Litchfield enquirer., 1871-09-21
From the Courant t.ii THE CONNECTICUT WESTERN RAIL. s.4.4-tsR ROAD.

ITS APPROACHING coMPLETIoN--CARs Tt
 REACH HARTFORD BY THANKSGIVING DA, --CELEBRATIoN AT NORFOLK YESTERDAY
 sPEEcHEs, PRESENTATION, COLLATION., ETC
 The Connecticut Western railroad i
 nearly finished, and by Thanksgiving day
 at the farthest limit, the managers agree te
 run their trains to and from Hartford, tn.
 eutiie length of the road. In view of tht
 fact that we are thus about to have anothcl
 running road added to the many that al
 ready center in Hartford, and considering
 too. that every tax payer in the city is { stcckholder in the enterprise, since we hay.
 paid for $75O, 900 worth of stock, it may b,
 well to give brief review of the condition
 and prospects of the organization. Owing
 in great measure to the earnest and per
 severing efforts of Mir. E. T. Butler, of Nor
 folk, charter was secured for this roa6
 three years ago, with the provision thai
 towns should be allowed to subscribe to the
 stock. Subscriptions were secured so that
 work was begun about two years ago. and
 the grading has already been finished
 Two gangs of men have been busy laying rails for some time in opposite directions,
 from Millerton, N. Y, on the Harlem rail
 road, and New Hartford, Conn.,, toward
 Norfolk, as their common objective point.
 The difficulties of laying an east and west
 road through any part of New England are
 so great as to have discouraged many pre-.
 vlous attempts, the geological formation of
 the country. since the 'uplifts" all run
 north and sonth, opposing any attempts at
 all but valley railroads.
 Under such obstacles there must be ex. traordlnary inducements for undertaking to build directly against tbe course of na- ture; but these inducements there appeared to be and the road is essen tially built. The number of connections, for way travel, will be very large, the Naugatuck, Housatonic, Harlem and other roads being in its direct way. At Tarifville projected road from Springfield will meet 1t and at Mlllerton connections will be made with the Duchess and Columbia, and the Poughkeepsie and Eastern roads, both now running. From this point (Millerton) it is but nineteen miles to Rhinebeck on the Hudson oppo- site the termination of the Delaware and Hudson canal, and road is projected to connect these points, thus meeting also the Midland railroad of New York. The Duchess and Columbia road connects with the Erie at Fiskill so that the finished Con- necticut Western becomes formidable ri- val for the unfinished Boston, Hartford and Erie for the coal trade of all inland New England. The grades are necessarily heavy, the steepest being long one between Winsted and Norfolk, of 89k feet to the mile. The summit at the top of this grade is over 1,3OO feet above the level of Hart ford. There being no other grade so heavy, western bound trains, when requir- mg 1t, will have extra hslp 4ra; s6ts will no such grades. The work of blasting has been accomplished ,y means of nitro-glycerine, the wonder ul effects of which are visible at every cut. l The two gangs of track layers were to unite It Norfolk last week. and the citizens of hat place decided accordingly to celebrate he event when it should occur, which was o have been last Thursday, but the road owing to delay with supply of iron was unable to appear. Saturday was then set, put the road was still delayed, 80 that the citizens decided upon Tuesday, whether he road should be completed there on that lay or not. The connection was not act ,ally made, but the two divisions drew closer md closer to each other all day and by night the extremities were but little fur her apart than the opposite sides of the Edwards street bridge in this city, which nave stood unconnected for the last six months, and their prospect of junction was much better. The engines were in sight in each direction, and their bells and whistles sounded together. The people of Norfolk began to assemble dur ing the morning. and at noon carried din- ner to the laborers on the road. When that had been disposed of, the citizens formed procession and marched into the green, where Mir. J. K. Shepard. president of the day, called the meeting to order and delivered a short speech of welcome to those present. Rev. MT. Eldridge offered a prayer and then occurred an intermission of half an hour to enjoy the collation. which had been prepared by and was in charge of the ladies of the place. . -'Fa 1. ..
 When again called to order the Rev. Mr. Eldridge made few remarks, stating that ten years ago the idea of railroad in Nor folk was considered simply chimerical, but that the few visionary persons who did be- lieve in such a possibility had brought about the the results that the day was wit messing. He complimented Mir. Barnum of Salisbury, president of the road, on his business ability and alluded to the advan- tages of entrusting the road to successful man. He hoped that the management would always be above clques and rings, that the engineers would be faithful that no ''Norwalk" would mark this road with horrors and that the baggage masters would never learn to be baggage smashers. He al CIV several lessons from the new road, pointing out the new demand for punctu- ality, the evil of lost opbortunities and the need of keeping on the right track.
 After him MT. D. T. Butler gave brief historical account of the road, apologizing for the fact that in discussing its early his. tory he should have to mention himself somewhat. He told how the road had grown out of mere plan to get road through Norfolk and the failure of several other plans, into the Connecticut Western railroad. It had been at one time expected that the Boston, Hartford and Erie railroad would take this route, at another that a branch road would be built, but now this great thoroughfare was in the center of thir village. He alluded to the prospects of the road and declared that it's real honor rested
 upon MT. GeorgesH Brown, president of the Duchess and Columbia railroad.
 MT. Brown followed him, saying that ii l he heard of the way he was to be spoken ot he should not have dared to come, but that | he had once, in fun, promised MT. Butler. three years ago, that if ever there should
 be a railroad celebration in Norfolk he would attend, and so he came to see the joke fact. He gave an interesting account of his search after feasible route to con l - Aio n,,Anloeo and (yoInmhia rnad witf