Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-06-06
For the Free Press.
The Central Vermont and the Portland 0g
deusburg Roads.

The article in the FREE Press of May %,
from the Boston Advertiser, on the Central
Vermont and the Portland & 0gdensburg
Railroads, must have been written with
some distorted railroad map under the eye
of the writer, or else with partisan interest
that makes strange work',with directions and
distances, when he states that by the Port
land Il 0gdensburg route,-that is by the
Lamoille Valley, St. Johnsbury, Dalton and
Whitefeld, =" Burlington would have new
and direct connection with Boston by a
route shorter than any now existing" And
again, Its distances from Montreal to
tide water are less, its grades easier, and Its
local business promises to be larger"
That Burlington will be benefited by the
connection with the P. & 0. road is very
certain. 1t will open toit its old, and for
some years lost, business with northeastern
/ Vermont. If it can encourage to completion
the proposed road to Newport, or to Troy,
it will be the natural, and by far the
nearest. market town for large and
thriving portion of Vermont with which 1t
| has now no business; and besides, with the
! Canada roads projected, it would have the
/ shortest possible route to Quebec, almost
an air line in fact. Then Burlington will
have very direct communication with Port
| land. with which it has hitherto had almost
no business whatever. By this route Bur
linrton will be nearer Portland than it Is
to Boston. and only little more than half
as far from Portland as from New York :;
while Portland is much nearer to Europe
than either New York or Boston. The
situation and harbor facilities of Portland
are not ezcelled, if equalled, by either New
York or Boston. Its people are ambitious
and it bids fair to rival these greater cities
in few years.
But the railroad combinations which the
Adreriissr speaks of cannot help Boston.
Must take business away from it on both
sides. The route from Burlington to Bos-
ton Is not less by the Lamoille Valley, but
much greater. Take any good map and lay
rule on it from Burlington to Boston.
Nearly on this line lie West Randolph.
White River Junction, Nashua and Lowell.
These are all on the line of the Central Yer
mont L. Z. Most of the road lies in waving
lines north and east, at short distances.
Montpelier and Concord represent two OF
the more distant points.
Now with reference to this same air line,
let the eye run along the route Of the 7. and
o. road to Boston by the Adreriiser's route.
The whole route is way, and iaraway from
the straight line. 1t first crosses Vermont in
general direction very nearly east; at
Whiteield it is as far north as at Bur
lington. nearly one hundred miles farther
east and not forty miles nearer to Boston.
The P. and O. route crosses the Connec-
ticut River, sixty miles above the Central
crossing at White River Junction, meas
uring by an air line not by the course of
the river. and White River junction is in Il
straight line between Burlington and Boston.
Whatever else the p. and o. r. r. may do,
it can never serve the interests Of Boston
unless it be by preventing exorbitant tariffs
demanded on the Vermont Central and Rat
land roads ;.