Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1900-01-05
Early Days of RailrOading.

Celebration at the summit In December,
1910, when Rails Were Connected
over the Mountain---Three Days Race
---sIngulRr Accident.
Some interesting inc tents of the early
DAYS of railroading from this place are re-
called by recent conversations with an old
representative of those men who were en-
ployed on the Rutland & Burlington road
when it was built, and run on the first
trians which went northward from here.
The road was built in 1S4S and 1912. In
the summer of 1S40 it was open for traffic
from Bellows Falls to Ludlow, and from
Rutland north TO Burlington, the connec-
ton being made over the mountain from
Ludlow to Rutland by stages. The connec
ton of the rails over the mountain was
made in December of 1910, and a train
from Burlington and one from Boston met
at the Summit in Mt. Holly, at which time
bottles of water from Lake Champlain and
from the Atlantic ocean were broken and
the waters mingled together Other, and
different, bottles were not broken, but I'M
corked to make the occasion more Joyous.
For the free use of the crowds which gath
cred there a barrel of New England rum
was rolled out, one head broken in, and it
was served in tin dippers to all present
who cared for it, 1t will be remembered
this was before the DAYS of prohibition in
Vermont, and before the time of Bass's ale
at league bauquets.
Before the roads were opened through
and while there was still several miles of
staging on both the Rutland and Vermont
Central lines, three days race, with
mails and passengers, was run between
l.
The mail agent over the Rutland road at
that time and the one who had charge of
the mails on this route during those three
DAYS was Henry II. Howe of Ludlow, after
ward passenger conductor for several
years. The Rutland & Burlington road, as
it was then known, won the race by two
hours the last day, and as the victory re-
suited in the securing of the bulk of the
mails over this route it was as pronounced
a Scoop over the Vermont Central, as
was the tug of war between the two roads
last Sunday on the bridge between Alburg
and Rouses Point.
A few years later singular accident oc-
Cured just this side of the height of the
land between here and Rutland. During a
terrible snow and wind storm three engines
were sent to pillow out the drifts. The for
ward engine named Gen. Strong" which
will be remembered by all the older resi-
dents here, was the head engine and was
run by H. r. Dyer That engine jumped
the track and went down a steep bank and
landed on the top of a stone wall The
other two engines plowed through and did
not discover that Dyer's engine was miss
ing until near the next station, when they
went back and found it with the engineer
and fireman practically unhurt, but not
wishing to repeat the experiment.
At this time probably no one of the first
directors, superintendent treasurers or
other prominent officials Of either of the
two roads are now living. Albert Pratt,
an engineer still running passenger loco
motive between here and Rutland, is the
only one of the old engineers now running,
although three or four are still living
Uncle 81" Bowtelle the father of Con
ductor George Bswtelle, and of Henry
Bowtelle of Towns hotel, was the last Of
the old conductors to pass away. He died at
his home here about / , years ago, and, with
the exception of a few years that he was
agent of the road at Bellows Falls, he ran
passenger trains between here and Rutland
A new generation of men are at the head
of the road as well as at the throttles, to
whom the stories of the early days are
mere traditions, and to whom the crude
mechanism of the road in early days seem
strange, but no more strange than the mod
ern engines and cars would to the men
who took their trips over the mountain
when the rails were first connected. Mr.
Bowtelle was a regular conductor on the
road at the time it was being built and run
one of the first through passenger trains be-
tween here and Rutland.