Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-01-19
PgS 10 abroad.
land ITS POS.

lebanon Springs road, and Of
lnows what he is talking about
II, me Editor Of tie Republican, My
.,tentio, has been called to an article,
copied from your paper in regard to the
Lebanon Springs railroad, (since its con.
.oIidation with the Bennington and Rut.
land railroad, known as the Harlem Elk.
tension railroad, the writer of which
must have been misinformed. Allow me
to say in reply;
/. Mr. Park did not build the Lebanon
road to spite Troy, but went into it, to pro-
tect his large interest in the Bennington
and Rutland r. R., as any man had or has
right to do, ii being mere question OF
where tbeirinterest is best subserved. In
the building of this new road he was
aided largely by the towns and citizens
interested and by the large stockhoiders
Of the Harlem railroad.
2. There bas been no lease to annul by
Mr.. Vanderbilt to cause disagreement
L sch road is operated by an independent
orgapizatio and under mutual arrange
ments, as is usual between connecting
roads having interests in common. The
consol idation Of the Lebanon Springs and
ler the name of the Harlem Extension,
forming one line from Chatham -Four
Corners to Rutland. was done by and I'M
der the advice of the Commodore and his
views, were followed to the letter.
3. He did not know that the night
line was to be discontinued. 1t was the
result of the deliberate and unanimous
action of the directors at meeting when
he was not present, for the reason that to
make the connection with roads north
and south of it, they were compelled to
run their trains over the whole length OF
their road between Chatham and Rut-
land in the night, arriving and leaving
Rutland about one o'clock, thus afording
no accommodation to the local travel.
4. As the article in question states, the
business between Now York and Mon
tre4l has undoubtedly been overrated.
This mistake, imagine, has often been
made by the pioneers of new roads.
Where do you think the Boston and AL
htuy road would have stood to-day If it
had been dependent upon the through
traffic between Boston and Albany, even
with the New York Central and the far
west for feeders? Are your readers
aware that it is its local business which
has been its life j.? That less than ten per
cent. of the passengers carried and less
than twenty per cent. of its freight pass
over the. length of the road from
one city to the other That the earn.
ings for 1S42 were only $512,6SS, for
lS43 $573, 1892, for 1914 $753,7522 That
for several years it paid no dividends |?
Yet where can you find road standing
80 high as the Boston and Albany under
its present admirable management
5. The writer says: 1.-THE Lebanon
Springs road having virtually dropped out
AZ a link in through line, it is hard to
say what will become of it; the local
business between Chatham and Benning-
ton is hardly sufficient to pay for running
it," If this were true (which it is not
would it be surprising that road not vet
eighteen months old did not yet earn its
expenses2 We have seen that the West
ern road did not make dividends for sew
eral years,-indeed, not till its local bust
ness was developed. The truth is that
very large share of its earnings since it
was opened have been expended in per-
manent ways, such as ballasting, raising
the track, rights of way, depots, tools, etc,
and in repairing the road between Ben
nington and Rutland, which had been
run by the Troy and Boston road under
ten years lease that expired about three
years ago. This ten years use without
a new rail or scarce tie being put in,
left the road in such condition that
large expenditures for new iron, reweld-
ing the old, and for ties and relaying were
required. Now the whole line will com.
fax al
sequently will not draw 80 heavily upon
its earnings.
While the subject is open, it may not
be amiss to give some of the sources for
its ultimate local business:
l. The range of the Green Mountain,
between Bennington and Rutland, COM
prising an area of more than 100000
acres, ia one immense forest, almost value
less before the building of the Lebanon
Springs road. This new road has made
the forests acceeible to the furnace men of
the Housatonic and Harlem valleys
Both valleys are underlaid with the best
quality of iron ore in the eountry-in
tact, the only ore making the best quality
of iron for car wheels and other purposes,
where a superior quality of charcoal iron
il required. The numerous furnaces To-
Gated in the two valleys are using some
eight or ten millions of bushels of char
coal annually. They have so nearly ex-
hausted the supply of fuel for charcoal
that there was no inducement to build
new furnaces; in fact, some had closed,
and others would have been, but for the
opening of the Lebanon Springs road
rendering, as | have said, the forests of
Vermont accessible to the furnace men,
Already they have made large purchases
at half "a dozen points, erected perpetual
charcoal kline, and are beginning TO ship
large quantities of charcoal. This source
of supply will allow and encourage a
large increase of furnaces, and the supply
of iron ore and charcoal may now be con-
sidered inexhaustible.
9. Interspersed with the hard wood are
large quaint ties of spruce, hemlook, and
hard wood lumber. Arrangements are
now being made to develop one tract of
twenty-five or thirty thousand acres,
which alone will furnish in lumber and
charcoal rs much as two daily trains can
handle for the next fifteen years
3. The line of the road in Vermont
aoouuds with marble of superior quality,
which il fui ai-hing and will continue to
iuihiNH % iHIEu OI freight
4. Arrange ments have been made with
the Harlem Railroad for running con-
Meeting milk train, whereby milk de
hvered to the road at noon or after, will
be delivered in New York about midnight
ready to be served for breakfast. The
road passes through one of the best graz.
ing sections in the State. BY the census
OF 1865, there was on the line of the Le-
banon Springs division, 52,472 sheep, O..
599 cows, and 1889 other cattle. This
shows its capacity to double the supply of
milk row carried over the Harlem daily,
producing over half million of income
annually.
o. There are also large deposits of slate
Quarries were worked years ago, and the
slate hauled about thirty miles by teams
TO the river, and were abandoned only
from the heavy cost of transportation.
There is also an abundance Of blue lime
stone, making lime worth double that
from marble.
1 trust | have mentioned sources of