The Portland daily press., 1871-09-18
The Portland Il Rochester Railroad;
Will in Pave

To those of our citizens who have doubts
as to whether the P. & r. Road will pay, if
any such there are, we commend an exami-
nation of the following figures, showing the
gross receipts of one of the best paying rail-
roads in the country at the time it was OPEN
ed, and for some years subsequent. We al
lude to The Worcester & Nashua r. r.. which
IS soon to be extended TO this town and cor
nected with the Portland & Rochester. This
road was opened from Worcester to Nashua
(ab0ut the same distance as from Rochester to
Portland) in 1S4S, and the gross receipts foi
the year aterit was opened were sos, 125.-
"a; increasing gradually from year to year
until 1860, when they reached $685., 1866 SO :; in
1868, $251 ,02403; and in 1870 about $780, 700.
The year preceding the opening of the road
the gross receipts were at the rate of about
$4,000 per year.
The stock of this road stood at about $40
per snare alter it was opened. Il is now worth
ABOUT Sl4O. The gross receipts of the Port
i nn hochester II. X. were last year $74-
OOO or more than double the receipts of tbe
w. d N. the year before its completion: and
we are informed that Notwithstanding 1T has
DeeE opened for business less than two
months, and has not got fairly advertised as
through Road, its receipts are double what
they were last year at the same time, and the
prospect is they will reach $4,000 at the end
of the year from the time of its opening.
which will be 70 per cent. more than the
earnings OF the Worcester q Nashua and
about oO per cent. more than those of the p
>. d 7. X. X. the first year after it was OMEN
ed from Portmouth to Portland
WIN SUCH an amount of local business.
which must rapidly increase as the snendid
water powers along its route are developed
the predictions OF its most sanguine friends in
regard to its receipts alter making its con-
nections with the Nashua q Rochester roads.
will be likely to fall short the reality. There
is nothing more astonishing in the history of
business enterprises, than the steady and ra-
pld increase OF business on all the railroad
lines of the country. Whatever fluctuations
occur in other branches of business, the trans
portaton of freight and passengers steadily
increases with the increasing population of
the country. The average cost of railroads
IN ~ me u >. is about $4,000 per mile. In
Enelanu the average cost is about S15OOOO
per innsi anu yet, at this high rate, railway
stocks are the best paying Investments in that
country. As we approximate to ENGLAND in
population, our roads will approximate to
theirs in value, and as the first cost ner mill
is so much less than that of the English Roads
the dividends will be correspondence greater
Ii appears ain ost incredible that at the time
the Boston 81 Maine railroad was first open
ed, its stock was refused to be taken in pay
ment Of demands against it at $40 per share,
while now it is worth S150-and is as certain
to advance as that population and business is
TO increase along its line.
The Portland and Rochester road has as fair |
prospect for business as the Boston & Maine |
iau Tue first month after its opening, and yet
49, are IS some SO stupid as to depreciate its
faiti' - mere was some excuse iGr want of
+ ,a,.I = II the Boston d Maine and the Worce
Laoe ~ N"suua railroads when thew wara hill
we had no " Snch hg was an experiment and
70 inGge Of I tb uata as We now have bv which
rence to guide us, we can MAIL, wdin past ezpe-
sonapie certainty In IT gard to tSe VIII; WIN rea-
business on line where the ei Iaciease OF
business exist. A direcU-the mos n tents OF
line from Portland to New Yorl, e., oirect-
ing the best water-powers in New Eno loss
passing through such important nIaeaa
Rochester, Nashua, Worcester and Noru,;aaIss
by one line; to Rutland, via Concord Gu
mont and Cavendish by another: and aiso
with Lowell and Boston. cannot
fail to be one of tbs best paying lines in New
England. The people of Rochester have not
fairly walked up TO the advantages of fheir 20.
Courier.