The Portland daily press., 1873-09-25
The Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad.

Pursuant to The requirements of the act of
the Legislature authorizing Portland to lend its
credit to the Portland & OgdensEurg Railroad,
the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, with sew
efal other city officials made trip of observa-
tion over the line of the road to note its condi-
tion 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 regiou.
Since the opening of the Spring, the road has
been completed in a workmanlike manner from
North Conway to Upper Bartlett, a distance of
about thirteen miles. From this poiut the
grading is nearly completed to the old Mount
Crawford House, or the place of DR.. Bemus,
distance of six miles from Upper Bartlett. This
distance could be put in readiness for the iron
this Fall, but there is no object in laying it be-
fore next summer, when the travel begius.
From Bemus' place through the hotch to the
Crawford House, the distance is eight and
half miles, as surveyed for the railroad, and
affords some of the rarest scenery in New Eng
and. The country cannot be said to be very
favorable to ralroading, yet it seems that that
gap was made or rather left through the twelve
or fifteen miles of mountains for some other
purpose than to give the little pond on the other
side a chance to become the head waters of the
Saco. OF this last piece eight and half miles,
the full surv y of the line has been made, and
on more than half it the heavy timber has been
cut off. T. E. Peverly, Esq, an engineer of
extensive and long experience, has the imme
date superintendent 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.. Peverly
says it is not so difficult as it looks. The rock
is full of seams and can, to a great extent, be
easily removed. On the steep hillsides it can
be split off in slabs, which will fall out of the
way. The eight and half miles from Bemus'
through the notch, as surveyed, las an average
grade of 102 feet to the mile, and the maximum
grade of any single mile is 116 feet Over this
distance there are several f1ats-and few short
grades the other way. As the greater part of
the freights will be from the West to the East,
the grades will be favorable to the line. This
grade appears pretty hard, but there are many
SitdtcI IIGiSHI IoduS tudu tuC L oitiauu ~ VIZ
densburg can reasonably be expected 10 be that
have sleeper grades than this through the
mountains For instance, the Baltimore &
Ohio, one Of the heaviest freighting roads of
the country, has eleven miles of road that av-
erages 116 feet grade TO the mile, and in some
places it is 100 feet, and this, too, against the
transportation, as the burden of freghts has
to be pulled up this heavy grade. The same
road has curves on radius of 800 feet, while
the sharpest curve on the mountain line is 637
feet Tne work on the eight and half miles is
of a nature that will not allow extensive gangs
of men and will doubtless be the last of the
road to be completed. .-
The whole length of the line from North
Conway to the Connecticut river, where
the Vermont section is met, is nearly fifty
miles. The western section is under the imme-
diate charge of S. L. Stephenson. The survey
has been completed and the party is now
making some tri6ing corrections Itis expected
that grating will begin on this part of the roa
this Fall, as sub-contractors have been looking
over the line. 1t has been suggested that this
part of the road should be completed as early
as possible and run by the Vermont division. so
as to make the distance to travel as short as
possible. When the iron is laid to Bemus', it
will not be worth while to lay any more until
the mountain section is completed as it could
not be used.
Good judges say there is no better road in the
country than the Portland & Ogdensburg, as
far as it has been completed 1t is the smooth.
est riding road that can he found. There is an
impression that more men might be worked to
advantage now that the surveys are fully COM
pleted.
New industries are springing up all along the
road and the amount of freight is increasing
largely. H. N. Jose, Esq, is. building very
large saw-mill at Upper Bartlett, which, when
put in operation, will contribute a large amount
of freight
The summer houses are nearly all closing.
but there is no more desirable season to visit
the mountain region than at this season of the
year, when the foliage of the mountain sides is
gorgeous with its myriad hues.