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poriumof the west, and the radiating point of numerous railroads which 

 stretch through the whole of the western country. 



This you will see is another very important link, as it will, in con- 

 nection with other lines, open nutnerous railroad communications to the 

 capital, and complete the most direct route to the northern parts of 

 Canada and the eastern States, ^ 



Lansing, the capital of the State, possesses all the elements within 

 herself to warrant the prediction that she will soon become a large in- 

 land city. The water privileges which she enj<,ys on the Grand River, 

 and which are second to none in the State, have already been made 

 available to a considerable extent, and only wait the aid of the great 

 modern invention of transporting persons and property by means of 

 steam, to bring them into full and effective operation. Surrounded 

 also by a rich agricultural country, equal in fertility to the county of 

 Livingston, in the State of New York, she will assuredly become the 

 principal granary of central Michigan. 



When the present inefficient means of transit afforded by teaming 

 and staging shall be superseded by the railroad now in contemplation, 

 the traffic will increase beyond calculation. The increase even against 

 the restraining influence of the old method of staging, has, as will be 

 seen by the following statement, been very great, and it is quite evident 

 that nothing short of a railroad will any longer meet the demands of 

 the public. 



In 1848, one daily stage coach carried the passenger'', and in 185.5, 

 ten daily, two tri weekly, and two weekly stages and mail coaches, were 

 required to do the business, and the number of passengers conveyed 

 during the year amounted to over thirty thousand. 



It will be seen by the map and profile, that the line is well adapted 

 for high rates of speed, the grades are comparatively light, and the en- 

 tire distance except three miles, is straight line. The highest elevation 

 to be overcome, which is found about ten miles south of Lansing, is 

 four hundred feet above Saginaw River, at Saginaw, and the heaviest 

 (Trade is only forty feet per mile. Between Owosso and Lansing there . 

 js one forty-foot grade, two miles in length. Between Lansing and 

 Battle Creek there are five forty-foot grades, the longest is two miles, 

 and the aggregate length is four and three quarter miles. Between 

 Saf^inaw and Owosso, the heaviest grade is twenty-five feet per mile, 



