St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-07-20
THE FIRST THROUGH TRAIN
Great Rejoicing all along the Line.

The lOng-eXpected contamination of
the great railroad enterprise, in which
the citizens of this part of the state
have had so great an interest, took
place on Tuesday, the 18th inst, by the
laying of the last rail on the Vermont
Division of the Portland & Ogdens-
burg Railroad.
SPECIAL TRAIN OFFICERS AND VIsI-
TORS PRESENT.
At 9:l5 A. NJ. special train left this
place, containing the officers of the
road and some invited guests, to the
number of some 100, to witness the
ceremony. Among the prominent rail-
road men on the train were Pres't Hor-
ace Fairbanks of the Essex Co. and St.
Johnsbury and Montpelier Railroads :;
Waldo Brigham, Pres't of the Lamoille
Valley r. R.; Col. A. B. Jewett, sup't 4;
Chas. H. Stevens, general passenger
and freight agent; Col. Albert w.
Hastings, treasurer; Geo. E. Howe,
master mechanic A. C.. Mitchell, chief
engineer; j. H. George, clerk. The
directors were also represented by
Judge Poland, Judge Morrill,, j. w.
Hartshorn, S. S. Gould, Judge Bell,
diff Abel, ID. D.Wead, etc. The Maine
Division was represented by J. Hamil-
ton, sup't Hon. John B. Brown, Geo.
E. B. Jackson, Gen. Richardson, ex-
mayor of Portland, and others. Quite
a number of citizens from this and
towns along the route joined the party,
until four cars were crowded when the
end of the iron was reached. The train
was in charge of that model railroad
conductor, Mr.. S. w. Parkhurst, while
the locomotive. "Swanton" was man
aged by the experienced engineer, Mr..
Alanson Burt, who has run his machine
into ST. Johnsbury for over 25 years.
THE LAST RAIL LAID-THE LAST SPIKE
DRIVEN.
The last rail was laid in the town of
Fletcher, some 90 miles from st. Johns
bury and 30 miles from Swanton. On
reaching this point, a large crowd of
people was found who had previously
arrived on train which came in from
SwantOn. On discriminating, it was
found that the rails were all down but
two, and these were speedily put in
place by the wOrkmen and spiked to
the ties, and when the last nail was
ready to be driven, Col. Jewett stepped
forward and addressing Gov. Fairbanks
as chairman of the Executive Commit
tee, spoke Substantially as follows:
SPEECHES BY COL. JEwETT AND GOV.
FAIRBANKS.
As Superintendent it becomes nv
pleasing duty to inform you on behalf
of the Directors that the last rail is laid
on our road, and that the State of Yer
mont is bound together by another
railway from the Connecticut river to
Lake Champlain. Another route is new
open from the seabOard to the Great
West. None knows better than you of
our trials, our anxieties, nor of the pa
thence and energy displayed by all, and
l need not tell you of our joy in the
realization of our fond hopes. One spike
is yet to be driven. This | now with
pleasure deliver to you, with the re-
quest of the Board that you drive it.
Gov. Fairbanks, in receiving the sill
yer spike which was to weld the bonds
of iron, made the following remarks:
Ladies and Gentlemen 1t was said
of Abraham Lincoln, few weeks pre-
vious to his first Inauguration as Presi-
dent of the United States, that he made
call upon his tailor to be measured
for suit OF clothes,-his Inauguration
suit. The tailor was busily engaged in