At Swan
Ton, the western terminus, it connects with
the Vermont and Canada railroad, forming
the direct line to Ogdensburg and the lines
reaching thence westward to Oswego, Roches-
Ter, Buffalo, Chicago, and the far West. At
me same point it intersects the Vermont and
canada junction Railroad, establishing an
addltlOnal and shorter route between Portland
ana Montreal, and also through it connec-
lion with the Lake Champlain, Rensselaer,
and Saratoga, and Hudson River lines. At
St,JOhnsbury it connects with the Connecti-
cut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad. and
through it with the Grand Trunk Railway of
Canaea and also with the railroads in Massa.
chusetts, furnishing to large and flourishing
region the best outlet to Boston. Springfield
and New York.