INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1875. ccxli 



sippi Valley. The line surveyed begins at Guntersville,Ala., 

 on the big bend of the Tennessee River, and runs in an al- 

 most direct line to its proposed terminus, the harbor of 

 Brunswick, on the southeastern coast of Georgia. Its length 

 is 412 miles. 



The considerable progress made during the year toward 

 the completion of the Underground Railway system in the 

 city of New York, referred to in our last year's Record, is 

 worthy of remark. The discussion of the rapid-transit prob- 

 lem, the necessity for some system of which has become im- 

 perative, culminated in the appointment by the Mayor of a 

 commission empowered to select routes and decide upon 

 plans. This commission, after an examination of numerous 

 systems and designs, and full consideration of the subject 

 in all its bearings, selected the following routes : 



On the west side of the city, the present line of the Green- 

 wich Street elevated railroad is to be continued up Ninth 

 Avenue to the Harlem River. Another route is to be by 

 Sixth Avenue to Fifty-ninth Street, and there to connect 

 with the Greenwich Street road. On the east side, the road 

 will pass up Third Avenue, or as an alternative up Second 

 Avenue, to Harlem Bridge, and will have branches to the 

 ferries and the Central Depot. The plan of road decided 

 upon by the commission is an elevated structure. It is 

 expected that these plans will be realized in practice before 

 the end of the year 1876. During the past year, likewise, 

 the councils of the city of Philadelphia granted the right 

 to the Philadelphia Pneumatic Company, incorporated by 

 act of Legislature, to construct, operate, and maintain a rail- 

 road with one or more tracks, to be located beneath the 

 surface of Broad Street, and to extend therefrom to a num- 

 ber of the railroad depots. The purpose of the company, 

 as expressed in the ordinance, is to improve and increase 

 the facility, rapidity, and convenience of transit between the 

 business portion of the city and the various railroad depots. 

 Thus far, however, no steps have been openly taken to carry 

 this project into effect. 



We append, finally, to conclude our record of railroad 

 events, a tabulated statement of accidents to railroad trains 

 in the United States for one year ending with last Decem- 

 ber. For these statistics (as likewise for those of mileage) 



11 



