FACTS AND FIGURES

CONCERNING

THE HOOSAC TUNNEL.

By JOHN J. PIPER.

FITCHBURG:

JOHN J. PIPER, PRINTER.

1866.

THE HOOSAC TUNNEL.

In his inaugural address to the Legislature, Governor Bullock says, "There can be no doubt that new facilities and new avenues for transportation between the West and the East are now absolutely needed. Our lines of prosperity and growth are the parallels of latitude which connect us with the young, rich empire of men, and stock, and produce lying around the lakes and still beyond. The people of Massachusetts, compact, manufacturing and commercial, must have more thoroughfares through which the currents of trade and life may pass to and fro, unobstructed and ceaseless, between the Atlantic and the national granaries, or decay will at no distant period touch alike her wharves and her workshops. Let us avert the day in which our Commonwealth shall become chiefly a school-house for the West, and a homestead over which time shall have drawn silently and too soon the marks of dilapidation. Any policy which is not broad enough to secure to us a New England, having a proper share in the benefits of this new opening era of the West, be assured, will not receive the approval of the next generation."

This important recommendation is what the public had reason to expect from a man so keenly alive to the interests and welfare of the Commonwealth as Governor Bullock, whose close observation and discernment had long since discovered the danger, and disposed him to take a deep interest in any adequate enterprise by means of which it could be averted. The reasons which have induced His Excellency's convictions on this subject, and caused the apprehensions he has expressed, are very clearly set forth in the following articles from the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser of November 25th and 28th, 1865:--

"To-day, the Western States are far more bountifully provided with avenues of transportation than the extreme East. This is peculiarly anomalous and inexplicable when we consider the boasted enterprise, wealth and shrewdness of New England, and the dependence which always exists upon the part of a manufacturing district toward that section which furnishes it with a market, and from which it obtains its breadstuff. It is fortunate for New England that it does not lie in the line of transit between the West and its market, or it would have drawn about its head a storm of indignation which it could not have resisted. The State of New York has contributed an hundred fold what New England has towards providing the required facilities of traffic, for the great West. Our Yankee friends have done much toward facilitating intercommunication among themselves, but very little toward direct communication with the West.

It is not a little strange that, with all the ambitious effort of Boston to become a mercantile emporium, rivaling New York, and with its vast manufacturing interest, it should have but a single direct avenue of traffic with the West. Yet such is the fact. The Western Railroad between Albany and Boston is the sole route now in existence except those circuitous lines via New York City or through Canada. Our down-east friends, usually so keen and enterprising, seem to have exhausted their energies in the construction of that road twenty-five years ago, and the consequence is that today the business interests of all New England are suffering for lack of the timely investment of a few millions.

Strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that Boston is now virtually cut off from its trade communication with the West for want of facilities of transportation. For weeks past the Grand Trunk Railroad has ceased to take Boston freight, by reason of its being blocked up with other through and way freights at Sarnia. The swollen tide of freight via the New York Central has exceeded the capacity of the Western Road between Albany and Boston, and the consequence has been felt in an increased charge by the New York Central of twenty cents a barrel above New York City rates, and, finally, that road has been obliged to refuse Boston freight altogether, simply by reason of the accumulation and delay occasioned by the inability of the Western Road to forward it to its destination. In like manner, Boston freight going forward by canal is hindered and accumulated at Albany. A similar state of things exists in regard to most of the westward bound Boston freight, as Boston jobbers are finding out to their cost. Merchants at the West, who purchase in Boston, are six and eight weeks in getting their heavy goods.

We are informed upon reliable authority that flour can be sent from Chicago to New York, by lake and rail for $1.90 per barrel, while very limited quantities only can be sent to Boston at $2.25, and that by the "Red Line" $3 a barrel is demanded.

New England depends upon the West for its bread, and also for its market for its imports and manufactures. If the state of things to which we refer, continues much longer, it will be compelled to go to New York both for its bread and its customers.

The West complains of New York, because, forsooth, it is tardy in enlarging its canals to meet the anticipated necessities of its future growth, and Boston has had the assurance to join in the thoughtless and unfounded clamor. Yet the great State of Massachusetts has supinely stood still for twenty-five years without making an effort to overcome the barrier between it and the great West. During that time the Western road has grown rich, and paid large dividends from a business which has been greater than it could transact, and to-day there exists an almost total blockade of Boston freight at Albany.

Surely, this does not reflect favorably on New England shrewdness and enterprise, neither does it tally with New England interest. Besides, it is detrimental to the business interests of the West. As the case now stands the fault rests with Massachusetts alone, in not providing railroad accommodations east of the Hudson river. It is also non-sense to assert, as some will, that the capacity of the Erie canal is inadequate. During the past season it has not been taxed to half its capacity, and yet it has found the Western Road unable to dispose of what Boston freight was offered.

Western merchants and shippers ought to know where the fault lies, and to the end that they may be informed we have penned this article. Their true remedy is to buy in New York, and to ship their produce to that city, until Massachusetts shall provide adequate facilities of transportation.

Boston is the natural eastern terminus of the great northern line of transportation, and we should have been glad to have seen her citizens and those of the great state of Massachusetts realize the fact. Their supineness, however, has lost to them for the present, if not forever, the great commercial prize which nature intended for them. It remains to be seen whether they will realize their position, and make an effort to retrieve their "penny wise and pound foolish policy."

"In a recent article we took occasion to point out the importance to the country at large of the construction of adequate facilities for the accommodation of the traffic exchanges between the different sections; and to call the attention of our readers to the remarkable fact