STATEMENT OF FACTS IN RELATION TO THE ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND PROSPECTS OP THE NEW-YORK AND HARLjEM RAIL ROAD COMPANY. STATE 3IE NT OF FACTS IN RELATION TO THE ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND PROSPECTS XEW-YORK AND HARLJ3M RAIL ROAD COMPANY. NEW- YORK : PRINTED BV CEORGE P. SCOTT & CO., ANN, CORNER OF NASSAU-STREET 1833. oV t ;L4>7 1 & a x 1. The President and Directors of the New-York and Harlaem Road Company are hereby authorized and empower- 9 ed, with the permission of the Mayor, Aldermen and Common- alty of the City of New-York, to extend their rail road along the fourth avenue to fourteenth street in said city, and through such other streets in the said city as the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of said city may from time to time permit, sub- ject to such prudential rules as are prescribed by this Act, and as the said Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty in Common Council convened, may prescribe. " § 2. The President and Directors of said Company are hereby authorized to increase their capital stock to such sum as may be necessary for the purpose aforesaid, and to issue scrip therefor; but their capital stock shall not in the whole ex- ceed the sum.of five hundred thousand dollars. " $ 3. After obtaining the consent of the said Mayor, Alder- men and Commonalty, the said Company shall not construct any rail-way in any street of the City of New-York below Prince-street, until they shall have completed four miles of their road above said street. " § 4. No carriage or vehicle shall be drawn or propelled by any other than horse power, through any street of said city south of fourteenth street. " § 5. Every carriage or vehicle, drawn or propelled on said rail road, shall be provided with suitable safe-guards, project- ing in a descending direction near the surface of the rails, in front of each forward wheel, in such manner as to ensure the greatest safety against accidents. "§6. No such carriage or vehicle shall be drawn or pro- pelled at a greater speed than at the rate of five miles an hour in any street of said city below fourteenth street. " State of New-York, ) Secretary's Office. } "I certify the preceding to be a true copy of an original Act of the Legislature of this State on file at this office. "ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, "Deputy Secretary." "Albany, April 6, 1832." On the tenth of May, the following resolutions passed in Common Council. 2 10 Resolved, That the New-York and Harlaem Rail Road Company be permitted, and the Common Council hereby con- sent, so far as their rights extend, that the said Company ma extend their rails southerly from the north line of twenty-thir*. street to Prince-street, (subject, however, to the same condi- tions and restrictions which the Common Council heretofore imposed upon the said Company, in respect to that part of the road above twenty third-street.) That the said Company may forthwith proceed to lay down a single track through thefourth avenue, (south of twenty-third street) Union place, Blooming- dale road, and Broadway, and another single track through the Bowery, both as far south as Prince-street ; and after two months' use of a single track upon the whole distance, south of twenty-third street on both Broadway and the Bowery with convenient turnings at the several terminations as above men- tioned, they may (unless otherwise directed by the Common Council) lay down a second track on each of the above-men- tioned routes, the same to be maintained by the said Company, subject at all times to the regulations of the Common Council, and also subject to the obligation of removing the whole or any part of the rail ways hereby permitted to be laid down, in case the Common Council shall hereafter see fit to require the same. Provided, however, that all the said rails shall be laid down in such manner, and in such parts of the said streets, as shall be approved by the Street Commissioner, so as to cause no impediment to common and ordinary use of the streets for all other purposes ; and that the water-courses of the streets be left free and unobstructed, and that the said Company shall . pave the streets in and about the rails in a satisfactory and per- manent manner, and keep the width of twenty feet of said pav- ing, including the rails, in good repair at all times during the continuance of their use thereof; and provided, further, that if at any time after the said rails have been laid down, the Com- mon Council shall deem necessary, and shall order said rails to be taken up, the said Rail Road Company shall cause the pavement of the streets to be placed in good and sufficient re- pair. And, provided, further, that the said Company have their single rail tracks above-mentioned completed on or before J 1 he first of May, 1834, and that they are to charge and receive, such tolls, rates, or fare for the carrying of passengers or effects upon the said rail tracks south of twenty-third street as the Common Council may prescribe. Resolved, That the above resolution shall not be considered as binding on the Common Council, nor shall the same go into effect until the said Harhem Rail Road Company shall first duly execute, under their corporate seal such an instrument in writing, promising, covenanting, and agreeing, on their part and behalf, to stand to, abide, and perform all the conditions and provisions in the said resolution contained, as the Mayor and the Counsel of the Board shall approve of by certificate under their hands, nor until such instrument shall be filed, so certified, in the comptroller's office of this city. "Adopted by the Board of Aldermen, May 2, 1832. " Adopted by the Board of Assistants, May 7, 1832. " Approved by the Mayor, May 10, 1S32," After obtaining from the state and city legislatures the au- thority abovementioned, the Company proceeded with energy and good faith to prosecute their enterprise. The route of their road lies in the rocky bed of the Fourth avenue, presenting physical obstacles of no ordinary magnitude. It may not be- come the directors to dwell much on the manner in which they have performed this part of their duty. Suffice it to say, these difficulties have been met and vanquished, so that nearly the whole of the Fourth avenue is now reduced to a grade nearly level from Union Place to the Harlaem River, and so will re- main for ever, to enrich and beautify our city. The owners of lands on the route, with few exceptions, sensible of the be- neficial effects of this undertaking, have accelerated the opera- tions of the Company, by voluntary cessions of the requisite land. The capital of the Company is 8350,000, all subscribed, and fifty per cent, being 8175,000, already paid in, nearly the whole of which has already been disbursed in grading the avenue, purchasing machinery and materials, and laying down rails on the finished sections. Nearly a mile of single track has been laid in the paved part of the Bowery ; and the Com- 12 pany had indulged the belief, that the visible demonstration of that portion of the road had effectually dispelled the needless fears of its opponents. The frightful predictions of steam-car- riages furiously propelled through the street upon rails elevated above its surface, overturning and demolishing travellers and carriages, had all proved to be groundless and visionary. The people can examine this for themselves, and will find only a thin plate of iron, lying so near the surface of the pavement as to beliardly visible. They will find the street newly paved, newly graded, every impediment removed, the frequent cross-gutters, formerly so inconvenient and uncomfortable, now arched over and covered ; and, in fact, the whole carriage-way incom- parably improved in ease, comfort, and safety. Upon these thin rails they find only a few beautiful carriages, moving without dust or danger, and occupying less space than is now required for the same purpose by the omnibus coaches. After this practical exhibition, the Company did hope that they would be allowed to finish their enterprise without further molestation ; but their just expectations have been disappointed. For several weeks an anonymous map or diagram has been most industriously circu- lated, fraught with the most palpable misrepresentations. Instead of the space, aciualty less than five feet, lying between the rails, this fanciful picture represents the company as monopolizing twenty-three feet of the road, and excluding from the street all other vehicles, and the most persevering efforts have been made by exhibiting this deceptive representation, to kindle in the public mind feelings hostile to our enterprise. Let the rail- track now laid in the Bowery be examined, [jet it be measured. Their single rail-track does not obstruct any part of the street, and never will. It occupies less than 6 feet. It does not occupy 23 feet, and never will. A double track yaouM occupy but 13 feet, and will not, if laid down, in the slightest degree ob- struct the free use of the road, and the cars will occupy much less space than is now occupied by the unwieldy omnibus coaches, which virtually monopolize the street. The Company have not laid a double track south of Prince-street, and they do not intend to do so until the people themselves, through their representatives in the common council, shall declare that the 13 public convenience demands it. The Company, therefore, re- quest only that their track may be measured, and compared with the anonymous diagram now circulated through our city, and will cheerfully submit the diagram and its inventors to the justice of the public. But admitting the utility and convenience of the work, an effort has been made to excite jealousy by the cry of monopoly. How can that be a monopoly which is subjected to the con- stant control of the public? The public govern the use of the road, and regulate its tolls. What more could they do if they owned the work? Can the public construct the road cheaper than this company ? Will they consent to take nearly half a million of dollars out of the public treasury, to defray the ex- pense ? Will it not be a wiser policy to wait until the work is shown to be profitable ? Is the value of this pretended mo- nopoly now so great as to excite jealousy ? Its shares are fifty dollars each, and have been paid in nearly two years. They can now be purchased at par. Practical]}', the company has no monopoly. Nor have they legally a monopoly, for the le- gislature may at any moment repeal the charter, or incorporate rival companies. The common council may regulate and re- duce its profits, and may at any time terminate its very ex- istence by ordering its rails to be removed. The cartmen and hackmenof our city are abused by the asser- tion, that they are to be thrown out of employment by means of this experiment. The supposition is both unfair and unfounded. The rail cars through Broadway and the Bowery will transport precisely the same kind of freight which is now transported in the seventy unwieldy vehicles which already almost obstruct the public use of those streets. The whole body of our citizens has a large pecuniary inte- rest in maintaining this Harlaem rail road. The city now owns nearly two hundred acres of land in the twelfth ward, inter- sected by the Fourth avenue, and divided into about 2,500 building lots of full size. To excavate the Fourth avenue and grade it to Harloem would have cost the city at least $300,000. By the continuation of this avenue, to be made at the sole ex- pense of the company, the 2500 building lots belonging to the city have been doubled in value, making a present actual 1 1 gain of upwards of $200,000, in addition to the $300,000 saved in grading the avenue. Again — the city lias another deep interest in maintaining this road. The great project of supplying our citizens with pure water from the county of Westchester is rapidly approach- ing its final execution. The recent able report made by the committee of the common council, places it beyond a doubt that the necessary aqueduct across the Harlem river must be west of the Fourth avenue. In that event its channel, by means of pipes, may be easily and cheaply laid under the sur- face of this avenue, which will be greatly preferred by reason of its great uniformity of graduation. Again — this Company are bound to keep more than half of the carriage-way in the streets through which their rails may be laid in constant repair, and the city treasury will thereby an- nually save a large sum now disbursed in repairing the ravages committed by the heavy loaded omnibus coaches. To our mechanics the rail road will yield the most valuable facilities. The upper part of our island, being speedily and cheaply approached, will become the seat of numerous and extensive manufacturing establishments ; and the labour and capital now employed at Newark and other neighbouring vil- lages, will be concentrated in our own city. But the advantages of this rail road do not stop here ; it opens other and wider prospects of incalculable value to our metropolis. We take pride in predicting that it is to form the main trunk of a mighly system of internal communication, whose branches are to extend throughout our own state, throughout New-England, and the whole interior of the West. Already the great plan is beginning to develop itself. Branch- es, commencing at Albany, have already extended to Saratoga, and are to be forthwith continued to Lake Champlain. Ano- ther branch from Troy to the state of Vermont ; another from the Harlaem river to Albany and Troy; and the New-York and Erie rail road, commencing at the Hudson river near the northern end of our island, and extending to Lake Erie, and thence through the valley of the upper lakes. And where must all the passengers, borne on these gi- 15 gantic avenues of internal communication, be finally con- centrated ? Is not the whole of the accumulated wealth of our vast interior to be poured into this its great commercial em- porium ? And will not this our city rail road become the great central conduit through which these rich streams of prosperity are destined to flow ? Our enterprise does not merit the resentments, jealousies, and sectional prejudices sought to be excited against it. We know and feel, and therefore claim, that we are labouring to aggrandize and enrich our city ; and to sustain us in this un- dertaking, we solicit the countenance and support of every liberal and generous mind. Already we are behind the age. Liverpool, our commer- cial rival, has brought her rail road not only into her city, but along her docks. Baltimore, public-spirited, enterprising, and liberal, has introduced her rail road into her leading streets, and has fostered the enterprise by a donation of two blocks of land, and a subscription to the stock from her city treasury of half a million of dollars. With noble ardour she has already marched seventy miles towards the Ohio river, and is now penetrating the Alleghanies in quest of the rich commerce of the west. Virginia, too, has commenced a similar work ; and South Carolina has united her capital with the Savannah river, by a rail road 140 miles in length. Philadelphia, aroused by the spirited efforts of her sister cities, has graded her rail road to the Susquehannah river, and, discarding at once all anti- quated prejudices, has admitted the double tracks of her rail way into the heart of her city. By an ordinance of that city, passed the 10th of January last, it was enacted, " That the Philadelphia and Columbia rail road shall be continued along the centre of Broad-street, from the north side of Vine-street to the south side of Cedar- street ; and that the said road shall be constructed with double tracks, of the common width, and with stone sills and iron rails, laid in proper manner throughout. " Sect. 2. And be it further ordained and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the rails of the said road shall be laid level with the surface of the stone pavement, and that no de- 16 viation shall be made therefrom so as to derange or alter the present regulation of Broad-street, except that the stone pave- ment may be raised or lowered from the gutters to the centre of the street, so as to afford a more pjerfect level for the rail way ; provided the same can be done without injuring the street, interrupting the free passage of the water, or incom- moding the travelling thereon." The Directors of the New-York and Harlaem Rail Road Company, therefore, respectfully submit this statement to the deliberate consideration of their fellow-citizens, fully relying on their intelligence, liberality, and public spirit. If this en- terprise succeeds, it opens prospects for our city of incalculable extent and value. Immediately profitable to the public, it certainly will be. Extravagantly profitable to the Company, subject as it is to the constant government and control of the public, it never can be. That a rail way communication be- tween the distant portions of this island, will and must be main- tained, is a matter of certainty ; for our population will de- mand to be transported by the safest mode and at the cheapest rate. This question then is submitted for the decision of our fellow-citizens : Shall we be allowed to finish this work at our own hazard and expense, remaining at all times under the re- gulation of the public authorities ; or shall the burden and risk be borne by the City Treasury, adding thereby at least half a million of dollars to the taxes of the people ? New- York, February 14, 1833. By order of the Board of Directors, JOHN MASON, President. A. C. RAINETAUX, Secretary. JxaU-Jtoab ^j^^^v 1jroadway> ^ewYork^ Harlaem Rail Road G? //:/// tre J V_ ^ IEx IGtbrts SEYMOUR DURST ~t ' ~Tort nteuw ^Am^ercU-m. oj> Je lAanhatans IVben you leave, please leave this book Because it has been said " Ever'tbinQ comes t' him who waits Except a loaned book." Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library I /