Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1881 — CHEAP TRANSPORTATION. [ARTICLE]

CHEAP TRANSPORTATION.

In This to Prove tlic Solution of tbe • Great Problem 7 [New York Telegram to the Chicago Tribune.] Vai ious reports have been recently published throughout the country concerning the construction of an entirely new and direct fine of railroad from New York to Chicago by an independent and newly-organized corporation. While these reports have not been without foundation in fact, they have been incomplete in detail and misleading in statements. A visit to the offices of the Continental Railway Company, situated at No. 5 Corllandt street, resumed "in the procuring of the first authentic statement of facts which has yet been made. The Continental Railway Company is a corporation existing under special charters granted by tbe Legislatures of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and lowa, and under general charters from tho States of Ohio and Indiana, granting authority to build a continuous hue of railway from the Hudson river, opposite New York, to the Mississippi river, opposite Omaha,. with extensions connecting Chicago and St. Louis with the East. This line has been surveyed the entire length, and several millions of dollars have been spent in the actual work of grading. Arrangements have already been maue to put 19,000 men at work as soon as the weather will permit in the spring. It is stated by the officers of the company that ample 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 rails of English manufacture. This route between New York city aud Chicago, according to the surveys, docs not vary fiiteen miles in the entire instance from a" straight geographical line. The distance between these two points is 781 miles, or 128 miles shorter than the shortest route now iu operatiun. By the Pennsylvania railroad and its connections the distance to Chicago is 914 miles ; by the New York Central and the Lake Shore, 980 miles ; by the New York Central and Great Westi rn of Canada, 961 miles. Beside being the most direct route to tho West, the elevations will be less than those of any other road, not exceeding forty feet to the mile at any point. The survey strikes the Delaware river at Belvidere, and the Allegheny at Mahoning, Pa. The Pennsylvania State line is crossed at New Castle, and thence the projected road runs to Akron, New London, Tiffin, Fort Wayne, Ind., Rensselaer, and Chicago. The most difficult engineering obstacle to bo met with on the line is the crossing of the Delaware river, where a jier bridge is to be constructed 560 feethigh. 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 hue of the road early in the spring to complete their labors. They wUI be followed by trains with iron and supplies. The entire work will thus to 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 continuous line of railway in a direct fine from New York to Chicago, with low grades and light curves, built in the most substantial manner, with abundant appurtenances and facilities, operated in the interest of commerce, and as the benefit of the people requires.