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littili'ontl Meeting at Sf.Jo/mitburg.' immense advantage to Northeastern Vermont, and-a determined effort would build I it: but unless there was such an effort, it I would not 1a* built. This road had got to be built by the people of Washington, Caledonia and Essex counties. Connecting roads were so jealous that they would throw more cold water on this project than ; they would give it money—though he lie-j lieved this road would ultimately help ! tln-m all. Mr. Davis said that former ex-1 pcrieuceof railroads in Vermont would not liold good with respect to this road. Ex-I perience in building and running railroads in the last twenty years had not been val-1 uelcss—both were done on a much more 1 economical plan than formerly. The | speaker then alluded to some remarks | which he made here at a previous meet-| ing, several weeks ago, respecting the ultimate connections of this road. I le spoke j of the two splendid harbors (the best ini | the world) on each side of this continent—, the one at Portland and the other at Pu-L get's Sound, lie said it was not the wild imaginings of any brain that saw in the future the English trade with China and,Ity iuu..- failure of the mails we .li.l not 1:jrilillg OVer t|lis nB1j ,rum lug(,fs|n-ci-ive a notice intended for this paper, railing a railroad meeting at this placeI’.i April 1th. Posters were distributed, i however, and notwithstanding the had slate ot the travelling, a large number ot ’’j citizens assembled at the town hall on *!' j Tlmr-day afternoon. Horace Fairbanks, J!‘j Emj., railed tin* meeting to order, and on ^ loot ion o| .Jona. Koss, Esq., Hon. Calvin Morrill was chosen chairman, and Messrs.Sound to Portland, thence to Lherpool. i Mr. Davis then caused to be read a leading1 editorial in the Poston Journal of March 2K, respiting the new route from Japan i to Liverpool, via Sun Francisco, the Central l’acitie railroad, and New York, lie said the route via the Northern Pacific and : the Portland and Ogdensburg railroad. ' would le between six and seven hundred miles shorter than this one which was so highly commended by commercial men. j The speaker then touched upon the in- * tcresting subject of ‘‘would the road pay t j that llitprincipal |«ikcr, un whom they | ue Jhhi’t want to call upon the towns toOn taking the chair. Mr. Morrill said• had relied mainly for this meeting, (Hon. , ('. \\ W illard) had disappointed them. -1 An important suit had unexpectedly de-i mined him at Montpelier. Put although ■: disappointed bv Mr. W illard's lion-appear-. aiiee. they hoped to till up the time with 1 local speakers to the sicceptance of the au-. dieiice ; and he called upon J. I). Stod-| dat’d. I'.-ip, to address the eoiivention.! .Mr. Stoddard said that he came before that large assembly with reluct;| having prepared a set spot j -.villing to do anything he could to aid a enterprise which he considered ot such vml impormn coiitcinplati.an enterprise was ueiessarv1 Vermont as the ot lie said theory would I- : but to complete such * this, money and labor Some seemed staggered1 at the proportions ot tin* work lh* had learned by t!ilt;* expcriem JKisI lew years, that when a lari if anv community iv',1. accomplished :t. If I hi* terpri-e, they can carryieve there was so important 'ore it this. Mr- Stod.hu gtli of the advantages thisgi* pot ! ton thing they in this en-ugh. Inlum illil het question 1 spoke at enterprisewould be to posterity—of the influence it . would liav* iu settling our .sons at home— ; ol preventing emigration, and inercaiug I the population as well ms the wealth of \ermonl. lie kept iu view the impor-• tanf lad that this r,,:u] W!ls jmt ;l j„ a eliaiu of trunk railway which was eventually to be one of the great thoroughfares of the country—and he would not coniine• his views to its mere local advantages to j nnrth-eastern Vermont, hut take a broad1 view of Sts general advantages to the en-■ tire state and country, lb* spoke of the - western connection with the northern Pa-•• ei'tic Riilmad, and believed that ere long• the attention ot congress would be dircet-. i*d to tin* importance of having the gov-1, 'ernau-nt do something to hustcu the com-I pleti-iu oi 11 a-Northern as it has the Central Pacific railroad. When this link bi*t*.\ ,-u Mtuilpeliei* ami Port land was I eompkted, lie helievetl its effect upon our j stale would Iu: such that Vermont would , mt only be a good state to be born in, as Mr. Douglass said, but a good state to ; liu* in and di in.•- I*:. lt;. If. dingtoii, Ids.,., was next railedJ' out. IK* said he would occupy but a few I moments' time, ami would confine himself to one point. He said it was not a question with him whether this road would put a 1, w dollars more or less in his pocket. or the pocket of his neighbor. This j I road would Ik* a lasting benefit to every lt;man in this entire section, no matter , where lie lived; and tor that reason he Would urgi*strength. Mr. If. spoke for about live minutes, forcibly and to the point.help build this road, but he hadn’t a particle of doubt hut in twenty years, if the towns did build the road, it would be the liest paying stock they possessed. And if good stock for towns, it is good lor individuals.Jona. Koss, Esq., was the next speaker called out. lb* too was one of those who believed this road would be a paying enterprise. The speaker went into some ,,ot I computation, by which he showed that iu ■I, : but lie was |lls, „,Irs vaiu.,tl0!1 of our| state had increased as much its the entire j cost of all our railroads—and this increase j had been on the line ol the railroads. Nor did this fact alone show the tinancial value of railroads to our state, for had they not been built, the deterioration iu real estate would have been lull as much as its present increase. Mr. 1{ ■.- spoke also ot the competing markets this road would orien for both the purchaser and the seller— while we ar.* now confined to the Boston market, the new road would give us in addition Portland and New York. He sjMike of the value and necessity of healthy competition—of the local support the road would receive—that the towns through which it would pass, compare favorably ill business and wealth, with those along the line of tin: Passunipsie road. lh 1 j spoke also of the western freight which ! i this road must of necessity bring,—it be- I . ing the shortest line.—into Northern Ver-, | mont, New Hampshire and Maine. Mr. |, Koss made a strong plea for the enterprise. ! | and closed by saying that tlu re wms much i in the idea presented by a former speaker ' that it was worth one's effort to do something for this generation.Our limits will not permit even a brief ’ ah-trael of all the speeches made. The j ^ remarks ol most were short, pithy and to 1 lh.* point, lion. S. Dana was quite 11 enthusiastic, and a sliort speech from him j1 rewived repeated applause. A. J. Wil-r lard. Esq., lA'lieved there were L:. S. Komis (now idle capital) enough in the towns along the line, to build the entire road. He went into the figures relative to the increase of wealth since the introduction ol railroads. Since the Passuuip-sic road was opened to this place, the valuation of real estate in St. Johnsbury had increased nine hundred thousand dollars— and that oi the county over two millions of | dollars—and he lielicved this new road would cause a still greater increase.Samuel Jv. Kemick, Esq., from several years residence on the Pueilie coast, and a full knowledge of the capabilities of it? harbors and the increase of its commerce, would endorse all Mr. Davis had predict-I. and was ready to go even farther.1- rankliu 1‘uirbanks, Em, , spoke briellv with his whole heart and ‘illustrating and giving point to hisre-iarks by two incidents which had come personal knowledge—one showing iI i.e cluurman of the meeting then arose! the \alue of railroad facilitiesand said substantially, thntsoito the iaiml the other to the manufacturer.The chairman, Hon. Calvin Morrill,in lin nnvn „i I,,,,,111, st. ,Iolms.| wx, c.l|M „e ^ ^ ^bury, brought alnnit iu eonuectiun will. i ...connection with, with evident efleet—we never heard him mi icmovai ot iin- enmity building? to this do better, lie made several strong points : I'lnin. Ilw.u. now proposed tu fori'vu'The i-iinil we Iieclc,land could bavi', witbnirgei |Kt-t riilicrcnces. and unite tin, two I mtuMe and, limllt;,j effort. We now hud towns together so closely ns iron rails an,]; the inside track of all the railroad tweetsc*d:ir tic* lt;•■lt; it. I !.;„.l »l.........ii - i i I p ....mid hind tie in ; and he would from I'onlnnd to the west. To keep this, dl upon lloii. Miss X. Davis of Dan- J advantage, required immediate action andviHeto State it his town was ready to eternal vigilance.- lie said one ertect of, Ibury the hatchet on these terms.j every improvement was to bring out the: rnMr. Da\is took the ManJ amid much croakers with the cry of “ruin.” A cer- wappl.utse, and alter intimating th;it those tain class had been ruined themselves, and tr.s on which Danville had our town ruined, with every public: hi e old score?, he pro- improvement that had been adopted for ofargue for the new en- the last forty years ; and the recent act caterprise. He said this mad from Mont- of our legislature had “ruined” them ' hi again.were ju-t tinstood ready ‘•ceded at leipdier to St. Juhnsbuiy was somethin; cry much needed, and if the people whoare to benefiued by it so determined, they j raark§ the meeting had been in session . could have it. Ibis road was to be of j over three hourWhen Mr. Morrill concluded his re- j ig had been in session t|, but before adjourning, j rei
Newspaper Details
The Caledonian Record
Saint Johnsbury, Vermont, US
Fri, Apr 12, 1867
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Orrin K.
USA 07 Feb 2024
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