Report of the Hoosac Tunnel and Troy and Greenfield Railroad, by the Joint Standing Committee of 1866.

[2]

SENATE……

……No. 59.

REPORT
ON THE
HOOSAC TUNNEL AND TROY AND
GREENFIELD RAILROAD,
BY THE
JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE
OF
1866.

BOSTON:
WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS,
No. 4 Spring Lane.
1867.

[3]

Hon. Joseph A. Pond, President of the Senate.

Sir:—I herewith transmit to the legislature the Report of the Joint Standing Committee of 1866 on the Hoosac Tunnel and Troy and Greenfield Railroad.

I am very respectfully
Your obedient servant,

TAPPAN WENTWORTH, Chairman.

[4]

[REPORT.]

The Joint Standing Committee of 1866 on the Hoosac Tunnel and the Troy and Greenfield Railroad, authorized to visit the tunnel and railroad, examine into the condition and progress of the work, and to report fully the result of such examination respectfully

REPORT:

That since the adjournment of the legislature the Committee in a body visited the tunnel and railroad in June, and again in October, and they continued their examination of the condition and progress of the work by sub-committees in the months of July, August, September, November and December; (one of the examinations being exclusively devoted to the operations on the railroad which were commenced late in October;) the others to the tunnel and the various structures and mechanical operations connected therewith, including an examination of the existing contracts, and an inquiry into the general organization adopted to carry out the laws and purposes of the State in regard to the enterprise.

The Committee have also examined the records and the doings of the directors of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad from the organization of the corporation until the surrender of the railroad to the State, and have made extracts from the records to show the financial condition of the corporation, its dealings with the contractors for constructing the road and tunnel, and also the embarrassed condition of the contractors and corporation from 1855 to 1861, which finally led to the practical abandonment of the contract on the part of Messrs. H. Haupt & Company, and the surrender of the road to the State under the mortgages which had been given to secure the loan advanced by the Commonwealth in aid of the road and tunnel. These extracts from the records, with extracts from some of the laws passed upon the subject of the railroad and tunnel, together with remarks of the Committee upon the legislation of the State, the doings of the directors, and their efforts and those of the contractors to prosecute the enterprise being too long for the body of this Report, will be found in the Appendix at A. And a synopsis of the action and condition of the corporation at the time of, and previous to the surrender of the road, and the relation of the contractors to the corporation and to the State, will be stated before entering upon the particular description of the condition and progress of the work the present year, as observed by the Committee.

The charter of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad was granted in 1848, authorizing the construction of a railroad from a "point on the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad, at or near Greenfield," to the line of the States of New York or Vermont, to connect with any railroad that might be constructed from or near the city of Troy in New York. Its capital stock was limited to $3,500,000. Authority was given in the charter to contract with any contiguous railroad leading from either of the above-named States, for the use of the same or any part thereof, or for operating the two roads conjointly, or for hiring such other railroad, or for letting their own railroad to the owners of any other road which should compose a part of the railroad line between Troy and Boston, of which the Troy and Greenfield Railroad should be a part.

The corporation was organized June 1, 1848. April 11, 1849, the directors voted an assessment of three per cent. upon its capital stock, and this assessment was the only one that was substantially collected, and on the first day of October, in the same year, they voted to put the construction of the road under contract as soon as sufficient subscription should be obtained therefore, commencing at Pownal, Vermont, and Greenfield. In January, 1850, $2,203.94 had been received into the treasury, and $2,203.57 had been expended with the approbation of the president of the corporation, leaving in the treasurer's hand $0.37.

Sundry assessments was voted from time to, time, the last vote being in May, 1852, amounting in all to 75 per cent. upon the subscriptions, but they were rescinded in July, 1858, and a new series of assessments were afterwards made which the Committee understand were as unproductive of beneficial results as were the former, upon which only partial payments had been made by a portion of the subscribers.

A contract for constructing the road was made with Messrs. Gilman and Carpenter in October, 1850. At the close of the year 1850, stock to the amount of $250,800 had been subscribed, of which $72,000 was payable in land damages, and $50,000 was taken by the contractors.

At this period in the history of the corporation, with $138,800 of available cash subscription, of which three per cent. had been paid, the corporation applied to the State for aid by a loan to enable it to prosecute the enterprise it had assumed, and this application was continued without success until 1854, when the legislature passed the Act authorizing a loan of $2,000,000, upon conditions which are particularly set forth in the Loan Act, (see Appendix A and B,) which, modified by subsequent legislation, discloses the policy of the State in granting its assistance to the undertaking.

It is proper to state, that at the time this loan was granted, there was no prospect of opening this line of travel by individual efforts, and the amount of the loan, taking into consideration the then assumed estimates of its probable cost, shows that the State assumed to defray the cost of an enterprise to the completion of which available individual means had proved inadequate.

In 1855, a contract for the construction of the road and tunnel was made with E. W. Serrell. The capital stock of the corporation was fixed at $1,500,000. This contract was changed two or three times, and finally ended in one executed by H. Haupt and Henry Cartwright. For an account of these changes, and of the votes and transactions of the directors and the contractors, reference is made to Appendix A, where the same will be found in detail.

Upon a careful examination of these votes and transactions, the Committee come to the conclusion that the financial embarrassments of the corporation from the year 1855, when the first contract with E. W. Serrell was made to the time of the suspension of the works under the last contract with H. Haupt & Co., are apparent. And it is also apparent that during the same time, the contractors assumed, to a very great extent, the control and responsibility of the enterprise.

Under the first contract, and on the day of its acceptance, the direction of the engineering operations within the tunnel was left with the contractor; excepting measuring for estimates and the final acceptance of the work; and on his subscribing $600,000 to the capital stock, $800,000 (less the new subscriptions,) was added to the contract prices for the work.

Under the second contract with Serrell, Haupt & Co., the directors voted to substitute bonds for stock in payment of the work until 2,000 feet of the tunnel was completed, and to pay the discounts and losses to which the contractors might be required to submit, not exceeding fifteen per cent. per annum; and also, to issue to the contractors bonds to the amount of $100,000 in addition to payments. Said bonds were to be sold or pledged by Haupt & Co., to enable them to raise means to carry on their operations under the contract.

On the dissolution of the firm of Serrell, Haupt & Co., in July 1856, Serrell resigned his office as director and was chosen consulting engineer. At the same time, W. A. Galbraith, one of the contractors in the following contract, was chosen a director. Thereupon a new contract was made with H. Haupt, W. A. Galbraith, C. B. Duncan and Henry Cartwright. Under this contract the estimates were to be made by the company's engineer. In July, 1857, the records show that no payments had been made the contractors for more than a year, and that the work could be carried on only by the continued efforts and personal credit of the contractors.

In February, 1858, the contract was again changed, and Messrs. Haupt and Cartwright engaged with the corporation to complete the road and tunnel. At this time, the records show that no payments had been made under the previous contracts "for more than two years; that the work could only be carried on by the continued efforts, increased expenditures, and personal credit of the contractors."

By a provision of this contract, any revenue arising from the use of the road, or any portion of it, was assigned to the contractors until their claims upon the company were adjusted; and the payment of all the company's debts was to be deferred until that of the contractors was satisfied; and Haupt & Co. agreed to maintain the organization of the corporation, pay its bills for printing, and advance therefore a sum not less than $500,000.

The same year the Rensselaer Iron Company was allowed a lien on the iron delivered to the contractors until the same was paid for. In 1859, H. Haupt relinquished his pecuniary interest in the contract, and was appointed chief engineer of the corporation. (See Appendix A, page 62.) These transactions in which the contractors participated, (one of whom was on the board of directors,) show conclusively that they were fully apprized of the condition of the corporation, from the date of their first connection with the work to the time of its "suspension," no claim during the whole period having been made by them against the Commonwealth for any work done for the corporation.

The existence of the mortgages to the State were of course well known to the contractors. They were given in pursuance of laws passed by the legislature, and for security of the payments received by the contractors for their services. The right of the Commonwealth to take possession of the railroad under the mortgages, must have been well understood. Further, the corporation, in surrendering the road to the State, did no injury to the contractors, for the act of surrender did not take place until after the contractors had suspended work upon both road and tunnel, and practically abandoned the enterprise; thus leaving to the State the alternative, either to take possession of the work and complete the road and tunnel, or to abandon it; and, in addition to the loss of the advances already made, forego the anticipated benefits of an additional avenue for Western traffic.

The treasurer's books do not show any settlement between Haupt and Company and the corporation. The account standing upon the ledger shows a large balance against the contractors; but the Committee are informed that subsequent to May 30, 1863, a settlement was made upon the basis of Mr. Stevenson's report (see Appendix A,) and that Mr. Haupt received, in conformity with the contract of H. Haupt & Co. with the Troy and Greenfield corporation, payment for all labor done and material furnished by said H. Haupt & Co., for the corporation, and that all matters between the parties have been adjusted.

Although the accounts between the contractors and the corporation are understood to be settled, it may be interesting to examine the account of the Commonwealth with the enterprise and compare the value of the work done by the contractors at the time of its abandonment by them, with the payments made to them therefore, from the treasury of the State.

From the foregoing statement it appears that the contractors with the Troy and Greenfield Railroad corporation, have received from the State, three hundred and nineteen thousand nine hundred and thirty-six dollars and eighty-two cents more than the value of the work which the corporation surrendered under the mortgage, and that the State has lost that amount of money in its efforts to assist in the construction of the work. It is proper to add as the judgment of the very intelligent chairman of the commissioners (Mr. J. W. Brooks,) from whose statement to the Committee the foregoing figures are taken, that the loss to the State in the transaction by the failure of Messrs. B. Haupt & Co., to perform their contract in a proper manner, will reach the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. (See statement, Appendix C.)

The Commonwealth having taken possession of the road and tunnel, and by the legislation of 1862 and 1863 undertaken their construction with the free consent of the corporation, the directors by an appropriate vote, expressed their concurrence with the proceeding, and their reliance upon the "good faith of the legislature" to complete the enterprise which had exhausted the resources of its immediate projectors. The last act of the corporation, as appears by the records, was the choice of officers in August, 1865, when Alvah Crocker was chosen president and Wendell T. Davis, clerk and treasurer.

Description of the Tunnel.

The tunnel enters the eastern side of the Hoosac Mountain, in the town of Florida, a few rods from the right bank of the Deerfield River. The eastern summit of the mountain is 2,210 feet above tide-water, 1,499 feet above the Deerfield River, 1,429 feet above the grade of the railroad, and is distant from the East Portal of the tunnel 6,100 feet. The western summit is 2,510 feet above tide-water 1,788 feet above the Hoosac River, 1,718 feet above the grade of the railroad, and 6,700 feet distant from the West Portal. Each portal of the tunnel is 766 feet above tide-water. The summits are 2⁴¹/₁₀₀ miles distant from each other, and the valley between them at its lowest depression is 801 feet above the grade of the railroad.

The length of the tunnel, from the East End to the West End, as commenced by Mr. Haupt, is 4⁸⁴/₁₀₀ miles. Its base is, at the East End, 70 feet above the Deerfield River, and at the West End, 70 feet above the Hoosac River. Its grade, from the East End to the Central Shaft, is 18 feet per mile; from the West End to West Shaft, 26⁴/₁₀ feet per mile; and from the West Shaft towards the Central Shaft, 21¹²/₁₀₀ feet per mile. These grades are calculated to allow the free passage of water from the centre. Should the quantity of water found in the tunnel render feasible a reduction of this grade, a change is contemplated.

The dimensions of the tunnel areas follows: The rock cutting is 24 feet high and 24 feet wide. The brick-work is 26 feet high and 26 feet wide. The bottom of the tunnel will contain a culvert three feet deep at the centre. Through this culvert the water from the tunnel is to be discharged. It now receives, in addition to the water accumulating in the tunnel, a 12-inch pipe, to carry air at a low pressure for ventilation; an 8-inch pipe to carry air for driving the drilling machines; and a 3-inch pipe for carrying water for use in the holes which are being drilled. Should it be found advisable to use gas in carrying on the work, provision is made for a 4-inch pipe to carry the gas from the place of manufacture. The track is to be placed 3¹/₂ feet above the bottom of the rock tunnel, and 4¹/₂ feet above the bottom, where lined with brick.

The distance by the highway, from the town of North Adams, or from the West End to the East End of the tunnel, is about nine miles. From the first named points to the Central Shaft is about five miles, and from the Central Shaft to the East End the distance is six miles.

The time necessary to travel from the West End to the East End, is two hours. Loaded teams from either end to the other perform the distance and return in a day.

Organization of the forces employed in the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel, June, 1866.

The above were contained on the engineer's pay-roll.

Since the first visit of the Committee to the tunnel, many important changes have been made in the force above mentioned, to wit: The salary of the chief engineer was reduced to $3,600, he to provide his transportation to various points upon the work. One of the assistant engineers resigned and retired, and the office of two of them has been abolished. The salary of the superintendent has been increased to $3,000. The office of freight clerk has been abolished, and its duties transferred to that of paymaster and cashier. The salaries of store-keepers and their assistants were not a charge to the State, but were paid from the profit of their respective stores.

At the commencement of the work, it was deemed necessary to provide stores at the three points where the operations were carried on, to supply the workmen readily with necessaries, so that no time might be lost by them in the important duty of making provision for their families. But in the present state of the enterprise, it is probable that private individuals would readily establish such stores, and relieve the State from a duty which, although it involved no pecuniary charge, diverted to some extent the attention of officers from their more legitimate avocations.

Foremen and Others under the Superintendent.

Of this list the foreman of the brickyard is a temporary appointment. The foreman of carpenters at the West End has finished his work and retired. The foreman of masons was discharged by the commissioners, and has entered into the employ of Mr. Farren at the West End.

There are nine foremen of the heading gangs, two of whom have $100 per month, and the remainder $3.00 per day.

The heading gangs consist of eleven drillers each, including the foreman, and from three to five rockmen for removing stone. They work by shifts of eight hours, relieving each other at 8 A. M., 4 P. M., and 12, midnight. The blasts are made about the time of relief. The men working on the enlargement under private contractors make two shifts a day, each shift working ten hours. The Committee made a special examination of the number of men employed under the engineer and superintendent, with a view of considering whether the force actually engaged was necessary to an economical prosecution of the enterprise, intending to suggest any reform that might occur to them as essential; but learning that the engineer would in the course of the year make some reduction in the number of the men as well as of the teams employed upon the work, the Committee deferred taking up the subject until the anticipated reductions should have been made. And now understanding that the commissioners have the whole matter under consideration, and that they have already to some extent, acted thereon, the Committee for reasons that would be obvious, withhold any recommendations or remarks upon this point.

System of Operations.

The general superintendence of the labor on the work is vested in Mr. Hill. The reports are made to the engineer. The captains in the tunnel report weekly the proceedings of each day under the following heads, as follows:—

Number of days' work.
of holes drilled.
of inches of holes drilled.
of drills dulled.
of pounds of powder used.
of feet of fuse used.
of sheets of paper used.
of pounds of soap used.
of pounds of candles used.
of quarts of oil used.
of lamps used.
of pounds of wicking used.

The captain at the shafts four times a month reports,—

The days' work of the engine-men.
The revolutions of the engine.
Number of pounds of coal used.
of feet of wood used.
of gallons of sperm oil used.
of gallons of kerosene oil used.
of pounds of tallow used.
of pounds of waste used.
of pounds of tar used.
of cages raised.
of cars of stone raised.
Size of pump-plunger used.
Length of stroke.
Number of strokes.
of gallons of water raised.
of boilers in use.

The materials furnished for the construction of the work are charged in their distribution to twenty-three accounts, as will be seen by the tabular statement of its cost. Requisitions for materials are signed by the immediate overseer, captain or foreman; they are handed to the superintendent for approval, and by him forwarded to the engineer. If the requisition is approved by both, the materials are ordered, and when furnished the applicant signs upon a duplicate his receipt for the same. This course is pursued as well for materials taken from the State lands as for those purchased. Suitable blanks for returns, requisitions, &c., are furnished to the several points, and the evidence of all the transactions is preserved in the office of the engineer. In addition to the above, a return of all material broken, or laid aside, is made to the engineer, at whose office a substantial account of all materials on hand, either in use, or out of use, may be found.

The organization of the working force, and the mode adopted for supplies and expenditures at the various points, appear well adapted to an efficient and economical prosecution of the enterprise.

Divisions of the Work.

East End.

Deerfield Dam.—This structure is completed. Flashboards to be used in low stages of water may have to be occasionally renewed.

The canal is finished as far as wheelpit No. 3. The machine-shop is about 72 feet long, and 36 feet wide. It has three turbine wheels. A fourth wheel is designed, but is not required at the present time, and the pit to receive it is not completed.

In the basement of the machine-shop are two compressors. The first was put in January, 1866. It has four cylinders 13 inches in diameter, and 20 inches stroke. This compressor is used to drive the drills, and furnish air for the blacksmith shop. The second compressor was put in some time in October. It has four cylinders 25 inches in diameter, and 24 inches stroke, and is used for ventilation one-fourth of the time, two hours after each blast, viz., from 8 to 10, A. M., from 4 to 6, P. M., and from 12 to 2, A. M. The compressors work satisfactorily. The loss of power in the transmission of air from the machine-shop to the drills, a distance of 4,500 feet, being hardly perceptible.

In addition to the compressors, there is in the machine-shop the following machinery, viz.: three lathes, one of them worked by hand; a drilling machine; a planer; a bolt-cutting machine and a saw-table. Sixty horse-power is required to carry the machine-drills, the machines in the shop, and to furnish air for the blacksmith shop. When the large compressor is used, 75 additional horse-power is required. A circular saw at the east end of the machine shop, is occasionally used, driven by power derived from the turbine wheels.

The blacksmith shop, near the entrance of the tunnel, contains three forges. The hand-drills are made, and, together with the machine drills, sharpened at this shop. The ordinary repairs of the drilling machines are done in the machine shop. New parts of the same are furnished from Fitchburg.

The heading in the tunnel at this end when driven by hand was about 15 feet wide by 6 feet high. When driven by the machines it is 16 feet wide and 8 feet high. Its location is in the centre of the tunnel, 4¹/₂ feet above subgrade, and 1¹/₂ feet above the road bed.

The force employed at this point in July last was—

The first day of November there were employed here 115 men. There are at this point, besides the shops and saw mill above mentioned, 2 small offices, 1 boarding-house, 2 carpenters' shops, 2 powder-houses, 1 temporary blacksmith's shop, 1 temporary horse-stable, 3 sheds, 1 engine-house, 1 barn, 1 instrumental station-house (all used by the State,) and 2 cottages; 6 first-class shanties, 13 common shanties, 10 temporary shanties, 1 store under school-room; with 1 cottage, 1 old store and 8 shanties, built by H. Haupt & Company, which are rented.

A resident engineer was stationed at the East End in charge of the work.

The progress of the excavations at the East End heading for the year ending December, 1866, has been 569 feet; at the rate of 47.42 per month.

The progress during the six months ending May, 1866, was 338 feet; an average per month of 56 feet 4 inches. One week was lost in June in introducing the machine-drills, in consequence of which the progress that month was reduced to 50 feet 6 inches. During the five months ending November 30, the progress has been 219¹/₂ feet; being an average of 43.9 feet per month. It will be seen by the table, that in July, the first month after the introduction of the drill machines, the progress attained was only 26.5 feet. As the men became better acquainted with them, the progress was increased to 48 feet in August, and in September it rose to 54.5, having nearly attained the average progress of the six months preceding their introduction. Had there been an adequate supply, there can be little doubt that the progress would have continued to increase, and would have shown the superiority of the machine-drill over hand-labor; but the supply fell off, and the progress in October was reduced to 34 feet and 6 inches.

Table showing the progress at East End Heading, from November 1, 1865, to January 1, 1867.

The Central Shaft.

There is at this point, used by the State in the prosecution of the work, the shaft-building, a carpenter's shop, a blacksmith's shop, a saw-mill, powder-house, gas-house, ash-house, wood-shed, and a barn; and in connection with the work, a store, a boarding-house, the Thacher farm-house and out-buildings, 4 first-class and 7 common shanties. The cost of buildings at the Central Shaft in July, 1866, was $11,080.13. The cost in November, 1866, was $12,026.83. The annual rent of that portion leased to operatives is $736.

A farm, containing 250 acres of land, with a dwelling-house and barn, has been purchased, adjoining the Central Shaft, for the sum of $3,000. The land was well covered with timber, about one-half of which has been cut for the purposes of the shaft and tunnel. There is estimated to be one million feet of hemlock timber still standing, which will be wanted in the progress of the work. This purchase was an advantageous one for the State, there having been already realized from it an amount equal to its cost.

The working force at the Central Shaft in July, 1860, was comprised of—

On the first day of November there were employed at this point, in all, 81. Of this number, 40 were engaged out of the shaft, and 41 in the shaft.

The above enumeration does not include the resident engineer and time-keeper, stationed here in November.

The depth of Central Shaft, when completed, will be 1,037 feet from the surface; its form is an ellipse, whose axes are 27 and 15 feet. On the fifth day of May it had reached the depth of 300.5 feet. At this time the hoisting apparatus was removed from the shaft, and the work of excavation ceased. The new hoisting apparatus was fitted on the first day of August, and the drilling commenced at midnight on that day.

Previous to the change in the hoisting apparatus, the monthly progress had averaged about 18¹/₂ feet per month. The advance in October and November was 46 feet; the gain over the previous rate of progress is attributable to the practice of simultaneous blasting.

On the first day of January, 1867, the shaft had been sunk 393 feet, leaving for excavation 644 feet.

Table showing the progress at Central Shaft from November 1, 1865, to December 1, 1866.

[A] Work suspended to put in new hoisting apparatus.

The present hoisting apparatus is expected to be sufficient to finish the shaft. It has two wire ropes, each 1,260 feet long. The time for a round trip is seven minutes. The engine here is of 100 horse-power. The blacksmith shop contains two forges. At the small machine shop the repairs required here are made, as also some repairs for the West Shaft.

The Central Shaft, though designed to aid in ventilating the tunnel, was intended also to accelerate its construction by affording to the process of excavation four faces instead of two during some portion of the work; and the former chairman of the commissioners expected by the aid of machine-drilling, the shaft might be completed in one year from the time such drilling should commence within it. In this anticipation, ten vertical drilling machines were constructed to work in the shaft area and a compressor with two cylinders was provided to furnish the power for operating them. The want of drilling machines at the East End became so urgent, that these vertical ones were changed to horizontals, and used at that point, and the sinking of the shaft by hand-drilling still continues. But if the experiments now in progress at the East End with the new drilling machine shall demonstrate its superiority over hand labor, the machine will doubtless be introduced into the shaft.

West Shaft.

This shaft has an area of about 8 by 13 feet, and was excavated by Messrs. H. Haupt & Co. Its depth is 316 feet.

The buildings here used by the State are the West Shaft house, the New Shaft building, a blacksmith shop containing two forges, a powder-house, a horse-shed, ash-house and tank-house. The buildings owned by the State and leased to operatives are a boarding-house and four old shanties built by H. Haupt & Co., four first-class shanties, eight common shanties, and a double cottage. The buildings at the West End, are connected on the books with those at the West Shaft, and will be here enumerated. They consist of a carpenter's shop, time-keeper's office, a blacksmith shop containing one forge, tool-house, powder-house, horse-shed, brickyard shed, brickyard, engine-house, artesian wells Nos. 3 and 4, buildings, and two-thirds of a barn, which are occupied by the State. One boarding-house, store, one-third of a barn, the Harrington farm-house, barn and out-buildings, twenty-seven common shanties and brickyard boarding shanty. These buildings, with part of blacksmith shop, part of carpenter's shop and time-keeper's office, are rented to operatives and to Mr. Farren, the contractor for constructing the brick arch.

This large increase was mainly occasioned by the construction of a double cottage and necessary buildings at the brickyard and West End.

The amount of rents at these two points is $2,462.60 per annum. Fifteen of the tenements at the West End are leased to Mr. Farren, in accordance with his contract.

The working force at the West Shaft in July was,—

At this point there is one engine of 100-horse power and one of 40-horse power, and one compressor having four cylinders of a diameter of 13 inches and 24 inches stroke. The West heading from this shaft was advanced 293 feet, and the East heading 1,042, on the first day of December, 1866. The progress for the year ending November 1, 1866, at the heading at this point was 636.7, being a fraction over 53 feet per month. For the last four months, ending December 1, 1866, the progress was 322.1, being a fraction over 64 feet per month, which exceeds by four feet per month the highest estimate for hand-drilling by the engineers in 1862, and by thirty and one-third feet the estimate of Mr. Latrobe. The progress of the work at this heading during the last six months, making allowance for the influx of water in November, having exceeded the highest estimate for hand-drilling, should be regarded as evidence alike of the skill of the miners and the good management of the engineer and his subordinates.

Table showing the progress at West Shaft, East Heading, from November 1, 1865, to December 1, 1866.

The West heading at this shaft was at first driven 6 feet by 11. It has been found advisable to enlarge it to the dimension of 10 feet 6 inches by 15 feet. This work has been performed by contract. The first letting was at the rate of four dollars per cubic yard, the State furnishing the materials used and removing the stone. The contractors at this rate could not pay their expenses. It was raised to six dollars per yard which was found not to pay, and in July the price was advanced to seven dollars and fifty cents. The State pay the men, charging the same to the contractors, and keep their time. Good progress is made and the work is done to the satisfaction of the engineer.

The East heading at this point was being enlarged also by contract, from 6 feet by 15, to 10¹/₂ by 15. The work commenced on the 15th of July, 1866; the price paid is seven dollars per cubic yard; the contractors load their own stone and also that coming from the heading. The State provides the materials used, and hoist the stone to the surface. While the work of the miners at the East heading and of the contractors upon both enlargements was progressing in a very satisfactory mariner, the whole was arrested by an unexpected and somewhat sudden influx of

Water in the Tunnel.

On the 27th of November the miners working east from the West Shaft struck a seam running across the stratification of the mountain. Water soon issued from the seam at the rate of twenty-three gallons per minute. On the 29th, the water had risen at the foot of the shaft to two and a half feet above grade, and the work was stopped. The usual speed of the engine working the pump was forty-two revolutions per minute; it was increased to fifty-six, and at that rate it succeeded in preventing any further rise of the water. It became necessary to increase the power of the pumps. The plunger was enlarged from eight to ten inches, and a third lift pump was added. To affect this arrangement the pumps were stopped from 9 o'clock, A. M., December 7th, to 3¹/₂ P. M. on the 8th. At this time the water was four feet and eight inches above grade. On the 12th the water was so much reduced that the miners recommenced work. The next day, at 2 P. M., the water was struck in large quantities, the whole flow from the heading being 100 gallons per minute. On the 14th, the work was again suspended, and unsuccessful attempts made to stop the water by means of wooden plugs driven into the seam. The pumps working with the longest stroke and at increased speed, were just able to keep the water from rising.

On the 19th, at 10.30 A. M., one of the trunnions of the pump-bob broke, and seriously injured the pump gearing and boxes. On the 21st a new trunnion was put in, and the pump was attached to the small hoisting engine, the water now being seven feet above grade. On the 28th, at noon, the breakages being all repaired, the large engine was again attached to the pumps, the water then being nine feet and eight inches above grade. And, on the first day of January, at 4 P. M., the water stood nine feet ten inches above grade at the foot of the shaft. [A]

[A] At the time of the presentation of this Report, the Committee understood that the water was entirely removed from the shaft and tunnel.

The New Shaft.

This shaft is located about 264 feet westerly of the West Shaft. Its dimensions are six feet by thirteen in the clear. The rock to be removed from an area of eight feet by fifteen. The labor is done by contract. The first price was $40 per foot; increased July 1, 1866, to $50 per foot. The State furnishes all the materials for construction, and the power to raise the stone and water from the shaft. The depth of the shaft will be 277 feet when open to grade. On the first day of December, the miners working down had progressed 180 feet, and those working from the tunnel up 45 feet. It was then calculated that the shaft would be excavated in two months. Plans for permanent pumps had been prepared; to furnish the pumps according to the plans, would take several mouths. In the meantime, a temporary pump was to be made at North Adams, under the direction of the engineer.

On the first day of January, about thirty-eight feet of stone remained for excavation in this shaft. The water in the tunnel stopped the work from below, and the work is driven upon one face only at the present time.

There are two small engines at this point, one of fourteen and one of ten horse power. The pumps at this shaft, if constructed agreeably to the design of the engineer, will discharge sixty-five gallons to a stroke and are to be worked by a bull engine. The lift of the water will be eighty feet less than at West Shaft, being discharged about 40 feet below the surface.

The West End.

The work at the West End of the tunnel is under contract. Mr. B. N. Farren of Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, by an agreement dated May 1, 1866, contracted to put in a stone and brick arch of the dimensions before stated, 26 feet by 26, for the following prices, viz.:—Earth excavation $3.50 per yard; brick masonry, $12 per perch; stone masonry, $6 per perch. Contractor planks the bottom and sides when necessary at $15 per lineal foot. The State furnishes the bricks at $9 per thousand and the timber at $16 per thousand for hemlock, and $18 for spruce and hard-wood. The length of arch contracted for is 174 feet, the whole of which is open. The State also furnishes the cement, which costs in Troy, New York, from $1.65 to $1.70 per barrel, to which is to be added the freight at 30 cents per barrel. A barrel of cement is used for a perch of masonry.

The contractor agrees to construct two hundred feet of under ground tunnel, and as much more as he can before August 1, 1867, at the following prices, viz.:—Earth excavation at $6.50 per yard; brick masonry at $13 per perch; stone masonry at $6.50 per perch. The timbering, from $40 to $50 per foot, lineal, depending upon the thickness of the wall. He may, under permission from the engineer, take stone and sand from the State's premises, without making compensation.

Payments are to be made about the 12th of each month for the work done the preceding month, at the rate of 80 per cent. of the finished work.

The decision of the engineer as to the method, quality, quantity and classification of the work to be final and conclusive. In order to facilitate the progress of the work and with a due regard to economy, the State has purchased the following lots of land in the vicinity of the West End, to wit:—A wood lot, containing sixty acres, at a cost of $9,900; the Harrington Farm; 130 acres with the buildings, inclosing the West End and West Shaft; and running half way up the mountain. This purchase was made January 26, 1866, price $3,000. The Kingsley lot, purchased March 16, 1866, at $2,793.87.

The timber used by Mr. Farren is obtained from these lots. The tops of the trees are cut into wood and used at the brickyard. About five hundred cords of wood has been cut on the Harrington, and one thousand cords on the Kingsley lot, for the use of the brickyard, and is now on hand.

The necessity of making the bricks required for the arch tunnel is apparent. They could not be furnished by individuals at North Adams. 120,000, before the yard at the West End was fitted up, were purchased at Springfield at $9 per thousand; the freight of which to North Adams was $6, and the teaming to the West End $2 per thousand. If to these prices be added the depreciation and waste from handling, the cost will reach $18 for all that could be used in the work. It is the opinion of the engineer and superintendent of labor, that the bricks made by the State will cost less than $9 when delivered to the contractor.

Mr. Farren began work under his contract June 7, 1866, and early in December the brick-work at the top of the arch had entered the mountain. The masonry was commenced about, twenty-five feet west of the point first selected, so that the open masonry will in fact be 200 feet long. About thirty feet of invert is left uncovered the present season, under an apprehension that the bricks on hand will only supply what will be wanted in the drift, in order to prosecute the work with dispatch. The invert has been properly protected, and its preservation may be expected.

At the beginning, the invert and the sides to the spring of the arch was laid with five courses of brick, and the arch with six. The masonry has been strengthened to meet the effect of the soft ground and increased pressure to eight bricks thick all round. Where rocks are found, it will be reduced at the bottom, and perhaps at the top.

The excavation of the drift is in progress and is carried on with two galleries. The lower one is of timber, and is at the bottom three feet below the grade of the road. This gallery is ten feet wide and ten feet high.

The upper gallery, also of timber, is ten feet wide and four feet high, and the space between the galleries is about ten feet. As the arch is driven in, the top of the invert is 4¹/₂ feet below the grade of the road, and 18 inches below the timber of the lower gallery. The top timbers of the upper gallery constitute the top timbers of the tunnel during the excavation. They are supported above the masonry and the arch is turned under them.

Side drains, six feet high and four feet wide, are excavated ahead of the galleries, to assist the drainage of the ground through which the galleries and tunnel are driven. The water from these drains is let into the tunnel through its sides, and runs out with the general drainage upon the invert below the road-bed. Holes are left in the invert at proper intervals to facilitate this drainage.

The side drains are hereafter to be filled with stone, which will constitute a blind drain, and also afford a proper support to the masonry.

The work at this point is of difficult prosecution, but the performance of the contract may be confidently expected.

The Brickyard.

Twenty-four thousand bricks can be moulded daily. The drying yard is 300 feet long and 120 feet wide. The kiln shed is 300 feet long and 50 feet wide, and of capacity to burn all the bricks that can be moulded. There are six brick machines, four of which are in use. They are driven by an engine, and used alternately, two each day. The making of bricks at the yard commenced June 26 and closed October 24, 1860. About 1,700,000 bricks were made, of which 80 per cent. are sufficiently hard for use in the tunnel, which is estimated to be sufficient to complete the 374 feet of tunnel now under contract.

The clay for the bricks is found near the yard, and hitherto a sufficiency of sand has been found in the vicinity; but it is less abundant than the clay.

Miscellaneous.

In addition to the property enumerated under the preceding heads, the State has at North Adams, a freight house, cashier's office, engineer's office, stable and two coal sheds, and opposite the West End on the Pittsfield and North Adams Railroad, an additional freight house. There are also two instrumental station houses on the east and west summits respectively, all of which are occupied by the State for the purposes of the enterprise. There is also one seven-horse engine and three small compressors. Tho State has also four mule teams, three of four, and one of two animals, making fourteen in all. There were also used on the work in the early part of the year, twelve or fourteen horses, employed in hauling clay, sand, wood, &c. Six of these have been sold to Mr. Farren, and the remainder are to be disposed of. To this enumeration should be added five horses and three or more carriages kept at the stable at North Adams for the transportation of the engineers, superintendent, master mechanic, &c., from point to point along the line of operations wherever their presence and services might be needed.

for the expense of keeping five horses, and the repairs; which is about five dollars per week in all. The charge for keeping horses at the stable in North Adams, is five dollars per week for feed; and the cost for the use of one horse and wagon from North Adams to the East End, is four dollars. These horses were also used to transport the commissioners and the committee visiting the tunnel, when required for that purpose.

The Road between the Tunnel and North Adams.

It is proposed to change the course of, the road as it emerges from the tunnel, and two lines have been surveyed, which, diverging near the approach cut, unite again about midway from thence to the village. The difference in length is about thirty feet. The northerly line is the least expensive to construct, and best favors the landholders on the route. It has the recommendation of the engineer, and the approval of the consulting engineer, and will probably be selected. There are reasons for an early location of this portion of the road which call for a prompt action in this behalf on the part of the commissioners, which will undoubtedly be taken.

The following table shows the expense of the tunnel and the land and works connected therewith under the administration of the commissioners, as found November 1, 1866:—

The following table shows the cost of the works under the classification of outside and inside expenditures, as given by the consulting engineer.

The exact correctness of any classification of the expenditures is not very important, inasmuch as the sum total is chargeable to the construction of the tunnel; but the Committee do not see the propriety of charging the engineering and superintendence exclusively to the outside expenditure. They have seen a classification which gave,—

General Summary of the Force Employed on the Tunnel,

Experiments.

The interest awakened by the magnitude of the undertaking to tunnel the Hoosac Mountain, and the anxiety manifested for its early completion, prompted the commissioners to the discovery of means to accelerate the progress of the work. Their attention was naturally directed to the operation of drilling, and with a view of improving upon the machine drill used at Mont Cenis; scientific mechanics have been employed to devise and construct a drill that should attain that end.

As a first step Gouch's patent of the hollow piston-rod, was purchased for New England, for the sum of five hundred dollars. After which, a Mr. Gardner was employed to construct a drill; but his efforts failed of success after an expenditure of thirteen hundred dollars. A Mr. Butler was engaged to devise a machine, but in the course of studying the subject, his health failed and his services were lost.

A Mr. Hanson completed a machine which promised some success; but on trial it proved a failure.

A second machine called the Brooks, Burleigh and Gates drill, was made under the direction of the commissioners at Fitchburg. This machine was put upon the works and used for several months.

A third machine, called the Burleigh drill, an improvement upon the preceding one, was next produced, which is now at the works on the East Heading.

About $13,000 was spent upon these experiments, resulting in the construction of the Brooks, Burleigh and Gates drill, and the manufacture of four of them. About one-half of this expenditure may be charged to these last drills; the other was unproductive of anything of value.

The Brooks, Burleigh and Gates drill was patented, but the Commonwealth has the right to use them in the construction of the tunnel.

These machines will now be described.

The Hanson Machine.

This machine has a cylinder and valve motion, similar to a steam-engine. The piston is hollow, the drill-bar which may be of any required length, passing through it, is moved with the piston, by means of four wedges or cams on each end of the piston; these cams are pressed on the drill-bar by means of sliding collars forced upon them by a complex arrangement operating alternately. The drill-bar is rotated by means of a ratchet operated by a spiral groove in the shield of the machine. The main difficulty in this machine was in the complex arrangement for forcing the collars upon the cams or wedges. It did not work well in a horizontal position. The machine consisted of one hundred and twenty pieces, and weighed five hundred and ninety-five pounds.

The Brooks, Burleigh and Gates Machine.

This machine has a hollow piston, the drill-holder being a screw passing through the piston, moving with it, and fed through it, by means of a nut on the end of the piston-rod. This nut is held by means of a cap or union nut, as it is called, the union nut being screwed on to the coupling, and the coupling nut screwed to the piston-rod. The feed-nut protrudes through the union nut, and is allowed to turn round in it. On the end of this feed-nut is a ratchet gear covered by a ratchet-band with an arm upon it, all moving with the piston. The ratchet arm moves up and down in a spiral groove, the groove being in a shield attached by screws to the cylinder; on the ratchet-band there is a pall and two springs, one under the other. One of the springs holds the pall in gear, the other holds it out of gear. As the piston moves down, the outer spring comes in contact with a trip which is on the shield and is lifted up, allowing the under spring to throw the pall into the ratchet, and as the piston is moved back, turns the nut round, thereby feeding the screw forward. At the extremity of its backward stroke, the pall comes in contact with another trip on the shield which lifts it out of gear, the outer spring having a catch upon it which holds the pall when thus lifted out. The rotary motion is given by a ratchet on the coupling-nut, covered by a ratchet-band the arm of which moves in a spiral groove in the shield similar to the other, only having a spring to hold the pall in the ratchet; this rotates all the parts on the piston except the ratchet-bands and cross-head. The latter is held between two check-nuts on the coupling-nut. To this cross-head is attached a bar which communicates with a valve which opens the port when the piston moves back, and shuts it when it moves forward; the air is always on during its backward stroke. The piston having a greater area on the forward than on the backward stroke, overcomes the backward pressure and moves the piston ahead, and when cut off, the continued pressure forces the piston back.

This machine is automatic; generally running until some portion of it is destroyed. No part of the machine has been found strong enough to withstand the friction upon it for any considerable portion of time. The union nut has proved its weakest point, and the breaking of this generally destroys that part of the piston to which it is attached. Another point of weakness is the feed ratchet-band, the springs of which are almost continually breaking.

The machine consists of eighty pieces; twenty-three of which are screws, fifteen pins, and seven pieces of cast iron. It weighs 240 pounds, runs about 200 strokes per minute, and costs about $400. Its longest run without breaking has been five days. The run of one of them two days without breaking during the time, is considered fortunate. The average breaking is more than one a day. A table showing the list of breakages will follow this description.

The piston-head of this machine has a diameter of 4⁵/₈ inches. The diameter of the piston-rod is 4 inches at the large end and 2¹/₄ at the small end.

So there are 12⁸⁷/₁₀₀ square inches of air area to drive the drill ahead into the rock, and 4²³/₁₀₀ to draw it out; but as the air is not taken off from the front end, the actual pressure is upon an area of the difference between the two, or 8⁶⁴/₁₀₀ square inches.

Table showing Number of Drilling-Machines Broken, &c.

About forty of the Brooks, Burleigh and Gates machines have been used at the tunnel; of these eight or ten were originally vertical, and intended for use at the Central Shaft. At the commencement of their use, the machines were new and had their best wear in them; there were from twenty to twenty-four at the beginning. In a short time they began to break down, but by putting on a large repair force and converting the vertical machines into horizontal ones, a fair supply was kept up for from two to three months, at the end of which time the greatest machine progress was attained, viz., fifty-four feet and six inches, in September. After that the progress diminished very much, and in proportion to the giving out of the machines. It is the opinion of the engineer that if a constant supply of machines could have been furnished, that the progress would have reached a point much beyond that obtained by hand labor; but with the stoppage of the supply, the number of machines that could be kept in working order was daily reduced, and at last it fell down to two or three, and finally, at times, none were in condition to work. The frames were, however, kept in the tunnel to await the completion of the Burleigh machine, the reception of which was retarded till late in October; much beyond the time anticipated by the commissioners, although the work of their construction was carried on continuously night and day. They came at intervals of several weeks, two at a time; the first of which were put into the tunnel on the thirty-first day of October. Through the month of December, four of these machines were at work.

The Burleigh Machine.

Has a solid piston (so called,) which has a hole in its back end to allow the feed-screw to pass in without touching; the drill is secured to this piston. On the back end of the piston is a section of a ball used as a cam, which works the valve and the feed-motion. The valve is rotated by a rod lying on the band of the cylinder; upon this rod are two cams which perforate the band of the cylinder. The action of the piston brings the ball on its end in contact with these cams, rocking them up and down; the rod to which they are secured being connected with the valve, imparts to that its motion. This machine is fed altogether on ways, or a bed-piece, upon which is the feed-screw; the feed-nut is upon the end of the cylinder-band. To this feed-nut is attached a feed-ratchet, which is held between two collars, allowing it to turn round. Upon the cylinder-band is a lever, one end of which passes through the band; upon the other end is a pall. The motion of the piston raises the lever up, pressing the end containing the pall against the ratchet which turns the nut on the feed-screw, thus moving the machine forward. The rotating ratchet is in the band of the cylinder and has a spline in it, and a pall on its outside. The piston having a spiral groove is turned by this ratchet as it moves down. On the return of the piston, the pall drops into the ratchet and then the piston is turned. The piston is not encumbered with any machinery, and moves alone; its area of air is greater on the forward than on the backward stroke; the alternation of the valve admits the air. The machine, like the one last described, contains eighty pieces; it has the same number of screws and pins, and weighs 372 pounds including the ways or bed-piece; without the ways its weight is 212 pounds. Its number of strokes is about 300 per minute, and its blow somewhat lighter than that of the other. This machine is not entirely automatic; the feed-motion not working regular; when it does not, it is fed by hand, which is a simple process.

These machines stand the work much better than those first made at Fitchburg. Their average time in the tunnel without repairs in the interval, is about five days; they have needed repairs in two days; one remained at work fourteen days. They accomplish double the work without repairs that those do which were made after the previous pattern. There is a further advantage in using the Burleigh machines; their breaking, when it occurs, is not very serious, the injured parts consisting mainly of cams, can generally be replaced at the tunnel; whereas for the repairs on the Brooks, Burleigh and Gates machine, the dependence to a very great extent has been upon the machine shop at Fitchburg.

The piston-head of this machine has a diameter of 4²⁵/₁₀₀ inches. The diameter of the piston-rod is at the large end, 3 inches, at the small end, 2⁷⁵/₁₀₀ inches.

So the number of inches of air area, is 8²⁰/₈₀₀ when the drill is propelled upon the rock, and 7⁷/₁₀₀ when returning from it.

A full complement of men to work the machines first used, would be, perhaps, thirteen. Mr. Gates, who superintended their operation in the first instance, began with fourteen, but they were reduced to thirteen. The Burleigh machine practically requires feeding, and a full set at work would probably demand fifteen men for their successful operation.

The value of these machines has not yet been ascertained. The Committee are of opinion that when a full complement shall have been obtained, so that the workmen can have at all times a full supply upon the frames, that greater progress can be obtained by them than by hand drilling; and after a few months operation, the cost of using them, in comparison with hand labor, can be fairly tested. But as the Brooks, Burleigh and Gates machine has been abandoned, no useful results would be obtained by comparing the expenses within the tunnel during the months of July, August and September, with three corresponding months when hand drilling was carried on, and no satisfactory comparison can be made between the working of the Burleigh machine and hand drilling, until a sufficient number of machines has been introduced into the tunnel to keep the men fully employed. It is to be hoped that machines sufficient to make the test may be soon obtained, and that this desirable information may be made known.

The introduction of the first machine into the tunnel, before its capacity, strength, and expense of working had been fully tested, was unfortunate, inasmuch as its use there delayed the progress of the work. The second machine gives such promise of success, that it will be continued in use in the tunnel until a fair test has been made. But should the Burleigh machine prove unsuccessful, and further attempts with machines be attempted, the Committee recommend that their usefulness be tested outside of the tunnel, and meanwhile the excavation with hand drills be resumed.

Experiments with Dr. Ehrhardt's Powder.

The first blast was fired in the tunnel at the East End on the 20th of November, but owing to the presence of charcoal or some other substance in the article, a poisonous gas was evolved which effected the miners disagreeably, and drove them from the work. The subsequent experiments at this point were not satisfactory, and were discontinued, and subsequently resumed at the Central Shaft, where it was used most of the time for a week, varying its composition from time to time. At the close of the week, while preparing for the last blast, a premature explosion took place, resulting in the death of one of the miners, and the injury of three or four others.

The material result of this experiment was as follows:—With 261 days' work and 139¹/₂ lbs. of powder, 202 buckets of stone were removed; while in the preceding week, using common powder (schaghticoke) with 251³/₄ days' labor and 236 lbs. of powder, 168 buckets of stone were taken out. The cost of the experimental powder is about twice as expensive as the common powder, and its superior strength is apparent from the above result.

Experiments with Nitro-Glycerine.

During the summer, some experiments have been made with this explosive agent. A quantity, costing $934.29, was brought to the works by Colonel Schaffner, who exhibited the action of the material in various ways, with a view of testing its power, and the comparative safety of introducing it instead of powder. After repeated trials outside of the works, during which about three-fifths of the material was consumed, it was introduced into the tunnel at the West Shaft with the following result: It was used for three days at the East heading of the West Shaft; the advance made in the heading was for the time, 14¹/₂ feet;—being an advance of 4.82 feet per day, and at the rate of 125.33 feet per month.

The progress made at the West Shaft on the East heading the present year, ending December 31, 1866, is 626 feet and 8 inches. This progress was somewhat lessened by the influx of water in December. The monthly advance has been 52 feet and 2 inches. The average of the eleven months ending with November is 53 feet and 6 inches. Assuming the progress made with glycerine during the three days of its use to be obtainable throughout the year, the monthly progress, using that material, would be 120 feet and 10 inches, on a calculation of twenty-five days to a month, which would give an annual advance of 1,450 feet.

Without vouching for results so favorable to the progress of the work, it is impossible to overlook the importance of the experiment; and the Committee are of opinion that this material, if it can be procured, should be introduced into the tunnel and shafts, and a thorough experiment made, in order to determine whether it can be used with an advantage even approximating to that shown by the first trial.

Experience has proved that the rock at the Hoosac Mountain is of a peculiar character: comparatively easy to drill, but extremely hard to displace, and that its advantageous excavation requires a strong explosive agent. The difference in the use of weak and strong powder is at once observed, and the effect of simultaneous blasting, by the aid of electricity, is proved by the increased progress of the work since it has been used. It would seem evident, then, without the aid of experiment, that an explosive agent, possessing eight times the power of common powder, would be a valuable auxiliary to this undertaking; and that if such an one could be obtained, and safely used, no time should be lost in procuring a supply.

The use of nitro-glycerine in England is not uncommon; its components are well known; and the Committee are informed that it might be advantageously manufactured at any point where it is used.

Electrical Firing.

The experiment of simultaneous blasting by electricity has been made with admitted success. The increased progress in the Central Shaft from an average of about 18¹/₂ to 23 feet per month, demonstrates its utility, and will undoubtedly insure the continuance of that mode of firing in preference to the method formerly practised.

The Troy and Greenfield Railroad.

The completion of the railroad from Greenfield to the tunnel has been contracted for with B. N. Farren, for the sum of $545,000, exclusive of the cost of depot buildings, turn-tables, and engineering expenses. The road to be opened for travel to Shelburne Falls by the 15th of November, 1867, and to the tunnel by the 15th of July, 1868. A lease of the same has been executed to the Fitchburg and the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad Companies, at a rent of $30,000 per year, to expire on the completion of the tunnel, or whenever the work on the same shall be stopped, by competent authority.

Mr. Farren commenced work under his contract about the 20th of October. At this time there were about four miles of track,—exclusive of that which had to be removed with the trestle-bridges,—built by Mr. Haupt. Some portions of the track were in fair condition; but the larger part of it must be relaid. Many of the ties are of hemlock; they are all decayed and must be removed, and new ones substituted. None of the bridges were strong enough to be used, and the timber of which they were constructed is too much decayed to be used for building purposes: There is on hand in addition to the track laid, chairs, or connecting joints, sufficient to lay five miles of rails; also about ten thousand chestnut ties. Such of these as had been properly piled are sound. Many of them, however, are so much decayed, as to be unfit for use.

The road-bed has in many places been injured by rain and frost. At exposed points near the river, it is entirely destroyed. Comparatively speaking, there was little masonry on the line. With the exception of one pier, the bridge masonry at Green River will be taken down. All the deep ravines were crossed by trestle work, and consequently there were but few culverts. Of these some small ones are still standing in good condition. Of the bank wall built, about one-half remains,—the remainder has either fallen down, or will be taken down and rebuilt.

Very little alteration will be made in the general location of the line or its gradients. The curvature will be very much modified and improved. Some sharp and reversed curves will be entirely saved by the substitution of straight lines. Others, where the expense of reduction is not very heavy, will be materially changed. The alterations below Shelburne Falls are substantially as follows:—

The same plan for improving the line above the falls will be pursued, so that when completed, the road combining the alignment with the gradients will, in the judgment of the engineer, be "superior for doing economically a heavy traffic, to any railroad in New England which runs east and west."

At Green River there will be substituted for Mr. Haupt's bridge of 700 feet built on a curved line one of 470 feet, to be constructed on a straight line. The remainder of the ravine to be made a solid embankment. All the bridges on the line are to be "Howe's Truss," and equal in strength and durability to any in New England.

The trestle-work has been removed, and the ravines where it was placed are being filled with substantial masonry and solid embankments.

On the first day of November Mr. Farren had about fifty men employed; on the first day of December, two hundred and seventy-five, and on the 14th of December, when one of the Committee visited the line, he had over three hundred.

About one-third of the masonry for Green River bridge has been built, and the stone is quarried for the other bridges. Nearly one thousand yards of culvert masonry and three hundred yards of bank wall have been constructed, and from forty to fifty thousand yards of earth removed.

The timber for Green River bridge is sawed and will be framed in January. The material for all the bridges below Shelburne Falls has been contracted for, to be delivered early in the spring. Twenty thousand ties have been purchased, together with posts and boards for fences. The work at the rock-cut near Shelburne Falls will be commenced in the month of January.

On the line below Shelburne Falls, there will remain in the road, the following sharp curves, to wit: In the track as laid and not disturbed, four of six degrees, and in the remainder of the line, six of six degrees, three of seven, and two of eight. One of the eight degree curves, is through a long heavy cut, and cannot be reduced without great expense. The other is near the Deerfield River crossing, where all trains will be required to run slow. It cannot be avoided without a tunnel or a curve over the entire bridge. The three seven degree curves occur in heavy rock-cuttings, and these are all the sharp curves that are contained in a space of thirteen miles.

Above Shelburne Falls the alignment and grades are more favorable. From the tunnel to the Deerfield River crossing, below Shelburne Falls, a distance of twenty-two miles, there is but one ascending grade going east; its location is about two miles west of the falls; it is one-half mile in length, and is thirty-five feet to the mile. Within the same space going east, there are the following descending grades, to wit: One of forty-five feet per mile for 2,000 feet, one of forty feet for 6,000 feet, one of twenty-eight feet for 2,500 feet, and one, near the village of Shelburne Falls, of fifty feet per mile for 5,300 feet. The remaining grades are from five to twenty feet per mile.

The sharp curves remaining after the proposed improvements will be as follows, to wit: Near the depot grounds at Shelburne, and running through the village, there is necessarily one eight degree curve, and on the seventeen miles between the falls and the tunnel, there occur thirteen six degree curves. A slight change in laying the track will increase the radius of these curves to 1,000 feet. This in some cases can be done.

The county commissioners have been called out and have made an adjudication in regard to the public crossings and alterations of highways between Greenfield and Shelburne Falls.

The whole work below the falls is under good progress, and is being prosecuted with great vigor. The laying of the track can be commenced as early in the spring as the season will admit, and its extension to Shelburne Falls, may, in the opinion of the engineer, be expected early in October.

It appears from the foregoing, that of the work now in progress on the road and tunnel, their is performed by contract,—the construction of the railroad from Greenfield to the East End of the tunnel; the enlargements east and west in the tunnel at the West Shaft; the excavation of the New Shaft; and the arch masonry and excavation at the West End; while the work at the East End, at the Central Shaft, the heading and lifting at the West Shaft, the lifting at the New Shaft, and the work at the brickyard has been performed by the State. No criterion has been afforded enabling the Committee to determine upon the comparative economy of the different modes of operation.

The commissioners in their able report in 1863, speaking of the manner of constructing the tunnel, say: "It would not be wise nor according to any precedent for the State to expect to get the work done at the contract price if it should turn out to cost more. It would certainly get no abatement if the price was found to be exorbitant. We are clearly of the opinion that it should not be constructed by contract, excepting in so far as parts of the work may be in detail to the men actually at work upon it, and even such contracts should' not be permanent in their character." That the commissioners in April last entertained the idea of inaugurating and continuing the contract system so far as the same should prove economical for the State, satisfactorily appears in the following letter:

BOSTON April 25, 1866.

Hon. Tappan Wentworth, Chairman of Hoosac Tunnel and Troy and Greenfield Railroad Committee.

Dear Sir:—Hearing that questions have arisen in regard to the propriety of contracting the work upon the Hoosac Tunnel, it may not be improper for me to say that that subject (contemplated in the Act of 1863,) has for a long time engaged the serious attention of the commissioners, who have already a contract for constructing a portion of the West End, before the governor and council, awaiting their approval under section 3 of chapter 214 of the Acts of 1863.

When the economic value of their new facilities shall be demonstrated, they expect further to avail of this system 80 far as the interest of the State (as represented by the rapid, economical and certain progress of the work,) shall warrant.

While the high prices now prevailing will probably render the letting of large jobs at this time injudicious, they are not of short contracts, or of letting portions of the work to the miners by the piece.

Very truly yours,
J. W. Brooks, Chairman.

The Committee coincide with the views of the commissioners. And the justness of their remarks, that the State must not expect to have the work done at less than its cost, is borne out by the operations under the contract for the West End enlargement, where the State has increased the contract from four to seven dollars and fifty cents a perch, in order to insure the miners a compensation for their labor.

It may be proper to state in this connection, that the labor done upon the road and tunnel by early contractors, has not tended to a "rapid, economical and certain progress of the work," and that if even the whole work should be put under contract, the interest of the Commonwealth would require the continuance of a commission, and the services of an engineer of the highest skill and integrity to superintend its performance in order to avoid a loss and damage similar to that which occurred to the State while the work was under the nominal control of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad corporation.

The retirement of all the gentlemen who comprised the board of commissioners, first appointed under the legislation of 1862, affords the Committee an opportunity to acknowledge the eminent talent and ability which they respectively possessed for the discharge of the important duties assigned to them, and to bear testimony to the industry and intelligence displayed in their elaborate and comprehensive report upon the subject of the railroad and tunnel in 1863. It was fortunate for the State in that crisis in the affairs of this enterprise to be able to command so much practical information upon a question so interesting and important, and at the same time so difficult of solution.

But in addition to the duty of furnishing an opinion of the feasibility and mode of constructing the tunnel, and of the propriety of opening this line of railway communication with the West, the commission was instituted to carry on and superintend a most important and difficult public work, involving the expenditure of several million dollars. Yet each of the gentlemen composing the board was engaged in other duties requiring substantially their whole time and attention. Under these circumstances their personal observance of the progress of the work could not be given to a degree satisfactory to the public, or essential to the interests of the State, and the responsibility of the operations came to devolve upon the engineer at the works, and the chairman of the commissioners in Boston. These irksome labors were discharged with diligent faithfulness, and as the event has proved with a physical suffering to one of them that has called forth a general expression of regret and sorrow.

By chapter 214 of the Acts of 1863, the governor is authorized to draw his warrant on the treasurer for such sums as may be required, from time to time, by the commissioners, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of law for the completion of the tunnel and railroad. The commissioners under this enactment have made monthly requisitions upon the governor, transmitting at the same time vouchers for the expenses of the preceding month; and upon this information and requisition the warrants have been drawn. By the 293 chapter of the Acts of 1866, a general supervision of the work is vested in the governor and council, with power to "correct abuses, remedy defects, and impose and enforce requirements in such manner as the interests of the Commonwealth shall, in their judgment, require." As the commissioners exercise a delegated power, there would have been a manifest propriety in requiring of them, from time to time, a report upon the progress of the work, and of their own doings even under the Act 1863, so that the governor might have been more fully provided with information touching the necessity of the requisitions. But under the Act of 1866, it appears essential that the commissioners should report monthly to the governor and council the general plan of operations pursued, the progress of the work, and the manner and extent of their own superintendence of the same.

The Committee are therefore of opinion that the commission should be reorganized in such manner that the State could command the whole time of its members: that a greater degree of personal attention should be given by them to the work than it has heretofore received: that the commissioners should keep minutes of their doings which shall be open to the inspection of the governor and council, and the appropriate legislative committee: that their monthly communications to the governor and council should embrace, in addition to the past, and the requisition for the current month, a report of the operations, the progress of the work during the previous, month, and the manner and extent of their own superintendence of the same.

The Committee are also of opinion that a due regard to economy in conducting the enterprise requires that the commissioners should at once, by experiment, ascertain the probable time required to excavate the enlargement of the tunnel, and that the work upon the enlargement be regulated and pursued with a view of avoiding any unnecessary delay in operating the road after the heading is removed.

In concluding this Report, the Committee cannot forbear to express their obligations to Mr. Doane, the engineer in charge of the work, for the assistance rendered by him in aid of their labors, nor withhold their approbation of the faithful and able manner in which he has discharged the duties of his office, so far as they have come under their observation. The Committee are indebted to Mr. Hill, the superintendent of labor, for his uniform attention during their examinations, and they fully recognize his capacity for his position, and his interest in the operations. They are likewise indebted to Mr. Hall, the intelligent master of the machine shop, for very valuable information concerning his particular department. And also to Mr. Field, the able and efficient engineer of the railroad, for a very satisfactory report upon that portion of the work under his direction.

TAPPAN WENTWORTH,
———- ———-, [A]
WILLIAM L. REED,
Of the Senate.
MOSES KIMBALL,
GEORGE B. LORING,
SYLVANDER JOHNSON,
B. F. TAFT,
E. H. CHISHOLM,
SILAS JONES,
JAMES R. GLADWIN,
Of the House.

[A] Hon. Alvah Crocker has not acted on the Committee since his appointment upon the commission.

[APPENDIX.]

[A.]

Sketch of the Proceedings of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Corporation, from its organization to the surrender of the Road under the mortgage, and the adoption of the work by the Commonwealth.

The charter of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad, was granted in 1848, and authorized the construction of a railroad with one or more tracks, from a point on the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad, at or near Greenfield, to some point on the line of New York or Vermont, convenient to meet or connect with any railroad that may be constructed from any point at or near the city of Troy, on the Hudson River in the State of New York. Its capital stock was limited at $3,500,000.

The corporation was authorized to contract with the owners of any contiguous railroad leading into or from either of the States of Vermont or New York, for the use of the whole or any part thereof, or for the running and operating the two railroads conjointly, or for the leasing of such contiguous road, or for any other road, or for the letting or hiring of their own road to the owners of such contiguous road, or of any other road which composes a part of the railroad line between the cities of Boston and Troy, of which the Troy and Greenfield Railroad shall be a part.

The first meeting under the charter was held June I, 1848, at which subscription papers were voted to be issued and circulated, in order to organize the corporation. In 1849, March 16, the subscribers to the stock held their first meeting, and organized under the charter.

At the annual meeting, February 6, 1850, the stock was apportioned among the neighboring towns as follows:-

It was also voted to apportion the directors among the towns in the following manner, to wit:—

North Adams, 3; Florida, Rowe, Heath and Monroe, 1; Colrain, Buckland and Hawley, 1; Shelburne, 1; Greenfield, Deerfield and Conway, 3; Williamstown and Whitingham, 2; Charlemont, 1; and one director at large.

Before the annual meeting in 1850, the directors had voted to assess three per cent. upon each share of the capital stock. This vote was passed April 11, 1849, and on the first day of October in the same year, they voted that the construction of the road from the State line at Pownal, Vermont, to Adams, and from Greenfield to Shelburne Falls, be put under contract as soon as sufficient subscription shall have been obtained therefore, and that the two ends aforesaid shall be constructed simultaneously.

1850, January 28, the treasurer had received the sum of $2,203.94, and had paid out on bills approved by the president, $2,203.57, leaving a balance in the treasury of $0.37.

Sundry assessments amounting in all to 75 per cent. upon the subscriptions, were afterwards voted, the last on the 6th of May, 1852. These assessments were rescinded by a vote passed July 23, 1858, and it also voted that the several amounts heretofore paid by individual stockholders, except on assessment laid April 11, 1849, be credited to their several accounts on assessments now or hereafter to be made.

1850, October 28, the contract with Messrs. Gilman and Carpenter, was ratified, and on the 29th, the president was authorized to execute it.

The Committee have not found this contract nor any record stating its provisions.

December 27, 1850, a committee reported that the whole amount of stock subscribed, was $250,800, of which $7,200 was payable in land damages and materials for the road; and that Messrs. Gilmore and Carpenter had subscribed for 500 shares of stock, to wit, $50,000.

On the 7th day of January, 1851, the directors voted to break ground the next day, and on the 27th of May in the same year, they voted to expend a sum not exceeding $25,000, in experiments upon the east side of the mountain, at or near the mouth of the proposed tunnel.

In 1851, the corporation petitioned the legislature for a loan of the State credit for two million dollars; but the application was unsuccessful.

The failure to secure the aid of the Commonwealth, appears not to have discouraged the corporation, for on the 7th of August, 1851, the directors voted that they would proceed forthwith from Adams to the New York line, and simultaneously incur all the necessary expenses to make thorough experiments with such machines as promise to facilitate the construction of the tunnel, and when the road is begun from Greenfield, it shall be after an arrangement is made to construct it to the foot of the mountain in Florida and connect in some way with the road at North Adams.

The Troy and Greenfield Railroad Corporation having directed its attention to a connection with the Troy and Boston Railroad Company through a portion of the State of Vermont, and a charter having been obtained from the legislature of Vermont, incorporating the Southern Vermont Railroad Company, whereby such connection could be made, a committee of the directors of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company and of the Southern Vermont Railroad Company made an agreement, subject to the modification or ratification of the stockholders of each company, "that the stock of both of said companies and their franchises from said Greenfield to the west line of Pownal, in the State of Vermont, shall become and be one joint, consolidated stock and interest, with equal and common rights and privileges to the stockholders of both companies;" it being understood that an application shall be made to the legislature of Vermont for a change of the name and style of the joint corporation mentioned in the said Act of the Vermont legislature. This report was made to the board of directors, and it was voted that the same "be accepted and adopted, recorded and placed on file." Subsequently the Southern Vermont Railroad was leased to the Troy and Greenfield Corporation on a perpetual lease for $12,000 per year; and the 21st of April, 1860, it was purchased by the Troy and Greenfield Corporation for the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, with money advanced to the last named corporation by the Commonwealth. In the report of the commissioners on the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel, the Southern Vermont Railroad is estimated to have cost from $110,000 to to $125,000 only.

In 1858, another application was made to the legislature for a loan, but with the same result as in 1851. In both instances, committees reported in favor of the application.

In 1854, the application was renewed, and was successful. The Act was passed on the fifth day of April, 1854. By the first section, the treasurer was authorized to issue scrip, as certificates of debt, for the sum of two million dollars, to be expressed in the currency of Great Britain or in federal currency, as the directors of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad should elect, to bear an interest of five per cent., payable semi-annually, and redeemable in thirty years, for the purpose of enabling the Troy and Greenfield Company to construct a tunnel and railroad under and through the Hoosac Mountain, in some place between the "Great Bend" in Deerfield River, in the town of Florida, at the base of 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. The scrip was to be delivered to the treasurer of said Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company in the manner and upon the conditions following:—$100,000, when it should appear to the satisfaction of the governor and council that said company had obtained subscriptions to their capital stock in the sum of $600,000, and twenty per cent. upon each and every share of said six: hundred thousand dollars should have actually been paid in, and seven miles of their railroad and one thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel under the Hoosac, in one or more sections, of size sufficient for one or more railroad tracks, should have been completed.

$100,000, when ten miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and ten thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, should be completed.

$100,000, when fifteen miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and three thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, should be completed.

$100,000, when twenty miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and four thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections should be completed.

$100,000, when twenty-five miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and five thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, should be completed.

$100,000, when thirty miles of their railroad, in one or two sections, and six thousand lineal feet of their tunnel, should be completed.

$100,000, when thirty-two miles of their railroad, in one or two sections, including all the line east of Florida, and seven thousand lineal feet of their tunnel, in one or more sections, should be completed; and for each additional portion or portions of said tunnel of fifteen hundred feet, in one or more sections, completed by said company, $100,000, subject to the condition that the last $200,000 should be reserved until said company, or their successors, should open their railroad for use from Greenfield to the line of the State in Williamstown; and subject also to the condition, that, prior to the second delivery of scrip, thirty per cent. of the same shall have been paid in cash to the treasurer of the company by the stockholders thereof, in addition to the $120,000 to be paid prior to the delivery of any scrip; and that upon each application for scrip, in pursuance of the law, and prior to the delivery thereof, thirty per cent. of the scrip then applied for shall have been paid by the stockholders to the treasurer of the company until the $600,000 subscribed for has been paid by the stockholders.

The Act further provided, that the treasurer of the company, within three months from the receipt of any scrip, should pay to the commissioners of the sinking fund created by the Act, ten per cent. on the amount of scrip so taken as a sinking fund; and after the road should be opened for use, twenty-five thousand dollars should be annually paid to said commissioners for the same purpose.

The Act further provided, that the said company should execute an assignment, as a pledge or mortgage on the railroad, with its franchise property and income, conditioned to pay the principal sum of said scrip, or so much thereof as the sinking fund should be insufficient to pay, and the interest, as the same became due; and that said company should assign all the interest it then had, or might afterwards obtain, in the Southern Vermont Railroad Company.

In 1855, the legislature authorized certain towns on the line,—to wit: Ashfield, Buckland, Conway, Colrain, Charlemont, Deerfield, Greenfield, Hawley, Heath, Rowe, Shelburne, Adams, Florida, and Williamstown,—to subscribe three per cent. on their valuation, respectively, to the capital stock. This Act was not fully complied with on the part of the towns, and $125,000 only is reported to have been realized from that source.

In 1855 a contract with E. W. Serrell to construct the work was reported to and accepted by the directors. This contract does not appear among the papers of the corporation, and its terms cannot be stated.

At the same time the capital stock of the corporation was by a vote increased to $1,500,000, and a location designated as the east line on the railroad near Cheapside was adopted. This singular resolution was also passed:—

Resolved, That the direction of the engineering operations within the Hoosac Tunnel after the location of the line is adopted, and plans perfected for the same, be left with the contractor, excepting the measurements for monthly and final estimates and the final acceptance of the work.

1855, July 18. Mr. Serrell having proposed to subscribe the sum of $600,000 (less the amount of the new subscription made by others,) provided the company would make such allowances as would enable him to dispose of the proposed issue of $900,000 of bonds advantageously, the directors voted to add $300,000 to the contract prices of the work, and that said $900,000 bonds as provided by the contract should be issued as soon as authorized by the stockholders, and placed in bank by the trustees to the credit of such persons as shall deposit against the same cash or railroad iron equal in value to sixty-five cents on the dollar. The said bonds to be taken by said Serrell at par and so estimated in his contract.

At this time sixteen hundred and thirty-five shares of new stock had been subscribed, amounting to $163,500.

The trustees alluded to in the foregoing vote were selected by a committee appointed for the purpose, and with power to execute to them a mortgage. They were J. V. C. Smith, Paul Adams and John G. Davis, all of Boston. The mortgage was executed, and is known in the history of the road as the "Smith mortgage." A resolution explanatory of this transaction was passed August 16, 1855, in the following words:—

"Resolved, That, whereas by the terms of the provisions of the resolution of July 18, 1855, by which it is provided that the bonds of the company to be issued, are to be placed in bank, &c.; therefore, as explanatory thereto, be it

Resolved, That it is not intended thereby to prevent the operation of the contract, but that the said bonds are to be delivered to Serrell & Co., on the warrant of the engineer, countersigned by the president and treasurer, whenever the engineer shall draw therefore on monthly or final estimates."

1856, February 7. The president reported to the directors that a contract had been redrafted and concluded with Messrs. Serrell, Haupt & Co., which was read, accepted and ratified, and the committee discharged. This contract was probably dated January 31, 1856, but the Committee have not been able to find it among the papers of the corporation.

1856, May 22. The directors voted, that in case Messrs. Serrell, Haupt & Co., would enter into an agreement to carry on the work of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, in compliance with the terms and conditions of the loan Act, until 2,000 feet of the tunnel should be completed, the corporation would substitute bonds instead of stock in all payments to be made on account of work to be done to that time.

The treasurer was authorized to give the acceptance or notes of the company, to an extent equal to the whole indebtedness of the company to said contractors, upon which to raise money to carry on the work.

That the company would pay or allow to said contractors all discounts or losses to which they might be required to submit, provided such discounts or losses did not exceed the rate of 15 per cent. per annum.

That the trustees of the mortgage bonds should deliver to Mr. Herman Haupt one hundred thousand dollars in the bonds of the company in addition to payments due for work, said bonds to be sold or hypothecated by him, and the proceeds applied to the work. The bonds to be charged on account of the contract if not returned when the second payment from the State shall have been made.

1856, July 28. H. Haupt and W. A. Galbraith notified a dissolution of the firm of Serrell, Haupt & Co., and proposed to enter into a new contract.

E. W. Serrell notified that Messrs. Haupt and Galbraith were authorized to surrender the old contract.

The stock subscription of Edward W. Serrell and E. W. Serrell & Co., was transferred to H. Haupt & Co., the latter to furnish a guarantee that the assessments due and to become due should be paid.

E. W. Serrell resigned his office as a director in the company, and was appointed consulting engineer. W. A. Galbraith was chosen a director.

1865, July 30. A contract was made with Herman Haupt, William A. Galbraith, C. B. Duncan and Henry Cartwright for the construction of the road and tunnel. The firm name of the contractors was H. Haupt & Co. By the provisions of the contract all work done under previous contracts with E. W. Serrell or Serrell, Haupt & Co., was to be credited to H. Haupt & Co., and all payments under said contracts were to be charged to H. Haupt & Co., and credited to the Troy and Greenfield Railroad. "The road from the eastern terminus at or near Greenfield from some convenient point on the Vermont and Massachusetts line, as the same now is or hereafter be located," is assumed to be in all about forty-two miles in length.

"This contract includes the graduation, tunneling, masonry and bridging, superstructure, fencing, depot buildings, switches, turn-tables, water and fixtures, and in fine all labor and materials necessary for the construction of the road are included in this contract." The right of way to be provided and paid for by the railroad company. The work to be completed and finished in the best manner, for which the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company agreed to pay H. Haupt & Co., "the sum of three millions eight hundred and eighty-three thousand dollars in manner following, to wit: Two millions of dollars in the bonds of the State of Massachusetts, to be issued under the Act by which the credit of the said State is loaned to said corporation, nine hundred thousand dollars in the six per cent. mortgage bonds of said company, five hundred and ninety-eight thousand dollars in the capital stock of said Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, and three hundred and eighty-two thousand dollars in cash." The work of constructing and completing the road was to be done in compliance with the loan Act of April, 1854. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be expended by the contractors in depot buildings and necessary rolling stock, cars, engines, &c. under the direction of the board of directors. The stock subscription of E. W. Serrell and of Serrell & Co., amounting to five thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven shares, was to be transferred and assumed by Haupt & Co., payable in compliance with said Loan Act with the understanding that the assessments on the stock were to be paid by the performance of this contract in stock credits as provided in the contract, and the stock taken by the contractors at par.

This contract further provided, that on the receipt of the several installments of State bonds, the contractors should pay to the sinking fund the ten per cent. specified in the Loan Act, in consideration of which Haupt & Co. should retain whatever sums was realized from the exchange and premium on the bonds. The payments were to be made monthly, on estimate of the company's engineer. The cost of the materials and work upon the line, exclusive of the Hoosac Tunnel and its approaches, was assumed to be one million eight hundred and eighty thousand dollars, and the estimates were to be made in the relative proportion that the part done bore "to the whole amount of materials and work to be furnished, and done at the price named." The Hoosac Tunnel and its approaches were estimated at two million dollars for a double track, and the monthly estimates were to be in proportion to the amount of work done on the approaches, and the length of tunnel excavated.

The contract further provided, that, with the assent of both parties, the tunnel might be constructed for a single track, in which case no abatement was to be made for the first three thousand feet; but for the excavation beyond that point, the sum of twelve dollars per lineal foot was to be deducted from the contract price.