The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-03-11
GULF ROUTE HISTORY
HAS BEEN REVIVED
Interesting Facts and Reports of Rail-
road Survey in 1s45 Are Present.
ed by BARRE Granite"

A Barre district with the basic ma
terial of its greatness tapped by a
] mainline railroad seems remotely
probable to-day, even though the an
nual tonnage output of Barre granite
in the rough is sometimes in excess of
100000 tons, says Barre Granite. But
back in lS45, when old Milestone hill
gave forth some 600 of quarried stone,
hopeful citizens of the valley were
soberly considering ways and means
for a mainline railroad that would
span this section Of Vermont from
Montpelier and Berlin to Royalton,
passing through Barre, Williamstown,
Brookfield and other towns to the
south.
An Historical Survey.
The story is interestingly told in
well preserved pamphlet, entitled 'Sur
yey of the Gulf Route" printed at Bos-
ton in 1916. George Leonard, jr., was
the engineer who made the survey, and
his report is supplemented by a state
ment over the signatures Of G. w, Col
lamer, Leonard Keith and Walter Burn
ham. Therein, they set forth the supe
rior claims of the Wiliamstown gulf
route as compared with the so-called
Roxbury route. For Mortified readers
of Barre Granite, secure in the knowl
edge that nothing in all human prob
ability will likely deprive them of
main line railroad service, the reports
reprinted here win have particular
flavor
II should be added that the survey |
contains an excellent map of the pro-
posed route.
Railroad Annals.
Some day Barre Granite hopes to
catalogue for the future historian of |
the Barre granite industry the various
stages of transportation development. |
For the present, in reproducing the |
survey and attending report, it is in
debted to A. W. Taft, of the Quarry
Savings bank staff, and to William
Barclay. 1t should be noted that the
pamphlet is the property of Mr.. Taft,
who has confded to the editor his pur-
pose to place it with the Barre Histori-
cal society. Another copy of Mr.. Leon
ards report is owned by j. NJ. Bout
well, whose personal recollections of
railroad development in this locality
would admirably constitute a solid
chapter in any history of transporta-
ton development in the Barre district.
Fitting Fancies.
So Barre Granite commends to its
readers careful reading OF what is
quoted in the paragraphs to follow.
Well might one ponder on the advan-
ages of Barre and Montpelier ira
Tersed by the main line of the Central
Vermont. Well might one speculate on
he appreciable decrease in the public
lse Of profanity which would follow if
Montpelier Junction were to be iunked | I
But to what purpose! Within the
memory of the youngest granite man
Ifacturer there were vague whisper.
ngs that another Gulf route" had
zen staked out and options secured
hereon. Nothing developed however,
nd it is scarcely probable that Mont !
elier Junction will ever cease to be a !
alf way station for Barre and Mont E
elier travellers, bound north and south o
Boston, Aug. Is, ls45. n
To the Directors of the Vermont Cen
trail Railroad.
Gentlemen; have surveyed a route v
Or a railroad between Berlin and Roy P
lton, and present to you the following a
port of the result. O
II was hired by the Inhabitants liv- P
lg near the line surveyed, and proceed u
in my work under the direction of o
le Vermont Central railroad commit ca
,e. The survey commences near Miss u
angdon's, in Berlin, about one-fourth NJ
a mile southwest of the State House IN
ON thence it follows the course of a.
MON river, Stevens branch, and the | =
'cond branch of White river, and ID
lsses through Montpelier, Berlin, a.
ARE, Williamstown, Brookfeld, East az
andolph and East Bethel to Royal ca
N. Ii terminates on the bank at
'hite river, not far from the junction "a
this river with its second branch. sc
he route passes through the Gulf
ep, narrow valley, situated in VIII
Imstown and Brookfeld and is usu- no
ly called the Gulf route -
Gentle Curves. er
"The line surveyed is favorable for ie
e construction and operation of IN
ilroad. II is tolerably straight. Most M
the curves will be gentle, and no N
rye yviII require n rad;ns NJ less than an
M go rha ,rra5os 40 ,ro,arail,. es'
Dderate. The steepest is in Will OF
mstown, and ascends 43 feet per sel
lie for two and one-half miles; the I'm
xt in order is in Barre. and ascends a
Y per mile for four miles; burt one IN
,re deserves notice: il is in vii. va
mstown and Brookfield, and descends 81,
feet per mile for five miles. The tn'
L mentioned plane commences above 40
, gulf, and continues for some dis uh
nee below il. eh'
Moderate Expense. tn,
4 have found but a small amount Of AM
X TO retard the operation of grad tai
I, and most of what little appears is FIR
a loose, friable and shelly nature. str
e excavations viii generally be in IS
tn that is easily moved. Coarse an'
I'd and gravel are met with in guam sid
les sufficient to grade the road in
best manner. / have rarely exam
a or seen a route that presented E.
re facilities for the construction Of II
rood. permanent railroad, at a mod ioc'
te expense. W
i will now give a more particular 81
cription of the route, with the ia siu'
ties and impediments likely TO be uht
t with in building and maintaining cru
abroad upon it. oes
Onion River Crossing. hill
The line commences at a stake near hea
= Iangdon's, in Berlin. where Car ma