Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1922-08-18
BOAT Line SCHEME
MAKES NO APPEAL
Wilmington Turns Down Power
Co. Proposition.
Result of Town Meeting Cheerfully Ac-
cepted by Power CO.-Railroad to Big
Dam Will Be Relocated.

Whatever the future years may have
in store for the town of Wilmington the
people there will not travel for the pres
ent by boat between that town and
Nottingham in lieu of by the Hoosac
Tunnel & Wilmington railroad. That
question was settled definitely by special
town meeting in Wilmington Monday
afternoon.
The offer of President Henry l. Harri-
man of the New England Power Co.,
which is building an immense earth dam
on the Deerfield river lust below Whit
ingham station to put in boat line from
the dam to Wilmington or as near as the
big reservoir will permit and to give the
town 100000 if permitted to discontinue
the section of railroad between the dam
and Wilmington instead of relocating
it at a cost of quarter of a million dol
lars found no champion among the Will
mington voters. The proposition was
turned down fatty without single vote
in its favor. although from 400 to 800
men and women voters were present.
As a result of the vote the Power Co.
will relocate the railroad from the dam
to Wilmington and the company and
the town will undertake to see that the
road continues to pay.
In connection with the question of re-
ceipts and expenses Mr.. Hartman in
his letter of july 81 to the Wilmington
Mems club, in which his proposal was
made. said the deficit of the road, in
round numbers, was Sl9,0O0 in 19l9,
was $G30 in 1920. and was $41 900 in
1921. 1t is claimed by some of the Will
mington men that the records on file with
the public service commission show that
for the last 10 years at least the road has
paid not only running expenses but inter-
est on the bonds, except that in two years
the income paid the expenses and part
but not all of the bond interest.
Mr.. Hartman attended the meeting
Monday and repeated in substance the
proposition made in his letter, to which
he added some remarks. His whole at
titude was eminently fair and when he
closed he was roundly applauded. The
question had been thoroughly discussed
beforehand. however, and long before the
meeting began there wasn't a shadow of
doubt as to what the outcome would be.
The people regarded it as life or
death proposition so far as the future of
the town was concerned, and they voted
accordingly.
There were two questions to decide.
The first article was to see what action
the town would take relative to discon-
tinuing the road from Nottingham as
suggested in Mr.. Harriman's commune
cation, and under it G.. III. Parmelee a
well-knOwn business man. introduced the
following resolution:
Resolved. that the town of Whining
TON is opposed to the discontinuance of
the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington rail-
road from Nottingham as suggested in a
recent communication from III. l. Harri-
man."
The second article was to see what ac-
ton the town would take relative to the
dlscontnuancc or continuance of any
part of the railroad. and under this
article w. a. Brown, another prominent
business man, presented the following
resolution, which, like the first, was car
ried by n unanimous rising vote:
Resolved, that the voters of Whining
ton here assembled are opposed to the
dscontinuance of the Hoosac Tunnel &
Wilmington railroad or any part there
Of"
Moderator Eli Porter called the meet
ing to order in the town hall at 1 o'clock,
but the attendance was so large that
after Clerk o. Il. Butterfield had read the
warrant Mr.. Parmelee moved an adj
journmcnt to Memorial hail. which mo-
ton was seconded by f. S. Crafts, and
was carried. In about five minutes
Memorial hall was well filed.
Noting that Mr.. Hartman was in the
hall, Moderator Porter. after taking up
the first article, invited him to tell the
voters just what his proposition was,
and Mr.. Hartman accepted the invita-
ton. He said he did not come to argue
either for or against the proposition as
outlined in his letter to the Mems club.
He said he wrote the letter making the
proposition because he felt that the
Power Co. and Wilmington were part
ners and that what was good for one
was good for the other He thought it
only fair that Wilmington as partner
should have the financial facts and as
sured those present that whatever action
they took the Power Co. would gladly ac-
cept the result and would act accord
ingly.
Mr.. Hartman said it would cost about
S250,0OO to relocate the road but that
if the company was not required to do
that it would put in boat line TO cost
about $4,000 and divide the saving of
S2O0,0OO with the town. ''If you accept
the 100000, however," said Mr. Harr-
man, 1T does not necessarily indicate
that the road will not be relocated, be-
cause it is not in the power of the Power
Go. or Wilmington to settle that point,
but the vote would have a strong influ-
ence with the public service commission
If the question was taken there" He
said both sides must work together, and
declared that if there was strong oppos-
ton to the offer no effort would be made
to carry the plan into effect.
About three,-fourths of the freight
earnings of the road, Mr.. Hartman
Mountain Mills, the paper mill at Reads
boro which has been burned, and the
freight of the Power Co. This plan did
not occur to me-" he asserted, until
May, when the fire destroyed the Reads
boro mill, which had contributed about
S2O,0OO year to the gross earnings"
As there was only about five years sup
ply of pulpwood available for Mountain
Mills, activities there would cease in
few years whether the reservoir was
built or not. The Developments by the
Power Co. at Somerset. Searsburg, No.
8 plant at Monroe Bridge, the small
plant at Readsboro and the Whitingham
dam now under construction make about
all the possible developments on the
Deerfield so the Power Co. can give but
little more freight to the road, making
the future doubtful from a financial
point of view," said Mr.. Hartman, "un-
less we can find some new industries
with your assistance"
IF you decide to accept the offer" the
speaker added, 'you will get service, not
as good as now, but substantially as
good for seven or eight months, and you
will have one-half the saving, or $780,
600. If you want the road relocated
we will relocate it, but | want to empha-
size the fact that you have got to help
the railroad in every possible way, and
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