Total, near Jan.1,1850, 21,542,683 125,369,722 27,584,443 5,673,121 5,258,652 Total, 66 "1849, 21,420,275 118,508,448 28,236,755 Total," "1848, 20,338,246 111,638,746 31,498,469 5,062,310 Total," " 1847, 17,631,553 108,643,384 30,660,945 5,435,285 Total, " " 1846, 16,608.719 110,396,552| 23,232,715 5,455,186 of the American Almanac respectfully invites his correspondents in the several States to communicate such errors as they may detect in these tables. The object here is to give only a summary of the facts, so as to afford the means of comparing the States with each other. Their financial condition is shown at much greater length under the head of “Individual States." Official returns published in this work for 1843 (page 135) show that the total of the debts of the States in 1842 was $198,818,736. It ́is apparent, then, that there has been no great reduction of these debts. XXVI. RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. The following list of Railroads in Massachusetts and the adjacent States, and in New York, is very complete and accurate, being compiled from official returns made near January, 1850. But the remainder is quite imperfect, though more full than any thing which has been given before. We insert it in the hope, that, by the kindness of our correspondents in the several States, and of the officers of the railroad companies, we may obtain materials for a far more perfect enumeration in our next volume. 1. Railroads in Massachusetts. Name of Road. Berkshire,† Eastern, ! Connecticut River, Essex, Fall River, Lowell and Lawrence, Fitchburg, y'rs. miles. $ 190,830 20,968 48,931 16,540 $ 66,989 558,993 231,874 177,372 221,210 $3 42,000 406.421 257,884 8 $3 Total. 1025.49 41,224,075 53.201.541 56,856 28,289 191,587 136,769 5 67,573 539,076 221,660 8 83 212,866 40,756 6,806 76,294 18,373 25,156 22,227 47,383 89.034 49,038 273,957 71,949 121,293 80,767 210,080 109,768 121 26,712 328,258 252,858 270,568 551,607 257,083 8 52 76,329 17,527 37,338 19,135 65,430 296,170 215,702 20 80,468 40.952 177.603 *The cars began to run on sections of the various roads as they were finished, and dividends were declared, in some cases, before the load was completed. † Leased to the Housatonic Road at seven per cent. net on the capital of $500,000. This includes Eastern Railroad in New Hampshire. Length 16 miles. Capital paid in $ 492,500; cost $493,082. § 5.33 miles in New Hampshire. Includes branch from Norwich to Allyn's Point, seven miles. This includes the Albany and West Stockbridge Railroad, from Albany to the State line. Length 38.25 miles; built at a cost of $1,930,895, and leased by the Western Railroad. **6.62 miles in New Hampshire. The Woburn Branch, 2 miles long, belongs to the Lowell road; the Medford Branch, 2 miles, the Methuen Branch, 3 miles, and the Great Falls Branch (in New Hampshire), 3 miles, to the Maine; the West Roxbury Branch, 5.35 miles, and the Pawtucket Branch, 4.2 miles, to the Providence; the Brookline Branch, 1.6 miles, the Newton Lower Falls Branch, 2.5 miles, the Saxonville Branch, 4 miles, the Millbury Branch, 3.2 miles, and the Milford Branch, 12 miles, to the Worcester; the Marblehead Branch, 3 miles, the Gloucester Branch, 13.5 miles, and the Salisbury Branch, 3.4 miles, to the Eastern; the Fresh Pond and Watertown Branch, 6.75 miles, and the Lancaster and Sterling Branch, 9 miles of which are completed, to the Fitchburg. The Worcester Branch road is half a mile in length, the Bridgewater Branch, 6.5 miles, the Chicopee Branch, 3 miles, and the Granite (in Quincy) road, 3 miles. Including these, the total length of what may be called the Massachusetts roads, is 1,251.57 miles. Besides these, there are many roads in process of construction, leading from the main lines in Massachusetts into other States. During the session of 1846, the Massachusetts legislature chartered eighteen roads and branches, with an aggregate capital of $5,795,000; during the session of 1847, sixteen, with an aggregate capital of $4,822,000; during the session of 1848, nineteen, with an aggregate capital of $ 7,105,000, and the capital stock of the railroads already in operation was increased $3,945,000; during the session of 1849, fourteen, with an aggregate capital of $2,470,000, and the capital stock of the railroads in operation was increased $1,150,000; during the session of 1850, three roads or branches, with an aggregate capital of $740,000, and the capital stock of the roads in operation was increased $925,000, and during the session of 1851, eleven roads or branches, with a capital stock of $3,320,000, and the capital stock of the roads in operation was increased $1,515,000. The last legislature also granted a charter for the Longmeadow Plank Road, with a capital stock of $25,000, in shares of $25 each, to be constructed from Longmeadow to Cabotville. This is the first plank road chartered in Massachusetts. The charter is limited to the term of twenty-five years, and the corporation is made subject to such restrictions and liabilities as turnpike corporations are by law subjected. 3. Principal Lines of Railroad in Process of Construction in New England, on the 1st of September, 1851. Name. Atlantic and St. Lawrence, From Portland to the Canada line, which it strikes at the town Kennebec, Bath, & Portland, From Portland to Augusta. Length, 60 miles. There is a York and Cumberland, Portsmouth and Concord, From Portsmouth to Concord, N. H. Length, 40 miles. Open from Portsmouth to Raymond, 23 miles. The whole will be completed in the course of the summer. Boston, Concord, and Montreal, From Concord, N. H., via Haverhill, to a point of inter Concord and Claremont, Contoocook Valley, New Hampshire Central, Cocheco, Great Falls and Conway, section with some one of the Montreal roads. Length, about From Concord, N. H., to Claremont, where it intersects the From Manchester to its junction with the Concord and Clare- Peterboro' and Shirley, From Groton, Mass., where it leaves the Fitchburg road, to Peterboro', N. H. Length, 30 miles. Open to Mason Village, nearly 23 miles. The road is worked by the Fitchburg Railr. Connecticut and Passumpsic River, From the mouth of White River, at Hartford, Vt., up the west bank of the Connecticut to the State line at Canaan, where it will connect with the St. Lawrence and Atlantic road. Length, 114 miles. Open to St. Johnsbury, Vt., 61 miles. From the Whitehall and Rutland road at Castleton, Vt., to Troy, N. Y. Length 80 miles. The whole road is under Troy and Rutland, contract. Rutland and Washington, Length, 10 miles. Wilton, Canal, Naugatuck, From Nashville, N. H., on the Nashua and Lowell road, to Wilton. Open to Milford, N. H., 11 miles. From New Haven to Springfield. Open to Tariffville, 45 miles. Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill, Open from Bristol, Conn., to Willimantic, 57 miles. |