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around the foot of Powder-house knoll, upon a curve of 2300 feet radius, it passes over the Springfield road, crossing it south of Braman's house, and thence north of Jacques's house, and barn, it falls upon the point of Goat hill; turning this hill at its northern extremity, with a radius of 2300 feet, upon a curve of 1800 feet in length, it pursues thence a straight line 2.5 miles, through the valley of Beaver Brook, across Tatnick Brook, and west of the village of New-Worcester; thence crossing the Springfield road, and the Hartford turnpike, it curves across the valley of Kettle Brook (or Blackstone River) and falls upon the side hill, near the upper part of Parkhurst's mill-pond. Following this side hill at a grade of 38 feet, the line passes into the town of Ward, and thence conforming to the general direction of the ridge (about south-west) it crosses, at Knowles's mills, a small branch of Kettle Brook, thence, pursuing the course of the side hill, it is thrown out of its proper direction, by a spur of high ground, called Henshaw ridge, which protrudes itself in a south-easterly direction; thence turning nearly west, and winding round this spur, which here forms the dividing ridge between the Blackstone and French Rivers, near L. Stone's house, the line passes into the northeast corner of Oxford North Gore; thence, lowering the grade to 35 feet per mile, and turning gradually to the north-west, to cross the valley of French River, it passes this stream a little below the Clappville lower factory, at which point it enters the south-east part of the town of Leicester; and then running south of the Church in this village, reverts to a south-westerly course, (re-entering Ox-ford North Gore) and continuing this direction to Station 499, towards Ryan's summit.

To diminish the quantity of filling at the French River upon this line, a second line was carried farther up the valley on the north-east side of the stream, crossing it midway of the factory pond, and, passing north of the Church, it pursues a south-westerly direction, and intersects the first route about one mile south-west of Clappville, the details of which will be found in the Table.

Resuming the first route at Station 499, the line continues to ascend to the summit, at an uniform grade of 35 feet per mile. Before reaching it, however, it is twice thrown out of its proper course-first at Captain Tucker's hill, and

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again at the creek, which passes by Charlton North side, into French River. A straight line from Captain Tucker's, to the summit, would pass near the Church at Charlton north side, but to cross the creek above referred to, with an embankment, even of 50 feet, the line must pass at least three fourths of a mile north of the church. In the experimental line, which was surveyed in 1835, in a course more direct from Tucker's hill, to the summit, and passing near the Church referred to, the stream was found to be 60 feet lower than it is at the first crossing place, or something like 100 feet below the grade line of 35 feet. The profile of this line (Map No. 14,) will convey a just idea of the nature of the ground south of our line.

A line was also attempted in 1835, passing north of Captain Tucker's hill, and nearly in a direct course from Clappville towards Morey's summit. But the ground north and west of Captain Tucker's was found to be too high, and the line was abandoned, about half a mile north of said Tucker's house.

As has been stated above, the line, from Clappville to the summit, was traced at an uniform grade of 35 feet to a mile. This involves a cutting of 32.5 feet at the summit, and deep cutting for 2900 feet in length, and this will exceed 27 feet in depth, for a distance of 2500 feet. This excessive cutting suggests the alternative of raising the grade upon both sides of the summit. Accordingly, upon the east side, the grade upon 7200 feet has been raised from 35.01 to 38.88; and on the west side, from 35.29 to 38.57 for a distance of 16,360 feet. As the ground falls off in the direction of the line upon both sides of the deep cut, the effect of raising the grades will evidently be to increase the height of the embankments. The accompanying Tables will exhibit fully, the computations of the quantity of earth to be removed in both cases.

Through the cut from 723 to 756, there are two curves of 1000 feet each; the first of 1041 feet radius, the second of 1432 feet. This combination of steep grade, and the curve of least radius which occurs upon the route, appears here, to be in a great measure unavoidable.

At Ryan's summit, as in most similar situations, where streams flowing in opposite directions rise near each other, there is a swamp. This swamp is traversed by the route

about 250 feet. A pole was thrust down 12 feet without reaching the hard bottom.

At Ryan's house, which is on the summit, there is a well about 15 feet-no rock was encountered in digging it. On the southern margin of the ravine and near the route, in digging a well of 18 feet, rock was discovered. The probability is, that in going beyond 20 feet cutting, we should meet rock.

Turning from the summit, at Station 730, down, the line winds around from west to north, upon a curve of 1432 feet radius, and descending at a grade of 35.29, it crosses a branch of the Quinebaug River, flowing south; thence it falls upon the side hill, which, upon the east, bounds the valley of Cranberry Meadow Brook (a branch of the Chickopee River;) thence entering the town of Spencer, it pursues the side hill nearly north, to Watson's Brook, about 5 miles; thence turning gradually to the north-west, it crosses the Springfield road and the Seven mile River; thence turning to the south-west, it crosses the Springfield road a second time near the Spencer and Brookfield line, and terminates at Station 1132 in the road from Brookfield to Sturbridge, about half way between Gallup's mills, and the Furnace village, or East Brookfield; and by the route surveyed 21.43 miles from Station 1, at Worcester.

Route No. 2.

From No. 1 of the first route, a line was also surveyed across Racoon Plain, passing south of Powder-house hill, the Manual Labor School, and New Worcester, and intersecting the first route at Station 198. This line is 900 feet shorter than the first line. But in ascending from Racoon Plain to 198, the grade is 54 feet; and the grading would be expensive.

Route No. 2, and 1, were also connected by a line from Station 60, south of the Manual Labor School, passing on the south slope of Goat hill to No. 147 of No. 1, at the sand knoll west of New Worcester Village, near the direction taken by Mr. Baldwin, in his south route, from Worcester to the Bottomly factory. This line crossed the Springfield road near S. S. Gates's, at a point about 34 feet above the Boston and Worcester Rail-Road, or 12 feet

above our present grade line at 147. Two curves would be thus introduced-one to the north, to turn into the small ravine from No. 2-and the other south, to fall into No. 1.

It may not be amiss in this place to say, that a less circuitous and better line can be found still farther south, pursuing a branch of Kettle Brook, called Dark Brook; but it lies too low for our route. At the southern bend of Kettle Brook, nearly 4 miles from Worcester, this stream is elevated 10 feet only above the Boston and Worcester RailRoad; and as we require a distance of nearly 13 miles to pass the summit at a grade of 35 feet, even, it is obvious that the line by Dark Brook would not suit our purpose, unless it might be deemed expedient to resort to fixed engines and inclined planes, to overcome the summit; in which case a route by this valley would be favorable, and a considerable portion of the whole rise might probably be concentrated at the point of Henshaw's ridge, before spoken of. This route is entitled to more notice, if taken in connexion with the Grout summit route, than it would be with that by Ryan's summit.

From Station 897 in Spencer, to 1132 in Brookfield, a line was surveyed crossing the Cranberry Meadow Brook above the red school house in Spencer, and thence pursuing the hill-side west of the Brook, it falls into the first line at 1132, as stated.

This line (marked No. 6,) is shorter than the first, by nearly one mile, and consequently descends at a steeper grade; viz. for 2.01 miles, at 50.17 per mile, and for 1.43 miles, at 34.74. The crossing of the Cranberry Meadow valley would necessitate a heavy embankment; that is to say, the present grade line is about 60 feet above it, and the width from the high ground on one side of the stream to that on the other, is 1000 feet. The accompanying Table will exhibit the amount of cutting and filling on this line, in comparison with that between the same portion of the first line. It is probable that a line located from the summit in this direction at an uniform grade of 43 or 44 feet, would present a more favorable profile, even than the present one, which was traced for a grade corresponding more nearly with that of Route No. 1.

At the crossing of the Seven-mile River by the first route, the grade is 50 feet above the stream, and the immediate

valley is 1400 feet wide.

Another line was traced (Route No. 7,) crossing about 1000 feet farther south, or below, with the view of saving embankment. The grade line crosses 30 feet above, only, but the valley is 2000 feet wide. The Table will exhibit the relative amount of embankment upon these two routes.

The Routes from Clappville to Grout's summit.

The main line from Clappville to Grout's summit, is made up of portions of two distinct lines, carried upon different sides of the French River-the lower, or eastern portion being a part of Route No. 8-and the upper, or western portion, a part of No. 9. In selecting the best line for the route, it will be necessary to cross and re-cross the stream several times, as will be seen in the annexed description of each route.

In the case of Route No. 9, by the south-west side of the river, a considerable portion of the heaviest part of the embankment at the cove of the upper mill-pond, near the village, can be avoided by throwing the whole line farther south; an alternative which would increase the amount of cutting, but equalize, more nearly, the quantity of excavation and embankment.

From Grout's summit west, the descent to the valley of the Chickopee can be effected by two different routes—one nearly south-and the other north. To understand why we make so great a deflection from the proper course of the road, a few words of explanation are necessary.

Cranberry Meadow Brook, (referred to in the description of Route No. 1,) at a point less than one mile west of Grout's summit, is 240 feet below it. The declivity in that direction being so great, any line descending at an admissible grade for locomotive engines, must turn either to the north or south. To effect the descent within the prescribed limits, and to ascertain the direction in which it could best be made, two lines were traced-one south, by the head of Cranberry Meadow pond-and the other north, through the village of Spencer and across the Seven-mile River, one and a half miles north of the Meeting-house. The particular description of each will exhibit the details, viz.

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