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IN RELATION TO THE 
 
 Pee Cop THE STATE OF NEW YORK} 
 
 eS. 
 
 TO LOCATE CERTAIN PORTIONS OF THE a 
 
 NEW=YORE AND BRIE RAILROAD. 
 “Y THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 oo ee 1998 
 
 UNIVERSITY GF ILLinate 
 
 New=¥ ovis ; 
 
 FRANCIS D. ALLEN, Jr., PRINTER, 
 CHAMBERS STREET. 
 
 — NO, 
 ®} 1847, . s 
 
TE eee al) ee eee er le Se Wei 
 ae pia jae as oa Bee 
 
 ” THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 ee ADDRESS MAY 12 1999 
 UNIVER SyTy QF {i LiNAIA 
 
 a | To THE 
 STOCKHOLDERS AND THE PUBLIC, 
 
 IN RELATION TO THE —. 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS 
 
 APPOINTED BY THE LEGISLATURE 
 
 OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 
 
 TO LOCATE CERTAIN PORTIONS OF THE 
 
 NEW=TORK AND BRIS RATLROAD. 
 
 New=¥ ork : 
 FRANCIS D. ALLEN, Jr., PRINTER, 
 NO. 13 CHAMBERS STREET. 
 
 1847, © 
 
14 
 
 pe 
 
 A 
 
 ADDRESS, &c. 
 
 LALLY 
 
 Tue Board of Commissioners appointed by the Legislature to de- 
 termine upon the location of certain portions of the New York and 
 Erie Rai Road, a majority of whom, after full and careful surveys 
 and examinations, having decided that the road cannot be constructed 
 through the interior of Sullivan and Broome Counties “ without great 
 prejudice to the public interests,” have submitted their Report to the 
 Legislature, with their “reasons” for such decision, in compliance 
 with the requirements of the Act of 11th May, 1846. 
 
 The Board of Directors, in determining to lay this full and able 
 Report before the public, have deemed it not improper to accompany 
 it with a condensed statement of the “reasons” for such decision, 
 
 together with such further arguments and considerations as present 
 
 themselves, tending to show the great importance and value of this 
 decision, and indeed the absolute necessity of it, to ensure the con- 
 struction of this great work. . 
 
 It may not be improper here to state that this question of location 
 has ever been one of the fruitful sources of difficulty and embarrass- 
 ment with which this road has had to contend; hence, large sums 
 have been heretofore expended, with an earnest desire, if practicable, 
 to find a favorable route to Lake Erie—confining the line to our own 
 State. Since the Company was chartered, more than 3 years time, 
 and large sums of money have been spent in surveys in Sullivan and 
 Broome Counties, to find such route. The difficulties in Sullivan 
 County, at an early day, were found to be so formidable as to deter- 
 mine the Company, in 1841, to attempt the construction of their 
 road up the Valley of the Delaware River, on the New York side 
 interfering with and injuring, as was alleged, the works of the Dela- 
 ware and Hudson Canal Company, which had previously occupied 
 the narrow pass on ¢thzs side of the river. The result of such attempt 
 was that this Company was enjoined by the Chancellor, upon appli- 
 cation of that Company, from going forward with the work. Yet 
 
 8349594 
 
(4) 
 
 rather than encounter the formidable difficulty of high grades in Sul- 
 livan and Broome Counties, the Company passed over the disputed 
 ground, and continued their works beyond Binghamton, the whole 
 line from that place to the Lake being put under contract, with a de- 
 termination to wait for future Legislative permission to construct a 
 portion of their Road up the Valley of the Delaware River on 
 the Pennsylvania side, solely because the only practicable ground 
 on which the Road could be constructed on the New York side of 
 the River was previously occupied by the Delaware and Hudson 
 Canal Company; besides being under an injunction in Chancery stop- 
 ping the work on this side of the River. A difficulty nearly as great 
 was met with on the northern route through Broome County, to avoid 
 which they were compelled to carry their work for a few miles 
 through a portion of Pennsylvania; legislative permission being re- 
 quired for this also. 
 
 The Company have ever regretted the necessity which compelled 
 them to carry any portion of this work out of the State, but as they 
 could not contral the natural features of the country, nor alter State 
 lines, they found themselves compelled to follow the best and only 
 line on which the work could be constructed with advantage to the 
 public interest. 
 
 At the time the present Board of Directors assumed the control of 
 this work, with a determination to make a vigorous effort to relieve 
 it from its embarrassments, a prominent feature of which was, this 
 very question of location, they did not anticipate the extent and 
 bitterness of the opposition against allowing this Company to locate 
 their work on the best route that could be obtained for that purpose. 
 
 At the session of 1845, the Company applied for a law, granting 
 the release of the State len upon certain conditions, which release 
 was indispensable, to afford any hope of success; and also to permit 
 the location of a portion of their road in Pennsylvania. <A violent 
 Opposition was made to it, at that time, by those interested in the 
 northern or interior routes. To guard the interests of those patties, 
 and those of the State, also, three engineers of high reputation were 
 appointed by the Legislature to make the necessary examinations and 
 surveys, and to determine whether a practicable route or line for this 
 road could be found in this State, on which it could be located, 
 ‘without great prejudice to the public interests.” This commission 
 did not complete their surveys and examinations in time to decide 
 
(5) 
 
 before the meeting of the Legislature of 1846, at which time the 
 Opposition to this measure was renewed, and became more violent 
 than at the preceding session; and, the more effectually to guard such 
 important interests, four gentlemen of high character, living in such 
 portions of the State as were not supposed to be interested in this ques- 
 tion, were added to the Commission; and all the restrictions which 
 the ingenuity of the opposition could suggest, were incorporated in 
 the law, to render a decision of the Commissioners favorable to the 
 wishes of the Company as difficult as possible. Yet, with all these 
 stringent provisions against such decision, acting under the solemnity 
 of an oath, the majority of the Commissioners have decided that a 
 practicable route cannot be found through the interior of Sullivan 
 and Broome Counties, on which to construct this work, “ without great 
 prejudice to the public interests:” Against that decision,—the rea- 
 sons for which are so ably set forth in the Report of the Commission- 
 ers,—the Company are threatened with a serious and determined 
 effort from certain parties to procure its reversal: some of whom do 
 not hesitate to say, that they would prefer having no road at all, 
 unless it can be constructed on the interior route, and, of course, such 
 as will suit their interest or wishes, regardless of the convenience 
 and interests of a hundredfold greater number. 
 
 This course cannot be regarded by the Directors other than a mere 
 wanton, if not a malicious attempt to embarrass and injure the Com- 
 pany, by endeavoring to disturb or interfere with a question which 
 has been legally settled, in accordance with the provisions and 
 requirements of the law under which the Commissioners acted. The 
 Directors, immediately after the decision was officially communicated 
 to them, (on the 25th August last,) determined to lose no time in 
 entering upon a vigorous prosecution of the work, which had been 
 so long delayed by circumstances beyond their control; and to that 
 end they advertised for proposals, and put the whole line under con- 
 tract, from Otisville, the present terminus of the road, to Bingham- 
 ton, a distance of about 140 miles. The contractors are now at work 
 on the line, in fulfilment of their contracts, both in our State and in 
 Pennsylvania. Contracts have also been made for the iron raus, for 
 the whole distance above named. The liabilities incurred by the 
 Company for the above objects amount to between two and three 
 millions of dollars. 
 
 That the Directors had a perfect right to consider the decision of 
 the Commissioners final and conclusive; and that no attempt would 
 
(6) 
 
 be made to disturb it, will be seen, when it is remembered that at the 
 time the law under which the Commissioners acted was pending 
 before the Legislature, and after the friends of the bill had submitted 
 to all the restrictive provisions which could be piled upon it, then, to 
 guard the interests of all parties still further, four additional Com- 
 “missioners were added to the Commission, as before stated: after 
 which, and just before its final passage, an amendment was offered, 
 in the House, to prohibit the Company, if the decision should be 
 adverse to the interior route, from locating their road, or from going 
 on with their work, until the meeting of the next Legislature. This 
 amendment was negatived by a large majority; thus settling the 
 
 question as to the meaning of the law, and the intention of the Legis- 
 ture in passing it. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it was not to be anticipated that any 
 attempt would be made to disturb or interfere with the settlement of 
 this great public question, in the way and manner selected by the 
 Legislature itself,—and based, as it is, upon facts and reasons so 
 conclusively sustaining the decision: but, as there are intimations 
 that efforts will be made again to open the question, the Directors 
 feel it their duty to call attention to the fact, that the Commissioners, 
 in their desire to give the interior line every posssible advantage, 
 have adopted, as the basis of calculation, a mode of working the road 
 more favorable than will possibly be found advisable to adopt in prac- 
 tice, [see the Report, page 12;] and have also made their estimate 
 of tonnage much less than the Directors feel themselves justified in 
 assuming as the business of the road, when finished to Lake Erie. 
 The reasons for this will be given in another part of this address. 
 
 Yet, with every favorable consideration yielded to the interior 
 route, the report presents such an array of facts and arguments 
 against the selection of that route, as fully to sustain the justice and 
 propriety of the decision. In view of the many important interests 
 involved’ in this question, the Directors have thought proper to pre- 
 sent a brief summary of the Report, with calculations, based upon a 
 mode of working the road almost conceded by the Commissioners, 
 as necessary in the practical working of it, and applying it to a larger 
 (but not deemed too large,) amount of tonnage than is assumed in 
 the Report; and also upon the improvement of the grade on the 
 southern route: thereby lessening the expense, and increasing the 
 difference between the two routes, which is more fully explained 
 hereafter. 
 
(7) 
 
 THE-NORTHERN ROUTE. 
 
 The Report states that, on the route from Binghamton to Deposite, 
 a distance of 43 sy miles, there are two summits to be over- 
 come, on which line a maximum grade, of 65 feet to the mile, rules 
 for a distance of 35 5, miles; the maximum grade, going west, 
 being 74 feet to the mile: the total ascent, east and west, being 
 3023 feet. The cost of grading this line is estimated, in the Report, 
 at $628,600. 
 
 From Deposite, coming eastward down the valley of the Delaware 
 river to the mouth of the Calicoon, a distance of about 40 miles, the 
 line is level, or descending. From this point to Wurtsboro, through 
 the interior of Sullivan County, a distance 52 zo» miles, there are 
 several different grades, the maximum or controlling one, for the 
 whole distance, being 45 feet to the mile. The same grade applies 
 
 up to the summit of Shawangunk Mountain, about 84 miles further. 
 
 The maximum grade, going west, is 57 feet, [but, in a marginal 
 note, it is stated it may be reduced to 48 feet to the mile ;| the total 
 ascent, east and west, being 2236 feet: the leneth of line on which 
 maximum grade rules being 61 14, miles. The whole distance from 
 Deposite to the summit of Shawangunk Mountain, is 101 miles; the 
 
 aggregate amount of curved line being 7609 degrees, or over 21 
 entire circles. 
 
 The difficulties on this line are greatly increased by the long suc- 
 cession of sharp curves, or those of small radii; thus adding largely 
 to the objections arising from the high grades above stated. 
 
 THE SOUTHERN ROUTE. 
 
 It will be seen, from the Report, that on this route from Bingham- 
 ton to Deposite, the distance is but 39 29. miles,—being 4} miles 
 less,—and the aggregate amount of curved line being nearly 24 
 entire circles less on this than on the interior route; that there is 
 but one summit on which a maximum grade of 68 feet rules for 15 
 {oo miles; the total ascent, east and west, being but 935 feet, instead 
 of 2023 feet on the northern line. The cost of grading being put 
 down in the Report at $746,900. 
 
(8) 
 
 From Deposite to Port Jervis, down the Delaware river, the dis- 
 tance is 89 miles, the whole of which is level, or slightly descending. 
 From Port Jervis to the summit of Shawangunk mountain, a distance 
 of 9 °°, miles, the grade is reported at 50 feet; but a note in the 
 margin states that it can be reduced to 45 feet. [The line has since 
 been located by the Company on that portion of the route, at a grade - 
 of 45 feet; the ascent from Port Jervis to the summit being the same 
 as on the northern route from Wurtsborough.| The total rise and fall 
 is but 770 feet, against 2236 feet on the interior route ; the minimum 
 curvature much more favorable, and the aggregate of curved line 
 being nearly 84 entire circles less on the Delaware than on the in- 
 terior route—thus making on the whole northern route nearly 11 en- 
 tire circles more than on the southern route. The whole distance 
 from Deposite to the summit of Shawangunk mountain by this route 
 is about 984 miles, or about 24 miles less than by the interior; making 
 the whole line from Binghamton, by the southern route, about 62 
 miles less than by the northern or interior line. 
 
 The saving to this Company in shortening the line to that extent, 
 taking the first cost into account, with the expense of keeping it in 
 repair, the expense of running the road over that increased distance, 
 and the wear and tear of machinery, &c., &c., cannot be less than 
 $500,000. (The Chief Engineer, upon a careful calculation, makes 
 the saving more than $100,000 per mile, which, it will be seen, would 
 make the saving more than $675,000.) But the smallest sum is taken, 
 that there may be no objections raised as to the amount thus saved. 
 The extra cost of grading the Delaware river route is estimated, by 
 the Commissioners, at about $400,000 more than the interior route, 
 through Sullivan county: but, upon a careful examination and survey 
 of this route, the Company have been enabled to locate it on a much 
 more favorable line than was anticipated, which will render the cost 
 of the work, in the opinion of the engineers, not greater than the 
 northern line. 
 
 It may not be improper, here, to state, that the line from Bingham- 
 ton to Lanesboro, which is reported by the Commissioners at a maxi- 
 mum of 20 feet per mile, has been réduced, by the Company’s sur- 
 veys, to five feet to the mile. From Hornellsville, eastward, to Bing- 
 hamton, the maximum grade is taken, in the Report, at 20 feet, (it 
 will be remembered that the Commissioners were not required to 
 survey beyond Binghamton;) but the Company have determined to 
 reduce it to five feet to the mile, also, which is considered by the 
 
 oe 
 
(9) 
 
 engineers perfectly practicable, and at a moderate expense. This 
 being done, the grade on the whole line, from Hornellsville to Port 
 Jervis, a distance of about 250 miles, will be level, slightly descend- 
 ing, or not exceeding five feet to the mile, opposed to the down-trade, 
 except the ascending grade of eight miles to the summit, between 
 Lanesboro and Deposite, where the grade is reduced to 60 feet to the 
 mile, instead of 68 feet, and the descending grade to 57 instead of 67 
 feet; which, with a heavy train, will require one or more extra or 
 assisting engines, (proportioned to the load,) to reach the summit. 
 With this assistance, the whole distance, of about 250 miles, is ren- 
 dered practically level; the value of which can hardly be estimated : 
 and when compared with the northern routes, applying the same data 
 as those used by the Commissioners, would vastly increase the differ- 
 ence of expense between the northern and Pennsylvania route, and 
 would present a far greater comparative difference than was made 
 by the Commissioners’ Report. 
 
 We will now look at the practical working of the road upon the 
 two routes, and for that purpose will commence with a loaded train, 
 made up at Hornellsville, going east. With a grade of five feet to 
 the mile, an engine of 20 tons weight, according to the data of the 
 Commissioners, can carry over that grade about 307 tons nett, with 
 which load, by taking the southern route, it could be carried, with 
 one engine, to Lanesboro, a distance of 143 miles. At that point, 
 the train would have to be divided into four parts, and, in some 
 cases, five, with a tonnage due to a 60 feet grade, which would 
 require three, and in some cases four, extra engines, in addition to 
 the relieving engine, to take the load over the summit to Deposite, a 
 distance of about 154 miles. 
 
 At Deposite, a train would be made up for Port Jervis, a distance 
 of about 89 miles, with a load due to a level grade, which, according 
 to the table of the Commissioners’, is 389 tons, (equal to the tonnage 
 of five trains over the northern route, from Port Crane to Deposite ;) 
 from thence the whole distance is level, or slightly descending, to 
 Port Jervis. 
 
 We will now look at its practical working on the northern route. 
 Starting at Hornellsville, as above, with a like ruling grade of five 
 feet to the mile, for a distance of 127 miles, to Port Crane, a few 
 miles north of Binghamton, over which line an engine of 20 tons 
 would take about 307 tons nett. At Port Crane this train would have 
 to be divided into five parts, requiring five trains from thence to De- 
 posite, a distance of 35 58 miles. From this point, as will be seen 
 
 x 
 
(10) 
 
 from the Commissioners’ Report, they give the interior route, through 
 Sullivan county, the benefit of the most favorable estimate that can 
 be made in the proposed working of the road—by arranging the 
 trains at Deposite for a level grade to the mouth of the Calicoon, a dis- 
 tance of 40 miles, and from thence taking extra power, through the inte- 
 rior, to Wurtsboro. By this arrangement, the Commissioners state— 
 
 ‘Tt gives the interior route the full benefit of the favorable grade 
 on the Delaware, between Deposite and the mouth of the Callicoon, 
 which may not be, and probably will not be, wholly available in 
 practice.” 
 
 In accordance with this view, it is confidently asserted that such 
 ’’ nor can the 
 road be economically or advantageously worked in that way. It 
 would require a train made up at Deposite, with a load due to a level 
 grade to the mouth of Calicoon, and there divided into four trains, 
 to run over the interior route, a distance of 524 miles, to Wurtsboro. 
 This plan would be found to involve more trouble and expense than 
 
 the other method, viz.: to make up the trains at Deposite with a load 
 
 arrangement cannot be made “available in practice; 
 
 due to the ruling grade of the interior line to Wurtsboro, a distance 
 of 92} miles. And notwithstanding their estimates of cost are based 
 upon a different method of working the road, to give the interior line 
 every possible advantage, the Commissioners state in adopting it that— 
 
 “This arrangement, for a basis of comparative computation, will 
 be as favorable for the interior line as can be adopted; and it is 
 proper to remark that, in any pr actical arrangement of business, the 
 Commissioners are of opiniun it would be und most simple, efficient, 
 and not less economical, to make up the trains at Port Crane, in 
 Broome county, to proceed to Deposite, and there adapt it to a ruling 
 grade of 45 feet per mile.” 
 
 This, however, as they state, ‘‘ would present a less favorable 
 result’? fur the interior route. Hence, in the opinion of the Com- 
 missioners, the “most simple, efficient, and not less economical” 
 mode of working the road would impose upon the Company and the 
 Public the largely increased expense of running four trains from De- 
 posite to Wurtsboro, to carry about the same load that one train 
 would carry on the Delaware route to Port Jervis—both being nearly 
 equal in distance. 
 
 The Directors regret that the Commissioners have not presented the 
 result of a calculation, also, upon the basis which they have almost con- 
 ceded will be necessary in the practical working of the road. It is one, 
 however, very easily made, and, to a full understanding of the sub 
 
(11) 
 
 ject, is herewith presented, to show what would have been the result 
 of a calculation, based upon such a mode of working the road as, in 
 practice, they almost admit would be necessary. This result can be 
 arrived at [see page 23] by adding 40 miles to the 48:97, which makes 
 88:97 miles; then, by multiplying this sum by 0°78 cents, being the 
 extra cost per ton per mile, as there stated, it gives 69°39 cents, 
 instead of 38:19: that is, 31-20 cents more than on the basis assumed 
 in the Report. The total extra cost on the freight traffic will, then; 
 be,— instead of 64:24 cents, as stated in the Report,—as follows : 
 
 65:24 + 31:20 = 95-44 cents, as the extra cost, per ton, on the inte- 
 rior, over that of the southern route. This sum, multiplied by 
 the tonnage assumed by the Commissioners, as the basis of a 
 comparative calculation, would stand thus: — 200-000 x 
 95°44 = 190°880; to which the Commissioners add 50 per cent. 
 for passenger trains; great excess of curved line; extra wear 
 of rails, cars, engines, &c., &c.,—[see page 28,] . . 95440 
 
 286.320 
 From which would be deducted, [see page 29,] . . . 59°308 
 
 $ 227-012 
 as the amount of extra cost, per annum, on 200,000 tons, transported 
 through the interior; which result is obtained by adopting the only 
 mode of working the road which, in the opinion of the Directors, 
 would be found in practice either desirable or proper: in support of 
 which position, the Report states, that “ ‘The Commissioners are of 
 the opinion it would be found most simple, efficient, and not less 
 economical ;” and when applied to 400,000 tons, as the amount of 
 tonnage which will doubtless pass over this road, within five or ten 
 years after its completion, will make $454,024, as the annual tax, or 
 extra cost, of transporting that amount of tonnage over the interior 
 route beyond that of the southern route. 
 
 It will be borne in mind that the above result is obtained by taking 
 the same data as those used by the Commissioners, and applied to a 
 mode of working the road through the interior which, they all but 
 admit, will be necessary to adopt in practice: as they state they had 
 serious doubts whether it should not have been adopted as the basis 
 of their calculation, [see page 29,|—in which case the above results 
 would have been obtained. The same calculation, even at the risk 
 of repetition, will now be applied to the practical working of the 
 road, upon the same basis adopted above, including in it the advan- 
 tages arising from the improvement of the grade on the southern 
 route, which has been made since the decision of the Commissioners’ 
 
(12) 
 
 was received, and upon which line the road is now located, and in 
 
 process of construction. 
 
 The Commissioners, after a careful calculation of the extra cost of 
 transporting tonnage over the northern route, place it at 64 75 cents 
 per ton; in which estimate the extra cost of running four trains over 
 the level route from Deposite to Calicoon is not taken into account, 
 which, as before remarked, it is confidently asserted experience 
 would render necessary,—and the Commissioners, themselves, all but 
 concede this ground,—which would thereby largely increase the 
 expense on the interior line. The improvement in the grade, before 
 referred to, west of Lanesboro, and from Lanesboro to Deposite, is 
 also to be taken into account; the effect of which would be to lessen 
 the cost on the southern route, and, consequently, to increase still 
 more the difference of cost between the northern and southern routes. 
 Then, by applying the same method of calculation as that used by 
 the Commissioners, the extra cost on the high grades, through the 
 interior, will amount to 103 cents per ton; or, in other words, had 
 they taken as the basis of calculation the improved grades on the 
 southern route which have since been adopted by the Company, 
 together with the manner of working the road, as above stated, which, 
 beyond a doubt, experience will decide to be most economical and 
 judicious, and which the Commissioners all but admit will be neces- 
 sary, they would have made the extra cost on the northern route 103 
 cents per ton instead of 64 745, to which they add, for passenger- 
 trains, great excess of curved line, extra wear and tear of rails, cars, 
 engines, &c., 50 per cent. to the amount, beyond that made by excess 
 of high grades. | 
 
 If this conclusion be correct,—and it is believed that it cannot be 
 controverted,—then, by applying it to their own estimate of the pro- 
 bable tonnage over the road, it would make the amount, by a careful 
 calculation, $309,000 per annum, as the extra cost of transporting 
 200,000 tons over the northern or interior route, beyond that of the 
 southern route, instead of $192,720, made by the Commissioners ; 
 both of which amounts would, however, be debited by them, agreea- 
 bly to their Report, with $59,308, on account of the drawback on the 
 southern route, which would leave $249,692 per annum, instead of 
 $133,412, as the excess of cost on 200,000 tons. 
 
 In relation to the probable amount of tonnage which would pass 
 over the road, after it was extended to Lake Erie, the Report states, 
 that the officers of the Company estimated it at 500,000 tons per 
 annum, and that no attempt was made to controvert it by any one; 
 fsee page 24.] The Report states, that— 
 
(13) 
 
 “It is not possible to arrive at accuracy on this point, and the 
 Commissioners are not willing to say that the road will not, eventu- 
 ally, reach that estimate; but this would be a very large business for 
 a general trade, and much beyond the capacity of a single-track road.” 
 
 This amount was assumed as the probable extent of the business 
 of the road, within five or ten years after its completion, and which 
 they are still inclined to believe is not far out of the way; but they 
 admit that it cannot be transported over a single track: but that this, 
 er a much larger amount, can be carried over a double-track, all will 
 admit— which will doubtless be made before the expiration of the 
 jongest named period, unless needless difficulties are thrown in the 
 way of the work. The amount of tonnage named may be too large; 
 but it was considered not an over-estimate, when are taken into 
 account the great resources of the country through which the road 
 will pass,—embracing an area of about 12-000-:000 acres,—dependent 
 upon it, in a great measure, for a communication with our city, and 
 almost without a competing line for the trade, until it reaches Lake 
 Erie, when will be opened to it a share of the trade of the great 
 West, with its almost boundless resources, as yet, but partially deve- 
 loped, and connected with its vast inland seas: the trade of which is 
 already nearly equal to that of all our foreign commerce—which will 
 require, within a very few years, all the avenues of communication 
 now constructed, or in process of construction, to bring its rapidly 
 increasing productions to the sea-board, and to our own city, and 
 thereby prevent its diversion to other markets. 
 
 In addition to these considerations, it will be borne in mind, that 
 the business on that part of the road in use during the past year, — 
 only 53 miles in length,—although exposed to a very active compe- 
 tition from its proximity to the Hudson River, yet amounted to 
 upwards of 50,000 tons. At this rate, the traffic on the whole line, 
 to Lake Erie, would amount to nearly 450,000 tons in the first year 
 after it should be opened, without making any allowance for the 
 through-trade of the western lakes. It is also to be remembered, 
 that in consequence of securing for the larger portion of the line a level, 
 or nearly level, and consequently cheap route, the Company will be 
 enabled to transport lumber, iron, coal, ship-timber, and other heavy 
 and bulky articles, at very low rates, and to an immense amount; a 
 trade of which this market would, in a great degree, have been 
 deprived, if the Company had been forced to encounter the increased 
 cost resulting from the high grades of the interior route. 
 
 If the above considerations are not deemed sufficient to warrant so 
 
(14) 
 
 large an estimate as 500,000 tons as the probable amount of tonnage 
 over this road, within a period of 5 or 10 years after its completion, 
 we will take 400,000 tons, and apply to it the same data as before 
 applied to the 200,000 tons, and it would make $618,000, from which 
 amount the same deductions will be made as those made by the Com- 
 missioners, amounting to $59,308, leaving a balance of $558,692 per 
 annum, as the amount of extra cost of transporting 400,000 tons over 
 the high grades of the interior route instead of the southern route. , 
 
 Should the correctness of this large amount of extra cost be called 
 in question, it may not be improper here to state the basis upon which 
 it is founded. Ist, The difference made by the improved grades on 
 the southern route, which have been before particularly stated, and is 
 not deemed necessary here to repeat. 2d, In making up the trains 
 at Deposite for Wurtsborough with a load due to a ruling grade of 
 45 feet, instead of making them up at that point for the mouth of 
 Callicon with loads due to a level grade, and there dividing each train 
 into 4 trains for the interior route, which in the opinion of the Com- 
 missioners ‘‘ may not be, and probably will not be wholly available in 
 practice.” 3d, In estimating the business on the road at 400,000 tons 
 within 5 or 10 years after its completion, instead of 200,000 tons, the 
 amount taken by the Commissioners, although they were not prepared 
 to say that the business would not ultimately reach 500,000 tons, 
 which whenever this latter amount is reached, the loss, according to 
 their own mode of calculation, and giving every possible advantage 
 to the northern route, would be $481,790 per annum, (less $59,308 as 
 the estimated drawback on the ‘southern route,) leaving the amount 
 $422,482, and this not to continue for one year, but to be a perpetual, 
 annual tax. 
 
 It is not intended by these comparative estimates of the cost of 
 working the road, to attempt to controvert the position taken by the 
 Commissioners, or to call in question the correctness of their conclu- 
 sions, but merely to show what would doubtless have been the result 
 of their own estimates had the two lines under consideration been 
 confined to our own state, where no collateral considerations were to 
 be taken into account to influence their decision, and where nothing 
 but the simple question of a comparison of routes was to be deter- 
 mined on. In their calculation of extra cost they frankly admit that 
 they have given the northern routes the benefit of the most favorable 
 estimates, and yet with that determination they arrive at results which 
 perfectly sustain them in the correctness of their decision. 
 
 It will be seen from the Report that the extra cost of constructing 
 
 ; 
 
(15) 
 
 the road on the southern route, is estimated at $519,821. In regard 
 to this large item of extra expense, it may not be improper here to 
 state, what has before been stated in another form, that since the de- 
 cision of the Commissioners accurate surveys and examinations have 
 been made of the whole line under consideration, and the location 
 fixed on a mvre favorable route, and with less difficulties than was 
 ever anticipated, and from careful estimates by the Engineers of the 
 Company they have no hesitation in stating that, in their opinion, the 
 work on the southern route will be constructed at an expense not 
 greater than that through the interior. It is therefore believed that 
 every dollar of this large sum should be entirely stricken out. If this 
 position be correct, and it is stated with the utmost confidence of its 
 correctness, $34,308 (being the interest on the estimated extra cost of 
 the southern route) should be taken from the $59,308, which latter 
 sum the Commissioners deducted from the extra cost of the northern 
 line, and which would reduce that debit to $25,000. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive how any man or set of men with the 
 smallest possible measure of public spirit, or the least regard for the 
 interests of a large portion of the State, rather than a section, or for 
 the interests of the many in preference to those of the few, can care- 
 fully read this able Report of the Commissioners without a full con- 
 viction of the justice and propriety of their decision. 
 
 The Report is marked throughout with frankness and candor, and 
 with an evident, and even expressed determination, to give the interior 
 route the benefit of every favorable consideration of which the case 
 would admit; but having been appointed by the Legislature to the 
 responsible duty of deciding an important question, affecting individual, 
 private and public interests, the Commissioners have fearlessly and faith- 
 fully discharged that duty, and their statement of the reasons for their 
 decision will convince any man not warped by prejudice or blinded by 
 interest, that a contrary decision would have been fatal to this great 
 enterprise, as no set of men could be found, with a knowledge of 
 half the difficulties to be encountered on the northern route, who 
 would ever have furnished the money to complete the work. 
 
 It may not be improper here to remark, that the requisite amount 
 of subscription never could have been raised, had there been the most 
 distant expectation that the Company would have been embarrassed 
 by this question of location, or that they would not have been allowed, 
 like other Rail Road Companies in the State, to construct their road 
 to the Lake on the best route that could be found. 
 
(16) 
 
 The principal arguments used by the opponents of the southern or 
 Pennsylvania routes are, lst, That the road was chartered for the 
 benefit of the southern tier of Counties, and, consequently, the Com- 
 pany should not be allowed to carry any portion of it out of the State. 
 2d, That the State, by its loan of the $3:000-000 to aid the Company, 
 had a perfect right to compel them at any sacrifice to construct their 
 road within its limits, should they in consequence have to pass over 
 hills, instead of through vallies. 
 
 As to the first argument, the Company are not new, nor have they 
 ever been, disposed to deny that the road was chartered for the 
 benefit of the southern tier of counties, which is the precise object 
 they have now in view. To that end all their energies have 
 been, and still are, directed to obtain for those counties the best pos- 
 sible route, and, consequently, the cheapest communication to a 
 market. Nothing has heretofore contributed more to embarrass and 
 delay this work than the formidable difficulties of the northern route, 
 before referred to, and the local interests and jealousies of those 
 living on that line, who have appeared determined to oppose and 
 thwart every effort of the Company to relieve themselves from those 
 difficulties, and either compel them to construet their work over that 
 route, or not construct it at all; notwithstandmg they would thereby 
 deprive all the western counties, no less than the city of New-York, 
 of its benefits, If the large amount of money expended by the Com- 
 pany west of Binghamton, had been expended on the southern route, 
 east of that place, and where now located, the road would, before 
 this, doubtless have been built; and if any thing can now compensate 
 the people of the southern tier of counties, and those of our own 
 city, for the long delay that has arisen in its construction, it will be 
 found in the improved character of the line obtained by this decision. 
 It is believed that a patient and careful perusal of the Report will 
 convince any unprejudiced mind of the correctness of the above 
 remarks. 
 
 We will now look at the line of the road, and see if any one of the 
 southern tier of counties is injured, by carrying a portion of it into 
 Pennsylvania, and, if so, to what extent; and also, whether the line 
 leaves any county which it was originally intended to benefit. 
 
 The first county that makes any complaint is Sullivan county. 
 Years since, the road would have been built on the New-York side 
 of the Delaware river, if the narrow pass on that side had not been 
 
 previously occupied by the Delaware and Hudson Canal; and no 
 
 idea would, in that case, ever have been entertained of running it 
 
 At 
 
(17) 
 
 through the interior of that county. All that is now proposed is, to 
 carry it across the Delaware river, and follow up the opposite bank 
 in Pennsylvania, and re-cross into our own State at the most conve- 
 nient place, after passing the point occupied by the canal, and thence 
 continue the road in Sullivan county a distance of about 30 miles. 
 It is believed that a large portion of the inhabitants of this county 
 are as well accommodated by this route as they would be by running 
 the road through the interior. The county is sparsely populated, 
 containing about 20,000 inhabitants; the largest village or bo- 
 rough being Monticello, which contains some 500 to 1000 inhabitants, 
 from which place the principal opposition to the Delaware location 
 has arisen. Even supposing one half, or, possibly, more, of the inha- 
 bitants of the county would be better accommodated by a location on 
 the interior than on the southern route, yet the company could not 
 reconcile it with its sense of duty to carry the road through the inte- 
 rior on that account, for their accommodation, thereby encountering a 
 long succession of high grades, and a great amount of sharp, curved 
 line, but little less objectionable than high grades. The extra cost, per 
 ton, for transporting freight over this-route, the Commissioners make, 
 by the most favorable method of calculation which they could adopt, 
 within a fraction of 42 cents per ton, with an addition of 50 per cent. 
 for other items, [see pages 27 and 28,] which, ona tonnage of 200,000 
 tons, would be about $126,000; and on 400,000 tons it would amount to 
 $252,000—less $59,308, [see page 29,|—as the annual tax, imposed on 
 the public for the benefit of the interior route, through Sullivan County. 
 This large sum would have to be paid by the western counties; as it 
 would be the actual increased cost to the Company, which must be borne 
 by those doing business on the road. With a knowledge of these facts, 
 the Directors could not, in the faithful discharge of their duties to the 
 western counties, and the public, consent that they should be laid 
 under contribution to that extent for the benefit of a mere local inte- 
 rest; hence their determined and persevering efforts, during the two 
 last sessions of the Legislature, to avoid so serious an incumbrance. 
 
 The next county that makes any complaint is Broome county, with 
 which some of the adjacent counties sympathise. Here the road 
 runs through a corner of Pennsylvania for a distance of about 15 
 miles, on the southern route, and then passes through the southern 
 portion of Broome, instead of the interior. The advantages and dis- 
 advantages of both routes have been heretofore sufficiently explained 
 as not to require, at this time, any thing more upon that subject. In 
 the case of Broome county, a much larger number of citizens of our 
 own State would be benefitted by the northern than the southern 
 
(18) 
 
 route; and the Company regret the necessity which compelled them 
 to urge the location on the southern route, at this point of the line, 
 with as much earnestness as on the Delaware route, in order to avoid : 
 difficulties but little less formidable than those in the interior of Sul- 
 livan count. 
 
 II. In relation to the $3,000,000 State loan—AIl] will admit that. 
 when this work was first undertaken, it was a large, and, possibly, too 
 large and expensive a work for private capital and enterprise, alone, 
 to accomplish—the largest and most expensive of any in our country; 
 the cost of which, when completed, will exceed, by some three or 
 four millions, that of the first cost of the Erie Canal. The magnitude 
 and difficulty of the work, at the time of its commencement, probably 
 prevented a sufficient amount of capital being subscribed to secure 
 its construction, and hence the delay in the progress of the work. At 
 this delay, the southern tier of counties became clamorous and dissa- 
 tisfied, and urgently claimed the assistance of the State to aid in its 
 construction. ‘lhe Erie Canal had long before been completed with 
 the aid of the public credit, to which the southern tier of counties 
 had equally contributed, which had had the effect of raising up cities, 
 towns, and villages upon its banks, and increasing the value of pro- 
 perty in its vicinity many times the cost of the work, and building up 
 that portion of the State to the neglect, as was alleged, or at the ex- 
 pense of the southern tier of counties. The Legislature, some seven 
 or eight years after the charter was given, in order to aid this impor- 
 tant work, in which the southern tier of counties had so deep an 
 interest, loaned the credit of the State to the amount of $3,000,000, 
 which, with half that amount of private subscription, made the road 
 what it was when the present Board of Directors asumed the control 
 of it. 
 
 The Company, after expending all their means, and failing to obtain 
 any further subscriptions or assistance from the State, and, after 
 struggling on as long as possible with their embarrassments, finally 
 became bankrupt, and made an assignment of their property, in con- 
 sequence of which the State ordered a foreclosure of its lien, and 
 advertised the road for sale. At an extra session of the Legislature, 
 however, in the summer of 1842, the sale of the road was postponed 
 until the close of the next legislative session, which Legislature 
 passed an act, called “ Haulkner’s Bill,” by which it was got under 
 way again, giving some hopes to its friends of its resuscitation; but 
 the several attempts which were made, during this period of two 
 years, to revive it, did not succeed. But, during the winter of 1846, 
 
(19) 
 
 a law was obtained, granting the release of the State lien, upon the 
 condition that $3,000,000 of bona fide subscriptions should be ob- 
 ‘tained, and that the road should be finished within six years from the 
 passage of the act. At this time the Company, knowing the impor- 
 tance of building their road on the best route that could be obtained, 
 asked permission from the Legislature to construct a small portion of 
 it in the State of Pennsylvania. ‘The result of that application is 
 well known, and it is considered unnecessary here to repeat it. The 
 justice and propriety of the claims which certain counties make, to 
 the exclusion of others, on account of their interest in that loan, 
 cannot be admitted for one moment, as their interest is collective, not 
 individual. The loan did not secure the building of the road, and 
 never would have done it, without a large addition of private capi- 
 tal; and it consequently did not benefit the southern tier of counties 
 to the extent anticipated, and it never could have done it, without the 
 addition of some $6,000,000 or $7,000,000 of private capital. 
 
 Those who furnish this large amount of capital are certainly enti- 
 tled to some voice in its expenditure; though this appears in some 
 quarters to be questioned—evidently considering it a privilege to the 
 stockholders to be allowed to expend their money on this work. But 
 rather than submit to the large annual tax of carrying this road over 
 the northern route, it would be better, and more for the interest of 
 the public and the Company, if they were able to do so, to pay back 
 the $3,000,000 loan to the State. But that they cannot do, as they 
 will require all the means they can possibly control to build the road. 
 The great expense of this work required all the inducements that 
 could be held out to insure the necessary subscription to complete it ; 
 and when built, it will confer benefits upon the southern tier of 
 counties, and upon our city, which will return to the State in 
 the increase of taxable property, and in the general prosperity of 
 that portion of it hitherto so much neglected, all, and more than all, 
 the assistance which has been rendered: and the best way to confer 
 such a boon upon those counties is, to give them the benefit of a cheap 
 and rapid communication to the seaboard, and not impose upon them 
 the perpetual increased tax of carrying their products over hills 
 instead of through valleys. 
 
 The above are a few of the many considerations which might be 
 urged in favor of the decision of the Commissioners, the importance 
 and value of which can hardly be over-estimated. 
 
 The difficulties and embarrassments with which this gteat public 
 work has had to contend, almost from the beginning, and which, two 
 years since, had reached such a point of depression as nearly to dis- 
 courage any attempt to resuscitate it; and now, when relieved in a 
 great measure of its embarassment, and placed in a condition to 
 afford reasonable hopes of its speedy completion, to be threatened 
 
 with a serious attempt to interfere with this guestion,—vital in itg 
 
A a: 
 
 consequences to the Company, and again to attempt to disturb and 
 agitate this subject can only have the effect to embarrass or delay the 
 work, without producing a corresponding benefit to any parties. 
 This question having been legally settled, in consequence of which 
 the Company have, in good faith, put under contraet a large amount 
 of work, and now to have difficulties wantonly or needlessly thrown 
 in their way, instead of aiding and sustaining this great public enter- 
 ptise,—while it needs, and should receive all the fostering care and 
 encouragement which can be given to it, to render its success cer- 
 tain,—is almost enough to discourage the efforts uf any set of men 
 from going on with the work. Had these difficulties, at the first, 
 been fully understood and appreciated, and (more than all these) 
 those that have arisen from mere selfish and local interests, been 
 anticipated in the outset, the Legislature and the public would have 
 been spared all the appeals and trouble which they have received 
 from the present Board of Directors: but having engaged in this 
 great enterprise, in which our city and a large portion of the State 
 are so deeply interested, (but in the success of which the Directors 
 have no greater or deeper interest than the great mass of their fel- 
 low-citizens,) they are determined, as they have been from the begin- 
 ning, to carry it on to a speedy completion, unless thwarted and de- 
 feated by local and selfish considerations. 
 
 To our fellow citizens who have so deep an interest in the speedy 
 completion of this Road, aad who have furnished nearly the whole 
 amount of the requisite subscription to go on with its construction ; 
 and to the western counties of our State, to whom this subject is one 
 of vital importance, we confidently appeal, to prevent the threatened 
 interference with the decision of the Commissioners,—a decision 
 based, as it is believed, upon a foundation that cannot be shaken or 
 overthrown, and supported by arguments and conclusions that cannot 
 be successfully opposed or controverted, and which will confer benefits 
 upon a large portion of the State, that can hardly be estimated. 
 
 If the Report containing the reasons for their decision, could be 
 carefully read by every person interested in this question, no further 
 arguments or considerations would be necessary to convince every 
 unprejudiced mind of its justice and propriety. Indeed it is difficult 
 to conceive how any other could have been arrived at, with all these 
 facts and considerations before them. 
 
 All who will examine the Report with care and attention and ad- 
 mit the correctness and ‘truth of its statements, must be convinced 
 of the difficulty if not the impossibility, in the face of such an 
 array of facts and arguments, of collecting the money to construet 
 the Road on any other than the southern route, and if ever built it 
 must be built on the line where now located. 
 
 OFFICH, N.Y. & E. R. R. Co., 
 Feb. Ath, 1847. 
 _ By Order of the Boarp or Direcrors, 
 BENJAMIN LODER, Peesident. 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 MAY 12 1933 
 UNIVERSITY OF {Liinots. 
 
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