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FRANCOIS XAVIER STREETj TOBOffTO : — ANOV H. ABMOUB ANC CO., KINQ STBBET. 18.)0. . I I a t ; i i a- I PHILOSOPHY OF RAILROADS. FUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST or THB MmlnxB of \^t Mmiml anb Xiu^lm %w\\tzA vt 0:1)00. €. Heefer, C. (S. THIRD EDITION. MONTREAL: ARMOUR AND RAMSAY, ST. FRANCOIS XAVIER STREET; TOBONTO :•— AND'W H. ABMOUB and CO., KING STBBUT. 1850. \ LOTELL AKD OIBSOV, PRimrElf, MOKTRBAL AMD TOBOMTO. Old Winter is onoe more upon us, and our inland seas are *' dreary and inhospitable irastos'* to the merchant and to the traveller; — our rivers are sealed fountains^ — and an embargo which no human power can remove is laid on all our ports. Around our deserted wharves and warehouses are huddled the naked spars, — the blasted forest of trade, — from which the sails have fallen like the leaves of the autumn. The splashing wheels are silenced, — the roar of steam is hushed, — the gay saloon, so lately thronged 'with busy life, is now but an abandoned hall, — and the cold snow revels in solitary possession of the untrodden deck. The animation of business is suspended, the life blood of com- merce is curdled and stagnant in the St. Lawrence — the great aorta of the North. On land, the heavy stage labours through mingled frost and mud in the West, — or struggles through drifted snow, and slides with uncertain track over the icy hills of Eastern Canada. Far away to the South is heard the daily scream of the steam-Avhistle, — but from Canada there is no escape : blockaded and imprisoned by Ice and Apathy, we have at least ample time for reflection — and if there be comfort in Philosophy may we not profitably consider the PHILOSOPHY OF RAILROADS. New commercial enterprises, however well supported by dry and accurate statistics, are not oden undertaken upon imperfect information — through the representations of theorists or politico -economical writers — or even when supported by bright analogies, and the most authentic records of the success of similar undertakings amongst similar communities. It is true, that well- established systems become the subjects of stock-jobbing and speculation by parties ignorant of their uses or real value ; but their origin and maturity are the work of the well-informed few, whose foresight has been rewarded frequently before It hai been ftcknowledged. In older countriea the feaaibiUty of public projecta and their value as speculationa are more speedily ascer- tained than in our young and thinly populated Province, and any attempt to transplant a system, or found arguments for the latter from the experience of the former, <8 at once met with disparaging and *' odious" comparisons. The intrinsic merit of the question, — the absolute instcod of the comparative value of our own projects, — are not often investigated, because the nature of auch investigations arc not familiar to us, while they have long since becomo unnecessary and are thvrcforc not canvassed in those countries where an established system exists. Thus it is V ith the Railway System in Canada. We sec, and to our cost, feel its efiects around us ; — we acknowledge its importance, the great resulta it has achieved, and the substantial expression of public opinion in its favour in the hundreds of millions which have been freely devoted to its extension in other civilized countries.* We have talked about it for years — we have projected a great deal, and done very little, because the public, — the real estate owners large and small, — have not taken up the subject. Our Representatives have lately actiuitted themselves nobly in this matter, but they have rather led than followed public opinion, and have themselves been acted upon by a "glorious" minority; to whom the actual ond rfficicnt execu- tion has hitherto been confined, and who have contended with the chilling influences of popular apathy, ignorance, and incredulity. An attempt to investigate the Railway System in its applicability to new countries, — to define its limitations by shewing where and why its application becomes justifiable, — to disseminate popular information upon a too unpopular subject, and turn a portion of that earnest and eager covetousness of foreign prosperity back upon our own neglected resources, — will it is hoped be received with public favour — or at least with public ch.irity. At the outset it may be objected that there is an insufficiency of disposable circulating capital in Canada, to construct a tithe of the length of projected Railways, and that therefore the discussion is premature. The pioniiscs will be admitted to any reasonable extent, but the conclusion, instead of the discussion is, we hope to show, premature. The population, soil, and wealth of Canada are not inferior to Vermont, New Hampshire, Michigan, Georgia, and other States which have Railways ; and the local resources of some portions of our Province, where Railroads are wanting, arc at least equal to those in Ohio and many other States where these advantages have been enjoyed for years. Whatever is or was the condition of the circulating capital in the States mentioned, they have fonnd a way to build their roads. This we believe has been done through the energy and perseverance of the local proprietors of real estate, who have convinced capitalists that they could have no better security for their invest'^ients, than that contingent u on the certain increase of popula- tion, wealth, and traffic, in rising countries like our own; — and thus have they * See Appciulix N. ) fettibility dily aicer* attempt to pericnce of Otis. Tho >mparBtive 5 nature of ne become where an 3 our coat, cat results its favour extension —we have —tho real ct. Our itter, but (Ives been nt exccu- e chilling |y to new plication popular foreign pcd be sposabic rojected |lSf8 will of tlio prinont, Slways ; lilroads I States is or they done bstate, [y for [piila- they ■ecured improvenientt fVom which the land ia the Hrat to benefit, and without which ita value in Canada is stationary ; and this too, under circumstances when to stand still is to recede. The projectors of the Welland Canal were not Rothschilds ; yet the untiring pcrsevrrancc of one gentleman secured the eouBtruction of n work which for importance has no parallel in America. There is a greater amount of uncmploved capital amongst our agricultural and trading population than is generally suppnaed ; and of fixed copital and absolute wealth there is more than sufficient both to need and to warrant the construction of all tho roads proposed. A very considerable class of the Btockholdera in New England roads are farmers, with investments from £50 to X200. Railway stocks, unlike most others, are a species of real estate immoyea> bly attached to the soil, and have therefore become of late years favourite channels for investment with all classes of capitalists.* Banks may fail,— commerce may languish or be partially diverted, — manufactures be rendered unprofitable , — even the earth may for a time refuse to many a return for the capital invested in it ; but as long as there are men to profit jr to lose by speculations, there will be people to sustain a Railway ; and if universal ruin be inevitable, they will be the last public works to succumb to tho general prostration. TIk; cart road is succeeded by the turnpike, this again by tho macadam or plank roadn, and these last by the Railway. The latter is the perfected system and admits of no competition — and this characteristic pre- eminently marks it out as the most desirable object for investment in tho midst of an enterprising and increasing population. With an assessed value of about thirty-five millions of dollars — with culti- vated lands worth thirty-six millions of dollars, and an annual crop, valued at ten millions of dollars, fn Upper Canada alone, — with population, production and wealth, doubling in about ten years, we ofl'er a security upon the indus- trial character and the increasing wants of a progressive people, for all ju- dicious commercial investments. We therefore believe — although we could not borrow adoUarfor any other purpose, — that as the unavoidable custo- mers of a well placed Railway, we have only to secure its receipts to those from whom wc ask assistance and take those necessary preliminary steps which none but ourselves can take, in order to obtain the capital required to construct our works. This can scarcely bo contested from the experience of the past, be- cause the value of Railway investment is of comparatively recent discovery — and is even now but partially appreciated. Did we not find it so difficult to foresee the inevitable future instead of looking backward, wc must acknow- ledge that with the same future as past progress, there will have taken place in the natural order of things, before such works as we propose to consider could be brought into perfe«;t operation, such an improved change as is now only demanded by the most incredulous in order to secure their sanction to a Railway System for Canada. What we need most is that faith in the works themselves which will produce * See Appendix A. # ' iiin(pmff^«w4i»>iimijii I: ;* ; j i f;h ;i I fi? ft •ufficieot fruit to briog them within the muniflcent proviBious of our late Rail- road Act. It is to present something of the " substance hoped for," and tho unseen evidence ir':iuired to produce these works, that these remarks havo been offered to the public. The initiative must be taken by us : we cannot expect the accumulated capital of commerce or of older countries to seek out our inveptments. We must do as others do — lay our projects before the money holders, and shew our earnestness and confidence by taking stock to the extent of our means ; — but, above all, we must inform ourselves and them fully of the grounds upon which we found our expectations. Zeal and enterprize, directed by a knowledge of our subject, are more rare and efficient commodities than the mere possession of capital ; because they will carry capital and all other things with them. Let us take a case of which Canada (we are proud and sad to say) presents more than one instance. A well cultivated district, in which all the lands are occupied (perhaps by the second generation) with or without water power, but situated twenty to fifly miles from the chief towns upon our great highway, the St. Lawrence, and without navigable water communication with it. The occupants are all thriving and independent farmers, the water power is employed only to an extent to meet their local wants, and the village is limited to the few mechanics, and the one store required for this rural district. The barter of the shopkeeper is restricted by the consumption of his customers, and he becomes the sole forwarder of the surplus product of the district. There is no stimulus for increased production — there are less facilities for it : the redundant population have all been accustomed to agriculture, and as the field for this is unrestricted, they move Westward to prevent a subdivision of the homesteads, and to become greater landowners than their fathers. There exists the well known scarcity of labourers for the harvest, because there is no employment for them during the remainder of the year ; and they have not yet been led by necessity to that subdivision of labour and that variety of employ- ment which are the results of an increasing and more confined population. Each farmer has his comfortable house, his well stored barn, variety of stock, his meadows and his woodland ; he cultivates only as much as he finds convenient, and his slight surplus is exchanged for his modest wants. Distance, the expense of transportation, and the absence cf that energy which debt or contact with busier men should produce, have prevented any efibrts to supply the commer- cial towns on the part of the c ntented denizens of our " Sleepj Hollow." To themselves, to the superficial observer, their district has attained the limit of improvement. If they have no water power, or one limited to the supply of the needful grist or saw mill, it is clear to their minds that they were never destined for a manufacturing people ; and if they have abundant water power, their local market would not support one manufactory, while land carriage, want of people, money, and more than all, information^ precludes the idea of their manufacturing for a distant marlcct. It is still uio; ; evident, from their position, they are not to become a commercial people unl build up large cities ; theyj therefore, jog along with evident self-satisfaction — the venerable church" . \ ^.■.L::A^iyiildMtit^LAi&m/ii^J.i^^ >ur late Rail- for," and the emarks have accumulated ments. We and ahew our leans ;— but, s upon which cnowledge of re possession th them, lay) presents he lands are rater power, n our great location with water power ge is limited Jtrict. The !i customers, the uistrict. Jities for it : , and as the bdivision of ers. There ! there is no lave not yet of employ- ition. Each f stock, his convenient, he expense antact with e commer- llow." To the limit of B supply of were never Iter power, d carriage, the idea of from their rge cities ; le church- yard is slowly fllling up with tombstones — and the quiet residents arrive at the conclusion that they are a peculiarly favoured people in liaving escaped the rage for improvement. They are grateful that their farms have not been disfigured by canals or railroads, or the spirits of their sires troubled by the hideous screech of the steam-whistle. We will now suppose, (we would we could more than suppose), that two of our cities should be moved to unite by the iron bond of a Railway, which in its course will traverse the district just described. Excitement prevails in the "Hollow;" — sleephasdesertedher peculiar people — the livelong night is passed in mutual contemplation of farms "cut up" or covered over, — visions of bloody skirmishes between " Far downs" and Corkonians, — of rifled gardens and orchards, of plundered poultry yards and abducted pigs. The probable mother of a possible child bewails her future ofispring " drawn and quartered" on the rail by the terrible locomotive, and a whole hecatomb of cattle, pigs and sheep, are devoted by imagination to this insatiate Juggernaut. The Engineers who come to spy out the land are met with curses both loud and deep, — the laws of property are discussed, — the delinquent Member lor the County denounced, — until a handsome Rodman, by well-timed admiration of Eliza Ann, the rural spokesman's daughter, succeeds in obtaining comfortable quarters for his party, with board, lodging, and washing, at 12s. 6d. per week. The work has commenced; the farmer is offered better prices for his hay and grain than he ever before received : — even milk and vegetables, — things he never dreamed of selling, — are now sought for ; his teams, instead of eating up his substance as formerly in winter, are constantly employed, and his sons are profitably engaged in " getting out timber" for the contractors ; he grows a much larger quantity of oats and potatoes than before, — and when the work- men have left, he finds to his astonishment that his old friend the storekeeper is prepared to take all he can spare, to s^nd by the Railroad "down to town." And now some of the "city folks" come out and take up a water privilege, or erect steam power, and commence manufacturing. Iron is bought, cut into nails, screws and hinges. Cotton is spun and wove, and all the variety of manufactures introduced, because here motive power, rents and food are cheaper, and labour more easily controlled than in the cities, while transpor- tation and distance have by the Railroad been reduced to a minimum. A town has been built and peopled by the operatives — land rises rapidly in value — the neglected swamp is cleared and the timber is converted into all sorts of wooden "notions" — tons of vegetables, grains, or grasses, are grown where none grew before — the patient click of the loom, the rushing of the shuttle, the busy hum of the spindle, the thundering of the trip-hammer, and the roaring of ateam, are mingled in one continuous sound of active industry. While the physical features of our little hamlet are undergoing such a wonderful transformaiicn, the moral influence of the iron civilizer upon the old inhabi- tants is bringing a rapid " change '^ver the spirit of their dreams." The ^onng men and the maidens, the old men and the matrons, daily collect Mtound the cars: they wonder where so many well>dressed and rich-looking 't ' *•'■ m HI I- I f !I 8 people come ftom and are going to, &c., — what queer machines those are which they see passing backwards and forwards. They have perhaps an old neighbour wliose son bad long since wandered off, and now they see him returned, a first class passenger with all the prestige of broadcloth, gold chains, rings, gloves, and a travelled reputation : the damsels rapidly impress upon " the mind's eye" the shapes of the bonnets, visites, &c., of that superior class of beings who are flying (like angels) over the country, and drinh tn, with wide-mouthed admiration, the transcendent splendour and indescfribable beauty of " that 'ere shawl." All arc interested, all are benefited, cuique tuum. Is he a farmer? he has a practical illustration of the superior cheap- ness of transportation by increasing the load — the cart is abandoned for the waggon — for he sees the Railroad, notwithstanding the great cost of the cuttings, embankments, tunnels, bridges, engines, cars, and stations, carrying his produce for a less sum than his personal expenses and the feeding of his horses would amount to. Is he a blacksmith ? he determines his son shall no longer shoe horses, but build engines. Is he a carpenter P he is proud of bis occupation as he surveys the new bridge over the old creek. Even the village tailor gathers " a wrinkle," as he criticises the latest effort of Buck- master or Gibb, whilst the unconscious advertiser is swallowing his coffee. Thus curiosity and emulation are excited and the results are discernible in a general predilection for improved " modes." A spirit is engendered which iit not confined to dress or equipage, but is rapidly extended to agriculture, roads, and instructive societies, and finally exerts its most powerful influence where it is most needed, — in the improved character it gives to the exercise of the franchise. This right is now enjoyed by too large a class, whose chief contact with public affairs has been limited to an occasional chat with ambitious retailers of dry goods, groceries, hardware, and political mysteries — or to a semi-annual sitting in a jury box, unconsciously absorbing all the virtuous indignation of some nisi prius wrangler, whose " familiar face" is shortly after presented to them at the hustings, generously proffering to defend or advocate anything for four dollars per diem and a prospective Judgeship. He is opposed, perhaps, by the public* spirited shop- keeper, who, with mortgages, long credits, tea and tobacco, — aided by a " last call" to all doubtful supporters, — incites the noble yeomanry to assert their rights as '* free and independent electors." If the " natives" c^m overcome these prejudices of local associations, or if the lawyer's *' collections " and " notes " are sufficiently diffuse, ten chances to one the greatest talker is elected, and an improved judicature, instead of an improved country, is the result. Nothing would be a more powerful antidote to this state of primitive, but not innocuous simplicity, than the transit of Railways through our agricultural districts. The civilizing tendency of the locomotive is one of the modem anomaliee, which however inexplicable it may appear to some, is yet so fortu- nately patent to all, that it is admitted as readily as the action of steam, though the substance be invisible and its secret ways unknown to mao. 's ^iLA.-LJ.-'««j»;it3Ci-.-.-^JAH^i^^t;iiL^..V^^a^lu^le-< et those arc irhaps an old ihey see him ulcloth, gold pidly impress that superior ind drink in^ indescfribable :fited, cuique >erior cheap- ioned for the cost of the ons, carrying ceding of his bis son shall B is proud of ,. Even the brt of Buck- g his coffee. iiscernible in dercd which agriculture, ful influence the exercise class, whose asional chat nd political y absorbing le "familiar generously diem and a irited shop- d by a " last assert their overcome tions" and It talker is ntry, is the mitive, but gricultural >e modem t so fortu- of steam, to man. 9 Poverty, indifference, the bigotry or jealousy of religious denominations, local dissensions or political demagogueism may stifle or neutralize the influence of the best intended efforts of an educational system ; but that invisible power which has waged successful war with the material elements, will assuredly overcome the prejudices of mental weakness or the designs of mental fvrants. It calls for no co-operation, it waits for no convenient season, but with a restless, rushing, roaring assiduity, it keeps up a constant and unavoidable spirit of enquiry or comparison ; and while ministering to the material wants, and appealing to the covetousncss of the multitude, it unconsciously, irre- sifitibly, impels them to a more intimate union with their fellow men. Having attempted to illustrate the influence of a Railway upon a district supposed to have culminated, let us proceed to notice some of the general chnracterlstics of the system before we apply the results of our investigations to our own particular wants. We are not backward in importing improvements or transplanting systems which wc understand : at the same time, those which are new to us, we have curiosity enough and distrust enough to challenge until their principles are defined — when, with the materials before him, with a particular individuality, each man arrives at his own conclusions as to the practicability of their proposed application to this country. It is to this broad principle of " common sense," judgment, or whatever you will, we prefer to appeal rather than to the " availability " or elasticity of statistics. Steam has exerted an influence over matter which can only be compared to that which the discovery of Printing has exercised upon mind. These two great discoveries, — pillars of cloud and fire which have brought us out of the mental wilderness of the dark and middle ages,— have combined to supply the mind witli daily food and illustrate the value of time.* M m have now virtu- ally attained antediluvian longevity ; ideas are exchanged by lightning — readers and their books travel together but little behind their thoughts — while actors, materials, scenes and scenery are shifted with the rapidity and variety of the kaleidoscope. The extraordinary expansion of the Railway System, within the last thirty years, is to be ascribed to the improved appreciation of the Value of Time ; since it is now universally admitted, that distances are virtually shortened in the precise ratio in which the times occupied in passing over them are diminished. Speed, Economy, Regdlakitt, Safety, and Convenience, — an array of advantages unequalled — are combined in the Railway System. These we will notice separately. The importance of Speed in the transport of goods is annually increasing ; even now the more valuable descriptions of merchandize take the rail in pre- ference to the slower and cheaper route by canal ; and since the cost of transport upon a Railway varies in an inverse proportion with the business of the road, it is annually becoming less, so that economy of time and economy of transport are becoming less and less antagoni8tical,and are approaching each * Steam Printing. !| !■! I «/ 'I !-/ I I! ■ f! it: 10 other so rapidly, as to render the establishment of any line of demarcation exceedingly difficult if not impossible. EcoiNOMY. — Compared with all other land communications, their freighting capabilities may be inferred from the consideration that a horse usually draws from fifteen to thirty hundred weight on a good turnpike or macadamised road (exclusive uf vehicle), four to six tons on a plate rail tram road, and fifteen to twenty tons on an edge rail including the waggons ; — the friction on a level Railway being only from one-tenth to one-seventh of that upon ths roads above mentioned. If this be the effect of the rail alone, it is needless to enlarge upon its power when travelled by an iron horse, with which hunger and thirst are but metaphorical terms, which knows no disease nor fatigue, and to which a thousand miles is but the beginning of a journey, and a thousand tons but an ordinary burthen. But it is in a more extended sense than the mere cost of transport that the economy of the Railway is vindicated. While upon the best roads travelled by horses, the cost and time of transportation increases rapidly with the dis- tance, it is clear that there is a point from whence the transport of certain articles becomes unprofitable or impracticable. Milk, fruits, and vegetables, for imme- diate use, will not bear ten or twelve hours jolting over fifty miles of the best turnpike to reach a market ; while fresh meats, fish, eggs, cattle, pigs, and poul- try, lumber, staves, shingles, and firewood, and many other necessaries of life, either could not afford the time or the cost of a hundred miles transport by horse-power. The production of these articles, therefore, is very limited in certain districts; but wherever a Railway takes its track their extensive production becomes at once a new element of wealth, and the Locomotive a public benefactor — making " two blades of grass grow where only one grew before." Thus the essence of n Railway system is to increase its own traffic, adding twenty-five per cent, to the value of every farm within fifty miles of the track, doubling that of those near it, and quadrupling the value of timbered lands through which they pass. Railroads are in one respect more economi- cal carriers than canals, in as much as they are both freight and toll receivers, and are therefore content with one profit. Reoulabitt. — The superior speed and safety of Railway travel over the most expeditious water communications are scarcely more important than its extraordinary regularity ; to which latter circumstance it is chiefly owing that in every country the Railvtray has been selected for the transportation of the mails. This monopoly of mails and passengers enables them to trans- port goods proportionally cheaper — thus becoming powerful rivals to the most favourable water communications. From this principle of regularity. Railways in the winter season have no competitors ; and, working the whole year round, without delay of lockage, wind or tide, fog, frost, or rain, they, with a full business and fair " grades," can compete with ordinary canals in price, while they can make two trips, to one on the canal, in less than half the time. Safety. — The comparative safety of Railway travel with that upon steamboats is best appreciated by the reflection, that the causes which endanger human i' » '^tmm 11 of demarcation their freighting e usually draws icndamised road J, and fifteen to tion on a level the roads above to enlarge upon r and thirst are md to which a md tons but an nsport that the roads travelled ly with the dis- ' certain articles ibles, for imme- liles of the best pigs, and poul- lessaries of life, 3S transport by very limited in heir extensive Locomotive a only one grew itii own traffic, n fifty miles of uc of timbered nore economi- l toll receivers, ravel over the )rtant than its :hiefly owing transportation hero to trans- Is to the most •ity, Railways le year round, with a full n price, while he time. )n steamboats anger human life upon the former are limited to collisions or leaving the track — both to be avoided by ordinary care : whereas in the latter, explosion, fire, collision, or wrecking, are attended with imminent risk to all, the only choice often being — the mode of death. Explosion of a locomotive boiler, besides being exceed- ingly rare, is scarcely ever attended with any danger to the lives of the pas- sengers. The remarkable safety of well managed Railways may be further illustrated by the statement of Baron Von Rcden, that upon the Railways of Germany only one person in every twelve and a quarter millions of passengers was killed or wounded from defective arrangements of the road, one in every nine millions from his own misconduct, and one in every twenty-five millions from his own negligence. The Germans are undoubtedly a prudent people. Convenience. — The convenience of the Railway System lies chiefly in its adaptation to its peculiar trafllic ; — artificial navigation is restricted to favour- able ground and supplies of water, but modern improvements have enabled the Lofomotive to clamber over mountains and penetrate the most remote comers of the land ; there is therefore no limit to the number of its aux- iliary branches, which can be multiplied and extended until their ramifications give the required facilities to every wharf and every warehouse — to the solitary null or factory, or to the most neglected districts as an outlet to otherwise worthless products. Having noticed some of the characteristics of Railways, we for the present will proceed to examine their capabilities aa rivals cr auxiliaries to canals and rivers, — their winter operation, — their effect upon manufactures, — the compa- rative merits of long and short lines, — " through " and " way " travel, — and other advantages or peculiarities. We have said that Railroads, with fair grades and a full business, can com- pete successfully with ordinary canals. Wc do not mean that any Railroad can compete with canals connecting long lines of navigable waters such as we have in Canada, where the canals are of a size to prevent transliipment or the navigation so sheltered as to permit boats to be towed its entire length ; but we do believe, that wherever a transhipment is unavoidable and the Rail- road is called upon to transport from one end of the canal route to the other, it will, with ordinary grades, be found the most eligible. We make this com- parison assuming that a paying rate of tolls be placed upon ihe canals as well as ''n the road, and we base it upon the consideration that the road can do all which the canal would do, and a great deal which the latter would never do, viz., carry passengers, mails, fruits, vegetables, milk, fish, &c., which would never take the canal ; and that it would be in operation when the canal was useless. This assertion involves the capacity of Railroads, and it is not diflScult to prove that a Railway would transport far more in a twelvemonth than the majority of the English or American Canals and some of our own. It would be unfair to select such very imperfect navigations as the Rideau for a comparison, because, having no towing path the attendance of tug boats is required with every barge, or fleet of barges the lockage of which is an additional delay while its employment is a heavy expense ; and because the TT-tT^^ Ti»"^^;^' ■tt'^ [i )!' i*; [^ II m 't 12 absurd size of the Grcnville locks nullifies half the capacity of those upon the Rideau. We will therefore take the best Canal and Railroad in America, and see what they have done. The number of tons which arrived at tide water by the Urie Canal, was in the years 1846 1,107,270) 1847 1,431,252 V Total, 3,722,859 tons of 2000 lbs. 1848 1,184,337) On the Reading Railroad, in the years 1846 1,233,141) 1847 1,350,151 V Total, 3,799,524 tons of 2240 lbs. 1848 1,216,232) The length of the Erie Canal is 363 miles, — opening to the Great West. . The length of the Reading Railroad is 94 miles, — opening to a coal district. The difference in estimating the tonnage makes more than ten per cent additional in favour of the Railroad. This statement simply shews the down freight or movement in one direction ; — had the Railroad been as favourably situated for up freight as the Canal is, greater proportional superiority would have been shown by the road, which having a double track the up movement would not be delayed by down freight as on the canal. As it was, however, in 1847 the "total movement" on the road in tons of 2000 lbs. amounted to upwards of 1,700,000, which if we compare with an equal length of the Canal will still maintain the supremacy of the Railway. The number of tons of coals transported in 1847 upon the York and Newcastle Railroad in England was 1,620,163. The freighting capabilities of a Railroad will be better understood, by giving a short account of the road which we have just com- pared with the Erie Canal. This road employs about seventy locomotives and over five thousand freight cars ; it has six side tracks at the Delaware Terminus and seventeen wharves in that river with a double track upon each ; a storage for 195,000 tons of coal, and room for the simultaneous lading of ninety-seven vessels of 700 tons burthen each. Three or four engines are constantly employed in distributing cars to their respective wharves, and the Company's principal workshop employs several hundred men. An engine upon this road has drawn 150 iron coal waggons in one train, of 1268 tons weight, over a distance of eighty-four miles in eight hours and three minutes. The cost of the road has been $11,500,000; the gross earnings in 1846 were $1,889,713, and the net earnings $1,037,795. Of the gross earnings, $1,600,667 were for freight upon coal. The actual cost of transporting coal per ton over the whole distance of ninety-four miles, including the expense of bri'^ging back the empty cars, was thirty-eight and nine-tenths cents, or Icjs than two shillings currency ; being four and one-tenth mills per ton per mile. At this rate the cost of transport of a barrel of flour the length of the Erie Canal (363 miles) would be ninepence currency, or fifteen cents, which is about the actual coet to the carrier on that Canal. Of course no tolls to the road are ;: ' til 086 upon the n America, and It tide water by lbs. Dibs. Great W«;8t. a coal district. ten per cent lews the down as favourably eriority would up movement was, however, > amounted to of the Canal er of tons of d in England nil be better ve just com- ive thousand nd seventeen 2 for 195,000 en vessels of ly employed y's principal lis road has jr a distance cost of the $1,889,713, $1,600,667 oal per ton i of bri''ging r lejs than r mile. At Erie Canal s about the he road are 18 included. The gross receipts of this Railroad for July, 1846, exceeded $240,000. There is a Canal (competing with the Railroad for the same traffic) which has lately been enlarged, and the cost of which is about half that of the Railroad while it only does about one-third of the business, and has been at timos rendered useless by freshets.* We will not go so far as to say that a Railway could now compete with an established work having such wonderful advantages as the Erie Canal, but we feel confident with the present experience in these works that if the Canal were not in existence and a choice of communication were now to be made, the Railway would be selected. The lateral Canals of the State of New York it must be remembered, do not pay any dividends ; the receipts and disbursements being about equal notwithstanding the great advantages which they derive from their connection with the Erie Canal. The extraordinary extent of sheltered and inland navigation in America render the Canal system more applicable to this country than to many others, but it cannot be denied that the mania which followed the unparalleled success of the Erie Canal in- duced an extension of the system into districts, particularly in the more nor- thern climates, wlure the Railway would have been more applicable. The Railway route from Albany to Buffalo is 326 miles ; the cost of these roads, including the late relaying with heavy rails, has been $12,302,507 92. Cost of tho Old Erie Canal, 7 ,143,789 86 Enlargement to Set^omber, 1848, 19,086,490 80 Total, 26,230,280 66 Several millions of the cost of the enlargement have been for interest paid duriiig its suspension. We may however assume that, before the enlargement of the Erie Canal and the remodelling of the Railways be completed, the State of New York will have expended above forty millions of dollars (including the Railroad) for her communications between Lake Erie and the Hudson River. We will leave our readers to judge what sort of Railroad facilities this sum would have ensured. The existence of the Railroads has proved of the greatest service to the Erie Canal not only in furnishing rapid communications between all points of this great thoroughfare, but in securing the forwarding of freight when frost or accident obstruct the navigation. The navigation of the St. Lawrence is subject to the great drawback of being occasionally closed when the business is most urgent and most heavy. To obviate the great loss and inconvenience of wintering over large supplies at Montreal the Portland Railroad has been undertaken. But the scheme will be incomplete, and the St. Lawrence route under great disadvantages until a Railway is extended from Lachinc to Prescott or Kingston, securing to the Western producer the certain transmission of his produce should frost or accident to the St. Lawrence Canals, (of which we have had no less than two instances in the last summer) detain it at Prescott. ♦ See Appendix G. ! I I. ■ i ! 14 The neceasity for this step will Boon be so apparent that the Government yi'\\\. be compelled to lend every possible assistanco to the project. Our shipping being limited, a sudden rise of prices produces a corresponding rise of freights and want of vessels, and as the result a portion of our exports will be sent through the more numerous and better supplied channels of our neighbours. In these critical times of high prices shippers cannot risk delay and will take the route that offers the most chances of getting on : moreover they want the means of communicating with their produce and business depots after the suspension and before the opening of navigation. Perhaps the impression exists that a Railway upon this route could not compete with the river ; but for through passengers up and all business pas- sengers down, — mails, — all winter travel and freight, and all way passengers and freight, the River would offer no competition to the Railway, because the cars from Montreal would reach Kingston almost while the steamer was passing through one of the Canals ; while in the spring, autumn, and in case of acci- dents, the latter becomes a necessary auxiliary to the former. The Hudson River Railroad has been undertaken, upon the most substantial and expensive scale, by the side of a river where water transport has been brought to a perfection unequalled in the world, because New York can no longer do without a winter communication with the interior. The New York Railroads, situate along the line of the canals, transported in the fourteen months ending December 1848, 27,188 tons of freight, payi.)g the Canal tolls, which amounted to $107,786. The Albany and Schenectady — the last link with the Hudson — received from this source alone $14,000 in the months of May and April, 1848. It is a mistake, therefore, to suppose that Railroads will not carry freight by the side of a water communication — especially in winter. The State of New York only permits her Railroads to take freight from the canals by paying canal tolls. If these restrictions were removed we should see a greater freighting business done by the Railroads : but as it is — freight is carried by them in every month in the year to the extent of upwards of 1000 tons in each of the summer months, and as high as 11,500 tons in the month of December. It is thn assertion of the best authorities and the result of the best expe- rience, that freight and travel upon every highway are quadrupled in a remarkably short space of time by the construction of a Railway. Canada loses every year., by the want of Railroads and a winter market^ enough to construct fifty miles of Railway. If we look at the price of flour for the last six years, we will see that it has been highest in the winter months (from October to May) ; and we have not forgotten when in 1 847, we with nearly half a million of barrels of flour for exportation in Montreal alone, were regaled with accounts of winter sales at double the usual rates, in Boston, New York, and other Atlantic ports, from which for the want of Railways alone we were shut out, — not even having the privilege of paying the Ameri- can duty. As soon as the Western farmer secures his crop his whole time is required le Goveroment project. Our corresponding jortion of our plied channels uppers cannot of getting on : produce and navigation, ute could not business pas- ay passengers y, because the er was passing case of acci- 'st substantial >ort has been York can no he New York the fourteen 5 Canal tolls, -the last link he months of carry freight 3tate of New paying canal er freighting by them in 8 in each of December. ! best expe- upled in a ''ket^ enough lour for the >nths (from with nearly lone, Were in Boston, ' Raihoays he Amcri- is required 15 to get in the new one before the frost, — for he 8cw& fall wheat. Necessity alone makes him thrash out and take a portion of his grain to market. The winter 19 his idle season — then is \\U most convenient time for thrashing and bringing his produce to sale. The Eastern farmer sows spring wheat, but as the snow forms his best and cheapest road, — the winter is also his proper time for coming to market. The same is the case with the farmer in the back Townships who has no summer road — he must wait for the snow and frost to bring out his grain to the best advantage. The chief part of their produce, therefore, lies on their hands with that on those of the miller until tho ensuing season. Our mills must therefore stand still because like the bees we are sealed up in the winter, idly consuming the fruits of our summer's industry. With a Railway we could make Hour in winter of a better quality and cheaper proportionally, because we have more time, cooler weather, and cheaper transport of the wheat — while our chances of high prices would be better and risk of souring less. Nothing would tend more to the extension of Manufactures, particularly the numerous and valuable ones of Wood, — the only description we would for some time export, — than the existence of Railways ; — nothing would more rapidly build up, what every country should have, a home market —■p\ace the consumer near the producer — keep our surplus population at home — promote the growth of wool, — the cultivation of hemp, — the settlement of waste lands, — the employment of our unlimited water power, — and the expansion of national enterprise. If we would now have manufactories, (cotton for instance,) we must lay in our winter stock of raw material in November and allow our manufactures to accumulate until April or May before they can be distributed : while in New England, the train which takes up the wool to the water power upon Monday returns with the manufactures of that wool in the same week. These quick returns beget small profits, with which under our system it is vain to attempt competition. When we consider the amount of unprofitable capital " winter killed," — the loss of winter prices on the seaboard, — the coat of transport by wnggons, — the feeding of horses, and the rate paid in the towns for a scant supply of articles, valuelesH in the country, we repeat again, — Canada loses by the want of Railroads and winter markets enough to build fifty miles of Rail- way every year ! There are some who, while they admit that a Railway from Montreal to Prescott would be desirable and profitable on account of the delay in ascend- ing the canals, &c., yet believe that a road from thence to Kingston, Toronto, and Hamilton could not compete with the lake and river. We need not con- sider the question beyond Hamilton, because it is admitted upon all hands that the Great Western route is the best unoccupied one for a Railway in America. We start then with the assertion that a Railway from Montreal to Hamilton, passing through such towns as Brockville, Kingston, Belleville, Cobourg, Port Hope, and Toronto, would be more profitable than if it were to stop at Prescott. liil ;ii 1! t. .\ i\ i'. . S'- I S" -• V I < : « r^ii r:; i 16 Long lines are always more desirable and profitable than short ones fbr the same reason that long rivers discharge more water — by draining a greater area. The expenses of management do not increase proportionally with the dis- tance while the powers of competition are diminished by it. Thus while a locomotive would only gain Ave hours upon a steamer descending front Pres- cott, it would gain at least sixteen hours upon one descending from Hamilton to Montreal in fair weather, and more in foul. So far from the lake and river being injurious to the interests of the road they arc invaluable to it. They protect it from the competition of Southern roads by forcing the trafRc to keep the North side of the lake — and it has no more northern outlet. And lastly, the route of one good natural highway is the proper place to put a superior one upon (as all will admit a Railway to be), for there we are sure to find people, wealth, and business. It is no objection to this route that it seems to be unilateral : that is, that it would run along the lake shore drawing apparently only from the land side. If there were a more northern route to be proposed there would be some force in this objection ; but from the peculiar position of Canada, tliis road would traverse the vital portion of the whole Province collecting the business with- out effort where it has accumulated at the towns and cities which arc the only outlets of the back country. On the one side of the road there will be water, — but it must not be forgotten that the road by being brought occa- sionally near the water, will do the business of the back country as effectually as if it bisected it, and that the water may supply a greater business to the road than any tract of land, however rich or populous, which could reasonably be tributary to it. This will especially be the case in spring, fall, and per- haps even winter, as the lake is always open above Kingston harbour. This road would do the business of over 400,000 people in Upper Canada alone, occupying an area of 14,440 square miles, giving a population of about twenty-eight to the square mile. Now it is the estimate of the most competent authorities, that a Railway of this length draws to its support, from the inhabitants of any district through which it passes, a net iucomc of between ten and fifteen shillings per head (^d the total population tributary to it. The net earnings of the Massachusetts Railways exceed sixteen shillings and threepence per head for each inha- bitant of that State. The New York and Erie Railroad passes for 425 miles through a grazing country, with a population of 532,000 persons, supposed to be dependent upon it, and the estimate of net earnings per head upon this route (founded upon the experience of those portions in operation J is twelve shillings and sixpence per head. The area tributary to this road is 12,000,000 of acres, and the population twenty-eight to the square mile. The area tributary to a road from Montreal to Hamilton would at least equal this — the population be as dense, the cost of construction much less per mile, the line shorter, and the *^ grades" far superior, as any one familiar with the two routes will acknow- ledge. In locating such a road, not the shortest or most direct route, but the most probably productive one should be adopted ; because the local capital is ort ones for the g a greater area. Y with the dis- Thus while a ling from Pres- from Hamilton ! lake and river Ic to it. They B traffic to keep t. And lastly, put a superior re sure to find : that is, that the land side, be some force lis road would l)U8iness with- which are the I there will be brought occa- as effectually jsiness to the Id reasonably fall, and per- bour. pper Canada ion of about a Railway of rict through per head on assachusctts each inha- )r 425 miles supposed to >n this route Ive shillings '00 of acres, butary to a pulation be er, and the ill acknow- ite, but the 1 capital is 17 centered in the towna and villages and therefore the way travel from the one to the other, — the supply of necessHries from the country, and from the cast and west to the towns, will bo the most certain and profitable business of the road. The articles for which the Erie Railroad is an outlet arc chiefly the products of a grazing country — milk, butter, rattle, calves, sheep and pigs. Of the former article, milk, so important is the business that a special train known as the '* milk-train " is run each morning for the supply of the citizens of New York, whose daily wants are thus administered to from cows feeding beyond the Shawangunk Mountains and drinking the waters which flow into the Delaware.* The freight upward to this grazing district is chiefly groceiies, salt, lumber^ iron, Jlour and meal, dry goods, salted provisions, &c. Now, if the construe* tion of a Railway of 422 miles, through such a mouutainous, difficult, expen- sive, and thinly settled region is profitable with the Eric Canal and its par> allel Railroads within a few miles on the north, and the Pennsylvanian Canals and Railroads on the south, competing for the business, are we not justified in asserting that it is not only prudent and profitable but imperative upon ui to commence at once a Railway route from Montreal through the easy valley of the St. Lawrence to Hamilton, — a route which can have no competitor north of the St. Lawrence ? It will be said that the Erie Railroad counts much upon the Western trade to be reached at Lake Erie. This argument would apply equally to the Canada road. But we maintain that our own local and provin- cial resources), our freights, passengers, and mails, will, before it can be com- pleted if now commenced, support our own road. We consider all roads depending chiefly upon '* through " travel as inferior investments : there must be a good country and a local business — either existing or being developed — dependent upon the road ; — resources which cannot be diverted. How can we depend upon a business over which we have no control P Of what value will the Champlain road be hereafter, unless incorporated in a line from Highgate to a ferry at Montreal P Of what value is the Lachine road now f Only 8eventy>four miles of the New York and Erie Railroad were in operation at the last official returns — and upon this distance the number of way passen- gers was 259,774, while the through passengers were only 28,324. The receipts fi#n paatengert $125,722, and from/reight $185,190, and a dividend of $133,437 was announced. Even upon the great thoroughfare from BuffiUo to Albany, the number of way passengers between Auburn and Rochester, one of the longest routes, is greater than those going " through,** while upon the Syracuse and (Jtica, and Utica and Schenectady they are nearly equaLf Upon the Western Road from Albany to Boston the way passengers are more than nine times aa numerous as the through. The freight receipts in • See Appendix B. t The route being divided into so many Corporations, a passenger who goes over one road is set down as " through," although he does not travel half through the State. Even on this direct line between the East and the West, the *' through" passengers are not believed to exceed one half of the total number which pass from iSufTttlo to Albany.— (See Appendix P.) PI k. m I! i\ 18 October iMt were abont (bur time* those of ptutengtrt. In ihort, the buiIneM of the New England roads is almost wholly local, or business created by At road and derived from retidenta who cannot abandon it ; therefore theae roadt are the beat paying onea in America* The " through" iVeight or travel has the choice of many routes and should only be viewed as auxiliary and occasional support, of which we have as good grounds for expecting our share as our neighbours. We have thus endeavoured to show that it is not necessary for us to have a guarantee of the through travel from the West, or to wait until we ascertain whether the St. Lawrence will become a favourite route Eastward and fVom the Ocean, before we would be warranted in commencing a main arterial road flrom our chief seaport to our principal Western town ; but that on the con- trary, such a work will be one of the chief and now indispensable means for the attainment of so desirable and vital an object. We have also in the introduction suggested that we are not too poor to afford such a work, but rather that we are too poor to do without it, and that the initiative must be taken at aome time and by aomebody amongst ourselves, before we can expect capitalists to suggest what we seem so indifferent about. If we first do all we can, the experience we will obtain in the effort will enable us to do more than we at first hoped. We most first assert our own confidence in the pro- ject before we invite that of others. We have offered no illusive estimates, held out no flattering inducements : we believe the deliberate judgment of the country has never been pronounced upon this question, — that it has never even been exercised upon it; and that it is only necessary to present the ele- ments required for the investigation to ensure that attention and decision which so important a subject merits. The details we leave to local Corpo- rations ; — of these the number would probably be half a dozen, having a length of road sutlicient to bring them within the provisions of the Railroad Act of last Session. The little commonwealth of Massachusetts, with an area of 7500 square miles and a popdlation of about 800,000, has expended $50,000,000 in build- ing 1000 miles of Railway, the most important of which now yield to their enterprising projectors an average of seven per cent ; and she is now extend- ing these feeders at the rate of 300 miles per annum.f Canadlpin area, in population, in fertility of soil, water power and mineral wealth, is vastly her superior, and can surely with auch aecuritiea procure the meana of conatructing one iron track, which can have no competitor north of the St. Lawrence. The partial failure ot our Portage Railways, particularly the Lachine, have undoubtedly had a prejudicial effect upon the Railway movement in Canada. It is difficult to conceive how or why any other result could be anticipated for a Railroad less than ten miles long, situate almobt wholly in a valuable iuburb, with a turnpike on one side and canal and river on the other, and which with its present length must lie buried one-third of the year in the ■now. * See Appendix R f 19** Appendix A and B. \ *'>liUi ^0^, 19 rt, the butfneM created by the }re theae roadt itea and should e have as good for ui to have :il we ascertain mrd and fVom in arterial road It on the con- nble means for ve also in the :h a work, but tiative must be we can expect we first do all IS to do more ce in the pro- iive estimates, e judgment of lat it has never escnt the ele- and decision local Corpo- Een, having a the Railroad ' 7500 square 1,000 in build- yield to their » now extend- di^in area, in , is vastly her f conttrueting vrence. Lachine, have It in Canada, e anticipated :n a valuable le other, and i year in the idB. I Befo.'o the Lachine Road was in operation, the writer of theae remarka published in a newspaper the following opinion : — " The Lachine is the last of the projected Ruilways about Montreal ; this " will be soon in operation and in its present b'.upc must prove a partial failure ; *'tbe sooner the better as thereby there will bL a Htrong interest enlisted in **the extension of this road to Upper Canada, us the onljf n'eans of proouting *'a profitable retutn. The Lachine Iload will be a parti .1 failure becaute the ** route w t9o ekort and the ex()en8e very grout. The cost of Airniihing and *' managing will be as great as for a road ten times its length, while only one- *• tenth of the fare can be exacted. The cub fare to the Montreal Ternii- ** nus will be, (in addition to the fare on the cars) as much as coach fare direct " to Lachine { and an the difference in time, between the train and a coach, ♦• will be confined to a few minutes, (the Corporation of Montreal compelling ** slow speed through the town for LocomotivcR,) the Company must always "compete with the inordinate number of public conveyances in that city ** for less than an hour's drive over an excellent road, — or drive them off by " low and unprofitable fares. The expense of land damages, fencing and *' stock for this road must run up the cost per mile proportionally very much **hijiher than upon roads of greater length and through less valuable property." In that article, (advocating thr commencement of a Railway from Montreal to Toronto), were some remarks which will apply with peculiar force to the present |M)Hitioti of Montre&l. Montreal being then not only the Metropolis of Canada, but as she still is, the first Commercial CUy of liritish North America, the writer felt that the initiative of any great public enterprize should emanate from that quarter { and as the whole question was one of such peculiar importance to her citizen* as a community, he took the liberty of criticising with no unfriendly animua their apathy upon the subject. Whether it was contempt for the production, or the apathy spoken of, the artick was not then (July, 1847,) copied into any of the Montreal newspapers. In the hope that, chastened by affliction, they may now permit a fellow Canadian to offer some Buggeironto has a her farmers me retain in he north and 1 the Ottawa oast of, — but The Capital rof the Pro- e ice before '.en in opera- city;— con- experiment, of Rtrangers i is enabled (How long portant pro- r upwards of upon Mon- certain, that be aroused, up to the our Eastern from them. an imperfect through" tions of the le city with y would not s) it wilt be itself,— will cted which oad toward eggs, milk, reach the 2ad of milk milk, taken ered in the d firewood as in kwt ■4 I " December th^ee feet wood scarce at 30s. per cord, because nature was >' lazy in building her bridge over the waters which surround Montreal. The " value of property (within the Island,) along the route would be increased *' fourfold, and farms fifty miles distant would be placed in a better position " than those which are now ten miles off; while the increased activity given ** to business in the city by the Railway, would keep up rents, and business men, *' particularly in the present unhealthy season (July), could have their dwel- " lings ten or twenty miles out of town, where the difference in rents, supplies " and other advantages, would more than compensate them for the Railway ** fare in and out daily, and the half hour's time on the road. " This road could be located so as to do the bu'^'.ass of the Ottawa River " and Bytown, (destined to be the third or fourth city of Upper Canada.) " The Ottawa steamboat navigation is imperfect and tedious. The lumber ■* trade on that river, employing a capital of £500,000 annually, is of the " highest importance ; the constant through travelling of the lumberer would " be a great source of profit to the road. If Montreal, the natural market of *' Bytown end the Ottawa, does not exert herself, the latter will make no great " effort to avoid a connection with Ogdensburgh, which can be done in less " than half the distance to Montreal. It may be that our Canadian aristo- " cracy and capitalists think these Railway " notions" vulgar considera- " tions of coppers; — if so, they forget the connection between the trade and " politics of a country, they forget that even now the question of our contin- " uance as a Colony is to be decided by the solution of the problem, whether " flour can be carried from Upper Canada to Liverpool cheaper by New " York than by Montreal? Since the above was written the Lachine Railway has turned out a partial failure ; — the Champlain Railway has been rebuilt with heavy rail ; — the St. Lawrence and Atlantic has been opened for thirty miles and its construc- tion aided by the City of Montreal ; — the Seat of Government has been removed; — and lastly the people of Montreal have seen with a vengeance "the connection between the trade and politics of a country." Perhap'3 the design of that article (which was to advocate a road from Mon- treal to Toronto) was considered too extensive, but the inference which it was hoped would be drawn was that it ought at once to be commenced by the extension of the Lachine Road such a distance only as would be warranted /or the supply of Montreal without reference to Western trade or travel. We wished to shevr that a city like Montreal with a population of 50,000 inhabi- tants, required as an indispensable addition a Railway in some direction of about f?^y miles in length, penetrating a good agricultural country for the supply of the daily wants of ht-r own citizens ; and communicating directly with the city at all seasons of the year. That it was a disgrace to such a city (the Metropolis) to remain in her insular position where it could be avoided, (the bridge at St. Eustache was not then built), and that the Railways on the south shore would ever be unsatisfactory, because their ferries were too long, — at certain seasons of the year there would be no intercourse, and at % i I*! if . X. '(■' / ■»; I •11 aeasoni, deky, riak, and tranihipments. That although the partial failure of the Lachine Road as projected was unavoidable, its construction was to be hailed as an earnest that one Corporation would be compelled in self defence to take the course so necessary to the well being of the city. We now repeat that if the Lachine Railroad be extended Afly miles through a good country toward Prescott it will-soou pay more than legal interest upon the whole investment. With reference to the side of the Ottawa to be selected for tho extension, this should be determined by thorough examina- tions ; eateria paribuSy we should say that as a part of the Main Western line "grades" would have much to do with the decision. If these are found to be equally favourable, then the route which would comprehend most villages, water power, and agricultural products, would be the most productive. With the power of extension we believe the Lachine Road will become one of the first Railway stocks in Canada. As the last link in the iron chain which must ere long connect the Great West with the seaboard at Montreal, this road wouli have borne over it the accumulated freight and tn /el of six hundred miles of a pathway from the St. Clair, through the very vertebrm of Canada to ship navigation ; —while as a minister to the daily wants of an in- creasing population, and large foreign and coasting fleets, it would have never failing sources of wealth, if all foreign helps should fail. As Montreal is the largest city in the Province, — so long as it continues so a Railroad terminating within the city limits must do the largest local business of any road in Can- ada. But the most important advantage which the first Corporation leading from Montreal westward will eqjoy over the more remote ones, is that a large amouut of the earnings of the road will be upon freight of a heal character^ which will either not bear long transportation or pays a higher rate than products of the same description from the interior can qffbrdf — and lastly the Western trains will make up the load for this divis' .a so that the engines will be worked up to their full capacity, thus diminishing the cost of trar; port. l^he following is an estimate fVom the best authorities, of the value of the annual consumption of articles of country produce by the inhabitatUa of the city of New York, for 1841 :— Fresh beef, 1,470,000 " veal, 365,000 Fresh mutton and lamb, 335,000 Fi-esh pork, 600.000 Poultry, game and eggs, &c., 1,000,000 Vegetables and fruits, 1,200,000 Bntter, cheese &nd lard, J,500,000 Flour, meal and other breadstuffs, 3,000,000 Hay and oat!*, , 750,000 Firewood and coal, (exclusive of steamboat fuel,) 2,500,000 Salted beef, pork and hams, 1,200,000 Milk, 1,000,000 Not enumerated, &C., 580,000 15,500,000 'laiiiri 51 23 During^eiiz months ending Sept. SOth, 1843, 2,991,161~iay 8,000,000— qwirts of milk were furnished to the city of New York, firom the first fifty miles of the New York and Erie Railroad, when that work came into opera- tion, at a price S3 per cent, less than former rates : this of course reduced the price of the whole consumption of 16,000,000 of quarts, from six cents to four cents — thus efiRscting a saving to the city upon thid article alone of £80,000 per annum.* The consumption of these articles of country produce amounts to about $50 (£12 10s.) per head of the population of New York. Now we believe the inhabitants of Montreal eat and drink as much per head as their leaner brethren in the good city of Gotham. It has been charged against us by our rectangular cousins, — that we have been too much inclined to waste our substance in riotous living ; — that one evil arising from our Colo- nial position is our inclination to imitate our rich relations upon the other side of the Atlantic — in ostentatious hospitality — in lugging harlequin footmen around the streets for the amusement of children or the admiration of Tro- quois, instead of ** footing it " ourselves — and in making our stomachs a dis- puted territory between wine and Caledonia water, — pastry and blue pills, — "hot-stuff" and soda. If however we consume more than we really require, it is to be hoped that prudence and patriotism will induce us to imitate the temperance and frugality of those New Englauders who live within their incomes and invest their surplus in Railways or manufactures, instead of supporting foreign vineyards — feeding extra horses, "lions," "tigers," "bulls," "beare," ethoc genus omne — animals which could be better employed in agri- culture or would be fitter subjects for the chase.f We think however, we will be safe in assuming the annual consumption of country produce for Montreal, as above described, to be £10 per head yearly, which is twenty per cent less than it is in New York : this will make the annual value of the city's consumption (assuming the population at 50,000) amount to £500,000. Now, we have seen that upon one article alonc,miIk, the saving effected by fifty miles of Railway amounted to 33 per cent. — and there is no good reason to doubt that a similar saving was effected in the other items of consumption. But we le the amount the first of the I superiority of he outlets from increase in the is the position lay." We feel ichine Railroad of their enter- dvantages over ved vigour not ly of that great :ation with the ire upon them. ; she must offer re appreciated, n the Niagara is completed, ;sto be shipped supplies of the York, — when m to Montreal lat beleagured Many Wes- ying in spring le Railroad. — dead stock is preciation and isates fi>r any be preferable le attempt to itinuouB Rail- rence, we mutt ! in commen- e projects are In project- friends of the enterprise" take up the townships through which the road would pass, and thus " calculate :" — *' Townsend has 7,000 acres of wood and timber land, averaging from forty " to Bfly cords per acre. After suppl^^ing fuel for home consumption, we " estimate the actual growth to be equal to one cord for every three and a " hair acres, per annum, which will be 2,000 cords for market, exclusive of " sawed lumber and ship timber. " The north eastctly part of Shirley, the north part of Luncnbukg and the " west part of Peppcrell, together with the towns of Brookliue, Manon and " Ashby, have an aggregate of wood and timber land, nearly or qr ' three " times as large as that in Tnwnscnd, and quite as heavily covered. " The town of Sharon has now a steam mill that cuts one million feet of " sawed lumber annually. This town and Temple, having large quantities of •' wood land, and being too far from a depot at West Townsend for the trans- " port of wood, will therefore do the coal business that is now done in the " towns below them — and this branch of business will furnish at least three " thousand tons of transport to the road annually. " It is a well known fact that the towns of New Ipswich, Temple, Mason, and " Ashby, are rich in agricuhural resources, and will supply much tonnage of " produce to the road. It is not unfrequeni for farms in Mason to grow 1000 *' bushels of potatoes each (weighing about 37 ^ tons), for the starch factory " in Wilton, present average prices about twentv-two cents per bushel. This " article could be transported to West Townsend much easier than to their " present market, and the average price in Boston is such as to command " this business. " The manufacturing interest in this section is also well known to be " somewhat extensive. The present transport of casks of all kinds from " Townsend to Boston is $6,750 annually. Brookline has this branch of " business to nearly the same amount of freight, and both of these towns " have much unimproved water power, and great facilities for brick making, " much of which is in the immediate line of the contemplated road." How much unimproved water power have we in Canada ? Have we no farms which grow 1000 bubhels of potatoes eaoh ? no saw-mills cutting 1,000,000 feet per annum ? The writer knows one establishment in Canada which cuts more than 10,000,000 feet annually. There is a large growing trade along the whole extent of our Frontier in this article, — which we can produce ad libitum, and the whole value of which is from labour applied here. Our exports of sawed lumber to the United States will probably double, in 1849, those of any former year, amounting to more than one hundred millions of feet : — Railroadf alone will bring out the distant n serves of this article. Have we no facilities for brickmaking, or do we still continue to import bricks from England as we did a few years since ? The truth is, — men have starved upon the richest soils and in the finest climes, as in India, Ireland, or Mexico, while the children of the *' Pilgrim Fathers" have grown rich from their granite, their wood, and their ice :— they see "sermons in stones," and 26 I I 1 I' «• ( wealth In ahoepegs fit two dollars a bushel. The chief elements of the extraordinary success of the Americans arc such as we in a great measure possess, although we have obtained them too recently to have yet experienced their effects, viz., the control of our own trade, — and facility of association, —hitherto hampered by legislative requirements at r;vcry step. It is true that we have been stimulated — by legislation in which we had no voice — to an over production of food for which we have no home market, and upon which we must submit to a discount, until we can make one.* We have also political incertitude, for the continuance of which we have no one to blame but ourselves. The habit of association in New Englar J, (for there it has become a habit, as we trust it will uoon be here), is tlie prominent instrument in their prosperity. In a mistaken love of sole proprietorship, (in imitation of the wealth of the Mother Country), we either do not move at all in a promising enterprise because the investment is beyond our reach, or we place our necks in the halter by borrowing to such an extent that the first " pull up " invariably produces strangulation. If we would but contem- plate the almost illimitable powers of association for manufacturing or commercial purposes, compared with the largest individual efforts, ve would be forced to acknowledge the existence within ourselves of a mine of wealth and power, unheeded now, but which, if relieved from the pressure of indiffe- rence and incredulity, will expand into useful activity. In a town of but moderate population the humble mechanic may have his house lighted with gas and supplied with water — luxuries which the seigneur in his lordly country mansion cannot aspire to. Perhaps the most striking instance of great results from small contributions is the penny post ; — but everywhere examples meet us — in the news-room, — in public baths, — and even in the factories of New England, many of which are owned by the operatives and small farmers. A Railroad firom Montreal to Hamilton would have half a million of cus- tomers exclusive of those beyond the termini, for it would exact tribute from the industry or consumption of every soul upon or adjoining the line. If it be 400 miles long, and can be built for £7,500 per mile, the cost will be £3,000,000 ; and if the net earnings be taken at ten shillings per head, (instead of twelve shillings and sixpence, the proportion of the agricultural counties on the line of the Erie Railroad), we have £2d0,000,^r eight and a half per cent. Before the road could be completed, the population and wealth will have increased, and the expenditure of such a sum upon the route will have added so much to the ability of that route to support the road. Is it time then to .'nove in this matter P Do we not want this road now ? Will we not need it before 't can be constructed ? Will it not be indispen- sible as soon as the Montreal and Portland Road is opened? We lost millions of dollars in the winter of 1846-1847, because we could not get our produce to the seabord. If a demand springs up again in December upon *The constracdun of Raikoads is the first step towards attaining this desirable object ■i ;u;ii, 27 the seaboard for our flour, butter, asbcs, or lumber, must we again wait until May before we can move, and when tiio Mississippi will have flooded the markets ? If the liberal provisions of our Railroad law prove inefficient to produce association and corporate effort, sliall wo allow it to drop ? Shall we not rather as a people, through our Govcruincnt, take it up, " amtc qui coute.^^ We cannot any longer afford to do witliout Railroads. Their want is an actual tax upon the industry and labour of the country. Men may talk, says an eminent New Englandcr, about the burden of taxes to build Rail- roads, but the tax which the people pay to be without them is an hundred fold more oppressive. In 1836 Massachusetts became a Stockholder to the extent of $1,000,000 in the Western Road, and by three subsequent Acts issued State scrip for $4,000,000 more, foi the same object. The city of Albany gave for the same purpose $890,425 — the amount subscribed by private Stockholders only being one-third of the cost of the road. Georgia, Michigan, Delaware, Sites all inferior to Canada, have been equally liberal. They could not wait for the overflowing of accumulated capital, to seel, out these projects. They consi- dered the State 'but one wide extended charity to aid, protect and beneflt each other" — the patron of the public good. Massachusetts looked upon the Western road as a State work ; and upon the interests of the people at large as paramount to any individual or corporate ones which might desire this work. Canada must so consider a Railway from her seaport to the heart of her Western territory. The towns and cities on the route contain sufficient com- mercial intelligence and wealth to lend their credit for a large portion of the stock, and if the agricultural interests hold back, their representatives should be further appealed to. Ar hundred thousand pounds may be obtained by pledging the honour and the industry of a coi; jrate town, where five thou- sand could not be spared by the indivifLutls composing that town ; — because the interest only will be required, — of the burden of which the road upon com- pletion will relieve them, and at the same time undertake the extinguishment of the principal. Upon the same principle with still less inconvenience, the Canadian people at large, through their Government, may with equal propriety and benefit, pro- cure the means for constructing any eligible line of Railway, by paying, foi two or tl.ree years, the dciiclcnt interest on its cost. But it is highly desira- ble that wealthy individuals and corporate towns and bodies should take the lead and management. The Government stand ready under the late Act to second their eflbrts — and we have no doubt would advance a step further to meet private action, rather than see a dcserAing project fall to the ground. Our present financial difficulties should be no obstruction, for in a very few years our public canals will relieve us from all uneasiness upon this head, and if we only make the same determined provision for the future payment of our liabilities, as has been made by our more deeply indebted neighbour — the State of New York— our credit will at once, /<;.»• all judicious invcstmenls, 28 I •tand at high aa hera. New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Illinoia, and Louisiana, arc all more deeply in debt than we are — but in them public improvement has not been auspended. Our unoccupied routes have in themselves a value— but until there are charters, organization, and a fltting spirit and appreciation of Railways shewn, there is nothing to attract the passing capitalist. Mr. W. Harding, in his " Facts bearing on the Progress of the Railway System," read before the British Association in August, 1848, says : •♦ No limit can be assigned to the number of travsUcrs which cheapening and quickening the means of conveyance will create. The introduction of the Kailway, even where Steamboats already afforded a most pleufant, rapid, and cheap communication, increased the number of travellers (between Glas- gow and Greenock) from 110,000 to 2,000,000—2,000,000 being /ive times the population of the district. In 1814 the number of passengers per annum between Glasgow and Paisley was only 10,000. In 1842 the number was upwardt] of 900,000 : — the population during this period has only doubled itself, while the traffic has multiplied itself ninety-fold — that is to Ray, for every journey which an inhabitant of Glasgow or Paisley took in 1814, he took forty-five journeys in 1843 The Railway System has doubled itself in three years. The importance and value of the traffic in goods and cattle^ relatively to the passenger traffic, have become more apparent Whatever falling off in dividends there may have been is to be attributed to the capitalization of \oans and the creation of fictitious capital by the purchase of Railways at premiums, and therefore at sums beyond what they cost." Lastly — we are placed beside a restless, early-rising, " go-a-head " people, —a people who are following the sun Westward, as if to obtain a greater portion of daylight : — we cannot hold back — we must tighten our own tracea or be overrun — we must use what we have or lose what we already possess — capital, commerce, friends and children will abandon us for better furnished lands unless we at once arouse from our lethargy ; we can no longer afford to loiter away our winter months, or slumber through the morning hours. Every year of delay but increases our inequality, and will prolong the time and aggravate the labour of what, through our inertness, has already become a sufficiently arduous rivalry : but when once the barriers of indifference, prejudice and ignorance are broken down, — no physical or financial obstacle can Ttithstand the determined perseverance of intelligent, self- controlled industry. We submit the foregoing view of the Railway System and our position in relation to it, to the generous and patriotic consi- deration of every intelligent merchant, manufacturer, farmer, and mechanic,— to every Canadian, native or adopted, — and ask them : Stjoll toe Ijaoe Uailroobs in ([ianabaf APPENDIX. t^lint Railrnali0 h fnr tjie tm\i anit Mmt (Dmiura, (From HunCa Merchants* Magazine, December, 1848.^ Almost monthly the avenues of trade are increasing, and facilitating the transportation of the rich produce of the interior to the Atlantic border. The demand for capital, for the prosecution of these great lines of traffic, has been a decided cause of the high rate of money on the Atlantic border. Massa- chusetts has been particularly active in the construction of these noble worlcs. Id the last three sessions theic have been chartered the following roads : Capital 1846 18 roads and branches $5,795.UOO 1847 16 4,822,000 1848 19 7.105.000 Stock of roads in operation increased 3,945,000 Total $21,667,000 The total length of roads in New England is 1,126^ miles, and the cost over $37,000,000.* This large expenditure has been ciTected only by absorb- ing all the surplus earnings of almost all classes of society. The accumula- ting dividends of capitalists of all grades have sought this direction, and, as a consequence, a far less amount has been available for the ordinary employ- ments of industry. Even the Savings Bank deposits have been applied in this direction. The direct investments of the Massachusetts' Savings Banks in these works were $44,389, and loans upon Railroad stock $300,698. The income of the roads increased from $1,961,323 in 1846, to $2,564,190 in J847. The effect of these multiplied means of communication upon the trade and property of Boston is magical. Table of the Assessed Valuation of Property in Boston and New York. New York. Estate, real and personal. $255,194,620 237,806,901 Boston. Estate, real and personal. 1841 $98,006,600 1842 105,723,700 1843 110,056,000 1844 118,450,300 1845 135.948.700 1846 148.839,600 1847 162,360,400 1848 *Thi8 does not include the debts of the Corporttions. $50,000,000.— (See Appendix H.) 228.001.889 335,960,047 230.995.517 244,952,404 247.153,303 254,192,027 The expenditure exceeds 30 It ViU be observed, tbat the different modes of vahmtion in the two cities ore such, that the figures do not give a correct idea of the actual comparative wealth, but in a series of years they show tlie comparative progress, more particularly in respect of real estate, which, while that of New York has remained nearly stationary, that is to say, was nearly the same in 1847 as in 1841, that of Boston has increased 60 pel cent in value. Thin has been the direct result of the Railroad influence. It will be observed, that notwith- standing the number of persons that have moved from Boston into neighbour- ing towns, the increased value of the property taxed is $74,000,000, nearly double the whole cost of the Railroads. That New York has taken a start during the past year, is to be ascribed to the general prosperity and the grow- ing influence of the Erie Railroad. The Erie Railroad is now progressing through the lower tier of counties, the population of which was, in 184/), n62, 103, or about the same as the upper tier when the canal was built. The whole area commanded by this road is 12,000,000 acres of the best land, and the population occupying it numbered 532,000 in 1844. The Reading Road, running 100 miles from the mines to Philadelphia, has cost nearly $11,000,000, and brought down last year l,-2r)(.',5G7 tons coal, thus establishing the capacity of a Railroad even at enormous cost to carry coal in opposition to a Canal.* ♦ • • • « We shall then realize the fact that the Erie will be the longest and most important Railroad in the world, and its income will be commens\irate with its importance. It will be observed, that although it will on its completion drain an area of 12,000,000 acres, containing in 1844 a population of 532,000 persons, the section now in operation to Port Jervis communicates with only 40,000 persons, and an area of 428,890 acres. Yet its income is $1,000 per day, and its nett profits $1.50,000 per annum I [This gives an average nett earning of eighteen ithillings and ninepencc per head on the population.] (Extract from Hunt's Magazine, August, 1849.) A.i, : * 1 " It is doubtless the case that, at this moment, capital, as we have slightly indicated, is accumulating throughout the country, with a rapidity never before known ; that is to say, there is more wealth being produced, and less consumed by extravagant living, through the operation of false credits, than ever before ; but the capital so increasing is being converted on an extensive Bca\efromfloating to flxed capital; that is to say, railroads, public works, buildings, and machinery, all of which, although ultimately they will be productive of a still more rapid development of wealth, for the moment cause a demand for floating capital beyond, perhaps, even its enhanced supply. In the New England States the rapid increase of Railroads has been productive, since their regular operation, of a rise in the value of property, in Boston alone, to an amount greater than the whole coat of all the Railroads in New England; and the profits of the eubaaced trade they have created in that emporium, 31 divided ainoDg the community, ha> probably been far greater than the aggre- gate sura of the dividends paid by all the Railroads to their Stockholders. " In some of the Western States, particularly Ohio, [and may we not say, Canada,] there is a far greater expenditure of capital, through individual extra* vagance in livings than in the New England States. The increase of Rail- roads and manufactories in the Southern and Western States is calculated to promote the accumulation of local capital, to cause a husbanding of sec- tional resources ; and while capital ib kept in the new States to reproduce itself in industrial occupations, the profits of the Eastern States will become less considerable." Progress of Railroads m New England in 1849. Cape Cod Railroad, miles. ..27A South Shore Railroad, *' ll| Norfolk County Railroad, " 26 Milford Branch Railroad, '* 12 Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad, *' SS Connecticut River Railroad, " 11 Cheshire Railroad, " 37 Sullivan Railroad, " 28 Vermont Central Railroad *' 65 Bristol Railroad, " 13 Northern Railroad, " 4 Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railroad, " 36 Possumpsic Railroad, " 40 Worcester and Nashua, " 45 Portland and Lewiston Railroad, " 27 New York and New Haven Railroad to Harlem Railroad, " 60 Section of Ogdensburg Railroad, " 12 Stoney Branch Railroad, *' 14 LoweU and Lawrence Railroad *' 12 Total miles, 515 [The above is the number of miles of Railroad brought into operation^ in New England alone, in the year ending February, 1849; all but one lead directly into Boston, and nearly all are extensions of Massachusetts Rail- roads, built by her capital and enterprise.] B IBljot Enilrnalis h for C ntistiiiirrs. The Erie Railroad last year (1847) running 53 miles, supplied the follow- ing articles to the city of New York : Quantity. Est. Value. Milk qts... 7,090,430 $283,616 Butter lbs.. .3,758,440 670,519 Fresh Meat 3,007,890 150,490 Cattle (beef)head...2,362 86,853 Quantity. Est. Value. Calves head 11,457 $51,649 Hogs 5,548 38,366 Sheep or Lambs 8,198 29,975 Strawberries... bskts..389,920 15,596 I . 82 In addition to the above, large quantities of poultry, game, fhitt, Tegetablea, ftc, are brought to marliet. The freight received by the road for the trana> portation of millc alone, wai $35,450. e t^jiat tlirii iin in (Djiin~a /arming Connfnt. MAMSriKLD AND 8ANDUIKT BAILBOAD. The following tables shew the pngsengeri* and the principal articles of fVcight transported over this road, in 1846 and 1847 : — 18-16. ]847. PoMcnffcrs, 9,873 20,737 Treighl :— Wheat, bushels 306,255 504,081 Corn, oats and barioy, •' 4,369 13,713 Flour barrels 11,315 62,598 Highwines and whiitkoy, ** l,l'i5 3,235 Crunbvrries •• 839 1,046 E|;k8, " 56 Not KJ von. Halt " 9,502 6,613 Wool, pounds 116,833 Butler and lard " 309.742 680,248 Adhfs, 230,535 396,560 Tobiicco. in hhds., 42,192 80,190 Tork, bacon, &c 86,957 1,361,6-24 Seeds— Clover, flax and timothy, 442,206 1,012,972 Dried fruits 19,494 181,450 Merchandize and furniture, 1,847 3,110 Potatoes, busliels 2,912 Shingles M. 611 Oil cuke pounds 47,605 Wool und feathers, •' 210,903 W)ffii tliBii h in n d^ranite, 3tj, ml " Wuhu jintinn" Cnnntrtf. Table of Tonnage over the Fitchburgh Railrond ( Mass.) for the years 1846 and '47* 1846. 1847. Tons transported upward 47,752 73,219 «• •' downwards, 41.105 61979 Total upward and downward, 88,857 135,198 In the above statement ice and bricks are excluded, which amounted aa follows : Ice. Tons 73,000 77.505 Bricks " 39,308 31,772 ' Total tons, inolnding ice and bricks. 201,169 244,475 33 Qvantit^ of Wooden Ware, t'aper, and W(hmI, iiantfutvled over the Huad diuing the year 1847. ('hairs 439,702 Pails l,O3.3,0A8 lieams uf Pupvr 160,752 Tubs 220,993 Clothfs Pins 4,228,200 Wash Boards 101,459 liurrels 8N,57.1 Keg 104,205 Cords of Wood 9,174 Candlo Uoxos 174,177 Nunabcr of I'asscngurs carried in tlie Cars the past year 404,035 Number of iWsengors carried one milu B,0U0,437 Unra \)v\ iio in \\}i Jinrtji. THE WESTERN (MASSACHUSETTS) RAILROAD. Years. Pass. Moroh. Mails, &c. Total. Expenses. Bal. receipts. 1842, $206,446 $220,674 SlO.r'AO $512,088 S260,019 $240,068 1843 275,139 275,606 23,046 67.1,882 303,973 200,009 1844, .3.')8,694 371,131 23,926 753,702 314,074 439,088 1845 .300,7.53 420,717 26,009 813,480 370,021 442,858 1840 ^n tntbs) 380,801 4.59,305 29,191 878,417 412,679 463,733 1847, 502,321 785,345 37,068 1,325,336 676,689 648,046 1848 551,038 745.909 35,120 1,332,068 662,357 679,711 1840 561,575 745,394 36,841 1,343,810 688,322 755,43$ Number of through and local passengers for each year since the road was opened. Year. Through pass. 1842 18,671 1843 26,595 1844 24,330 1845 19,192 1846,(11 months), 29,883 1847, 34,299 1848, 33,731 1849 33,751 Way pass. 171,866 174,370 195,l'2r 204,442 235,831 354,01 1 371.883 402,053 Total. 190,437 200,965 220.257 223,634 265,714 388,310 405,614 435,804 220,352 2,1 10,383 2,330,739 %m tjiJti iin in t|iB Intitji. OEOBOIA RAILROAD. 1848. 1849. Passengers, $157,694 67 $166,484 04 Freight, 280.486 27 376,957 07 United States maik and rents,... 88,87174 38,573 48 InoTtaad. $8,789 37 96,470 80 —298 26 Total, S477,052 68 S582.014 59 $104,961 91 Expenses, 175,552 84 195,782 88 20,230 04 Nett profits, $801,499 84 ,881 71 $84,781 87 34 I. ■■>- a lom t^ hit toals. Coal brought from the Schut/lkill Mines by Railroad and Canal. 1841 Tocj... I84Si " 1843 " 1844 •• 1845 1846 1847 184v( M i( 44 Bailroad. 850 49,902 230,255 241,492 822,481 1,233,141 1,350,151 1,216,232 Canal. 584,692 491,602 447,058 698,887 263,587 3,440* 22!?,643 436.602 Total. 585,5i2 541,004 677,313 840,379 1.086,068 1,236,581 l,£7a,794 1,652,834 The Railroad was first opened lu me joar 1841. The amount of coal previously brought down by the Canal averj-ged about 450,000 tons per annum for the si^ years previous to the liuilding of the Railroad, and never in any one year re Hc!.ed 524,000 tons H Ik Senatp March 15, 1849. The Joint Standing Committee on Railways and Canals, to which was refer- red the Annual Returns of the several Railroad Corporations in operation within the Commonwealth, Report : That returns have been made by thirty- seven corporations. The cost of the several Railroads, as appears by the returns, is $46,886,991 93 The debt of the several corporations, as per returns, is 12,420,201 19 The aggregate surplus fund is 1,349,230 08 Ditterence.< 11,070,971 11 Total cost 57.957,963 04+ The earnings of the several corporations were 6,067,154 02 The expense of working the several roads was 3,284,933 38 The net earnings of the same. $2,716,920 30t The length of the main roads is 954.346 miles. Tho length of branches is 88.810 •< Total 1,043.156 " The length of doable track 220.212 *' During t'ae past year about 300 miles of Railroad have been put in ope- ration on the vatious lines leading to Boston, many of which are far from being completed. * Great freshet which injured the CanaL I A great portion lately expended, and as yet, unproduotive.^.See next pftge* J TbU it apoul $3 40c (r/,'0) per head on the population. 2 4 3 9 8 1 4 4 it of coal tons per md never , 1849. vas refer- operation y thirty- 5,991 93 ),97l 11 ^96S 04+ i,920 30t in ope- far from page. 35 The iPtles of Railroad finished in New York, it is believed, do not exceed 750. The whole number of miles in the United States is stated at 6,421^, of which nearly one-sixth part is in Massachusetts. The extent of Railroad nnished in England, at the end of the year 1848, and in operation, was 4 ^2\j nailes, constructed at a cost of £131,000,000 sterling, or $628,000,000. TSe average cost per mile is about $142,000. These roads are thoroughly built, generally with two or more tracks. There is no road in this country which cost the average of the English lines, excepting, perhaps, the Reading Railroad in Pennsylvania The traffic on the English roads, in 1848, amounted to £10,092,000, or more than $47,000,000. The net rtlMrns were about 4^ per cent, on the outlay. The expense of working the English Roads is less than iiily per cent, of the gross earnings. The expense of working the Massachusetts roads is a fra< tion over fifty- four per cent. The committee have tak thirtctjn roads, (upon whose returns reliance can be placed, and none ox ^vhich commenced operations within the year,) and averaged the dividends upon the cost of the roads. Cost. Dividends. Berkshire. $eOO,COO 00 j$42,000 00 Boston and Lowell 1,800,000 00 144,000 00 Boston and Maine 3,249,804 52 252,798 50 Boston and Providence 2,893,300 00 175,349 00 Boston and Worcester 4,245,175 00 325,500 00 Connecticut River. 1,234,970 00 69,960 00 Eastern 2,655,700 00 239,628 00 Fall River. 1,050,000 00 68,250 00 Fitchburg 2,735,910 00 201,029 50 Nashua and Low Jl 525,000 00 50,000 00 New Bedford and Taunton... 400,000 00 24,000 00 Old Colony 1,601,415 00 91.362 50 Stoughton Branch 85,403 00 4,270 00 Taunton Branch 250,000 00 20,000 00 Western 5,150,000 00 366,000 00 $28,476,674 52 $2,074,147 50 Mean ;atc per cent, upon money paid in, 7.283. The above is an approxi- mation to correctness, though not entirely accurate. The Western Road, for instance, paid 8 per cent. ; by the table, it is less. The discrepancy is caused by the f»' ., that new stock has been created tiie present year, and has been expended in construction, thus adding botli to capital and cost of road during the year, wliiie one of the semi-annual dividends was declared upon the last year's capital. The dividends are declared upon the capital paid in, and not always upon the cost, and this will show a dliference between the table and the actual dividend, in cases where the cost of road varies from the amount of capital paid in. It should hn added, that, in all statements relative to the Western Railroad, the dividends are reckoned upon its chartered capital which i-' '.I i: :/ 36 DOW atands at $5,1 jf 0,000. In addition to wiiich, tliere lias bt-en provided for its construction, and received by the corporation jC899,900 sterling bonds, payable with interest at five per cent., sold at an advance of not les& than 8 per cent,— $4,319,520 > Albany city bonds $1,000,000, interest 6 per cent., making the total means provided for its construction, $10,469,650, from which there has been paid, into the several sinking funds, $459,578 62, leaving, for construction and equipment of road, $10,009,941 38. The cost of the road to the date of the return is $9,900,153 76, leaving in possession of the cor- poration a balance of construction funds amounting to $109,787 52. The balance of interest paid by the corporation the past year is $266,380 77. The first dividend was declared upon forty thousand shares, the second upon fiAy- one thousand and five hundred, and were each four per cent. Of the surplus of $J'',330 41, $45,883 34 must be paid into the general sinking fund, which will leave the sum of $1,497 07 to be added to surplus fund of forme'- years. L IBnia tjjtij ^^ in iEnglanb. BRITISH EAILWAY STATISTICS. (From the Civil Engineer and Architects' Journal.) Passengers. Receipts. Goods — tons. Total receipts. 344 27,763,602 jE3,439.294 9.823,536 £5,584,982 1845 33,791,253 3,976,341 12,522,973 0.649,224 1846 43,790,983 4,725,215 15,871,179 7,664,874 1847 51,352,163 5,148.002 16,699,362 8,949,681* The capital expended on Railways has been likewise given by Mr. Ilackett, from which we can learn the amount expended in each year : Whole capital. Expended. Miles opened. Total miles. 1842, £52,380,100 1,532 1843, 57,635,100 £5,255,000 59 1,586 1844, 63,489,100 6,844,000 194 1,780 1845, 71,646,100 8,157,000 263 2,043 1846, 83,165,100 12,579,000 503 2,610 1847, 109,528,800 26,363,700 839 3,449 The total amount of Railway expenditure from 1842 to the end of 1847 was £57,548.700. The total amount of Railway income in these years has bpcn £38,884,181. Of course, the whole of this income cannot be treated as real capital, no more than can be the whole of the expenditure ; but it is a significant fact, that while the whole expenditure has been £57,548,700 in five years, from 1842 to 1847, the receipts have been £38,884,181, or more than two-thirds of that amount. This is deserving the attention of those who direct their attention toward the subject of Railway capital. * 1848 £10,059,006 1849 £11,013.817 There has been invested in British Hallways, up to January, 1850, £200,000,000 ($1,000,000,000). There are completed 5218 miles, at a cost of £180,000,000. years. 37 (From Mr. W, Harding's •• Progress of the Railway St/stem.") The length of Railways sanctioned by Parliament at the commencement of 1848, but not then open, was 7,150 miles. These new Railways are principally designed for the accommodation of the agricultural parts of the country. When the Railways now in contemplation are completed we shall have 10,000 miles, on which 140,000 persons will be permanently employed at good wages, — representing at Ave to a family — three quarters of a million of the of the gross population. Mr. Hyde Clarke shows the increase of travel caused by Railroads : Ti avellers from old coaches, Sec. New travellers. 1844 10,300,000 ...7,400,000 18-.5 12,900,000 20,800,000 1846 16,000,000 27,000,000 1847 21,000,000 30,000,000 Reckoning that each passenger is on the average carried twenty miles, each male adult in this country will be carried that distance six times in the year, — an extent of accommodation which must have a great effect on trade and on the distribution of labour. '^ An ** Observer " in the " London Morning Herald " states that it has been estimated that Railways have effected a saving of i;i2,000,000 annually on the traffic of the country, although they comprehend as yet but a fraction relatively of the whole traffic of trade. M 13ntu JRniltnniia rnttl; ^fislj. (From Hyde Clarke's '* Contributions to Railway Statistics." ) This traffic is of the greater importance, as it gives a positive addition to the supply of food in the country, and is therefore of great national benefit. Railnu^ .1 stimulate the production, or economise the cost of production, of grr 'i, in.;ut, and other articles of food ; but all fish that can he carried inland, ia i: .t-x"' added to the resources of the country — In this respect. Railways Yix\' >: lie nnch and can do more, both for the supply of food to the country, and for i.-* nromotion of the fisheries. This traffic is very remunerative and does not bring less than 10s. per ton. The gross tonnage of fish carried on the English Rj-ilways may be reckoned as 70,000 tons ; or, on the lowest computation, the food of as many indivi- duals. Fresh fish, meat, butter, fruit, &c., cannot be brought from great dis- tances except by Railway. Milk is now largely carried on the Eastern Coun- ties and other Railways, under arrangements by which the companies can ■■»'iug back the empty cans. rCodfish, oysters, and lobsters, brought daily by Railway from Halifax or P-- 'tiaiid, would be an agreeable change of diet for inland Canadians — and would lighten the maigre days.] 3d ^!l0t tlu ^nrli i|iittlt0 nf Huilrnak Table of Railroads in operation, January 1, 1849, and of their cost, including equip' ments — carefully estimatbn from official returns, ^c. Countries. Miles. Average cost per mile. Total. New England and New York, 3,952 $27,500 $108,186,237 Other parts of the United States,.. .4,192 25,000 104,922,179 Canada,.... 54 32,000 1,731.000 Cuba,« 273 9,473,000 Total in America, 8,471 26,500 224,312,416 Great Britain 4,721 170,000 802,571,500 France, 1,256 110,000 138,500,000 Germany, 3,371 50,000 168,500,000 Belgium 497 80,000 39,640,000 Holland, 163 25,000 4,062,000 Denmark and Holstein, 284 40,000 11,281,000 Switzerland 79 50,000 3,650,000 Italy, 164 90,000 14,625,000 liussia, 113 60,000 6,781,000 Poland 188 50,000 9,375,000 Hungary, 157 60,000 7,850,000 Total in Europe, 10,993 $110,000 $1,216,875,500 Total, 19,464 $74,000 $1,441,187,500 At the close of 1848, the Railroads built and in progress in the United Kingdom and Ireland were 12,481 miles in length, and their estimated cost $1,567,887,013 ; in France, 3,841 miles, at ', cost of $416,000,000 ; and in Russia, 1,600 miles, at s cost of $170,000,000. €\t fullq nf rjiBap (fnginjmiig. The following is a list of the Railroads which have been engaged in relay- ing their tracks with heavy rails during the past year (1848), together with the quantity of iron which has been contracted for, in England, for that purpose :• — Syracuse and Utica tons 2,500 New York and New Haven 6,000 Eastern 2,000 Boston and Worcester 4,000 Western 5,000 Vermont Central 8,000 Vermont and Massachusetts 4,000 Rutland 8,000 Old Colony 2,000 Boston and Providence 1,000 Stoningtoa 1,000 New Haven and Hartford tons 3,000 Concord and Portsmouth 4,000 Lawrence 2,500 Boston and Lowell 1,000 Utica and Schenectady 2,000 Tonawanda 2,000 Buffalo and Attica 4,000 Ramapo , 2,000 Somerville (abont) 2,000 Total... .66,000 39 -^ I I 1 % H e izi s ^ 3 o "d d <9 ^ r< (A ^ s <-> ^ n3.S m W any an m offic <=t kJ -^ 2 i=r <^ H to m o q) •apaapiAia ons 3,000 , 4.000 2,500 1,000 2,000 ... 2,000 4,000 2,000 2,000 •saoanos jaqjo pns )qSi3jj luojj siuoauj ' CT o o o o n 5 o o o 5: g*- ,_ c>i "8 8W (N X5 00 OS CO « « W (N •^ _ t» ^ <3» O W 05 00 f-«^ Ci vi 00 00 CO p^ CO N. «r CD r^ lo « 0 ■<* lo «0 fr^ CO ^ 00 o o -H r— I >o irj V5 00 «0 X? « « (M_ ^ Ol I— " of t-T^D cT w w eo >o oj CO CD^ Tl<_ « OS_ ■^ t^ CO u^n^oTcooooeo O5(NC0p-i»oCO>Oi— I (Ni-if-ii— ikoi— iCOi-H 'sjdSuas •8Bd iCe^ JO jaquin^ Oi 't ^ 1-1 lO OJ H. lO ^ CO CO CO o t^ CD t>;^r- 0 i-i rl O CO O 'SJsSaas •8Bd qSnoaqj JO jaqrnn^ 'aoipnj^saoa jo ijsoq — 't't'*t^'t(N05 >oo)QOOt>.eo30oo '^eoooai_ (>!_»>. CO ■»tOOOt>ri^5"o5"c>CD « (>» -^ (>» CD o o eo i-H rH p—c I— I I— I p-t (^J CI CD h- t^ >0 CD 't t^ t^ « p-< CO CD 00 CD CO 00 >o 90 I— c 00 — 00 CD O CD 00 CC_ CD 00 « Cd" -i CO i-H CO xo o so 1^ O CD (M 05 •C >— I tP O (^O CD 'uoi)«jado III peoj JO sdiiui JO jaquin^^ SOT^CDi-IOOeOOOh- voi>.(Neot^'«tt>.rH B cd ''^ tn O CJ '^ s * m a « I: rt -^ CS CJ v e CO CO OS eS x: o ^^ U3 (0 at in 19 a o o CO (0 <=PH to aT a o u o o 00 to 00 to p^ en <» u O^ 40 I ^lr«t t^^ h for Vft (Btfi}\m auii ®nimra. The following are the proportions of cattle, &c., carried on British Railways : Cattle. Sheep. Swine. Receipts. 1645.....«..«....286,<)00 1,200,000 550,000 £102,000 1B46.. 870,000 1,250,000 850,000 167,200 1347.-« 600,000 2,000,000 *390,000 183,400 * Falling off caused by Irish famine. The total nunber of horses carried in 1847 was 99,405 and the receipts £80,216. Taking the saving by conveyance of cattle on Railways at 40 lbs. per beast, 8 lbs. for sheep, and 20 lbs. for swine, the gross saving in 1847 will be 43,800,000 tbs. of animal food. Large quantities of dead meat reach the London market by Railway from the country : — it ooraes in excellent condition from Scotland. By means of Railways, great quantities of hind quarters of mutton are sent up from the country, — as the butchers there kill large quantities of sheep and sell the fore quarters at home amongst their own population, — sending the hind quarters by Railway tc London. It is the general opinion of butchers that country killed meat is better than town killed meat. It is ordered and sold by telegraph, and is not damaged by the journey, even in hot weather. — Evidence given in late Report on Smithjiehl Market. \ I '. I,' ' K MS; r loin tjiJti h itt tjiJ Wtsl The following are the articles brought to Detroit by the Michigan Central Hailro&d duriiig the month of November, IMd: Flour. bUs. 61,962 Wheat lbs. 11,155,805 Com meal 331,647 Ashes 94.118 Wool 5,751 Barley 259,151 Cranberries 38,097 Beans. 26,124 Grass seed. 16,466 Beef and pork. 166,639 Whiskey lbs. 202,387 Pig iron 40,933 Timber 202,704 Carriages ],000 Cattle... 4,000 Horses... 5,000 Sheep and h<^ 40 Other let class freights 154,779 " 2d " 46,341 " 3d " 9,922 Through pass. Way pass. Total pass. Receipts pass. Rec. freight Total rec. 1849 .46,053 91,848 137,901 $321,114 $279,872 $600,986 1848 13,409 69,778 83,187 155,771 218,210 373,981 Increase, 32»644 22,070 54,714 $165,^-13 $61,663 3227,005 Passengers West 78,187; Receipts $175,895. East 53,714; Receipts $145,219 Total Receipts 1849, $600,986; Expenses, $296,080; Net earnings, $304,906. Frmn the above figures it will be seen that the business of this road has been rapidly increai*iag notwithstanding the prevalence of the Cholera in the last season ; And that on this decidedly " through " route, — the wajf pas- sengers douhk those going through. ^ —> ' •fsr s. 202,387 .. 40,933 .. 202,704 .. 1,000 .. 4,000 ,.. 5,000 40 ... 154,779 ... 46.341 ... 9,922 Total rec. $600,986 373,981 I I II