48 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



and ordered to give his train in charge of another man. Disobedience of or- 

 ders is not tolerated on this road, and upon that depends its safety. 



"But the reader, we doubt not, before proceeding further, would like to 

 glance at the history of this road. 



"In 1825 the Legislature directed a survey of a State Road from Lake Erie 

 to the Hudson River, through the southern tier of counties, but nothing was 

 done but talk, until April, 1832, when the New York and Erie Railroad 

 Company was chartered. A survey was made, and this Company organized 

 in 1833. In 1834 -another survey was made, and in 1835 the Company was 

 reorganized, with James G-. King President, and over two millions of stock 

 subscribed, and contracts made for the most difficult part along the Delaware 

 river. In making surveys it was ascertained that the road could not be built 

 without crossing the Pennsylvania line, except at an expense beyond the 

 means of the Company. Notwithstanding the very great benefit it would be 

 to that part of the State touched by the road, Pennsylvania refused the appli- 

 cation, except upon condition that the Company should pay the State the 

 enormous rent of $10,000 a year for the privilege of crossing her line and 

 cutting through some rocky mountains. Necessity compelled the Company to 

 submit to these conditions, almost as hard as the rocks they had to cut 

 through where they traverse that State along the jagged points of rocks that 

 jut into the Delaware river. Almost equally hard was the restriction placed 

 upon the Company by the Legislature of New York, by which they were con- 

 fined to the State at the eastern terminus of the road, instead of passing into 

 New Jersey and reaching this city by the shortest route, cheapest grade, and 

 altogether most natural way, and, as has subsequently been proved, the only 

 way in which the Company could hope to maintain a chance for a proper share 

 in the passenger business. After much trouble it was finally located from 

 Piermont, 24 miles above the city, to Dunkirk, 40 miles west of Buffalo. 



"The first iron was purchased in 1840, but in 1842 the Company were so 

 embarrassed that they could not go on, and for three years the prospect of 

 completing the road was very dark. In 1845 only 53 miles had been com- 

 pleted, but on the 14th of May, 1851, there was a continuous line of rails 

 from Piermont to Dunkirk. The length of rails between these two points is 

 445 miles, and upon 166 miles of the distance there is a double track that is 

 from Piermont to Clarkstown, 9 miles; from Suffern to Port Jervis, 56 miles; 

 from Deposit to the junction of Canandaigua and Elmira Rail-road, one mile 

 west of Elmira, 101 miles. This, including switches, turn-outs, and tracks 

 at stations for storage-room for empty cars, makes a distance equivalent to a 

 single track railway on this main line of 707 miles. In addition to this, the 

 Company own, by perpetual lease, the line from Jersey City to Suffern, where 

 it joins the mam line, 18 miles from Piermont. This line is 32 miles long, of 

 which 16 miles are double track. The Company also own a branch to New- 

 burg, 18 miles long. There are also several other roads, though owned by 

 other companies, that are properly branches of the Erie Road, as they are in 

 a measure dependent upon it, as well as serving as feeders. These roads, as 

 well as the Lake Shore Road from Buffalo to Erie and westward, all contribute 

 to the business of the Erie Road, and hence its magnitude. The length of 



