694 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 10 



Amount brought forward 



#203,508 76 



Cost of extending rail road into Peters- 

 burg, including bridge across the A p- 

 poraattox, - - - 30,000 00 



Do. into Richmond, including bridge 



across the James, - - 125,000 00 



Twenty-two miles superstructure, at 



$3,500 per mile, - - - 77,000 00 



Add for purchase of land for depots and 

 workshops, and the erection of ne 



cessary buildings, 



- 37,000 00 



For locomotive engines, cars, and car- 

 riages, - 55,000 00 



For superintendence and contingen- 

 cies, sidelings, condemnation oflands 

 &c. — ten per cent, on cost of road, 43,550 87 



Total, 



$571,059 63 



The above aggregate it is probable may be 

 somewhat reduced on a definitive location. Though 

 not much exceeding what had previously been an- 

 ticipated by the undersigned, it will probably dis- 

 appoint the expectations of those of the subscri- 

 bers whose impressions as to the cost of the work 

 were founded on that of the Richmond and Fred- 

 ericksburg, and Petersburg rail roads. Involving, 

 as the work in contemplation does, two expensive 

 bridges, it could under no circumstances have been 

 a cheap one; and the country between Richmond 

 and Petersburg, it was presumed, would present 

 more difficulties in the way of roadway formation 

 than had existed on the lines of rail road above 

 mentioned. There can scarcely however be a 

 doubt that, even at its increased cost, the stock of 

 the road will prove an excellent investment. 

 Forming, as it will, the closing link in the great 

 line of rail road communication through the state, 

 it will of course command the northern and 

 southern travel, whilst it will, in addition, accom- 

 modate a local travel already considerable, and 

 which will be necessarily very greatly increased 

 by the execution of the work in question. 



In addition to travel and the mail, a handsome 

 trade may at any rate be anticipated on the rail 

 road. Coal for the supply of Petersburg will be 

 conveyed on it more advantageously and cheaply 

 than in any other manner. Cotton for the con- 

 sumption of the manufacturing establishments in 

 Richmond, it may be presumed, will be obtained 

 in the same manner; and whilst, the effect of ihe 

 improvement, by adding to the faciliiies for per- 

 sonal intercourse between the two towns, will 

 probably diminish the inducements for the trans- 

 portation of produce, there can be no doubt that a 

 fair proportion of whatever is conveyed will be 

 secured to the road, even at some enhancement in 

 the price of transportation. 



Those of the subscribers who are familiar with 

 the travel and trade between Richmond and Pe- 

 tersburg will be enabled to judge how far the sub- 

 joined estimate of the receipts of the rail road will 

 be realized. It is submitted under the belief that 

 it does not at any rate exceed what may safely be 

 anticipated within a very short period after the 

 execution of the improvement. 



It will be unnecessary to dilate on the benefits, 

 in other respects, which may be expected to result 

 from the execution of the proposed work. Bring- 

 ing the towns of Richmond and Petersburg with- 

 in one hour's travel of each other, it will give to 



the merchants of either town, facilities for the 

 transaction of an extensive business, greatly be- 

 yond those now enjoyed by them — 1o the country 

 tributary to each, the advantage of the capital and 

 enterprise of both — and, to the state at large, the 

 benefits of a commercial metropolis of twenty-five 

 or six thousand inhabitants instead of one of se- 

 venteen. 



All which is respectfully submitted. 



MOSCUEE ROBINSON, C. E. 



Richmond, Dec. 19tft, 1835. 



Estimate of receipts on the proposed rail road from 

 Richmond to Petersburg. 



45,000 passengers at $ 1 25, 

 Transportation of the mail, 

 8,000 tons of coal, at $1, 



7,000 bales of cotton, at 50 cents, 

 Miscellaneous articles, 



£56,250 00 

 6,000 00 

 8,000 00 

 3,500 00 

 5,000 00 



$78,750 00 

 Deduct fi)r expenses of transportation, 

 officers' salaries, &c, 30,000 00 



Net balance. 



$48,750 00 



The above balance, it will be observed, would 

 pay a dividend of between eight and nine per 

 cent, on the cost of the work. The amount esti- 

 mated for expense of transportation, it will be 

 seen, is somewhat less than the proportion usually 

 allowed. It is believed however to be ample for 

 the business on which the estimate is predicated. 

 Consisting, as this will principally, in the transpor- 

 tation of persons, the net receipts of the company 

 may be expected, from this circumstance, and the 

 limited extent of superstructure to be renewed, to 

 constitute an unusually large proportion of its 

 gross income. 



It is left for those who may take an interest in 

 this improvement, to determine how far its produc- 

 tiveness will probably be increased by the execu- 

 tion of similar improvements south and west of it. 

 Whatever its immediate receipts may be, there 

 can be but little doubt that these will continue to 

 augment with the growth of the towns which it 

 connects, and the increasing intercourse between 

 different portions of our country. 



DESTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS BY GUiVPOW- 

 IiER, TO ARREST THE PROGRESS OF FIRES. 



[The recent great fire in New York, a calamity un- 

 precedented in extent and importance in this country, 

 was at fast arrested only by the use of gunpowder, in 

 the manner described in the extract below, which we 

 take from the New York American. The plan is a 

 novelty to us, and we presume must have been so to 

 most of those then suffering, or endangered by the 

 fire — or they would much earlier have availed them- 

 selves of a means so powerful and efficacious, and yet 

 so safe in its application. It would seem, that instead 

 of forbidding the keeping of gunpowder in cities, for 

 fear of fire, a considerable supply should be always 

 at hand as the surest and safest means of arresting the 

 progress of its destructive fury, when other means 

 would be feeble or entirely unavailing ] 



