Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1873 — The Continental Railroad. [ARTICLE]

The Continental Railroad.

A mammoth railroad enterprise, first projected seme three years ago, lias been revived in New York, ! with, as its friends claim, good prospects ol’ success. In its inception it was called the Continental Hallway Company, the declared object being to establish a railway I communication between New York and the West shorter and more direct than any now existing. It Is said the projected route varies only fifteen miles from the straight line between New York and Council Bluffs, lowa, resulting in a great saving of distance over all the present through lines, and a large reduction of freight tariffs. There is much to be said in favor of such a project. « It would certainly contribute to a solution ol the great question of cheap transportation, which as the Journal has freqently urged, can be best solved by increasing the facilities of transport, t.ation. None of the existing roads were constructed with a .primary view of connecting the East and West, but Werd built by piece-meal, at various times, apd with a view of connecting different points.— Therefore they cpst more to construct, aiul, arp much more circuitous than* a great through line Would be, built solely Tor purposes of transportation .betweph the dia* taut West and the seabdrd. It is’ a re markable fast that the distance now-travelled in going froup New -j York to Cincinnati is greater than' a direct lin 6 from New York to a point sixty miles west of the eastern .boundary of lowa. It is ciVuncd By the projectors V the

. new road that between New York ! an,d the westerri limit of Pennsylvania they can save in grade and •=srertfai distance combined at least ; 200 miles. For till) grades of a j road have much to do with the expense of running it. Engineers agree that no railroad can overcome twenty fee: of ascending grade unless at a cost equal pv that .required to construct one mile ol dead] level road. Going west from New J York the grade is one ofcontiinipos.,.: ♦ ascent. Front that city to the. j western limit of Pennsylvania the] ! lowest-average- grade on, existing ! j ror.ds [ mile, while on the projected new road tlio highest average grade lor the same distance-would be 40 feet to the mile going west and 30 feet going east. Making all due allowance lor the e n tli usia sm of its pr o - jectors, such a line of road built for the purpose of connecting the West and the East, without regard to intervening points and looking altogether to through business instead of local, might prove of’ immense value to the West by largely cheapening the rates of through transportation. The line would cross this State about half way between the centre and the northern boundary. Work has already been' commenced, and it is claimed that the road will be completed within two years.- —Judianapolis Journal.