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Route No. 8.

Leaving Route No. 1 at 448, near Clappville, a line was carried upon the north-east side of French River, crossing the Hartford turnpike east of the upper factory pond, thence across to the Baptist Meeting-house on the road from Charlton to Leicester village, thence by a straight line through the middle of Wall's mill-pond, 1400 feet, thence crossing the river to the south-west side, at the north end of Grass hill, near Sibley Converse's, and curving around to the west, it again crosses the river (or brook, as it is here,) and passing into the town of Spencer, it crosses, from 615 to 626, a swamp or meadow 1100 feet long, and varying in depth from 2 to 8 feet; thence turning the point of W. Watson's hill at Jones's mill, it continues on the north side of the brook to Watson's saw-mill, thence crossing the brook, it winds around south of west upon a very gradual curve, and pursuing a small branch of the main brook, it crosses another meadow and swamp of 200 feet in extent, of the same character as that at 615, and reaches the summit near J. Grout's house, having attained an elevation of 445.75 feet above the Boston and Worcester Rail Road at Worcester. (The Bench Mark at this summit is a point designated in Mr. Baldwin's survey of 1828.)

Route No. 9.

This is a line traced on the south-west side of French River. Leaving Route No. 1 at 462, it passes through the village of Clappville, crossing the turnpike near the tavern, thence passing over a cove of the upper mill pond upon a heavy embankment, it continues along the side hill near the road from Clappville to Leicester village, crossing the Charlton and Leicester road at Wall's mills; turning the point of a spur at this place, it continues nearly straight across a small cove of Wall's large pond or reservoir, thence falling upon the slope of Jones's hill, it unites with Route No. 8 near Sibley Converse's, and is thence identified with that route to Grout's summit.

A line in continuation of Route No. 9 from the point of intersection with No. 8, was carried around the north part

of Watson's hill, by V. Jones's, and in a direction towards Kingsley's, crossing the northern extremity of the meadow of 2000 feet in extent, referred to in Route No. 8, thence along on the side hill, and crossing the main branch of the brook, it unites with Routes No. 8 and 9, at Grout's summit. This line is 3600 feet longer than the corresponding portion of the other, with an increase of curvature, and without any improvement in the grades.

Two wells at Grout's, about 18 feet in depth, gave no indication of rock; but towards the western side of the summit it shows itself in ledges. The swamp at the summit is inconsiderable in extent, with large loose rock scattered over it.

From the summit at Station 745 (Route No. 8, towards Cranberry Meadow Pond,). the line winds around upon a curve, varying from 1432 to 2865 feet radius, and descending at a grade of 35 feet, thence it pursues its course south, on the same side hill which Route No. 1, from Ryan's summit, follows in its course to the north, thence it passes into the town of Charlton, near Newhall's mills, thence continuing still further south, about half a mile, it makes an entire semicircle, turning from the south to the north, and upon a shorter radius than occurs in any other line, viz. 716 feet, and this short turn cannot well be avoided; for an increase in the length of the radius of curvature would throw the line into very deep cutting, on the west side of the pond; continuing its course north, the route crosses Cranberry Meadow Pond, and again enters the town of Spencer, following the side hill west of Cranberry Meadow Brook, and thence by a deep cut across a neck of land, which, to be turned, would require a very short radius; and thence, to avoid a similar turn beyond, it crosses the brook twice, near the red school house, thence winding around, gradually, over broken ground, and passing several small runs, it enters the town of Brookfield, and unites with Route No. 1, at Station 1132, between Gallup's mill and Furnace Village, or East Brookfield. The distance from Worcester by this route, is 21.83 miles.

Route No. 10, by Grout summit and Spencer Village.

From the summit at 745, this line pursues a direction nearly west, half a mile, thence winds to the north upon

curves of 1273 and 1910 feet radius, descending at a grade of 30.95 feet, for 2.74 miles, to Spencer lower village; thence it continues north, on the side hill, at a grade of 55.42, for 1.57 miles; thence at 39.95; all which is detailed in the Table. At the distance of about one and a half miles north of Spencer village, it curves to the west and south, on a radius of 1900 feet, and crosses the two branches of Seven mile River; and thence by the western side hill of Seven mile River valley, with occasional moderate curves, it falls into Route No. 1, at 1065 of the same- -distance 22.04 miles.

Route No. 11,-Morey Summit Route.

This route branches from Route No. 1, at Station 558, near Capt. Tucker's hill, on the east side of the summit; thence passing over broken ground by widow Tucker's, at a grade of 34.28; thence increasing the grade to 57 feet, the line crosses, near Chamberlain's, the road from Charlton to Spencer, and thence to the summit. This summit is elevated 472.76 feet above the Boston and Worcester Rail-Road. Upon this grade, the cutting there, for 500 feet in length, would exceed 20 feet-the greatest is at Station 699, and would be 42 feet, and it would be equal to 40 feet for 300 feet in length. In descending west, the line was connected with No. 1 farther south than it should have been ; the consequence is, that the grade of the road, (72.93,) upon this portion of the line, is much steeper than it would be if the two lines were connected farther north. The details are contained in the Table. A route leaving this line at Station 645, near the Charlton and Spencer road, passing north of Jones's mill, and intersecting the first route at 710, upwards of a mile west of 645, was attempted. The embankment upon this line is less than upon the first; but to obtain a grade of 45 feet it will require cutting greater than 25 feet (and at the summit 40 feet) for 2700 feet. A line diverging from the first route at 680, and intersecting it at 714, was also attempted, but without success. Still another route, further south, was attempted; it leaves the first route at about Station 600, passes through the burying ground south of Chamberlain's house, and unites with the

main line east of the summit. The filling upon this line would be excessive-at one point 90 feet.

Route No. 12, by Henshaw Ridge.

A line was surveyed in 1835, for a route, from Worcester towards Grout's summit, passing north of the other lines. Its direction was as follows. Taking our Route No. 1 to Jacques's farm, instead of turning the point of Goat hill to the south-west, it passed over north-west to Newton's hill, crossing in its route Turkey, or Mother, Brook; thence over a part of Newton's hill, it crossed Beaver Brook below Newton's saw-mill; thence turning the point of some elevated ground near C. Hardwin's, it crossed a small branch of Beaver Brook; thence curving around south-west, it crossed Tatnick Brook, one third of a mile below, or south of, Patch's saw-mill; thence winding around by P. Gates's, it fell into the meadow north of Jones's tavern, on the Springfield road, and passing through the point of the main ridge, west of Jones's, it pursued the valley of Kettle Brook, on its north side, near the Springfield road, to Bottomly's factory; and thence by Watson's Pond to Henshaw ridge, (the same that Route No. 1 turns, at its southern extremity, near Clappville ;) crossing this ridge, it terminated in the meadow at the north end of Henshaw Pond. The total distance run over was 6.74 miles, or about one mile greater than Mr. Baldwin's, between the same points. The height of the ridge is 355 feet above the Boston and Worcester RailRoad, giving, if an uniform grade could be adopted, 52.67 per mile. But as this cannot be effected, a desire was expressed by some gentlemen interested in the Rail-Road, to ascertain what would be the advantage to the route, by passing the valley of Tatnick Brook farther north, and, instead of crossing it below Patch's saw-mill, to ascend the stream about half a mile, by which it would be passed nearer to the grade line by 40 feet, than at the first crossing place. For this particular purpose, this might answer. But the great difficulty in this route is in rising from the meadow or swamp, north of Jones's, to Henshaw ridge; the fall in the stream itself being too great. If by crossing Tatnick Brook farther north, we gain sufficient elevation, even, to fall upon higher

ground in the valley of Kettle Brook, it would oblige us, necessarily, to make a very crooked line. Doing the best we can with this line, that is, throwing out 40 feet of the embankment at Tatnick Brook, the rise from the swamp behind Jones's to the Bench at Watson's Pond would be 100 feet; and the distance 1 miles, or a grade of 77.64 per mile. From the ridge to the summit at Grout's, 5.35 miles, the ascent can, apparently, be easily accomplished.

The table of inclination, and cutting and filling, upon this route, extends to Henshaw ridge only-as far as the survey of 1835 was carried.

A route was also surveyed, leaving No. 1, at Station 644, near Chamberlain's in Charlton, and thence by Jones's mill, Otis Green's, and James Green's, to the summit of the ridge near D. Hobbs's, in Spencer, and thence by an inclined plane to Route No. 6, near the red school house.

The summit, by this route, is elevated 488 feet, and will require a grade of about 80 feet per mile, to attain it from the east. The descent is about 200 feet to Cranberry Meadow Brook, and the length of the plane about 3000 feet.

which the road may enThe first is by the line desecond is by leaving Route

This line is 1.15 miles shorter than that by Morey summit, and 2.04 miles shorter than the Ryan line. There are three routes by ter the village of Worcester. scribed in Route No. 1. The No. 1, at Station 141, and crossing the Springfield road, north of New Worcester, thence passing over to Route No. 2, at Station 60 of the same, thence by it to the Boston and Worcester Rail-Road, east of the freight depot. The third line is by the valley of Turkey Brook, and the north end of the village.

The computations have been made upon all the lines for width of 26 feet-slopes at the excavations and embankments of 1 to 1. In estimating the quantity of rock cutting, we have been governed by appearances only. Whenever it appeared in ledges at the surface, it is estimated in the table as "rock;" when in boulders, or not in place, it is denominated "loose rock." It is quite probable that we may encounter a greater amount of rock in the cuts than we have estimated for; and to provide for this contingency,

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