Later Means of Communication 239 



[43 of the laws of i860, to authorize the construction of rail- 

 way and tracks in West Fanus, Westchester, Eastchester, 

 New Rochelle, Yonkers, and Morrisania. The road was to 

 extend from Harlem Bridge to Fordham, via Third Avenue, 

 but as the road was not completed by December 11, 1862, 

 its charter became extinct. The rest of the companies held 

 on to their charters, and were built, more or less, subsequently. 

 The Third Avenue and Fordham Railroad had a natural 

 successor in the Harlem Bridge, Morrisania, and Fordham 

 Railroad Company, incorporated in 1863, with a route from 

 the bridge to Fordham via Third Avenue; this was the first 

 street railway in the Borough. According to the report filed 

 at the end of 1864 by its president, John B. Haskins, five miles 

 of road had been built at a cost of $158,749.22 and 571,450 

 passengers had been carried. The road was capitalized at 

 $300,000, of which $72,000 was paid up; the outstanding in- 

 debtedness of $88,000 bore interest at seven per cent. It 

 owned seventeen first-class and two second-class cars, which 

 travelled by horse power at the rate of six and one half miles 

 an hour, including stops, or seven miles an hour while in 

 motion. The rates of fare were as follows: 



Harlem Bridge to Morrisania 5 cents 



" Tremont 8 " 



" Fordham 10 " 



In 1865, the fare to Morrisania was increased to six cents, and 

 the average rate of speed (?) decreased to six miles an hour. 

 This is the rate of progress according to the report. As a 

 matter of fact, on very stormy nights the cars did not run 

 at all, or at such infrequent intervals as to be useless as a 

 means of transportation. The road-bed was so poor that very 

 often, when the driver attempted to put on a spurt of speed, 



