Litchfield enquirer., 1871-05-04
The shepaug Valley Railroad.
ITS COMPLETION, THIS SUMMER, ENSURED ALL THE BONDS OFFERED ($35O, ,OOO), TAKEN.

ALL THE BONDS OFFERED ($a5O, ,OOO), TAKEN.
 It isnow certain that the Sbepang. rail. road will beopened this fall. The only remaining dificulty in the way of its speedy completion, las been retnoysd by the taking (chieAy by residents of this town), of the whole $35O, 900 ofsits bonds lately offered to stockholders. This sum. with the lnstallmentso of stock not. yet called in, is abundantly sufficient to iron and equip the road, build the station houses. finish construction, fencing &c., and, in short, put it in running order to Hawley- vile. The contract requires construction to be completed by September 1st., and this undertaking must and will be fulfilled,
 Being ourselves considerably interested in the stock of this road. but owning none of it's bonds, we feel at liberty to express our great satisfaction at the defnitive set clement of this question of bonds. The selling price (85 cents on the dollar) is not lower than the bonds of the best non -com- pleted roads are netting their owners, this year. They are all taken by persons in terested in and resident upon the road, which of itself ensures fair play to the stockholders, and the whole of the profits of the venture to our own people. The amount being taken so promptly secures the completion of the road without delay, and also gives high value to the securi- ties. While the large amounts taken by those best acquainted with the condition and prospects of the road (Mr. Edwin McNein alone taking $125. .Oo0,, indicates confidence in it's future which ought to be re-assuring to stockholders as we'll as to those who have invested in it's bonds.
 Now that all the real obstacles in the way of building railroad from Litchfield to Hawleyville are removed, and its successful completion is ensured, brief retrospect may not be out of place. The result is a wonderful example of what community really in earnest and really united can &C., complish. When the matter of town vot- ing began, the prospect, out of Litchfeld, was not. encouraging, But the more the project was discussed, the more friends it gained, till at last, one after another, all the towns through which. the road actually runs, fell into line. Then came the matter of private subscription, and, with $50, ,OOO to raise at the outset, it seemed very for
 lorn hope indeed; but hard work, especial. ly on the part of the indefatigable presi. dent of the company, and a liberal response from persons interested on the line. ran the total town and private subscription up to $4O0, ,0OO, sum considerably larger than had been anticipated. Then the cor rectness of the engineers estimates were tested and proved by contract within the sum named. one-tenth of which, also, was to be paid in stock. Under this contract construction has been going on, without serious strikes or delays, and substantial saving has been made by various engineer ing changes and improvements. There still loomed up the bond problem which was no sooner reached. however, than il -A --:Al Ai- z-:-l, 1--i~s s.I.a OaCisfauto.y solution stated above. The smooth work. ing of Shepaug matters since construction commenced as compared with the troubles of other corporati ons who are engaged in building railroads in this and other States, is most encouraging He must be a very expert grumbler, or a very bitter opponent of the Shepaug Valley Railroad, that can find ground for complaint in the present condition of the enterprise. .e=.
 While other towns on the line have done nobly, Litch6eld is certainly entitled to the chief praise. Not only are it's town and private stock subscriptions larger than those of any other town in proportion, and more than half of the whole; but it ha. taken nearly the whole issue of bonds making it's total investment in the center prise more than one quarter the whole amount of it's grand list. When the ques tion of the division of the old county comes up in the legislature, this year, we vii agree in advance that the representative. of any town that has given as much, in pro portion, to public enterprises as Litchfield
 may taunt us, as of old, with being ''unen
 terprising." sleepy" ''dead' even. w imagine that on those terms the debate
 would not "consume much valuable time.
 EVERY SATURDAY for May 6, has double page view, Opening of the Royal Hall O
 Arts and Sciences; Portrait of Jame, Gordon Bennett; capital sketch of tn,
 Prussian Left Behind' who tramps stur
 dily along with his needle gun over hi shoulder looking back at the crowd O ieerinQ Frenchmen with ar, air and exnras