Trans portation No More Coaches for Yelowstone Tourists Photo by Press. New York Times (1857-Current file); Apr 29, 1917; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times pg. 56 No More Coaches for Yellowstone Tourists Motor Cars Will Replace the Picturesque but Uncomfortable Vehicles Which Have Been Used by the Sightseers Heretofore This Is the Way Travelers Have Been Enjoying the Great National Park. Photo BOUT the last place in the world scenic sections of the reservation, places A where coaches are operating of tremendous interest to which the is in the Yellowstone Na- coaches could not travel because of the tional Park, but on June 20 great distance. It will now be possible next these comfortable re- for tourists to make headquarters it any be replaced by 150 ten-passenger and ii) be possible to go through the park in two minders of a less hectic of the hotels and.reach all such points in six-passenger White touring cars. days is not a reason why it is best to period will be cast aside, together with comparatively short time. This feature of the park astonishes do so. Hundreds of tourists make the about 2,000 coach horses, and in their The animals of the park are less an most travelers. They form, as a rule, no trip three times as rapidly as they would place will be luxurious and speedy auto- noyed. it is said, by automobiles than idea of its perfection or its magnitude. were they aware that they could remain mobiles. Tourists have shown that they by the coaches and horses. A man who For example, there have been coaches comfortably for months. When it is bet. desire this sort of transportation, and has driven a car through the park as- enough to accommodate a thousand tour ter known, people will travel there more Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the In- serts that he motored to the Summer ists for a continuous journey of ten days. leisurely. Even now, parents with little terior, has authorized the change. Auto- ranges, where the elk, deer. antelope. Here. too, were 2,000 horses, all of which children sometimes leave them at a hotel mobiles, by their greater speed, will be a mountain sheep. buffalo, and bear stay. could be harnessed in twenty-four hours, in charge of nurses. and receive nessages convenience to tourists having but a short and that last Summer he left some choco- and, since the park is SO remote. here by telephone every day to inform them time at their disposal, and also to those. late and sandwiches one night in the also were the company's blacksmith and how they are. An important considera. infirm in health, who have found the long car. A bear took the door off the car, repair shops, which will now be trans- tion, also, for invalids is the fact that stage rides fatiguing. because the chocolate was in a pocket of formed into garages. skilled surgeons are always accessible. The new method of transportation will the door, and on another occasion the Within the stables have been the beau- Some years ago there was a movement also permit travelers to pass hurriedly tifui varnished coaches, varying in cost on foot to build nn electric line for tour- upholstery of the automobile was torn by the less interesting places, spending off by another animal in search of some- from one to several thousand dollars, and ist transportation within the park. It more time where they most wish to be. made in Concord, N. H., 2,500 miles was at once apparent that the objections thing tasty. It will bc possible to go through the park away. On one of these n tourist read to such a line were much less formidable in two days, and, if. a longer trip is was driving my machine through the number 13 % than to one operated by steam loco- undertaken, tourists-may urrange to visit the park at night not long ago," said Why did you add the fraction? his motives. The danger of fire was elimi. the remotest parts of the reservation Huntley Child of the Yellowstone Park inquired of the manager of transporta- nated. The unsightly character of an which have been inaccessible to ordinary Transportation Company, and missed tion. ordinary railway outfit would be CY- vehicles. by a short distance a hand of about fifty Because some travelers would not changed for attractive tourist cars, The Touring cars will carry visitors within elk. I missed one elk by less than a fool. take a number 18 coach." he replied. power plant being located in canyons and the girdle of the park's snow-capped I blew my siren, but there was no traffic 'They feared it breakdown or a tumble operated by water would give no outward peaks, two-thirds across the continent, cop there, and the whole band crossed into the river; so I put on the half to evidence of its existence There being hidden away in the heart of the Rocky the road in front of inc. At night you take ill-luck away." no long trains of cars, no smoke. no Mountains, 8,000 feet above the level of can see their eyes a mile away. If you Most Americans have little idea whether sereeching of locomotives, the game, it the sea, while they look upon a constant are coming toward them in a machine the driving distance in the park is ten was thought, would not be much more series of stupendous sights-a blending they won't move. You simply have to miles or a hundred. Especially are they frightened by it than by the stage of the beautiful and terrific, the strange stop. I think the lights must hypnotize ignorant of the fact that they may leave coaches. In Winter, it was argued, traf- them." and sublime. The Greater Yellowstone the automobiles at any point, remain at fic would be suspended and the game Park will be about the size of the State of The mode of travel through the park a hotel or camp. as long as they desire, would be undisturbed on the ranges. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Massachusetts, and the 450 miles of has been a succession of coaching parties. and then resume their journey in other Such were the merits of an electric roads in it are being put in shape for The larger vehicles have been drawn by motor vehicles, without the least addi- railway for tourist transportation in the motor truffic. six, the smaller ones by four, strong tional expense for transportation, pre- park, but the tourists themselves decided The road system of the park follows horses, well fed, well groomed, high risely as one uses a stop-over ticket on the matter by 11 vote that season. the a giant circle, from which three long legs spirited, yet safe. There have been in a railroad. result showing that a majority of more project to the most unconventional and use 700 Concord coaches, and these will The fact that with automobiles it will than five to one were against it. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. NEW TRANSCONTINENTAL ROUTE BIDS FOR TRAVEL New York Times (1857-Current file); Jan 7, 1917; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times pg. A23 with its beautiful falls in the heart or NEW TRANSCONTINENTAL the city, with its scenic rim rock skirted with beautiful homes. Here the traveler sees the longest railroad bridge the world, the massive structure of steel and ROUTE BIDS FOR TRAVEL concrete which carries the trains of the structure, Monroe Union solid tance earth of Pacific Grand Street 3,400 roadbed and feet. Coulee the Union Bridge, Milwaukee far of beyond, Station the Columbia over a to great dis- the the from National Parks Highway Extends from the Great Lakes The River and the Wenatchee Valley are crossed and there the tourist enters the to Spokane, Connecting Three National real Switzerland of America, the Cas- cade Mountains, crossing through Snoqualmie Pass on a perfectly hard Parks on the Way. surfaced road with no grades steeper than 5 per cent. Here the drop begins The same pioneering that took place Custer began his last march against the in taying out the great transcontinental Sioux Indians to the Battle of the Big railroad lines is now being done in Horn. laying out transcontinental automo- Thence the highway leads to one of bile routes. From the northern line to the most pleturesque regions of the the Mexican border the courses of Northwest called the Bad Lands, more rivers and mountain passes in the correctly known as Pyramid Park, with Western country are being prospected long lines of wonderful cliffs and highly for routes that will offer the most in colored buttes carved into the most scenic attraction and ease of travel. fantastic forms. One of the latest to make a bid for Then we pass into Montana and be- popularity is the National Parks High- tween Glendive and Livingston through way. Lawrence H. Brown, Secretary Miles City, Forsyth, and Billings, follow of the Washington State Good Roads near the Yellowstone River for more Association, in presenting the claims of tha'n 300 miles in the country made this route for tourist travel, says of it: famous by Lewis and Clarke. From The National Parks Highway ex- Livingston a lateral of the National tends from the Great Lakes by way of Parks Highway enters Yellowstone Na- Milwaukee, Madison, La Crosse, the tional Park by way of Gardiner. The Twin Cities, Fargo, Bismarck, Billings, road winds along the lands of the Chey- Butte, Anaconda, Missoula, and Spo- ennes, the Crows, and the Flatheads kane to Seattle and Tacoma, connecting The Rockies are crossed between the three National Parks. Livingston and Bozeman through Rock FEATURING NEW 16-VALVE 4-CYLINDER MOTOR. This route is rich in beauty from the Canyon. The big smelters of Anaconda The illustration above presents the latest White touring car, equipped with the new sixteen-valve four moment It leaves Chicago at Highland and Butte on the sides of the mountains overlook the highway and give the cylinder motor designed to give increased power and elasticity to this type of engine. The car is a seven-pas Park and all along the shore of Lake Michigan to Milwaukee through the tourist his first real conception of the senger with a wheelbase of 137 1/2 inches, and the price is $4,600. fascinating lake country and fertile bigness of the copper mining Industry fields of Wisconsin. For more than in that section of the West. West of Hutte the route follows for into the City of Seattle on Puget Sound, sixty miles It winds up and down along some distance the Heligate River the largest deep sea harbor in the world. the Mississippi from La Crosse, WIs., toward Missoula where the Bitter Root a city of beautiful parks and paved Valley opens before the traveler. A streets from which can be seen snow- into Winona, Minn., and beyond on the detour is here taken to the northward capped Mount Rainieria Rainier National road to Lake City. where It skirts Lake to Kallspell, the gateway to Glacier Park, back of the City of Tacoma, the Pepin, looking across on an inland National Park, one of the newest of western terminus of the National Parks Summer resort country that has America's Summer playgrounds. Highway At this point the traveler a Kallspell is near Flathead Lake has covered from Chicago something future second to none in America. which is the second largest body of more than 2,000 miles and has viewed Leaving the Twin Cities the National fresh water In the United States, aside more charming scenery level or roll- from Lake Michigan Thence we go ing landscape, of beautiful lakes, high Parks Highway pierces the heart of the into Northern Idaho to lake and peaks, and jagged mountain ranges than Minnesota lake region, and In a drive of mountain region which retains all its can be seen from an automobile in the 100 miles. beginning a short distance original wildness, except for the Sum- same distance anywhere else in the west of St. Cloud, there are at the road- mer cottages on Lake Pend Oreille and world. the left by the mining prospector side. or in sight. more than 100 lakes on the mountain side This lake fills which centre about Alexandria and a long wide gorge In the very heart of NEW STEAM CAR EXHIBITED AT THE SHOW. The Doble steam car, it is announced, is a radical departure from all former steam automobile designs. Approximately 1,000 miles may be traveled on one supply of water by means of a device for condensing all exhaust steam, and a gallon of kerosena, the fuel used, drives the car fifteen miles, it is asserted. Plans for production are not completed, and the price is only named approximately, about $1,800. Other specifications are: 7-passenger, 75 horse power, 3,100 pounds' weight and 128-inch wheelbase. YACHT-LIKE LINES AIM IN THIS CAR. This is the "Elgin Six," of 30 horse power. It seats four passengers, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BY AIR TO NATIONAL PARKS, WRIGHT SAYS New York Times (1857-Current file): Jan 14, 1917; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times pg.XX4 BY AIR TO NATIONAL PARKS, WRIGHT SAYS Makes This Prediction at Motor- ing Day Meeting at Washington. That the national parks are now real magnets which induce Americans to be- come acquainted with their own coun- try, was particularly accentuated on Motoring Day of the Washington conference conducted by the Depart- ment of the Interior. At the request of Secretary Franklin K. Lane, the Ameri- can Automobile Association took in hand this phase of the week's séasions, which covered every possible angle of national parks management and prog- ress. It was to be expected that the A. A. A. officers, headed by President H. M. Rowe, would put forward the motoring proposition as second to no other in the enlarging use of the nation's play- grounds. In his introductory talk President Rowe thus referred to our general tardiness in parks preparedness: The parks have not been ready to be seen, and the preparation for it has been intermittent and haphazard and the help from Congress frequently has been given grudgingly. But with the com- ing of Mr. Lane in the Department of the Interior and his excellent selection of Mr. Mather as his assistant and in direct charge of the national parks, there has come a wholesome and in- vigorating change in the policy pursued toward improving the facilities for see- ing and enjoying our wonderful scenic assets." Orville Wright predicted that the air routes to the national parks were cer- tain to be well patronized in the com- paratively near future, and thus re- ferred to this form of travel: But in order to visit the parks by aerial routes, suitable landing places will have to be provided, them- selves, coun- try. Missis- sippt landing places can anywhere. But re- gions are not so landing places or marked, in In and of already or plentiful. will the the the either in east be Far mountainous have plains the found existing of within East closely Here the to west to almost and be Rockies, be the suitable must adjacent of West and easily prepared, parks the be hilly they those found and so as recog- nized from distances of five and ten miles. In Crater Lake Park, and proba- bly in some of the others, are bodies of water large enough for landing with aeroplanes equipped with hydroplanes. No matter by what route we arrive, however, our national parks must be viewed from the ground to be appreciat- ed. The giant Sequola, when viewed from on high, will be no more impres- sive than the modest shrub, and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado will flat- ten out almost to a plain. Though the shining river will be seen winding its tortuous way in a mass of varlighted colors, the grandeur of the gorge in size and sculpture will be gone. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission TOURING IN NATIONAL PARKS. New York Times (1857-Current file); May 25, 1919; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times pg. 39 TOURING IN NATIONAL PARKS. tional Park, costing $21.50, is mapped out as follows: HE United States Railroad Admin- : First day via auto to Many-Glacier T" istration has issued a circular, tell- Hotal: second day, saddle horse to Ice- ing how to visit our national parks. berg. Lake: third day, saddle horse to The tourist is informed as to what rail- Cracker-Lake; fourth day, to Going-to- roads will take him, what' the stop-overs the-Sun Chalets via auto, and returning are," and how ^long they last, whether same. day to .Galcier Park Hotel." there are charges on baggage storage, The parks mentioned are Centre Lake, what it costs to live in or about each General Grant, Glacler, Grand Canyon, park, and the nature and expenses of Hawaii, Hot Springs, Mesa Verde, the trips that can be taken therein. For Mount Rainer, Petrified Forest, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia, Yellowstone, Yosem- instance, a four-day tour in Glacier Na- ite, and Zion National Monument. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PLEA FOR MOTOR TOURING. New York Times (1857-Current file); May 25, 1919; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times pg. 25 PLEA FOR MOTOR TOURING. Secretary Lane Establishes Routes Between the National Forests. The Interior Department has an- nounced a plan for stimulating motor touring between three large and popular national parks of the West, which is to mark the beginning of a new epoch in American travel. This project con- templates the establishment of an auto- mobile line from Denver. Col., to and through Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Parks, via Boulder and Loveland, Col. Cheyenne, Douglas, Caspar, Thermopolis, and Cody, Wyo., and Livingston, Bozeman, Boulder, Townsend, Helena, and Choteau, Mont. Improved road conditions next year will make it possible to change the route so as to Include several other Important cities in all of the States traversed. The equipment to be used in this serv- ice consists of large new touring cars of seven and ten passenger capacity. In succeeding seasons this service will probably be extended to other national parks of the Pacific Northwest, Cali- fornia, and the Southwest. It is Secretary Lane's belief that the Federal Government ought to actively encourage travel to American health and recreation resorts, regardless of whether or not they are in the great national park system. In other words, he believes that the National Park Service, which is in more than one sense the travel bureau of the Federal Government, ought to perform the same service for the American public that the Swiss, French, and other foreign Government travel bureaus accomplish for European resorts. Co-operation to this end between the Interior Depart- ment and the United States Railroad Administration has resulted in a marked stimulation of railroad travel to the national parks, and it is certain that a similar development would fol- low co-operation between the Govern- ment and associations and individuals who are working to improve motor highways and encourage private auto- mobile travel throughout the country. Travel to the West by private auto- mobile increased at a tremendous rate prior to the war, and the continued im- provement of road conditions on the main highways, especially between the national parks, is expected to result in bringing the private automobile traf- fic to phenomenal proportions. Secretary Lane believes that the motor car is going to be quite as important a factor in American tourist travel as the railroad facilities. He however, is encouraging the use of every means to stimulate outdoor living and the enjoy- ment of great natural resources for re- creation, health, and observation, in order that the habit of using these re- sources may be firmly implanted in the American people. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission DR. BUTLER TO TOUR WEST. New York Times (1857-Current file), Jun 18, 1919; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times pg. 29 DR. BUTLER TO TOUR WEST. WIII Visit Nation's Playgrounds as Head of Parks Association. Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, has left for an extended trip to the Pacific Coast, it was announced yesterday. He will visit the national parks of the West as an officer of the National Parks Associa- tion, recently organized to encourage the popular study of the national play- grounds. In this movement, it was de- clared. Columbia had taken the leader- ship among American universities by the establishment of courses in both Summer and Fall sessions. Dr. Butler, who has been elected Vice President of the newly formed organi- zation, in association with other leading Americans, 18 said to take a keen inter- est in the campaign to popularize the park areas of the country. He will first go to the Bohemian Club Grove in Call- fornia and later to some of the national parks. Columbia's course in the Summer school this session will deal with a study of the western half of the United States. laying special emphasis upon the interpretation of the country's scenery. This is one of a large group of courses in geology and physical geography which forms part of the Columbia Summer School curriculum. More than 400 in- structors drawn from the faculties of the leading universities and colleges will have charge of the instruction. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission EARLY RAILWAYS BETWEEN NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA. Page 1 of 5 EARLY RAILWAYS BETWEEN NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA. Engineering News-August 4, 1892 Railway communication between Canada and the Atlantic coast was suggested nearly 50 years ago, when railways were beginning to be recognized as a coming power in the development of the United States, and the first proposition for a railway from Montreal Que., to Portland, Me., and then eastward to St. John, N. B., and Halifax, N., S., was made in 1843, by Mr. John Alfred Poor, of Portland, who became one of the leading men in promoting railway enterprises in New England. Mr. Poor recognized the advantages of a railway between the upper and lower provinces of Canada, traversing the state of Maine, and advocated the construction of a line for its international importance as shortening the time between Great Britain and the North American continent by establishing an eastern port. Mainly through this enterprise the railway was built by which the Grand Trunk Ry. now runs from Montreal to Portland, as well as the eastward line from Portland to St. John, and Halifax, above referred to. Mr. Poor was born in Jan. 1808, at East Andover, Me. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1832, and started a practice at Oldtown, twelve miles from Bangor. He was enthusiastic and energetic in advancing the interests of his native state, but it is with his work in railway enterprises that we are concerned here. His ideas were large, but practical, and 50 years ago he foresaw the construction of air international railway between Canadian and American ports, and of a transcontinental railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Up to the time of his death in September, 1871, he was actively engaged in railway promotion and construction. The above particulars are abstracted from a recent publication, "The First International Railway-Life and Writings of John Alfred Poor," edited by Laura Elizabeth Poor, and from this book we have compiled the following description of the growth and development of railways in Maine and the Lower Provinces of Canada. It may be mentioned that in 1849 Mr. Poor purchased the "American Railway Journal," of New York, which was afterward owned and edited by Mr. Henry Varnum Poor. Mr. Poor was present at Boston on April 16, 1834, when the first locomotive engine, with passenger cars attached, ran over a railway just built from Boston to Newton, and afterward extended to Worcester and beyond. This is said to have given him the idea of the great future of railways which led him to devote SO much time to promoting and encouraging their construction. In 1836 the first railway operated by locomotives in the state of Maine was built between Bangor and Oldtown. The legislature adopted measures which led to fire survey of several routes for a railway between the seaboard of Maine and the St. Lawrence River, in Canada. The shortest and most practicable route was from Belfast to Quebec, and a report was made upon it by an engineer but nothing was done. In 1839, a survey was made for a railway between Portland and Lake Champlain, but this enterprise also came to nothing. Mr. Poor was thoroughly acquainted with the geography of the state and its resources, and in 1843 he made public his plan for two great railways, one from Portland to Montreal, and the other from Portland to Halifax, his project being to shorten the steamship route to England. In 1884 he began to agitate for the former line by means of public meetings, memorials, etc., and he traveled over the proposed route. A company was organized, a preliminary survey completed before December, and a charter was applied for, but before it was granted it was found that agents from Boston were in Canada trying to secure aid in the construction of a road from Montreal to Boston. Before the railway to Montreal had been suggested in Portland, three lines from Boston to Montreal had been chartered. These were the Boston, Concord & Montreal, R. R., chartered in 1844, acting in connection with the Passumpsic R. R., whose charter was of earlier date; the Vermont Central R. R., in connection with http://www.railroadextra.com/abneca.Htm 2/11/2003 EARLY RAILWAYS BETWEEN NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA. Page 2 of 5 the Northern R. R. of New Hampshire, and the Rutland & Burlington R. R., as an extension of the Fitchburg R. R. All these had agents in Montreal before Portland, and during the whole time that the railway policy of Canada was under discussion in 1845. Mr. Poor at once went to Montreal by a sleigh in February, and after a dangerous journey arrived in time to prevent the adoption of a resolution by the Board of Trade in favor of a line to Boston. Later a race by, team was made from Portland, and Boston to Montreal with English mails landed at both places by the same steamer. Teams were stationed along the route, and the mail from Portland arrived twelve hours before that from Boston. This led to the adoption of the Portland line by the Canadians, and the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Ry. Co. was incorporated to build the American portion of the line. Work was commenced at Portland on July 4, 1846, and soon after the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Ry. Co. was incorporated to build the Canadian portion, and commenced work at Montreal. The distances of the two routes were as follows: Montreal to Sherbrook 91 miles Sherbrooke to Canaan 30 miles Canaan to Colebrooke 10 miles Colebiboke to Andover 43 miles Andover to Portland 72 miles Total 246 miles Montreal to Sherbrooke 91 miles Sherbrooke to Stanstead 34 miles Stanstead to Haverhill 80 miles Haverhill to Concord 70 miles Concord to Boston 76 miles Total 351 miles The question of gage was a disputed one, the Chief Engineer, Mr. A. C. Morton, advocated the 5 ft. 6 ins. gage adopted by the British. Government as the standard for India, while others advocated 6 ft. and 4 ft. 81/2 ins. The Canadian Parliament passed a law fixing the, gage of the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Ry., at 4 ft. 81/2 ins., unless the Governor in Council should within six months determine upon a different gage, and Mr. Poor, with delegates from the Atlantic. & St.. Lawrence and St. Lawrence & Atlantic companies, succeeded in obtaining an order in council establishing the gage of 5 ft. 6 ins. In 1851 Mr. Poor successfully urged the adoption of this gage for the Great Western Ry. of Canada. His idea was to avoid such a connection as would enable the standard gage railways of Massachusetts to control the railways of Maine. The project of a line from Portland to St. John and Halifax was now taken up, and it was proposed to use the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Ry. as far east as Lewiston, and then make an extension to Gardiner and Augusta, with a branch at Brunswick and Bath. As soon as this was proposed the Kennebec Valley people began a rival line, on the standard gage, east from Portland, in 1845. In 1846 a broad gage line, the Androscoggin & Kennebec Ry., was started eastward, from Danville Junction, under the auspices of the Atlantic & St. Lawrence, the latter assuring connection with railways leading out of Portland on the west. For this purpose Commercial St. was built, and tracks laid along it to connect the two eastern and western railways. The war of the gages was closed by the consolidation of the parallel and competing lines from Portland to Waterville, by Boston capital, with the Boston or standard gage. http://www.railroadextra.com/abneca.Htm 2/11/2003 EARLY RAILWAYS BETWEEN NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA. Page 3 of 5 In 1848 charters were applied for in New Hampshire and Vermont for the construction of the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Ry. across these states, and were granted after much opposition. In 1849 a suspension for want of money was feared, but was avoided by the plan suggested by Mr. Poor of letting the whole road as one contract and paying a high price, as the only means of saving the contractors from failure. The contract was let to Black, Wood & Co. In 1851 Mr. Poor was chosen President of the New York & Cumberland Ry., now the Portland & Rochester, and he also secured the extension of the line from Gorham to the Saco River. When the line from Portland to Halifax was suggested, a rival project from Quebec to Halifax was started and a survey was made. The lower Provinces made offers of money and public lands if the home or imperial government would undertake the accomplishment of the scheme, but the British Ministry rejected the application in 1850, and the lower provinces then supported the Portland line. The city of Quebec proposed to connect with the Portland and Montreal line at Richmond, thereby obtaining connection with Montreal and Portland, and ultimately with the lower provinces. In 1850 the Maine Legislature was petitioned to authorize a survey to discover the best and most practicable route between Bangor and the New Brunswick boundary, and $5,000 was appropriated for the survey. In 1853 a charter was granted to the European & North American Ry. Co., of Maine. Mr. Poor claimed that by means of this railway to Halifax and a steamship line to Galway, Ireland, 2,000 miles from Halifax, the transit between the two continents could be reduced to five days, and between London and New York to seven days. The Britannia tubular bridge across the Menai Straits was opened in the spring of 1850, enabling the London & Northwestern Ry. to run through trains from London to Holyhead, whence steamers crossed to Dublin in 3 1/2 hours, and from Dublin the Midland Ry. of Ireland had been built half way to Galway. In 1851 New Brunswick granted a charter for the Portland and Halifax line, with a land grant and cash subsidy. In Nova Scotia, the Hon. Joseph Howe, of the Executive Council, had taken the ground that the railway should be a public highway, and as such should be built by the government, and he sent to England to secure an imperial guarantee to the Nova Scotia lands to be issued for this purpose. This was granted in 1851, on condition that by the co-operation of New Brunswick and Canada a connection should be secured from Halifax to Quebec through British territory. Such a line had been surveyed by the imperial government when the Portland and Montreal railway was begun, and the colonial line, was the revival of the same project, three times abandoned but eventually built. The condition was too heavy, however, and Mr. Howe's mission came to nothing. He made a speech at Portland in favor of this line in 1851, and was answered by Mr. Poor, speaking for the European & North American Ry., as "international and commercial rather than intercolonial and political." In 1852 Hon. Francis Hincks, a Canadian statesman, went to England to seek assistance from the imperial government toward building a trunk line of railway for Canada. It would extend from Quebec to Montreal by the branch from Quebec to Richmond, on the St. Lawrence & Atlantic, and from Montreal would run to Toronto. The delays of the Colonial Office disgusted him, and he made arrangements with the English firm of railway contractors, Messrs. Jackson, Brassey, Peto & Betts, for the construction of the line. Mr. Poor's suggestion for a connection between Canada and the lower provinces was adopted, the plan being to build a cut-off from Bethel to Bangor (by which Bangor would be only 30 miles farther than Portland from Montreal), and the extension by way of Calais and along the shore to St. John, N. B. The English contractors proposed to build this line from Waterville, Me., to Halifax, N. S., advancing 80% of the money, intending to bring out the entire scheme in London. The charter was refused by the Maine Legislature, and the Grand Trunk scheme was delayed for the Bangor part until April, 1883, and then brought out alone in London. Another adopted suggestion of Mr. Poor's was the lease of the line from Montreal to Portland in order to secure a winter port, the Canadian idea having been to provide only for local traffic between Montreal and http://www.railroadextra.com/abneca.Html 2/11/2003 EARLY RAILWAYS BETWEEN NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA. Page 4 of 5 Toronto, but the contractors saw the necessity of a through traffic and wished to provide for extensions at both ends. In August, 1853, this line, owned by the two companies, was formally leased to the Grand Trunk Ry. Co., and in 1856 the Grand Trunk line to Toronto was opened. The western extension has been carried out to Sarnia, Ont., and thence on American soil to Chicago, as the Chicago & Grand Trunk Ry. In 1857-1858 Mr. Poor advocated the construction of branches of the European & North American Ry. to the Aroostook and Piscataquis counties, of Maine, and advocated also the development of the resources and water power of these districts. In 1863 the Oldtown & Lincoln, The Penobscot and the Aroostook roads were united with the European & North American. When Massachusetts was applied to in 1865 to discharge the debt due from Maine in favor of the European & North American Ry., aid was declined on the ground of a Maine law of 1860 forbidding the change of gage. Mr. Poor applied to the legislature to repeal this law, and for leave to lay a third rail on the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth Ry., with a view of extending the broad gage from Halifax to Boston and New York. The law was repealed. At this time there was mulch agitation in the lower provinces over the proposed confederation of all British North America, and New Brunswick strongly opposed the confederation. In 1865 Mr. Poor, in behalf of his company, proposed to complete the lines in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for an annual subsidy of $80,000 from the two provinces, guaranteed until the lines should pay 6% of the cost. The former government declined this arrangement, but voted $10,000 a mile to complete the line from St. John westward to the boundary. Mr., Poor, as president of the Maine company, made a contract with the New Brunswick company, and then made a contract to build the entire line of the European & North American Ry. through the state and the province. Work was commenced at St. John in November, 1865, and at Bangor, Me., in 1867. In 1867 the repeated offer of the imperial government to build the Intercolonial Ry. from Halifax to Quebec, conditional upon the confederation, induced both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to accept the confederation. The European & North American Ry. was opened in October, 1871 (some years before the opening of the Intercolonial Ry.) with a grand celebration in which the President of the United States and the Governor-General of Canada took part. In addition to this "international" railway, Mr. Poor also projected a line to connect Portland with Chicago and ultimately with the Pacific coast, recognizing the importance of a transcontinental line of railway. In 1869 he wrote that for 30 years he had contemplated as a certainty the completion of such a line, and in 1845 he had correspondence with Mr. Asa Whitney on the subject. Mr. Whitney's and other early projects for a transcontinental railway were described in our issue of Feb. 16, 1889. Mr. Poor secured from the legislature a charter for a railway from Portland to Rutland, Vt., by way of the Ossipee valley, White River Junction and Woodstock. The route then proposed was to Whitehall, Oswego, Buffalo, Detroit and Chicago. The city of Portland, however, did not foresee the advantages of the line and opposed the plan, but favored the Portland & Ogdensburg Ry., in spite of Mr. Poor's arguments against that line, which was ultimately built but which after taking nearly $2,000,000 from Portland, passed into the control of Boston railway men. In 1869 the Portland, Rutland, Oswego & Chicago Ry. Co. was organized, and in 1871 a bill was presented in Congress for the payment by the Treasury, of $50,000 per mile, in 30-year bonds, as each section of 40 miles was built and equipped, the road to be double track, with steel rails and iron bridges. Five of six railway companies along the projected route agreed in July, 1871, to unite as one company, and the meeting was deferred until Sept. 29 owing to the delay of the other company. Mr. Poor, however, died on Sept. 5, and the project fell through, He had formed a scheme for Atlantic and Pacific steamship lines in connection with his transcontinental railway, and looked forward to through traffic between China and England under one company's management, a plan which has never been carried out in the United States, but has been carried out by the Canadian. Pacific Ry. There is, however, a through train summer service http://www.railroadextra.com/abneca.Html 2/11/2003 EARLY RAILWAYS BETWEEN NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA. Page 5 of 5 now between Portland and Chicago, by way of the Portland & Ogdensburg (Maine Central), the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg and the Michigan Central railways. *** TOY 1 - ACANAAN License business /STALBANS MINNER for NONE Justice produce Liverpool 2785 miles adidas FOOTLAND SACON RECYESTER SMATTLESSING