New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-01-04
ALONG THE NAUGATUCK.
.SeueraI HILTON Dollars Being Spent
-Derby Nay Be Made Seaport.

Derby Conn. jan. (speciaD-The extensive i'm
rrovements which have been under way on the
Naugatuck Division of the New-York. New-Faven
and Hartford Railroad for the last few years are
approaching completion so far as the Derby
rninal is concerned. 1t will be months before the
double tracks are extended through to Waterbury.
a distance Of twenty-seven miles from the main
line.
The improvements already announced and under
way will cost the Consolidated Company several
million dollars. and according to a well founded
rumor among Connecticut railroad men this is only
the beginning. The greater scheme involves the
opening of the Housatonic River to navigation
from Long Island Sound to Derby.
Surveys have proved that the river could be
opened for tfis distance at an expense which.
though great, is not prohibitve. The scheme is to
make Derby the entry port for both the Housa-
tonic and Naugatuck valleys instead of Bridgeport.
Heavy shipments both in and out of this region
could be transshipped at Derby a considerable
saving How far the railroad has gone with its
plans for opening the river uncertain but some
thing Of the sort is under way
AS If the engineering difficulties presented by the
wellEigh impossible barriers with which nearly
the whole bristles Were not enough there
have been two minor Of delay which
rather out Of the ordinary. For of them the
blue laws Of the Nutmeg State responsible.
The Connecticut Yankee has no desire to be run
down by locomotive when he drives the
railroad track. and State has stringent
laws regarding grade crossings. The extensive
CT a number of temporary crossings Every time
contractor desired to train of these
temporary crossings ne had to shut off the regular
motive power and attach many horses were
necessary to pull the train across. The spectacle
presented is certainly ludcrous, but jealous local
officers always watch for any infringement.
When the workmen began excavating for the
double track just below Derby they across
veritable mine of Indian relics. This the cause
OF the second peculiar delay The people heard that
arrow heads, store implements skulls and bones
being uncovered in great quantities Half the
people for miles around started Indian collections
and focked TO the of the excavations in such
numbers seriously to interfere with the work.
Particularly arduoGs has been the work Derby
for here the tracks OF the Naugatuck and New
Haven and Derby divisions. which skirt opposite
sides of the watershed of the Housatonic and Maui
gatUck Rivers to be abandoned the excu-
sive of freight trains and for three miles
entirely double track is being constructed
across meadows which flooded periodically
every year the depth of from twenty feet
Here. too The work involves the elimination of all
the present grade crossings. In instances
elevation OF the tracks viii effect this desirable
suit: in others the construction Of viaducts has
been found 10 be necessary. The work since its
ception three years ago has beer carried with
any Interruption u traVeI. ana without serious
rnishap
Tn. Naugatucl. Division Of the New-York, New
Ezasen and Hartford Railroad is of the oldest
siessn lines in the United States. having been in
operation since early IN 1872 IL was built north
ward from NauZatuck Junction which is in the
soUr of Milford and the main line between
BRIDGEPORT and NeW-Haven. 10 Winsted which is
zine miles from the Massachusetts line. For its
entire length Of ffty-fve miles IL traverses the
zaller of the Naugatuck, by nature wider the
creater part Of the way than the river itself When
the road was completed il regarded of
the greatest tr.umphs of engineering skill in the
country The project for building IL conceived
by Alfred Bishop. ot Bridgeport MI Bishop sue
.,1,.o ,-l,. sg,a(
eyal Assembly but when he asked the business
men along the line OF The proposed road TO sub
scribe for stock and thus furnish the money to
t,ild the road they told him that the
Impossible for any other than winged creature
Pm Mr. Bishop and his so-cailed visionary project
womb not down and he finally succeeded in raising
s75 600 in gifts, with expectation Of returns
the part of the donors. With this comparatively