just and consistent. Its stock, which could be bought for $9 a share, ten years ago, now commands upwards of $40. Its gross receipts, last year, were $390,085.79, and its net income, $91,229.85. Its debt has been reduced from upwards of a million to one half that sum, and this year it has paid its first dividend.

The Troy and Greenfield Road was chartered in 1848, the same old elements of opposition being combined against, and fighting it at every step. The managers of the Western road clamorously declared that if this competing line were chartered, it would greatly diminish the security of the Commonwealth, for its investment in their road, and that if the State should be compelled to sell its stock after the granting of such charter, she would lose a hundred and seventy thousand dollars; while, at the same time, they affected to deride the Vermont and Massachusetts as a "pauper road," and the region it traversed as a "God-forsaken country!"

In 1858, the Western end of the Tunnel Line, extending from the Western base of the Hoosac Mountain to Troy, had been completed through the enterprise of the citizens of that thriving city and those of North Adams. The Vermont and Massachusetts was finished, and only thirty-seven miles of rail were needed to complete the direct connection of Boston with the Great West. Then was the time and opportunity for the State to have continued the same liberal policy which it had adopted toward the Western road, and to have extended her helping hand to the struggling corporation, which had undertaken the noble enterprise of piercing the barrier which was interposed between them and their "promised land." But their appeals for aid were met with sneers and derision; the work was bitterly opposed at every stage of its progress; the arts of demagogues, the cunning of lawyers, the fears of the timid, the credulity of the ignorant, and every conceivable influence which the well-filled treasury of the Western road could purchase were enlisted and combined against it. But, at last, perseverance and a good cause prevailed, and in 1854, the Legislature authorized a loan of the State credit to the amount of two millions of dollars, to the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, "for the purpose of enabling said company to construct a tunnel and railroad under and through the Hoosac Mountain, in some place between the 'Great Bend,' in Deerfield river, and the town of Florida, at the base of the Hoosac Mountain on the East, and the base of the Western side of the mountain, near the East end of the village of North Adams, on the West." But this loan was modified and restricted by such conditions, artfully introduced by the foes of the enterprise, that the work still languished, and its friends almost despaired even of ultimate success. The enabling act of 1857, would have greatly relieved them, but it was vetoed by Gov. Gardner. At the beginning of 1860, only $230,000 of the two millions had been advanced.

In the Legislature of that year, the original act was modified so that the balance of the loan might be divided between the road from Greenfield and the Tunnel, for the construction of both parts of the work simultaneously. Provision was at the same time made for the appointment, annually, by the Governor, of a state engineer, to examine the work, make monthly estimates, and impose such requirements upon the company and contractors as he and the Governor and Council might deem expedient. In the summer of 1860, Colonel Ezra Lincoln of Boston, was appointed State engineer, and resigning in the following autumn, on account of illness, was succeeded by C. L. Stevenson, Esq.

In the meantime the company had contracted with Messrs. Haupt and Cartwright to construct the road and tunnel. The first named gentleman was one of the most eminent and experienced engineers in the country. Under the administration of the State engineers, Messrs Lincoln and Stevenson, the existing location was approved, and certain prices were established, upon the basis of which contracts were made for labor and material, and rapid progress was made with the work. Upon the accession of Governor Andrew in 1851, Mr. Stevenson was summarily removed, and Mr. William S. Whitwell appointed in his place. This gentleman at once proceeded to change the entire basis of work as established by his predecessors, reduced the prices under which extensive contracts had already been made, and cut down the estimates, so as to compel an entire suspension of the work. More than a thousand laborers and mechanics were discharged. Mr. Haupt states that at the time of this suspension, "the graduation of the whole line could have been completed in a few weeks. The iron and nearly all the ties and bridge material had been delivered; but little remained to be done except finishing the bridge and laying the track."

After a warm and protracted discussion of the subject in the Legislature of 1862, an act was passed, providing that the State should take possession of the road, tunnel, and all the property of the Troy and Greenfield Company. A commission was also authorized to examine the work, ascertain the feasibility of completing it, and report to the next Legislature. The commissioners appointed under this act, by Governor Andrew, were Messrs. J. W. Brooks and Alexander Holmes, of Massachusetts, and Mr. S. M. Felton, of Pennsylvania, two of them being eminent civil engineers, and all three gentlemen of large experience in railroad affairs. They entered upon the duties of their commission at once, and having dispatched Mr. Storrow to Europe to examine the tunnels there, proceeded to take possession of the road and property of the Company, which was surrendered to them in September of the same year.

The elaborate and exhaustive report of the Commissioners was submitted to the Legislature in the latter part of February, 1863. The closing paragraph expresses their "opinion that the work should be undertaken by the Commonwealth, and completed as early as it can be, with due regard to economy." The result of another discussion in the Legislature was the adoption of the recommendation of the Commissioners, and the responsibility of completing the tunnel and road was assumed by the State, in April of 1863, operations having been suspended nearly three years.

Since that time, the work has been conducted by the Commissioners, under the immediate superintendence of Mr. Thomas Doane, chief engineer, in such manner and with such progress as to give very general satisfaction to the friends of the enterprise, and promise its completion within a reasonable time. A very considerable portion of the labor and expenditures, since the operations were resumed, have been applied to preparing buildings and machinery, to the construction of a dam across the Deerfield river, in order to secure power to operate the tunneling apparatus, and to an enlargement and an alteration of the grade of the Eastern end of the tunnel, which had been excavated by Haupt and Cartwright.

But before proceeding to consider the present condition and prospects of the Tunnel, it is necessary to revert to the legislation of 1862 and 1863, in order to note the tactics of its enemies, who had by no means been idle, nor had in any degree relaxed their opposition. In fact, it was through this opposition that the act of 1862 was effected, the bill being a substitute for that reported by the committee, and generally regarded as a compromise between the friends and foes of the enterprise, though the latter believed they had, at last achieved a triumph, and exultingly whispered that the great Hoosac Tunnel scheme had received its death blow. They certainly did play their game with boldness and skill. While the contractors, Messrs. Haupt & Co., had actually applied all their private means, to the extent of more than $200,000, to carry on the work, it