Morning journal and courier., 1882-07-14
The shore and the Iron Horse.

What is Said About It-The Horse Rail-
 road-ProspectiveR Rush of Travel From
 Inland Cities and TO~Vns-Thtrty Thou-
 sand to Forty Thousand Additional HA-
 cursion1sts-Now and Twenty Years
 Ago.
 Several years ago movement was maoe in West Haven to the end of securing a | branch of the Consolidated railroad to the l West Haven shore Savin Rock, and the project has since been slumbering or rather taking maps, waking when the great rush Of people to the shore takes place. This year two surveying parties are out, to the eno ol having steam railroad constructed, one party in the interest of the Consolidated rall- road, and the other private enterprise. AS has been stated the idea. if a branch or the Consolidate is built, is to have it start near the west end of the Spile bridge over the Wes' Haven meadows, and run thence along the west shore of West Haven to near the Sound, branching off at right angles near Thomas street, about 1000 feet or so from the shore, thence to Savin Rock and thence down along | the shore of the Sound to Woodmont, tap ping the main line again at Woodmont.
 Will it be built this year? is 8 question frequently asked to which the answer is probably not this year, but probably next year or the year after.
 Another question often asked is, Will it not damage the West Haven horse railroad i? The best answer to this is that MT. George R. Kelsey, president of the road, and MT. w. w, Ward, superintendent, are in favor of it. In fact Mir. Kelsey has been working to &C., ' complish this object for number of years la hos fn ! bring it about. They state that there would | be business enough for such line to pay the | railroad company to build, equip and main tain it, and that this business would be maln- | ly independent of the business already done by the horse railroad line With steam | railroad thousands of people would come to | the shore from the inland towns of the State, also from Massachusetts, who do not now come, and there would be host of large ex- cursion parties. In fact no excursion Is more tempting to people residing away from the ssbie sea water'' than one to the sea, but the trouble has been, and it has been plainly
 seen all along that without easy transfer
 large parties from a distance have to forego
 trip to the shore, as it takes too much time. few years ago the horse railroad was over
 burdeaed with large excursion parties from
 inland towns, but the difficulty of transfer g
 mart of the way by the horse car line, already
 having throngs of people to carry, made the
 trip tedious and tiresome. Now with steam 1 rairosd the time to Savin Rock from this ! city would be but about ten minutes, anc
 there would be no change of cars. There ii
 no doubt that large parties and rush of in 1 ci9ental travel would come from Hartford Middletown, Meriden, New London, Nor
 wich, Waterbury, Bridgeport and many places in the Naugatuok valley, also from Springfield, Northampton Holyoke, etc. ,etc.
 with branch line and different accommoda
 tions. In other words, the horse cars would
 have an abundance of local travel and th'
 branch would bring during the season addi
 tional travel to the extent of say thirty te
 forty thousand people.
 The idea of branch road strikes the peo
 pie of West Haven very favorably. It mean ! more business, more growth; more money
 Building lots will advance, property will ad | vance-certainly in sections affected by nev
 road Some of the inhabitants of the bor ough were heard talking about it yesterday
 and they were evidently small property own ' 1 Dorado of prosperity for their little proper ties contingent upon the building of thu
 road. The shriek of the locomotive whistl it is expected will startle the bullfrogs wht
 now lie quiescent in the pools and swamp
 disturbed only by the ardent youths wht have heard that there is high premium ol
 bullfrogs' legs at points in this city ant West Haven. The few mosquitoes whose humdrum existence is confined ) entirely to the same swampy portion the shore with it's sea>breezes being no plac
 for them, will hardly enjoy the smoke of thu
 big coal burners of the Consolidated road There is without question much to be said il favor of steam railway, and it is nov
 claimed that party of capitalists will g , ahead and build such road on their owl , hook One prominent capitalist stated yes terday his utmost faith that such roat ! would pay as an investment 25 per cent. pc
 annum. The people wanted to get to thu shore. The horse cars take the multitude ! from the city and vicinity. The steam car
 will bring host from inland cities and town
 and make Savin Rock indeed the Coney Is
 land of Connecticut. 'Look." said a gentle ' man, ssat the immense travel by the hors | cars on Thursday-the day of the Sacre'
 Heart picnic. Why" said he, 'the cars and there were plenty of extra ones on, wer : loaded with people, and it was one o'clock il z the morning when the last car load of happ S people were brought up. And what sight was with throngs of people disporting in tn
 limpid waters of the Sound, in bathing unde the brilliancy of the electric lights. It was
 sight that was not dreamed of by the earl ] fathers of West Haven nor even dreamed 0
 twenty years ago when the whole shore wa 3 a tract of farmland selling for S2O pc acre."