NEW YORK AND ALBANY RAIL ROAD. SKETCH OF THE REMARKS MADE BY THE vz-ii-zi'sv ©5? me a o ship ah?, AT A MEETING OF CITIZENS Held at the City Hall, November 10, 1840 ; TOGETHER WITH A COPY OF THE RESOLUTIONS PASSED AT THAT MEETING, AND OTHER INFORMATION OF INTEREST ON THE SUBJECT OF RAIL ROADS GENERALLY. NEW YORK: BRYANT AND BOGGS, PRINTERS, 27 PINE STREET. i£x ICtbrtB SEYMOUR DURST When you leave, please leave this hook Because it has heen said "Ever thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned hook." AMERICAN RAIL HOADS :N E TTXO IUv PilOFILES OF THE THREE GREAT RAIL-ROAD ROUTES EXTENDING FROM NEW- YORK CITY TO LAKE ERIE. Horizontal scale 30 miles to 1 inch. — Vertical scale 1,000 feet to 1 inch. — The Portions shaded, are complete and in operation. NEW IOIK and ERIE ROUTE Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/newyorkalbanyraiOOnewy NEW YORK AND ALBANY RAIL ROAD. SKETCH OF THE REMARKS MADE BY THE AT A MEETING OF CITIZENS Held at the City Hall, November 10, 1840 ; TOGETHER WITH A COPY OF THE RESOLUTIONS . PASSED AT THAT MEETING, AND OTHER INFORMATION OF INTEREST ON THE SUBJECT OF RAIL ROADS GENERALLY. NEW YORK: BRYANT & BOGGS, PRINTERS, 27 PINE STREET. 2^15 13H0 At a meeting of the Citizens of the City of New York, held at the City Hall, November 10, 1840, on the subject of the immediate construction of the New York and Albany Rail Road, ABR'M G. THOMPSON, Esq. was called to the Chair, and LAMBERT SUYDAM and HENRY E. DAVIES, Esqs. were appointed Secretaries : The following resolutions were submitted and passed unanimously: Resolved, on motion of Alderman Rich, That New York Imperiously requires that an uninterrupted communication be made between this great Emporium of Commerce, the Capitol of the State, and the great western producing regions, not only of our own State, but of the United States and Canada. Resolved, That this meeting are of opinion that from the present want of employ- ment by laborers, the low price of provisions on the line of the road, ihe great evenness of the surface of the country, the loose nature of the soil to be excavated, the low otter which the Company received In high times to do the whole work and put on the Locomotives, (amounting for the whole to 2.640,000 dollars,) and still more favorable offers lately made to do parts of the work; the dispositiou which exists to a great extent among the owners of the land, to give the land (as an inducement for capitalists to take the Stock) are all cir- cumstances which, in our opinion, go strongly to show that this road can be made a profita- ble one. For these reasons, in addition to those of general benefit to every Landholder, Merchant and Citizen, we recommend this improvement to the favorable consideration of our whole community. Resolved, on motion of Alderman Woodhull, That Mr. Stevens be requested to furnish the remarks ottered by him this evening, to the Committee, for publication and circulation. Resolved, That the following gentlemen, viz.:— General Gilbert Hopkins, Harvey Weed, Daniel Stanton, William Beach Lawrence, John N. Wj ckoit; Stephen Allen, and Josiah Rich, be appointed to procure subscriptions, with power to add to their number. And that these proceedings, and the icmarks and statistics, be published by the Officers of this meeting. A. G. THOMPSON, Chairman- LAMBERT SUYDAM, S secretaries HENRY E. DAVIES, ) eecreiarw«. REMARKS MADE BY SAMUEL STEVENS, ESQ,., President of the New York and Albany Rail Road Company, AT THE MEETING HELD AT THE CITY HALL, November 10, 1840. Mr. Stevens said that the concerns of the Company had passed into new hands, he would not say better, but he would say that they had no local interest either as owners of lots or farms : that their object was to bring to a completion this great public work, and that whenever it appeared they were not able to effect this object, they would resign their places to any other gentlemen who might be disposed to make ano- ther effort. That this Company was chartered in 1832 for fifty years, with great incorporated privileges — that originally it was supposed that if the road was confined to thisJState, a high ridge in Columbia County would require to be tunnelled or otherwise overcome by inclined planes operated by station- ary steam or animal power. The undertaking was therefore embarrassed by this natural difficulty, or by the alternative of carrying the route, not only in three different States, but placing its management under four or five different corpora- tions, governed by the laws of different States. In the year 1836 the ground through Westchester County was surveyed, the expense of which was defrayed by Charles Henry Hall, Esq., which, in connexion with the surveys previously made for the Sharon Canal in Putnam and Dutchess Coun- ties, determined the feasibility of the route through those three Counties. In 1838, by the advances of the same gentleman, aided by some of the leading persons on the line of the road in 4 Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester Counties, the whole route was explored and surveyed, under the direction of the Commissioner, by whom it was discovered that a rail road could be made, confined to this State, and consequently go- verned by our own laws ; that its entire length was but 141 miles from Haiiaem River to Albany, and if a portion of the Albany and West Stockbridge Road is used, as it may be, the extent of road to be constructed would be reduced to 117 miles ; that seven-tenths of the route could be made per- fectly straight, with no curve upon the remainder of a less radius than 1200 feet ; that the grade would in no instance exceed 30 feet in a mile, the proportion of grade having this acclivity embracing only three-tenths of the distance ; and that the route ran through a comparatively level and popu- lous country. When however all this was discovered, (for it had been to our citizens almost an unexplored region.) the great revulsion took place in the financial condition of the country, the pecuniary distresses of which occupied the thoughts of every citizen ; and it must be admitted that if we have passed the panic, we have not got over the prostration entailed on our trade and commerce, although a light is again appearing in the horizon ; at least so think our Boston neighbors, who can contract for a rail road from Albany to Boston, a distance of 202 miles, in which they are aided by our Albany friends, who have loaned to them $650,000 in good Dutch bonds, to make their rail road from Albany to the Massachusetts line, and to secure a depot for the produce of the west at Boston instead of New York. The capitalists of Boston and other eastern towns have lately, it is said, returned in part the favor by aiding the Auburn and Roches- ter Rail Road to the amount of $200,000. and are in treaty to assist the Batavia, Attica and Buffalo Road, so that the Mas- sachusetts Rail Road may be regularly, in winter, supplied with our western produce. But we are told we are one people, that State lines are imaginary, and only intended for legal and political pur- poses. If so, ought not Massachusetts to take her share in 5 the responsibility of the forty millions required to get the produce of the West to Albany? Under snch circumstances ought our city and the Eastern Counties generally to look quietly on and see our trade curtailed and perhaps with a loss forever of this rail road communication through our own State? Has Albany ever consented to any other route for the produce of the West except through that city? This Albanian subscription after all is not so bad, for the Alba- nians may intend to subscribe for a New York Rail Road also. But the recommendation of our own Board of Trade is certainly surprising, who not content with seeing a large portion of our State produce and city trade diverted to Bos- ton, appear desirous to see another large slice diverted to Bridgeport, in the State of Connecticut, so as to resuscitate as would appear, the Connecticut, West India and foreign trade. To have rendered this scheme of diverting business from the City of New York complete, they should have recom- mended that the Erie Rail Road terminate at Amboy, so that New York might be equidistant from the two great de- pots, or terminations of oar two Great Western Rail Road Routes. The truth is, New York has so many natural advantages that her citizens have not duly regarded the necessity of ar- tificial ones. This is not the case with the other great cities upon the seaboard, since all of them, without an exception, from Charleston in the south, to Boston in the north, have been actively engaged in the formation of rail roads, to unite themselves with the distant interior, and with other seaports on the Atlantic. Baltimore has her two lines of rail road, extending north into Pennsylvania ; a third, passing south to Virginia ; and the fourth, being her great line of communication with the West, which is completed for nearly half the distance to' the Ohio River : the nett receipts of which, the past year, are double those of the year preceding. Philadelphia has her railways, extending north, on both sides of the Delaware, to New Jersey ; south, towards Baltimore ; and westward are 6 her two great lines, extending, one, up the Valley of the Schuylkill ; the other, across to Columbia ; to be continued, eventually, to Lake Erie and to the Ohio River. Boston also has its railways, reaching into Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut ; and the Western Rail Way, traversing the whole length of the State, and terminating at the Hudson River, at Albany ; the object of which has been already stated, and which of necessity must draw off, under any view of the subject, a most important part of the western trade and travel, which has hitherto found its way to New York. Is it true that New York cannot construct a rail road be- tween her emporium and Capital? or is it true that she does not deem such a road of importance to her trade and commercial supremacy ? Certainly not. Why, then, with the means at command, has not this road, of so great and acknowledged importance, been built? And why is it now languishing for the means necessary to carry it on ? The answer is, that our capitalists and real estate holders, though ready to loan their money at six per cent., will not venture a million of dollars, to make a rail road into their own city, to be freighted with produce to their own stores, and transporting western mer- chants, travellers and friends, to their own dwellings. The truth is, our capitalists only look for a good first bond and mortgage, on productive property, in the First ward, and laugh at Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The idea seems to be preposterous with them, that our trade is to be cut off, or at all interfered with, by the Baltimore and Ohio, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, or Albany and Boston Rail Roads : and least of all by the project of making a termi- nation of our rail road at Bridgeport. It is not history, but is in the recollection of many of our merchants, that both Boston and Philadelphia had as exten- sive trade and commerce as New York. In England. Bris- tol had a much more extensive trade than Liverpool ; and upon the continent, cities have, in modern times, in many 7 instances, grown up at the expense of other cities in their neighborhoods. Within a few years past, the cities of Boston and Phila- delphia have made great exertions to regain their former po- sitions, and with some degree of success, since the ratio of increase of population and business has been greater proba- bly in that period in those cities than in New York. The natural advantages of New York are in no incon- siderable degree to be lost to us, if we do not add to them artificial advantages similar to those which our neighbors have so generally and extensively introduced. This can only be done by connecting, by a rail way, with New York, the routes leading to Canada and the great lakes, by way of Albany Shall it be said that our great canal navigation, from Albany west, and our numerous rail roads, stretching through Utica, Syracuse, Auburn, Rochester and Buffalo, shall terminate, so far as the City of New York is concerned at Albany? That New York, after having done so much, will permit the Bostonians to enjoy the exclusive privilege of carrying this produce and travel, for five months of the year, to their city ; and to compete with our river navigation during the rest of the year. We suppose our neighbors will not complain if we compete with them, and bring part of our winter produce down to our own city ; but we must do more ; we must compete with Boston for the extensive agri- cultural, mineral and manufacturing productions of her own counties adjoining this State ; and lead this trade, which now goes to Boston, to this city. In this way we must open to her rich and populous counties, a city and harbor of more moderate temperature, less bound up with ice, or encum- bered with fogs ; and give to them also a better market for their manufactures, and their surplus produce, than is furnished them by Boston. That we can convey passengers for our packets and steam- ers, with more certainty and despatch, from Albany to New York, than they can be conveyed from Albany to Boston, is certain. Our rail road from Albany will be 147 miles in length ; 8 the one to Boston 202 miles, with two high summits upon the latter, the one 1,440 feet above tide, the other 918 feet, while we have but one, of 769 feet. But we regret to say. that our natural advantages are likely to be lost, we will not say by the superior intelligence, but by the superior enter- prise of our sister cities. We may continue to lament empty houses and stores, and vacant lots and high assessments, and attribute our depressed commerce to the removal of the de- posites, to the banks, to monopolies, to the panic, to expan- sions and contractions of the currency, to speculations and absence of a hard currency, forgetting that other causes are exerting a strong influence to divert the business and trade of our city into other channels. I am aware that this improvement, to procure support, must be adjudged profitable^ and that it will certainly render a good dividend. This, I shall endeavor to show, will most certainly be the case. The number of passengers on the Hudson River, by the best statistics to be procured, is equal to 3,000 per day during the season of navigation, or an ave- rage of 2,000 per day during the whole year ; that is, the travel is equal to 1,000 per day each way, for the whole year, passing the whole length of the river. This includes the way passengers, more than one-half of whom are from the east side of the river. At present this travel is mainly when the river is open, but this is because the roads in Winter and Spring are almost impassable. The Winter is the most pleasant and healthful season to visit a great city, whether amusement or business is the object of pursuit ; and it is the season of most leisure, and the most convenient to be absent from all country occupations. Is it not reasonable to suppose, that these considerations would greatly increase the travel to our city in the Winter if convenient modes of travel are furnished ? The field to reap the dividend is, first, the proportion of these 2,000 daily passengers. For nearly four months of the year the river is actually frozen ; for half a month in the fall there exists the apprehension of its being frozen ; and for another 9 half month the river, if open, is obstructed with ice ; so we claim for the rail road five months without river competition. If, for the reasons mentioned, the travel on the rail road amounts to but one-fourth of the river travel, we then have 500 passengers daily, equal to the average upon either of the New York and Philadelphia Rail Roads ; the profits of one of which, viz., the Camden and Amboy, it is said, are suffi- cient to have paid off its cost and interest, and would have done so but for other less profitable connexions with the canal, and a large bonus paid to the State. This travel is equal, also, to the number passing upon the Utica and Sche- nectada, and Utica and Syracuse Rail Roads, and the two roads leading from Boston to Providence and Worcester. Westchester, Dutchess, Columbian and Putnam Counties have a population of nealy 200,000. The next adjoining counties in Connecticut, including Berkshire, in Massachu- setts, together with New York City and places adjacent, have a population of at least half a million more : between all of which districts there will be frequent intercourse through the medium of the rail road. This double tier of counties is at an average distance of about 30 miles from the river, and if we exclude the population for 10 miles along the river, we have five-sixths of the residue who, even in summer, would find the rail road most convenient. The travel of this population would be a certain profit for the road through- out the year, and would be realized as each mile of the road was connected with New York. This is independent of the through travel, or what New York City would furnish them, from one extreme, and Albany, Troy, the Canadas, and the far West, would furnish them from the other extreme. But it is said we cannot compete with the river ; we re- mark, that one convenience, as it is found, does not of neces- sity subtract from another. The more facilities we furnish the more we increase the travel, ; for many will go one way and return the other. The river will have its attractions, so will the land route. Travellers will conveniently pass be- tween the Springs and New York the same day, which they 2 10 cannot do by the river. The rail road presents less danger — no fear from drowning or blowing up. The rail road lead- ing south from Philadelphia, successfully competes with the steamboats on the Delaware and Chesapeake, as does the Utica and Schenectada with the Erie Canal, though deprived of all the benefit of transporting merchandize. There cannot be a doubt that the travel on the New York and Albany Rail Road will be equal to or greater than the Utica and Schenectada Road. The latter conveys a number of passengers annually, equal to 130,000 through its whole length, and as the population and facilities for rail road travelling increase, the travel will also increase. The popu- lation of New York State is now only one half as dense as that of Massachusetts, and is rapidly increasing. The Utica and Schenectada Rail Road with its present business which is confined exclusively to the conveyance of passengers, yields a surplus revenue of from 14 to 20 per cent, after paying all expenses. The New York and Albany Rail Road will not cost more per mile than the Utica and Schenectada, if built in the same manner, and being longer, can be operated at comparatively less expense. There is nothing in its grade or curvatures which will prevent the attainment of a speed for passengers of from 25 to 30 miles per hour, so that allow- ing one hour for stoppages, the whole distance may be passed over in from six to seven hours, or travellers may leave Al- bany at four o'clock in the afternoon and reach New York the same evening in time for a comfortable night's rest. The experience upon the better constructed and better managed rail roads in this country and in England shows that this speed is practicable under circumstances less favorable to a high speed than will exist on the New York and Albany Rail Road, if constructed in the most improved manner. The reports and estimates of the Engineer Department show that the road will not be a costly one. The ground is very favorable, being of a character well suited to form a sub- stantial road. There are no streams of great magnitude to pass, or to the destructive effects of the flood- waters, of which 11 the road will be exposed. Singular as it may appear to those whose knowledge of the country is obtained by passing along the river, there are no hills to be surmounted, no inclined planes with stationary power or tunnels acquired, but the route occupying as it does one continuous valley for most of the distance, is so nearly level that it would be difficult for an unpractised eye to discern any material deviation upon any part from a level course. Such is the general character of the route on which it is proposed to build the New York and Albany Rail Road. In the expense of grading, straightness, favorable arrangement and acclivity of the grades, it is not excelled by any other roads of like extent in the northern section of the Union. As an evidence of the high character for durability which the route will possess when completed, it may be stated, that if it is graded in the usual maimer by the formation of earth embankments, and the culverts, abutments and piers of bridges are built of masonry, according to the plan assumed in the estimates, the total cost of perishable material in the road bed will not exceed one hundred dollars per mile, on the average, between Harlaem River and Albany. In re- spect to the transportations of produce, good judges assert that two-thirds of all the corn and oats which come down the river from the Eastern Counties, that Dutchess alone has sent from her landings 580,000 bushels of oats. She supplies as much butter, cheese, lard, fruit, vegetables, fowls, and butch- er's meat, as any County in the State, and the New York and New England Counties will likewise furnish large quantities of similar articles. In addition to the agricultural produc- tions we must add the transportation of iron, lime and marble, which will be sent to the city in large quantities, the latter article to render cheaper the building up of our city and to ornament it. The great Western and Northern Mail must of necessity be carried on this route. In the transportation of the great mails the Post Office Department is authorized by Congress to pay at the rate of $300 per mile. This would give the 12 road $ 42,000 per annum, equal to the interest at five per cent, on $804,000, or one-fourth of the estimated cost of the road. In addition to the courses of business above described, it is believed that merchandise designed for the North and West will pass upon the road to a very great extent, on account of the saving of time by this mode of conveyance. This will be more particularly the case when arrangements are com- pleted for the transportation of freight on the lines of rail way from Albany and Troy to the Lakes. As it regards the capa- city and utility of rail ways for the conveyance of freight there remains no doubt. In England freight is now beinar transported on many rail roads at a speed six times greater than is attainable on the canals, at an expense only one-fifth or one-fourth greater. Freight is also conveyed on all the roads in this country where there exists no legal prohibition. The receipts from this source vary according to the location of the road from one third to twice the amount received from passengers. The amount of freight passing to and from the City of New York and the West, which is of a character to be conveyed upon a rail way, and which with a well constructed rail road from New York to Buffalo, would seek that mode of convey- ance, may be inferred from the tolls received upon the Erie Canal, which, according to the last returns amount to, on merchandise in one year $524,387 And on flour and wheat to 363,180 Making $887,567 Equal to two-thirds of the gross tolls on that work, to which should be added, for our present purpose, the amount of simi- lar articles passing*between New York and Albany and the country north and east of the latter point. That the rail way will draw to itself a portion of this traffic there cannot, I think, be a doubt, and with a fair profit accru- ing therefrom, since like the Utica and Schenectada Road the receipts from passengers will alone be sufficient to sustain it, and hence all that is received from freight over and^ above 13 the mere cost of locomotion, independent of the use of the road, will be so much added to the profit account. We ask gentlemen to compare these advantages with those enjoyed by other roads. Do you think the travel will be less than upon the Utica and Schenectada or Utica and Syracuse Roads, the stock of the former of which is selling at 27 per cent., and of the latter at 20 per cent, above par? Will it be less than upon the two routes to the Springs ? Will it be less than upon most of the rail roads in New England, which, even in depressed times, have generally held their own? Or, to take the most unfavorable case that could perhaps be supposed, will it be less than upon the Stonington Road, which, with a steam navigation to Providence, and two other routes, via Norwich and Hartford, to compete with, and cost- ing the enormous sum of $2,400,000 for 47 miles, has lately experienced an advance on its stock, which is now selling at 40 per cent. ; being as high, taking the cost of the two roads into consideration, as the stock of the New York and Albany at its par value ? Will it, in fine, be less than upon the Camden and Amboy, or Philadelphia, Wilmington and Bal- . timore Roads ? the last of which competes successfully with the steamboats on the Delaware and Chesapeake, and yields a nett income of 4^ per cent. ; which, considering its greater cost, is equal to about 10 per cent, on the New York and Albany Road. Aside from the inducements which the New York and Albany Rail Road presents, as a safe investment for capital, it is of the greatest consequence to the City of New York, to enable it to retain the trade and travel of the interior, which is in danger of being diverted to Boston, by the road which is now nearly completed from that port to Albany. So long as conveyance by water, either through natural or artificial channels, was the best that could be devised, New York had nothing to fear. Now, however, that a new system is intro- duced, and it is no longer necessary to adhere to the bottoms of the valleys, where there is an abundant supply of water, or submit to the delay of lockage, and the slow movement 14 of animal power, or to an embargo upon all intercourse du- ring the Winter months, it becomes necessary for New York to avail herself of the improved mode of intercommunica- tion, and secure to herself the benefits which it is calculated to confer, ere the trade and travel of the country becomes so far established in other channels as not to be easily reclaimed. From Albany west to Lake Erie, the line of railway is now in operation, with the exception of two portions, lying be- tween Auburn and Canandaigua, and between Batavia and Buffalo. From Albany and Troy also, to Lake Champlain, but one link is wanting, viz., from Saratoga to Whitehall. These lines will soon be completed, making in the aggre- gate nearly 400 miles of rail way, the business of which it remains for the citizens of New York to bring to their city, by the construction of the New York and Albany Rail Road. Until this is done, much of the trade and travel of the rich interior of our own State, and of the more remote West, and of the Canadas, will find its way eastward, to benefit a rival city. The introduction of rail ways, as a means of intercommu- nication, is creating a new era in the internal commerce of our country. They are destined, in all probability, in con- nexion with steam navigation on the ocean and the great lakes and rivers, to change the entire social and commercial relations of the world. In England, where it is said there is not a place of any magnitude further removed from naviga- tion, either natural or artificial, than 15 miles, numbers of rail roads are in operation, and others are constructing. The former yield a fair income on the capital invested. The system is spreading on the continent, particularly in France, Belgium, Austria and Russia. In the United States it is ad- vancing with wonderful rapidity. Within the short space of about ten years, according to the most authentic informa- tion, the aggregate extent of rail ways undertaken by the several State Governments and by incorporated companies, amounts to upwards of 9,000 miles, at a total estimated cost of $160,000,000. 3,300 miles are now in actual operation, and the work is in progress upon 1,800 miles additional, making over 5.000 miles completed, or partially so, at a cost of $84,000,000. In this great system of rail way improvement, the States of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York participate nearly as follows : Name of State. Pennsylvania . Massachusetts. New York . . . . Agsrez te length of Railway. Miles in opera- lion. Miles construe ting. Amount already ex- pended. Total estimated cost. Average cost per mile. 850 360 1,394 576 270 475 161 62 279 18,000,000 7,500.000 10,500;000 23,000.000 10,800^000 25,000,000 27,100 30.000 17^900 2,604 1 1,321 502 36,000,000 58.S00.000 The above sum of 836,000.000 divided among the taxable inhabitants of the States mentioned according to the census of 1830, gives for each in Pennsylvania $6 00 Massachusetts 5 00 New York 2 40 Showing that New York has expended much less in propor- tion than the other States mentioned, with a greater benefit accruing, more miles of rail road having been constructed in • proportion, and as the prospect is fairer of their being more productive, she is better able to continue her efforts in per- fecting the system which has been so successfully com- menced. These remarks are made without reference to the expen- ditures of the State in the construction of canals, her efforts in this respect having been already pushed, as it is believed, too far, canals having become the inferior improvement of the age, as is evident from the fact that of all the canals con- structed in the United States, but a very small number have sustained themselves and paid the interest on their cost, while others like the Farmington, the Hampshire and Hamden, the Blackstone, and several others, have been superseded or gone into disuse altogether, proving almost a total loss to the pro- prietors. The rail ways, on the contrary, although exceeding as they 16 do more than 3000 miles in extent in actual operation, and costing on the average $20,000 per mile, pay an average in- come on their cost of 5 \ per cent., and are constantly on the increase, affording at the same time to the community accom- modations superior to those furnished by the canals. For this information we are indebted to the late Chevalier De Gerstner, who visited in person most of the rail roads in the United States. It seems therefore to be settled, that the rail way system is to prevail, that it is to constitute the great bond of connexion and of commercial intercommunication between the States, and as such it is obvious that the main lines of rail way should proceed unbroken from the great central and empo- rium of commerce to the more remote sections of the Union ; and in this view the New York and Albany Rail Road, form- ing as it does the first link in an extended chain, reaching from the seaboard to the St. Lawrence and Upper Mississippi valleys, upon that route which presents the lowest summits and the most favorable grades, and which can be soonest completed, is deserving of the first attention. But it is not only as a means of preserving and of increasing the com- merce of our city that the rail road is necessary. It is one of the most efficient means that can be adopted for contribu- ting to its defence ; and in this view, the rail road system as a whole will do more probably towards adding to the mili- tary strength of the country than all other plans which have been devised for that purpose. From the celerity and cer- tainty of the conveyance which they afford at all seasons, presenting as they do the greatest facilities for the immediate concentration of troops at exposed points, and the transport- ing of supplies, they will, when perfected, place the country in an attitude of defence which will enable it successfully to repel invasion, at whatever point and however sudden and powerful may be the attack. There is, therefore, no point of view in which the New York and Albany Rail Road can be placed in which it does not force itself upon the attention as a work of great immediate importance to our city, as well 17 * as to the nation at large, and it is to be hoped that our citi- zens will be so fully impressed with the truth of what has been stated as to induce them to furnish, without delay, the comparatively small sum required for its completion, which if contributed by each according to his ability and interest in the subject, will not be felt by anyone as an inconvenience. STATEMENT OF CANALS In operation in the State of New York, November, 1840. miles. Erie Canal and feeders 371 Charaplain Canal do 79 Oswego 38 Cayuga and Seneca 23 Crooked Lake 8 Chemung 23 Chemung feeder 16 Chenango 97 Genessee Valley 35 Total constructed by the State 690 Oneida Lake Canal 3 Delaware and Hudson Canal. 81 Total canals in New York. . 774 Of the above 690 miles of canal built by the State, only 182 miles have been constructed since the first rail way was opened, during which time there have been con- structed and put into operation by private enterprise, within the lim- its of the State, 475 miles of rail way. STATEMENT OF RAIL WAYS Completed and in operation in the State of New York, No- vember, 1840. miles. Harlem 7 Brooklyn and Jamaica 12 Long Island 15 Hudson and Berkshire 31 Troy and Ballston 24 Mohawk and Hudson 16 Saratoga and Schenectada. . . 22 Utica and Schenectada 78 ' Syracuse and Utica 54 Auburn and Syracuse 26 Catskill and Canajoharie. . . . 26 Auburn and Rochester 35 Rochester and Batavia 32 Niagara Falls and Buffalo 22 Niagara Falls and Lockport. . 20 Corning City and Blossburgh. 14 Ithaca and Owego 29 Skeneateles Branch of Auburn Road 5 Onondaga Quarry Road 4 Rochester and Lake Ontario. . 3 Total 475 3 - 18 STATEMENT OF RAIL ROADS In the several States of the Union, derived principally from statistics furnished by the late Chevalier De Gerstner. Aggregate Miles 01 Miles of Amount 1 UlcLl NAME OF STATE. length of Rail Road Rail Road .already ex- estimated Railroads. in operation. constructing pended. cost. New Hampshire £ 110 41 $900,000 $2,130,000 Massachusetts. > XV11UU.C XoldilU. * . \ 372 280 62 7,704,000 10,986,000 Connecticut 243 181 43 5,300,000 6,400,000 New York 1,394 475 279 10,500,000 25,000,000 New Jersey 199 174 3,700,000 3,930,000 Pennsylvania. . . . 850 576 161 18,050,000 23,068,000 Maryland > Delaware $ 206 . 206 7,000,000 7,000,000 Virginia 369 341 14 5,201,000 5,451,000 North Carolina. . . 247 247 3,163,000 3,163,000 South Carolina. . . 202 136 50 3,200,000 4,000,000 640 212 220 5,458,000 9,778,000 Florida 218 58 17 1,420,000 3,820,000 Alabama 432 51 168 1,222,000 6,216,000 Louisiana 249 62 46 2,932,000 5,896,000 211 50 60 2,880,000 5,730,000 160 120 1,000,000 2,500,000 Kentucky 96 32 27 947,000 2,197,000 Ohio 416 39 80 420,000 4,279,000 246 20 40 1.375,000 4,800,000 Michigan Illinois 738 114 110 1,896,000 8,549,000 1,421 23 320 1,833,000 17,000,000 9,019 3,319 1,817 86,102,000 Il61,893,000 19 W 8 ft5 CO *© CO >o CO cj "8 s to • CO so S3 8 8 co a <*> <2 •p^OJ 8[0l|A\. ranuuB J9d 'sjaSuass^d jo o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o © o o o o of ©" GO" ©" © ©" OJ 01 CO 00 CO CO © 00 1— i 1— 1 1— 1 1— < 1— 1 T— 1 i -sidiaoai jjau © © N. © i>» © © i-l Nett receipts per annum. © GO GO GO © CO © i-h OJ © © r GO © GO ^ i-i © CQ i— l CO HHH^ Receipts per annum. © © CO © }>■ i>» © o?^ o>_ ©^ oq_ oo t— " co" o" i-T co" i-T ifT O © O — < CO GO Expenses per annum. © CQ i—i t— i CO W H LO O QO CO^^C^i— i ^ CO ©^ ©" go" of *«f © go" r/^i ,^s, />"> \^ H HCQ Cost of road. © © © © © lO CQ GO ©©!>•© GO © C0 n O^©^tJ4 ©^© GO ^" ©" ©" go" of go" -H i— i ^ © © GO ^ © © lO i— I O 00 OJ •ijlSua-j § CO GO © © i— l t— I t— I «5 is H CQ TJ* o p < o O S © CO GO C3 Xfl *-> g ^ c o O 3 CD o S > o o © c3 o ° O C d 2 eS — 20 a? g ft? ft. bo <0 «» r-o © 8 s ^ m 80 8*S S s « • ~ si © «o -5 ©L g> >j so 1 S3 si © S» © ^ i 1 53 60 8 © 8 4 §^ 8* bo 8 « 8 S 5> S3 © p© 013 s 8 « t3 *©>S^ 53 g © © J •to © ©• to :© to 8 «U to R S Q g S3 8 § 03 cd £ • o 55 Ph • -h re H-> .-H c3 nrj %-> a 1 ° re cz, CO CD o.a ■»-> „p 1-1 O CD a «j II £.2 O X! 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