Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1881 — Railway Plans and Work. [ARTICLE]

Railway Plans and Work.

• A DIRECT LINE TO BE BUILT FROM YORK TO OMAHA. Ne w-Y»rk Time«. Various reports have been recently I published throughout the country ! concerning th* conrtruetion of an entirely new and direct line of railroad from New-York to Chicago by an independent and newly organized eorparatio*. While these reports have not been without foundation in fact, they have been incomplete in detail and misleading in statement. A visit to the office of the Continental Bailway Company, situated at No. 5 Cortlandt-*tre*t, yesterday, resulted in the procuring of the first authentic statement of facts which has yet been made;

Th* Continental Baltway Company is a corporation existing under special charters granted by the Legislatures of New Jersty, Pennsylvania. Illinois and lowa, aud under general charters from the States of Ohio and Indiana, granting authority to build a continuous line of railway from th® Hudson Bit er, opposite New York; to ; the Missouri Biver, opposite Omaha, with extensions connecting Chicago and St. Louis with the East. This line has bee* surveyed the entire length, aud several millions of dollars have been sp tit in the actual work of grading. Arrangements have already bean made to put 10,000 men at work as soon as the weather will permit in the Spring, Il is stated by the ofilcers of the company that ampie funds are at their command to construct the road and equip it in the most complete manner. There is to be a double track the entire distance, of the heaviest steel tails of English ■manufacture. This route, betwaen New-York City and Chicago, according io tit® surveys, does not vary 15 ; miles in tiie entire distance from a straight, geographical line. The distance between these two points is 781, miles, or 128 miles shorter than the shortest rout® now iu operation. By the Pennsylvania Bailroad and its connections the distance to Chicago is 914 miles; by the New York Central and the Lake Shore, 980 miles: by the New Y't’.rk Central and Great Western of Canada, 961 miles. Besides beiag the most direct route to the Welt, the elevations will be less than those .of any other road, not exceeding 40 feet mile at any point. /It the Delaware Biver the elevation will ba 180 feet above the level of the se*; at the Allegheny River, 1,100 feet; at Akron, Ohio, 1,350 feet: at Fort Wayne,lnd., 700 feet, and at Chicago 630 feet. The survey strikes the Dtflawaro Biver at Belvidere, and the Allegheny at Mahoning, Penn. The Pennsylvania state line is crossed at Newcastle, and thence the projected road run* to Akron, New-London, Tiffin, Fort Wayne, Ind , Rensselaer, and Chicago. The most difficult engineering obstacle to be met with on the Hue is the crossing of the Delaware River, where a pier bridge is to be constructed 500 feet high.

It is estimated that this road will be completed and in operation two years from next Spring. A large staff of engineers will be distributed along the lino of the route early in the Spring to complete their labors. They will be followed by construction parties, who in turn will be followed by trains with iron and supplies- The entire work will thus bo pushed forward with the utmost expedition, It thus appears probable that the public will soon be provided with a system of cheap transportation by the construction of a new and eontin ions line of railway in a direct line from New-York to Chicago with low grades and light cutves’ built in the most substantial manner, with abundant appurtenances and facilities, operated in the interests of commerce and as the benefit of the people requires.

A Naw Ti’unk Liao to the West- ! Th* New York Evening Post of last: Thursday says: “The building of a ! new double track trunk line of railway from New York to Chicago and Omaha has, it is understood, been definitely arranged. The new line will be built, owned and operated by the Continental Railway Company of this city. And it is said that surveys for (the entire line, with the exception of jkpjui in New Jersey, have been completed, and arrangements have • been made to start several thousand men at work upon tie road as soon as the frost disappears. it la proposed that the road shall start from

Jersey City, and cross the Delaware River at Belvidere, N. J., the Susquehanna at Milton, P*., the Allegheny near Mahoning, and then pass thro Akron, Tiffin and Fort Wayne to Chicago. The friends of the road say thst no grade on the road is more than forty feet to the mile; also that the road will be built under oharter g granted to th© Continental Railway Company by special acts of the Leg islatures of the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and lowa, and through Ohio and Indiana, under the general railway incorporation law* of those states. They say that the road will have a double track of heavy steel rails, and will be ballasted with broken stone and gravel throughout its entire length. The distance from New York to Chicago by the Pennsylvania, Central and connections is 914 miles; by the New York Central and Lake Shore, 9SO miles; by the New York Central, the Great Western of "Canada, and Michigan Central, 961 miles; by the Erie Hail way and connections, 961 miles; and by the Continental Railway would be but 786 miles, and by a geographical straigh t line 727 iniles.” .