of this city in June last, prevented a large number of contracts from being made with the master mechanics, that would otherwise have been entered into-and has, consequently, materially reduced the number of buildings. Notwithstanding this drawback, we believe that the number of buildings erected and in progress this season, exceeds eleven hundred in the city and suburbs. In proof of this assertion we have ascertained personally, the number of dwelling houses, stores and manufactories built this season and in progress, between Market and Chesnut, and Spruce and Pine streets, and the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers; embracing one fourth part of the city proper, and about one eighth of the city and suburbs. Between Market and Chesnut street there are 13 five story, 76 four story, 28 three story, 3 two story, and 1 one story buildings-making a total of 121, besides one church commenced last year and now nearly finished, and 20 four story dwellings commenced last season but not yet completed. Between Spruce and Pine streets, there are 12 four story, 77 three story and 9 two story buildings, making 98, thus furnishing a grand total of 219 buildings, or more than one-fourth the whole number built in New York.-Philad. Com. List. HIGH WATER-RAIN. The members of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, consisting of Messrs. J. G. King, P. G. Stuyvesant, S. B. Ruggles, and Wm. B. Lawrence, under whose immediate charge this duty was performed, report—that on the preceding day, forty miles of the work were put under contract pursuant to previous notice-that the sections (44 in number) were taken by twenty-six different contractors, of approved standing and experience, many of whom will proceed to commence the work without delay-and all of whom are required to do so, on or before the 15th of next month. There were more than seventy contractors on the ground, and several offers to take the whole route. The graduation of this particular section,is comparatively the most expensive of the whole line between the Hudson and the lake,—but for that, among other reasons, it was selected by the Directors as the portion first to be undertaken, in order to subject to a severe test, the correctness of the previous estimates. It has resulted in conclusively establishing the accuracy of Judge Wright, who, in his report to the Legislature, had estimated this division at $9,500 per mile, and nev ertheless, it has been now put under contract at prices short of $8,500, and that too, at a season when the prices of labor and provisions are unusually high. The aggregate saving in this forty miles, will be between fifty and seventy thousand dollars. Encouraged by this very gratifying result, it is the Last week we had unusually heavy rains. French creek was higher than it has been for 30 years. All the low grounds along it were completely inundated. Several bridges have been destroyed. The Mercer turn-intention of the Board, to press forward the work with pike, where it crosses the Conneaut marsh, was completely overflowed. The enterprsing mail contractor, Mr. Gill, deserves great credit for the exertions made use of by him to facilitate the progress of the mail, at the hazard of his teams, &c. A considerable quantity of hay and corn was destroyed-fences were swept away, and much injury otherwise sustained by the farmers. The valley of French creek exhibited the appearance of a mighty river.-Meadville Courier. From the Charleston Courier. CHARLESTON AND PHILADELPHIA LINE of STEAM PACKET. We take much pleasure in communicating the fact to our readers, that thirty-five thousand dollars of Stock for a Steam Packet to run between this port and Philadelphia, have been already subscribed, and only twen. ty five thousand dollars more are required to be subscribed by the citizens of Charleston, to cause the work to be immediately commenced. We call upon our enterprising capitalists, to come forward promptly, in aid of this undertaking, and let not a moment be lost. The model of the boat is placed in the Reading Room in State street, where the public is invited to call and inspect it.. As a strong incentive to our citizens to take up this enterprise with spirit, we state that the full amount for another boat to run in connexion with the one owned in Charleston, is already subscribed, and as soon as the keel of the Charleston Boat is laid, the other will be commenced. We would take the liberty of suggesting that our Boat should be named the "Philadelphia, of Charleston," in compliment to our sister city. From the New York American. COMMENCEMENT OF THE NEW YORK AND ERIE RAIL ROAD. all practicable despatch, and if possible to get ready another considerable section for contracts, before the fifteenth day of next month. The last lingering doubts as to the practicability of completing this great undermoved, and we cannot but congratulate the public and taking at a very moderate expense, must now be rethe stockholders, upon the flattering prospects thus opened to them. NEW YORK AND ERIE RAIL ROAD. ANNUAL REPORT. The Company was incorporated by the Legislature of New York, on the 24th day of April, 1832, with power to construct a Rail Road from the City of New York to Lake Erie, to transport persons and property thereon,-to regulate their own charges for transportation,-and to take tolls on any part of the route as fast as sections of ten miles should be completed. The line of the route is not otherwise fixed by the charter, save that it is to be confined at all times to the southern tier of counties of this State, commencing at the City of New York, or at such point in its vicinity as shall be most eligible and convenient therefor, and continuing through said counties, by way of Owego, to some point on the shore of Lake Erie, within this State, west of the Cattaraugus Creek, In evident contemplation of the construction of the different sections of the work progressively, the Company, are allowed ten years from the date of their charter within which to finish one fourth part of the roadfifteen years for one half-and twenty years for the whole. By an amendment passed May 8, 1835, they are authorized to commence the road at any point on its route, which they may deem most eligible, and to use a single or double railway thereon. Being authorized to construct single, double, and even triple tracks, and transport persons and property It is with feelings of the highest satisfaction that we pital stock to the amount of ten millions of dollars; but, thereon, they are allowed to receive subscriptions of caannounce the important intelligence, that the construc- by an amendment passed April 19, 1833, are empowtion of this great work was commenced on the morn-ered to commence the prosecution of their objects, ing of the 7th November instant, by breaking ground whenever one million shall have been subscribed. at sunrise, at the western extremity of section No. 200, on the Delaware river, in the village of Deposit. The State reserve the right, after the expiration of ten, and within fifteen years from the completion of the 1835.] NEW YORK AND ERIE RAII, ROAD, road, to take it, with its fixtures, for public use, on paying the cost thereof, to the Company, with interest at fourteen per cent. per annum. 325 work passing through a district more densely peopled, will be greatly lessened, if not altogether avoided. No survey of the route had been made prior to the act of incorporation, but in the summer of 1832, a reconnoissance was conducted under the authority of the Government of the United States, by the late Colonel De Witt Clinton, which resulted in ascertaining that the supposed difficulties of the undertaking had been greatly overrated, and in presenting strong inducements for obtaining a more complete and accurate instrumen-ple, that it will be better economy to replace, from time tal survey of the whole line. The cost of the Rail-track, on this as on any other Road, will vary according to the materials, more or less destructible, of which it may be constructed. Considering that the country, along much of the route, will afford unusually cheap and excellent supplies of timber, it has been deemed altogether advisable to adopt the plan of the iron rail to be laid upon wood, instead of blocks or sills of stones,-proceeding on the princito time, the destructible portions of a work composed in part, of timber, than to incur a very heavy outlay, in the first instance, in constructing it wholly of iron and stone. The reduction of expense to be thus obtained under the heads of Land and Superstructure, is the more im portant from the circumstance, that it is necessary for the purpose of securing a cheap and easy graduation to lengthen considerably the line of the Road. It is under the head of Graduation, (which usually embraces much the largest portion of the cost of Rail roads,) that the efforts of Judge Wright to reduce the expense of the proposed work, have been most strikingly successful. The object of the graduation, is the conformation of the natural surface, by excavation or embankment, to the artificial grade or level prescribed by the profile of the work. The expense of that operation necessarily depends upon the cubic quantity of material, more or less, which the Engineer, in arranging the plan of the grades, may render it necessary to, remove and transpose. It is obvious, therefore, that true economy requires the adoption, so far as it may be consistent with the objects and ultimate utility of the Road, of the existing grades presented by the surface of the country, and the selection of such course for the route, as may correspond most nearly with the line of the natural level. According to the theory of Judge Wright,it is better to avoid than to subdue great physical obstacles—to go around the hills rather than to go over or cut through them,—and to seek a cheap and easy graduation by a circuitous route, rather than encounter immense expense in shortening and straight It was at all times deemed desirable by the projectors of this enterprise, that the State should participate, in some degree, in the enterprise, for the purpose as well of diminishing the amount of funds necessary to be raised by private subscription, as of assuring protection to the individuals who might embark their means in the work. Whether the requisite assistance of the State should be afforded by a subscription from the public treasury to a portion of the stock of the Company, or a loan of the public credit at a low rate of interest, it was deemed important, and indeed essential, that the survey of the route should be conducted under the authority of the State Government, by engineers of its own selection, so that any doubts might thereby be prevented, which the opponents of the proposed improvement could otherwise suggest, in respect to the accuracy or fidelity of the survey. An application being accordingly made during the session of 1834, a bill appropriating $15,000 for the survey, and directing the Governor to designate the engineer, was passed on the 6th day of May, in that year, though not without an active struggle, and a close vote in both branches of the Legislature. In May, 1834, his Excellency Governor Marcy, appointed Benjamin Wright, of this State, to conduct the survey. He entered on his duties immediately after receiving the appointment, and previous arrangements having secured the speedy assemblage of an active corps of assistant engineers, the work was prosecuted with such assiduity, energy, and talent, that the survey of the whole line, 483 miles in length, was finished by the 15th of December in that year, and complete maps and profiles, with the Report, and esti-ening the line. mate of Judge Wright, and his two principal assistants, were deposited early in January, 1835, in the office of the Secretary of State. In laying out the proposed Road, if a straight course were pursued through the southern counties, from the City to the Lake, it is quite probable that its The plan of the route, recommended by that report, total length could be brought within three hundred strikingly manifests the sagacity and ability of this ex- and fifty miles,-and if the intervening elevations and perienced Engineer, and justifies the confidence re- depressions were cut down and filled up to an uniform, posed in him by the Governor. It was peculiarly im-level, regardless of the expense to be thereby occasionportant to secure the exercise of the soundest discre-ed, a Rail Road laid on such a line would undoubtedly tion in respect to an undertaking embracing so great an attain the highest degree of utility, of which that mode. extent of line, in order, if possible, to lessen or avoid of communication is susceptible. Such an attempt, in the lavish and unnecessary expenditures which had the present instance, would, however, be totally unne been too often witnessed on other public works, both cessary,-because the objects of the proposed enter in this country and Europe. To the examination of this prise do not require such a work, and can be sufficient branch of the subject, Judge Wright brought the full ly and fully accomplished by the cheaper and easier benefit of his long and varied experience, and it is to Read recommended by Judge Wright. the successful results of his efforts in this particular, that the accomplishment of the enterprise will be mainly indebted. The public inconveniences which have led to the present undertaking, consist of the want, at all times, of a more direct and easy access to the Hudson River The expenses of constructing a Rail Road, (except from the Southern counties of this State, and the total ing the cost of engineering and superintendance,) may deprivation, during four or five months of the year, of be classified under the general heads, either of Land, all available means of intercourse between this City and Graduation, or Superstructure: denoting by Land, the the Western States. It is obviously not necessary, in cost of acquiring title to the land occupied by the rail- order to remedy these evils, that a Road shall be conway and its appurtenances; by Graduation, the prepa-structed, on which the transportation of persons and ration of the roadway to receive the rail tracks, by property, from the City to Lake Erie may be effected, means of excavations, embankments, and bridges; and at a very extravagant or excessive rate of velocity, but by Superstructure, the tracks and turnouts. that a Road upon which the whole passage may be re-. In the present instance, the route of the road tra-gularly made, at all seasons of the year, within fortyverses a country where land, as yet, is comparatively cheap; and, therefore, the heavy charges incurred in purchasing the Road-way, disturbing buildings, deranging city and village lots, extinguishing turnpike rights, and the other vexatious expenses incident to a eight hours, will be amply adequate to all the objects of its construction. Such a Road, on a cheap and feasible grade, is now recommended by the Report of Judge Wright; and, in the judgment of the Board of Directors, it will be sufficient for the purpose. The peculiar topography of the extensive district $70,000-or of a tunnel of nine hundred yards long, at traversed by the route, indicates the necessity of seek-an expense of $175,000. ing, as far as practicable, the natural levels. A conAfter attentively examining these different modes of siderable portion of that section of the country, with- overcoming the difficulties presented by this particular out being mountainous, has an undulating surface, in-section, Judge Wright, in this Report to the Legislature, tersected, however, throughout nearly its whole ex- recommended, as being most economical in the first intent, by a chain or series of Rivers, which fortunately stance, the deep cutting on the summit of the ridge, and pursue, with little deviation, the general line of direc- the employment, at that point, if necessary, of auxiliation required for the route of the proposed Road.—ry locomotive or animal power,—but he referred to the Those streams are, moreover, free from sudden probability and necessity, in case of a great amount of falls, flowing at the rate of descent unusually gentle, transportation, of the eventual construction of a tunnel. seldom exceeding fifteen, and frequently less than two Whichsoever of these plans may be adopted, the total feet to the mile, and presenting, almost invariably, on expenditure in constructing this section, will not exceed their margins, alluvial flats, interrupted only in a few from two hundred or two hundred and fifty thousand insulated cases, (principally occurring on the Dela- dollars; and it is now particularly adverted to by the ware,) by projecting bluffs. It is, therefore, evident, Board, not as affording any reason for apprehension or that by selecting the banks of those streams for the discouragement, or as presenting difficulties of unusual line of the Road, the necessity of cutting through the magnitude, but because it exhibits the only considerahills transversely may be avoided, and a graduation ob- ble instance upon the whole route of the Road, in tained, already prepared, as it were by nature, for the which its graduation will not be uncommonly easy, reception of the Railway.* cheap, and feasible. It is this peculiar and striking feature in the surface of the country, as presented by the maps and profiles, now in the office of the Company, (and which the stockholders are particularly invited to inspect,) which will explain the reason why a cheap and easy route has been discovered for the Road in question. By that examination it will be seen, that more than four-fifths of the whole line of 483 miles lies immediately upon the banks of Rivers and their tributaries: that one uninterrupted section of one hundred and twenty-five miles long, is situated on the margin of the Susquehanna and its principal branches; another of eighty-three and a half miles along the Allegheny and its tributaries: one of sixty-nine, and another of thirty-nine miles along the Delaware and its principal confluents: and that other minor sections along the smaller streams, including nineteen miles in the valley of the Ramapo, make up a total amount of at least four hundred and twenty miles, in which the route of the Road obtains the advantage of following the margins of water courses. According to the estimate accompanying the Report of Judge Wright, the graduation of the Road, with solid embankments for a double track from the Hudson to Lake Erie, including the excavation at the Shawangunk ridge, will cost $2,717,518, being at the rate of $5,626 per mile, which amount includes the cost of bridges, culverts, clearing, fencing, and, in fact, every expense whatever necessary in order to prepare the road-bed for the reception of the superstructure. He further reported, that a superstructure of iron laid That the cost of the graduation, as above And for engineering three per cent. on the two first sums, 2,717,518, 271,751, 130,791 $4,762,260 Of the remaining portions of the line, embracing in Being for the whole work, the aggregate about sixty miles in length, where the route crosses the valleys of the streams more or less In the above estimate nothing was allowed under the transversely, about thirty miles are comprised in differ- head of land necessary for road-way, principally because ent sections within the counties of Sullivan, Orange, and the inhabitants along the different routes surveyed, had Rockland-about twenty miles between the head wa: proffered, almost unanimously, to execute voluntary ters of the Delaware and those of the Susquehanna and cessions of so much land as might be requisite. In ad Chenango, and the remaining ten miles in the de-dition thereto, several of the landed proprietors, espescent to Lake Erie; and, nevertheless, with a single ex- cially on the western sections of the route, had stipu ception hereafter particularly mentioned, no part of thelated to make liberal donations in aid of the enterprise, graduation of those portions of the line is found to be and to an amount much exceeding in value any sums uncommonly expensive. The exception is presented which would probably be awarded by the Commissionin the passage of the Shawangunk Ridge, in the county ers, in the few instances in which unworthy attempts of Orange, on the east side of the Delaware and Hud- might be made to exact an extortionate price for the son Canal, at the seventy fourth mile of the route, at right of way. In reference, however, to the immense which point a rapid descent of three hundred and fifty amount of travel and transportation, which the Road feet, must be encountered in a section of three miles. was destined, ultimately, to accommodate, it was deemTo obtain an easy passage over this part of the route ed necessary to lay out the Road-way not less than six eventually will require, either two inclined planes, rods wide, requiring, for that space, twelve acres to similar in size and extent to those on the Mohawk the running mile, being for the four hundred and eighty-. Road, and costing about $50,000 each-or a deep cut-three miles, five thousand seven hundred and ninetyting on the summit of the ridge, at an expense of about six acres. The average price of land along the route, The graduation of that part of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail road which cuts transversely through the ridges between Baltimore and the Patapsco river, cost upwards of $40,000 per mile; while that of the sections which follow the course of that stream, cost less than $9,000 to the mile. The graduation of the Mohawk and Schenectady Rail Foad, not following any considerable water course, is said to have cost at least $25,000 per mile; while that of the Utica and Schenectady Rail road, laid out on the bank of the Mohawk river, has been put under contract at about $5,000 per mile. The construction of tunnels, within the last few years, has become familiar to the Engineers of this country, four or five having been successfully complet ed, during that time, within the State of Pennsylvania. The cost of their construction varies from two to five dollars per cubic yard,—the tunnel through the Alleghany mountain, on the main line of the public works of Pennsylvania, having cost $68,700, including arching, the excavation having been less than two dollars per yard. The cubic quantity of excavation required for the proposed tunnel through the Shawangunk Ridge, will fall short of 40,000 yards. 1835.1 NEW YORK AND ERIE RAIL ROAD. how much soever it may be augmented by the comple. tion of the Road, does not, at present, exceed fifteen dollars to the acre,-so that, even if it were necessary to purchase the right of way, or submit to an appraisal throughout the whole line, the aggregate expense would not exceed $88,940. 327* this branch of the subject with the declaration, that they continue steadfastly to rely, upon the accuracy, fidelity, and capacity, of the Engineer who was selected by the Governor to conduct the survey. without entering at all into scientific datails. It is ne cessary, only, to state the decisive fact that the steepest grades adopted on the plan of the work, will be less severe than those upon that part of the Ballimore and Ohib Rail Road which is now finished and in successful operation. That Road is used, during winter and summer, for the transportation not only of passengers and the public mail, at high rates of speed, but also of cars, heavily loaded with flour, provisions, live stock, and other agricultural products; and a rapid increase has been experienced in its business, as the line has been extended into the interior. It will not, therefore, be deemed visionary to predict, that the proposed Road, passing over acclivities less severe, and through a country more extensive and not less fertile, cannot fail to accomplish results equally advantageous, The question whether the Road when constructed, can be advantageously used for the purposes of travel It had become evident, at an early period in the his-and transportation, can be settled practically, and tory of this enterprise, that it was destined to encounter active opposition. In some of the villages in that part of the State traversed by the Erie Canal, apprebensions had been excited that the construction of the proposed Road might operate injuriously upon their local interests. The people of that quarter of the State had been led to suppose, however erroneously, that in order to retain and preserve the sectional advantages which they enjoyed, it was necessary to compel the population of the southern counties to seek, through the Canal, a circuitous and expensive route to the seaboard; and that it would be impolitic to allow them the means of more direct and constant access to market, which would be afforded by the proposed Rail Road. When it was recollected, howeve, what immense benefits had been bestowed by the construction of the Canal, upon the favored districts which it traverses, in In view, however, of the recent improvements, in the rapid progress of their agriculture, commerce, and augmenting the usefulness and power of locomotive wealth, what amounts of the common treasure had engines, enabling them to surmount increased grades been expended in accomplishing that object, with of acclivity, and in reference, also, to the varied prowhat alacrity the more sequestered counties had con- ducts of the country to be traversed by the route, and tributed, year after year, their proportion of the taxes to the diversified character of its surface, it has been rendered necessary by that expenditure,-and, above deemed important by the Board of Directors, that the all, when it was seen, that in order still further to in-plan of the whole Road, including the arrangement of crease the travel and transportation through the north-the grades and of the engines to be employed, should ern portions of the State, the public treasury was call- be carefully settled under the best advice, so as to se ed upon to expend from six to eight, and, not improba- cure the utmost economy of labor and power, and bly, from ten to twelve millions in enlarging the Erie thereby reduce the cost of transportation to the lowest Canal, the hope was indulged, that the scanty portion practicable limit. In order, therefore, effectually to of the public bounty, which the southern counties discharge this portion of their duty, the Board of Dimight require, in order to enable them to participate in rectors thought it expedient with the cheerful acquies the general prosperity, would not be withheld, and cence and upon the invitation of Judge Wright, to asthat their efforts to develope their own resources and sociate with him in consultation Mr. Moncure Robinimprove their condition, would be regarded with a kind son, the Chief engineer of several of the public works and liberal spirit. of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Jonathan Knight, the Chief No sooner, however, was the Report of Judge Wright Engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, thus presented to the Legislature, showing the feasibility of constituting a Board of Engineers pre eminently quali completing, at a moderate expense, the desired chan- fied by experience, talents, and professional acquirenel of intercourse through the southern section of the ments, to decide upon the matters submitted to their State, than a combination of local interests, singularly consideration. A conference accordingly took place violent in character, was arrayed to defeat the enter in August last, and was continued at the office of the prise. The most active and determined exertions were Company in this city, until the plans and profiles premade, openly by some, and covertly by others, to presented by the surveys had been fully examined; after judice the public mind, and discourage, if possible, the friends and promoters of the undertaking. The object was denounced as chimerical, impracticable, and useJess. Anonymous writers were employed to pronounce the survey inaccurate and deceptive, and the estimates In September following they presented their conjoint unsafe and fallacious. The Road, it was declared, could Report to the Board of Directors, which is now pubnever be made,-and, if made, would never be used, lished for the information of the stockholders. The The southern counties were asserted to be mountainous, unanimous opinion which they therein express as to the sterile, and worthless,-affording no products requiring practicability of dispensing altogether with stationary a road to market,-or if they did, that they ought to power,--the rate of velocity to be attained, and the resort to the valley of the Mohawk, as their natural weight of the loads to be transported throughout the outlet. The whole enterprise, supported as it was, by whole line, exceeding the expectations of the most sangreat masses of the population of the State, was pro-guine friends of the enterprise, must dissipate effecnounced to be a mere scheme of stock-jobbing, and tually any further doubts as to its feasibility or usefulstigmatized as an attempt to deceive the southern coun-ness; while the judicious arrangement of the gradesties-defraud the public-and ruin the individuals who might embark in it. The Board of Directors have never deemed it necessary to notice these attacks upon the great enterprise committed to their charge, further than to invite and urge the opponents of the work to point out the specific portions of the survey or of the estimates, which they might suppose to be inaccurate. The maps and profiles were deposited in the public offices at Albany, where any errors, if they existed, could easily have been detected. No attempt to do so was ever made, to the knowledge of the Directors, and they therefore dismiss which these Engineers proceeded in person to inspect the Shawangunk Ridge, and settle upon the most advisable mode of overcoming the difficulties in its passage, which are above adverted to. the admirable adaptation of different engines and rail tracks to the different divisions of the Road, and the simple, effectual, and economical mode of accumulating auxiliary locomotive power at those points of increased acclivity where it was found to be necessary-all attest the genius and judgment of those distinguished Engineers. Upon their unanimous testimony, the Board of Directors now have the gratification of announcing to the stockholders the following result, to wit:- That loads of sixty tons gross, (or deducting the weight of the cars, forty tons net,) may be drawn in a single train from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, and at an average speed from twelve to fourteen miles to the hour;-that with the rate of speed augmented one half, a locomotive engine will nevertheless suffice to transport two hundred passengers and their baggage; that no stationary engine will be requisite on any part of the work; and that one, or, at most, two auxiliary engines only will be requisite on the whole length of the line. Upon that consultation the plan of Judge Wright was modified only in a single particular. Instead of selecting any one particular plan of superstructure, as proper for the whole route, the Board of Engineers recommended,-in view of the necessity of employing greater locomotive power in surmounting the severer grades on the easterly sections, embraced within the counties of Rockland, Orange, and Sullivan, than would be requisite on the gentler acclivities presented on the remainder of the Road,-the adoption of the eight ton engine and the iron edge rail on the first one hundred and thirty-six miles, between the Hudson and the mouth of the Callikoon, at a cost of $6,000 per mile, and of the six ton engine and iron plate rail, laid on timber, on the remaining three hundred and forty-seven miles, from the mouth of the Callikoon to Lake Erie, at a cost of $3,000 to the mile.. In estimating the expense of the superstructure, Judge Wright, after specifying the cost of several plans, had stated that a superstructure, throughout the whole route, consisting of the iron plate laid upon timber, could be completed at an expense varying from $2,800 to $3,400 per mile, being, for 483 miles, at $3,400, The superstructure adopted on the consul- 347" " 3,000 $1,642,000 $816,000 1,041,000 1,857,000 215,000 100,000 $315,000 The estimate of the cost of the whole Road, upon the plan as modified on the consultation, will then stand thus: Graduation reported by Judge Wright, Superstructure as settled on the consulta. tion, To which add for engineering and the ex- To which the Board of Directors, for more abundant caution, now add for contingencies, merchants or land owners in the City of New York, no incentive is necessary to secure their zealous support of this great enterprise, in addition to the stake which they hold in the general welfare of the community of which they are members. To those persons, however, who may have embarked their means in this undertaking for the purpose only of realizing pecuniary advantages on the investment, it is proper to state, that in the opinion of the Board, the income of the Road, as soon as it shall be finished, will much exceed the sum of $360,000 above stated. It is evident, that the rate of revenue, whatever it may be, immediately on the completion of the Road, will undergo a steady and rapid increase, and fully keep pace with the growth of the extensive communities from which its business is to be derived. If, therefore, it be reasonably probable that the income of the Road will commence at a rate even as low as five per cent. per annum, the certainty of its speedy increase will suffice, in the opinion of capitalists, fully to sustain the value of the stock. If the experience afforded by the Erie Canal is taken as a guide, it may be safely stated, that the accomplishment of the proposed work will add not less than one New-York, and augment in an equal degree its landed third to the present population and trade of the City of wealth;-and that it will double, if not quadruple, the Present value of the extensive district embracing six of this State. When it is considered also, that by means of this great avenue of intercourse-and its tributaries now rapidly springing up and spreading through all the great valleys of the West, bringing Lake Erie into close connection with the Mississippi and Missouri, and extending southwardly even to the Gulf of Mexico,*— the immense inland communities upon the Western Waters, for the purpose of trade, will be rendered commercially tributary to this State and its metropolis, it becomes difficult to fix, within any moderate bounds; the value of the proposed road, or the amount of travel and transportation which it is destined to create and accommodate. millions of acres in the southern and middle counties In estimating the business to be derived from the communities along the route of the Road, it is certainly a circumstance of no little moment, that the inhabitants of the southern and middle counties, remote more than one hundred miles from the Hudson River, who will resort to this channel of communication in order to find access to the seaboard, already exceed in number the population which were contained within the counties (equally remote from the river) adjacent to the Erie Canal, three years after its commencement. The ani$2,717,518 mating impulse, which the disbursement of the moneys 100,000 expended in the work, will impart to every species of industry in the southern counties, creating villages, $2,817,518 cities, and flourishing communities, cannot fail to accelerate, most rapidly, their progress in population, pros 1,857,000 perity, and wealth, and augment at the same time their capacity to supply a profitable and increasing business 4,674,518 300,000 *The Rail Road now constructing between Sandusky and Dayton, will connect Lake Erie with the Ohio. A similar union will be effected farther west, by a chain of Rail Roads, (for most of which charters are already granted,) in the State of Indiana. A Rail Road has 500,000 already been commenced at Alton, on the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Missouri, which it is proposed to 5,474,518 extend from that point to Lake Erie. It is contemplat ed also to connect the Ohio River at Louisville with Nashville in Tennessee; and a Rail Road is already commenced, extending from Nashville to the City of NewOrleans. 525,482 Total $6,000,000 Requiring a net revenue of $350,000 to produce a return of six per cent. per annum. To the great majority of the present stockholders of the New-York and Erie Rail Road Company, who are When the links in the grand chain shall all be completed, passengers may travel from Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico, (1150 miles,) in four days, and from New-York to New-Orleans, (by the way of the Lake,) in seven days. |