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 “ 
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 r 8 0 “ 
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: lor 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 there is the 
cost of maintenance of roadway. 
At a railroad convention “ 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 ‘experience has proved that the lowest rates at which 
ordinary freight (in freight trains at a speed of 10 or 12 miles per hour, 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 .”—(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 
