GREAT EXTENT OF RAILWAYS. 



It must be admitted that the results here exhibited present a 

 somewhat astonishing spectacle. It appears from this statement 

 that in 1853 there were in actual operation in the United States 

 13315 miles of railway, and 12029 projected and in process of 

 execution. So that when a few years more shall have rolled away, 

 this extraordinary people will actually have above 25000 miles of 

 iron road in operation. 



16. It results from the above, compared with the previous 

 report, that the average cost of construction has been diminished 

 as the operations progressed. The average cost of construction of 

 the 6500 miles of railway in operation in 1849 was 81291. per mile, 

 whereas it appears from the preceding table that the actual cost of 

 10289 miles, in operation in 1851, has been at the average rate of 

 647S. per mile. On examining the analysis of the distribution 

 of these railways among the States, it appears that this discord- 

 ance of the two statements is apparent rather than real, and 

 proceeds from the fact that the railways opened since 1849, being 

 chiefly in the southern and western States, are cheaply constructed 

 lines, in which the landed proprietors have given to a great extent 

 their gratuitous co-operation, and in which the plant and working 

 stock is of very small amount, so that their average cost per mile 

 is a little under 4000?. It is also worthy of observation that the 

 distribution of this network of railways is extremely unequal, not 

 only in quantity, but in its capability, as indicated by its expense 

 of construction. Thus, in the populous and wealthy States of 

 Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, the proportion of 

 railways to surface is considerable, while in the southern and 

 western States it is trifling. 



17. The States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, which form the 

 great highway along which the vast tide of western emigration 

 flows, have, within the last few years, been making extraordinary 

 exertions to complete a system of internal railway communication ; 

 and, before ten years shall have elapsed, their extensive territory 

 will be literally overspread with a network of railways and canals. 



18. A glance at any recent map of the internal communications of 

 the United States will fill any reflecting observer with astonishment 

 at the enterprise of this extraordinary people. A line of railway, 

 already 1200 miles in length, and which is incessantly increasing, 

 stretches along the Atlantic coast. There are besides not less than 

 eight great trunk-lines extending from the seaboard to the interior: 



Miles. 



1. Portland (Maine) to Montreal, communicating with the 



St. Lawrence and Ottowa rivers .... 300 



2. Boston to Ogdensburg, where the St. Lawrence issues 



from Lake Ontario 400 



3. Boston to Buffalo on Lake Erie ... . 600 



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