St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-10-03
The Portland g. ogdensburg Railroad.
Pursuant to the requirements of t

Pursuant to the requirements OF the
act of the Legislature authorizing Port
land to lend its credit to the Portland
& Ogdensburg Railroad, the Board OF
May0r and Aldermen, with several 9TH
er city officials. made trip OF observa-
ton over the line of the road to note It's
condition and the progress OF the work.
A portion of the party passed through
the notch and were shown the location
of the road through the mountain re-
gion.
Since the opening of the Spring, the
road has been completed i'll a work
manlike manner FROM North Conway to
Upper Bartlett, IL distance of about
thirteen miles. From this point the
grading is nearly completed to the old
Mount Crawford House, or the place of
DR.. Bemus, a distance OF nearly SIX
miles from Upper Bartlett. This dis
lance could he put in readiness for the
iron this Fall, but there is no object i'll
LAYING it before next summer, when the
travel begins From Bemus' place
through the notch to the Crawford
House, the distance is eight and half
miles, us surveyed for the railroad, and
affords some of the rarest scenery in
New England. The country cannot be
said to be very favorable to railrOading,
vet it seems that that gap was made or
rather left through the twelve or fifteen
miles of mountains for some other pur-
pose than to give the little pond on the
other side Il chance to become the head
waters of the SacO. OF this last piece,
eight and a half miles, the full sur
vey of the line has been made, and on
more than half of it the heavy timber
has been cut off. T. f. Poverty, Esq,
an engineer of extensive and long eXpe-
rience, has the immediate superintend-
ence of the surveying of the notch east
He went through with the party and as
far as possible pointed out the line. As
is generally known, the proposed line
runs along the sides of the hills on the
eastern side of the SacO. There are
places where the work of grading will
be very great. but Mr.. Poverty says it
is not so difficult as it looks. The rock
is full of seams and can, To Il great eX
tent, be easily removed. On the steep
hillsideS it can he split off i'll slabs,
which will fall out of the way. The
eight and Il half miles from Bemus'
| through the notch. as surveyed. has an
average grade of ltt2 feet to the mile.
and the maximum grade of amy single
mile Is 10 feet. over this distance
there are several flats and Il few short
grades the other way. As the greater
part of the ircightS will he from the
West to the East. the grades will be IA,
v"rablc to the line. This grade appears
pretty hard but there are many greater
freight roads than the Portland \ Og-
dcnShUrg can reasonably lac expected to
he. that have sleeper grades than this
through the mountains. For instance.
the Baltimore X Ohio. one of the hcav-
lest trcightimg roads of the country.
has eleven miles of road that averages
| III feet grade to the mile. and in some
places ii is l2O feet. and this. too.
against the transportation, as the bur
den of trcight> has to he pulled up this
heavy grade. The same road has curves
on radius of 300 feet. while the sharp
est curve on the mountain line is 6:}7
feet. The work on the eight aud Il half
miles is ola nature that will not allow
extensive gangs of men and will doubt
less bc the last of the road to bc COM
plctcd.
The whole length of the line from
North Conway to the Connecticut river.
nearly fifty miles. The western sec
ton is under the Immediate charge of
;. l.. Stephenson. The survey has been
completed and the party is now max
ing some tIitling corrections 1t is eX-
pected that grading will begin on this
part of the road this Fall. as sub-cou-
tractors have been looking over the
line. 1t has been suggested that this |
mart nt I la rand Sl,t,ll Ia, l.
early Us possible and run by the Yer f.
mont division. 50 us to make the dis |
lance t" travel as short as possible. I
When the iron Is laid tn Bemus. it will /
not he worth while To lay any more uu- /
I'll the mountain section is completed as .
II could not he used.
Good judges say there is no better
road III the country than the Portland '
\ Ogdensburg. as far us it has been I.
completed. 1t is the Smoothest riding
road that can bc found There is an
impression that more men might he
worked to advantage now that the sur
Neys are fully completed.
New Industries are springing up all
along the road and the amount of
freight is increasing largely. IL. y.
Jose, Esq. is building Il very large saw
mill at Upper Bartlett. which when put
in operation. will contribute large
of freight.
The summer houses are nearly all
closing. but there is no more desirable
season to visit the mountain region than
At tins season of the year. when the TO-
llage OF the mountain sides is gorgeous
with its myriad hueS.-PortIand Press.
Sept. %.