Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1873-01-10
.N.sRROUeGs R.sILU.sI'S.

The revolution in the methods and loca-
ton of business, and in the values Of prop
erty and industrial productions, wrought
by steam and electricity-building up here,
as by magic, and ruthlessly pulling down
there--has penetrated every part of the
civilized world. There Is no spot that has
not felt the change, in greater or less de-
gree, in all the business, moral social and
domestic relations of life. Places where,
but few years ago, nature reigned in soli-
tude, have suddenly become the centres of
busy life, of gigantic business enterprises,
with rapidly increasing wealth, cultivation
and refinement; while thousands of once
thriving villages and hamlets, and beauti-
full and fertile valleys and hillsides, whose
prosperity antedates, by scores of years,
the advent of the steam engine, now lam
guish in neglect and decay. This Is partic-
ularly true of those inland localities in
mountainous districts like Vermont, and,
indeed the whole of New England, isolated
from the great lines Of railroad travel and
traffic. The industrial productions of these
districts are gradually, but surely, dimin-
ishing from year to year, attended by a cor
responding reduction in the value of prop
erty; and, what is of far graver import,
the population is also decreasing In even
greater ratio. The deficiency in the pro-
duction of corn and wheat can be supplied
from the great prairies of the west; but
where, in coming generations, shall we
look for the men and the women, whom
these now neglected hills and valleys have
produced, whose physical energy, and NOR
al and intellectual vigor and cultivation,
have moved and controlled business and
society,"
| Such facts as these have led rejecting
men to gravely consider the causes that
have produced this deplorable condition of
affairs, and to seek out and apply, 80 far as
possible, any adequate remedy that may
be found 1t is obvious that the impend-
ing evil can only be averted, and these
once tlourishing and populous regions be
rescued from becoming, in the lapse OF
time, almost the waste places Of the earth,
| by the interposition CT agencies that shall
| increase their material prosperity. And it
| is almost equally plain that this can be
| permanently done only by securing for
| them, to the extent practicable in each case,
the saline facilities of travel and transporta-
tion,-the same methods of rapid and cheap
business and social intercourse with the
world, as are enjoyed by more favored To-
calities. Broad gauge railroads, upon
which alone, until within a very brief pc
riod, the public depended for these facili-
ties, are 50 costly, both in construction and
operation, as to be beyond the means, as
well as beyond the present and prospective
| requirements of most of the remote and
sparsely populated districts now destitute
and consequently must be dismissed, in q
majority of cases, as impractcable. Adj
hitting this to be the fact, the problems to
be solved are, LIST: "Can any railroad, which
will furnish the requisite facilities, be built
and operated so cheapy, as to come within
the means of the regions requiring them p
And, IDLY, "Will what is known as the
narrow-gauge railroad meet these condi-
| tons ?"
The writer, after careful investigation o
the whole subject, aided by such authori
ties as were conveniently accessible has ne
hesitation in answering both of these quos
tons in the affirmative. The facts and con
illusions arrived at are presented below
arranged, for convenience, under appropr
ate heads. The facts set forth, while pre-
tending to be only approximate, have beer
obtained from the best available sources
and are believed to be substantially reia
BILE. Even if, through lack of skillful hand
ling, they throw but little light on the sub
ject in hand, about which the public ha
nearly every thing yet to learn, they may
at the least, serve to draw attention to, anC
excite wider and more lively interest il
this whole matter, so vital TO New Eng
land and especially to Vermont