102 ROUTE NEAR THE THIRTY-SECOND PARALLEL. 



3. The average cost of operating the road for each passenger carried one mile 



was 5.56 mills. 



The average cost of operating the road for each ton of freight carried one mile 



was 9.20 &quot; 



4. The average receipts from each passenger carried one mile was If cents. 



5. The average receipts per ton of freight carried one mile was 2 , 8 &quot; 



Applying the above results to the Pacific railroad, the work upon which we have supposed to 



be at the first but one-fifth of that done on these roads, we have 



1. For passenger travel: for maintenance of roadway, if we estimate $500 per 



mile, it will be, under the circumstances, an estimate largely in excess, and 



will cover that for a light freight business. This, for 2,000 miles, is $1,000,000 



2. The average cost for repairs of machinery, and operating the New York roads, 



for each passenger carried one mile, is, as above, 7.67 mills. As we have 

 estimated the cost on the Pacific railroad at double that at eastern prices, 

 we shall have for cost of carrying 100,000 passengers 2,000 miles $3,068,000 



Total $4,068,000 



The receipts from these passengers we have put down at $15,000,000 



Supposing the yearly number of passengers should be only 50,000, we have from 



this source $7,500,000 



For carrying the mails $1,000,000 



And for transportation of troops, arms, public stores, &c., and light freight $1,500,000 



Total $10,000,000 



Supposing, then, the cost of maintenance of way, repairs of machinery, and operating the 

 road, to be, as before estimated, for double the number of passengers actually carried, we have 

 for net earnings about $6,000,000. 



The cost of carrying freight cannot be estimated at much less than three cents per ton per 

 mile that adopted in the previous pages. 



The yearly cost of maintenance of way for freight on New York roads was $323 per mile. 



The cost of repairs of machinery and operating the road for each ton of freight carried one mile, 

 was 12 mills. Estimating the cost on the Pacific railroad at double, we have about 2 cents for 

 cost per mile per ton for repairs of machinery and operating the road, besides which theie is the 

 cost of maintenance of roadway. 



At a railroad convention &quot; held in New York, embracing the officers of the four great lines 

 between the Atlantic and the West, a joint report was submitted by the superintendents of the 

 several roads, in which they state that experince has proved that the lowest rates at which 

 ordinary freight (in freight trains at a speed of 10 or 12 miles per hoar, and in large quantities) 

 can be carried to pay interest and expenses, will aveiage about 2 cents per ton per mile for 

 heavy agricultural products, 3 cents for groceries, and 4 cents for dry goods. * * * 



Sufficient information has been elicited from the railroads of this and other States, from the 

 action of conventions, and from other sources of information, to warrant the belief that a consider 

 able portion of the freighting business now done by our railroads yields no profit at the present 

 rates, when due allowance is made for the increase of capital which it requires, for the increased 

 wear and depreciation of the works, and for the occupation of the track to the injury of the other 

 business.&quot; (Report of the State Engineer, New York, January 23, 1855.) 



It appears probable, from the foregoing, that the net earnings of the road would pay a reason 

 able interest upon the sum required to build it. Yet, as the business of the road is to be a through 



