Loammi Baldwin of Woburn, Benjamin Hall, | turning the commerce of Western Massachusetts Jonathan Porter, and others of Medford, as the to her own seaboard-was now being actively Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal. It was at first agitated in commercial as well as in political circles. contemplated to open the canal from the Merrimack, A new and important element was introduced. at Chelmsford, to the Mystic, at Medford; but | De Witt Clinton had inaugurated his magnificent subsequent legislation extended it across Charles- scheme for a canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie, town Neck, to the mill-pond, and by a second and the work was vigorously progressing. The lock to Charles River, thus making continuous people of Massachusetts could not shut their eyes water-communication with the metropolis. The to the danger that threatened when this avenue surveys were made by an English engineer named should be opened to commerce. The traffic of the Weston Colonel Loammi Baldwin, a native of West was felt to be a prize worth contending for even. Woburn, and one of the incorporators, superin- at that early day. They resolved to enter the lists; tended the construction. In 1803 the canal was but it was now no longer a question of a few miles opened for traffic. Its cost was something more of canal through a region highly favorable for its than half a million of dollars. construction. Mountain ranges must be crossed, scientific problems solved, that rendered the enterprise one which even the sanguine regarded with misgiving. The canal was twenty-seven miles long, with a breadth of thirty and a depth of four feet. Begining at tide-water at Charlestown, it ascended one hundred and seven feet, by thirteen locks, to Concord River. Crossing this stream, it descended twenty-one feet, by three locks, to the bend of the Merrimack, a little above Pawtucket Falls. The locks were well built of hewn stone. Boats of twenty-four tons burden usually occupied twelve hours passing through the canal. Improvements made in the river above Chelmsford rendered the Merrimack navigable for boats to Concord, New Hampshire. During its period of prosperity the annual income to the Middlesex Canal from tolls amounted to $25,000. Until the era of railways the Middlesex Canal was a work of great public utility. The lumber and grain from the Upper Merrimack, with other products of the region tributary to that river, now found their way through the canal to the metropolis. The commodities of the city were transported back into the country by way of exchange. Both travel and traffic advantageously pursued the canal until the birth of its legitimate successor, the railway. Upon the completion of the Boston and Lowell, and Lowell and Nashua roads the canal ceased to pay its operating expenses. In a few years it was discontinued, and is now nearly obliterated. Half a century ago an engineer, now famous, came up the valley of the Deerfield with the purpose of conducting a canal over Hoosae Mountain. The river led him to the vertical eastern wall of the mountain, and there left him looking askance, no doubt, at its two thousand or more feet of forestshagged rock. He ascended the gorge of the Deerfield to find himself at length in a deep depression, where the west branch of that stream and the north branch of Hoosac River, having their sources within a hundred rods of each other, flow down opposite sides of the mountain. To unite these streams was, indeed, feasible; but the plan involved a system of locks and reservoirs too costly for the treasury of a state by no means opulent, and it was, moreover, at most, uncertain of furnishing an adequate supply of water for the proposed canal. The engineer, however, was not to be thus out-generalled by the mountain; he had still another idea. Mr. Loammi Baldwin's sufficiently audacious idea was that Hoosac Mountain might be successfully pierced by a tunnel, and the only obstacle in the way of uninterrupted water-navigation between Lake Erie and Massachusetts Bay be thus overcome. It was at this time that the opening of the The elder Loammi Baldwin, who had been so Erie Canal, a work highly favored by Nature, was zealous a friend and promoter of the Middlesex giving new vitality to projects of inland navigation, Canal, died in 1807, only a few years subsequent some of which had quietly slumbered since the to its completion. He had been a member of the Revolution. Among others, the scheme of a'canal memorable Middlesex Convention of 1774, had to connect the Merrimack with the Connecticut, fought at Lexington, and had subsequently com- for which surveys had been made, and an act of manded a regiment in the army of the Revolution, incorporation obtained in 1792, was again revived. the fragments of which he led at Trenton. It chanced that Governor Eustis, the executive of The second part of the programme-that for Massachusetts, had, while Minister to Holland, been much interested in the complicated system of | Pawtucket Falls, on the Merrimack. In this year canals of that country. The enterprise in question received his hearty advocacy and his official support. A commission was appointed, to which Mr. Baldwin was attached as engineer, for the purpose of making a thorough reconnoisance of the country from Boston Harbor to the Hudson. The work was thoroughly performed, and the route, now followed by the tunnel line of railway, declared to be, beyond comparison, the most practicable and advantageous. Mr. Baldwin's estimate of the probable cost of a tunnel through Hoosac Mountain was less than a million of dollars. General Simon Bernard, then chief of United States Engineers, computed the expense of a tunnel, twenty feet wide and thirteen and a half high, at about three hundred thousand dollars a mile; the estimated length of the tunnel being four miles, and the route substantially that since adopted by the tunnel engineers. There can be no question that Mr. Baldwin's conception was a bold one. Not only was there no tunnel in existence of such great length as he proposed, but in the limited knowledge of such stupendous public works then prevailing in this country, the project appeared, to the common apprehension, little short of folly. The cost of perforating Hoosac Mountain was, however, the greatest stumbling-block in the way of the original enterprise, which only contemplated an outlay of three millions from the Connecticut to the Hudson, or one sixth of the sum the state of Massachusetts has expended between Greenfield and the state line. An instructive example of the way in which common opinion adjusts itself to great and novel ideas may be found in the fact that in less than two years the people of Berkshire were ardently and hopefully discussing the feasibility of building a railway from Boston to Albany; a scheme which Captain Basil Hall, R. N., pronounced to be "madness," precisely as Dr. Dionysius Lardner, a few years later, declared steam-navigation on the ocean "impracticable." Before the projected canal to the Hudson had taken form the era of railways had dawned. In five years after the completion of the Erie Canal several steam-roads were under construction, one of which was destined forever to supersede the canal. It is to their development that the state owes its rapid advance in population, wealth, and prosperity. Before leaving the subject of canals, mention should be made of that opened in 1792 around Dudley A. Tyng, William Coombs, and others were incorporated as "The Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimack River." The distance to be overcome was one and one half miles. About five years were occupied in its construction. As an avenue of trade, it did not fulfil the expectations of its projectors, being superseded by the Middlesex Canal; but in the hands of Patrick T. Jackson and his associates it subsequently became the hydraulic power of the city of Lowell, and the primary cause of its vast manufacturing interests. Several small canals were also constructed in Cambridge, subsequent to the erection of that town into a port of delivery, and to facilitate the entry and unloading of vessels. A full description of these may be found in the Middlesex Registry of Deeds. So far as her inland commerce is concerned, Middlesex is the antechamber of Boston. Her great iron roads radiate like the fingers of an open hand. The railway system of the state, converging upon the metropolis, intersects the county in every direction, constituting a network of highways which has in a great measure replaced the common roads. Indeed, railways have come to be regarded as public thoroughfares, to be conducted for the interests of the population from which they derive support. which they derive support. The history of those railways first entering the county limits is also that of the first constructed in the state for public travel. The Lowell Railroad owes its existence to the sagacity, boldness, and energy of a single man. We have already had occasion to name him in connection with the old canal around Pawtucket Falls, built for the purpose of improving the navigation of the Merrimack. Patrick Tracy Jackson, the friend and associate of Francis Cabot Lowell, in his enterprise of es tablishing cotton manufacture at Waltham, was, in 1821, so fully convinced of the great possibilities of this industry that he was seeking a new location for its expansion. His attention was directed to Pawtucket Falls and to the almost forgotten canal. In conjunction with Nathan Appleton and Kirk Boott, Jackson immediately set to work buying up the shares of the canal and those farms contiguous to the falls on both sides of the river. His proceedings being conducted with secrecy and despatch, both lands and water privilege were soon in his hands. A new company was formed of the Waltham mill-proprietors and others, under the | Nashua and Lowell, chartered in 1836, and opened corporate name of the Merrimack Manufacturing to Nashua October 8, 1838, was until recently Company. It had a capital of $600,000, and was operated by the Lowell Company. It passes placed under the management of Kirk Boott. On through Chelmsford and Tyngsborough. the 1st of September, 1823, the first wheel of the Merrimack Company was set in motion. In 1825 three more mills were built. For the transportation of the product of the mills to market, and for the supply of raw cotton and machinery for the mills, there was the Middlesex Canal in summer, and in winter the common roads; for at this season the canal was solidly frozen. As the business of Lowell increased, the need of better and quicker means of transportation became more and more evident. With his habitual energy, Jackson set about solving the problem. In Great Britain the movement to establish steam-railroads had just passed from the experimental stage. Roads were being constructed on which locomotives were to be used. But in the United States, very little was known of the progress making there towards this radical change in the methods of travel and transportation. Without previous knowledge, with experience to be acquired, Jackson grappled with the novel and herculean undertaking of building a railway, on which locomotives were to be used, from Lowell to Boston. Jackson pursued his new design constantly, but with the deliberation of a man who appreciates the importance of a false step, and who has, moreover, everything to learn. To mature his plans, induce capitalists to join him, to master the scientific and practical problems presented by his own mind or suggested by the doubts of others, were the occupations to which he now gave himself up. In 1830 an act of incorporation was obtained. Subscriptions to the capital stock were made, more from faith in the man than in the undertaking. The road was prepared under conditions highly favorable to success. It was built for a double track, the grades reduced to a maximum of ten feet to the mile, sharp curves avoided. The whole work was constructed in the most substantial manner. Besides those enumerated, the Lowell leases and operates the following roads: Lowell and Lawrence, thirteen miles, opened in 1848, crossing the town of Tewksbury in Middlesex; Salem and Lowell, sixteen miles, opened in 1850, entering the county in the town of North Reading, crossing the upper part of Wilmington, and uniting with the Lowell and Lawrence line in Tewksbury; Middlesex Central, leaving the main line in Somerville, traversing Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford to Concord. The Lowell also has the following branches: Woburn Branch from Winchester to Woburn Centre, Stoneham Branch from East Woburn to Stoneham, Mystic, and Lawrence branches. The Lowell, with its connections, forms one of the great routes to Montreal and the Dominion of Canada, to Lake Champlain, Ogdensburg, and the system of inland transportation to the West by the Great Lakes. Through Mr. Jackson's exertions many acres of useless marsh-land at the westerly part of Boston were reclaimed for the use of this and other corporations. The Boston and Albany line is the outgrowth of two corporations, the Boston and Worcester and the Western Railroad. It is the most important of Massachusetts trunk routes, having a continuous line of its own from Boston to the Hudson, ą distance of two hundred miles. This road enters the county in the city of Newton, to which it gives large facilities, touches Weston, where it crosses the Charles, traverses the town of Needham, in Norfolk, again enters the county in Natick, crosses the southerly portion of Framingham into Ashland, and out of the county, thus intersecting its most densely populated section. We give a brief outline of its rise and progress. In 1800 a line of stage-coaches made three trips a week between Boston and Worcester, taking an entire day for the journey of forty-four miles. At the same time, and for several years after, the only This line was opened to Lowell on the 24th of mode of transporting merchandise between these June, 1835. It passes through Somerville, Med-places was by baggage - wagons, which, in good ford, Winchester, Woburn, Wilmington, Billerica, weather, accomplished one journey per week.. The and Tewksbury into Lowell, being for its entire projectors of the railway promised an incredulous length of twenty-six miles wholly within the public that passengers should make the entire county. The Andover and Wilmington, chartered journey in from three to four hours. in 1833, now forming part of the Boston and Maine, was first a branch of the Lowell. The We ask the reader who is familiar with the rapid and interesting journey by rail from Boston to " Worcester, for a moment to take a backward glance at the same journey as performed by a most intelligent traveller only a little more than half a century ago. Let him institute a mental comparison between the populous and thriving cities and towns now thickly clustered along the line of the railway, with the "wild and thinly settled" appearance of the country which this traveller remarked. "We left the hospitable city of Boston," he says, "with grateful hearts, and rode over the Mill-dam into the interior of the country. The horses were changed four times, generally in small villages; Framingham and Westborough appeared to be the only ones of any importance. The country sometimes seemed wild, and but thinly settled, though the state of Massachusetts is said to be the most populous in North America. We saw no grain, though in some places we observed Indian corn, and now and then some millet. Apple-orchards were abundant; the trees hung so full of fruit that many of the boughs were broken. The apples are small and yellow, and are employed in preparing the favorite beverage called cider. We gradually approached forests consisting of oak, chestnut, and elm trees. Sumach also occurs in some places, the bark of which is said to be excellent for tanning leather. There are evidently no forest regulations here, and the timber is very much neglected. The road was, for the greatest part, a good turnpike, and made in the German manner. We crossed several sinal rivers and rivulets on wooden bridges, which are very slight, though they are built with great waste of timber. The planks are The planks are not even nailed upon the beams, so that I began to be somewhat fearful, especially as the carriage drove rapidly over. About two miles from Worcester we crossed a lake called Guansiganog-pond 1 on a wooden bridge one fourth of a mile in length. The banks of this lake are covered with wood, and present a very handsome appearance. On our way, we were overtaken by a considerable thunderstorm, which settled the dust and procured us a pleasant evening. We arrived at Worcester about seven o'clock, and alighted at an excellent tavern." In this description of a journey of nearly or quite ten hours between the two places we scarcely recognize the ground now traversed by an expresstrain in an hour, nor the succession of towns which for a dozen miles constitute in this direction the suburbs of Boston, and which seem to the traveller only a continuation of the city itself. The Boston and Worcester line was chartered in January, 1831, with a capital of $1,000,000. Work immediately began, under supervision of Colonel Fessenden as principal engineer. In August, 1833, the workmen began laying down the rails, on the first division, between Boston and Needham. On the 18th of April, 1834, the road was opened to Newton; in August trains were running to Needham, thirteen miles, four times each day. Here a line of stages connected with the railway, an arrangement which permitted a citizen of Worcester to leave his home at six in the morning, arrive in Boston at noon, pass three or four hours in the city, and reach home at eight in the evening. By this time the managers had grown confident. They now promised a speed of twenty miles an hour on passenger trains. In September the track reached Hopkinton; in November it was laid to Westborough; and in July, 1835, a train carrying three hundred people passed over the road to the terminus at Worcester. Two daily trains were run each way, making the distance in two and a half hours. The achievement was considered a marvel. At this time Worcester was a humble village of some 4,000 or 5,000 inhabitants, and Boston had a population of about 65,000. In five years Worcester advanced to 7,500 souls, a greater gain than she had shown in the previous forty years. During the same period Boston advanced to 93,000. Middlesex made a gain in population of nearly thirty thousand between the years 1840 and 1850, or from 77,961 to 106,611, the rate of increase being most marked in those towns on the lines of railway then opened. Lowell, which had a population of 6,474 in 1830, had 20,796 in 1840. Newton and Woburn each showed an increase of fifty per cent during the same decade. Twenty years later, alluding retrospectively to the history of this road, a writer gives the following information relative to its construction and the results accomplished : — "The Company was weak in its resources, and credit and railway construction a novelty in Massachusetts. It is not surprising, therefore, that some errors were committed, that inferior ties were used resting in trenches filled with stone; that a narrow road-bed was provided, scarcely wide enough for a single track; an edge-rail of thirty-nine lbs. to the yard laid down; and sharp curves introduced to keep down the maximum gradient to thirty feet to the mile. In Boston, the dépôt arrangements were on the most limited scale. A one-story building, barely sufficient to receive two cars at once, sufficed for the indoor freight. Bales of cotton were loaded by a derrick in the open air, exposed to the weather, while the track-room and car-room were altogether insufficient. "The road relied principally on passengers; short cars were used for passengers and freight; the light engines in use could take, on an average, but forty-eight tons to a train, and as late as 1838 could find at Worcester but twelve tons, on an average, to return. So little was the freight esteemed, that one of the directors, Mr. Bond, is reported to have proposed to lease this branch of business for little more than a nominal return. "At first the line met with indifferent success. Worcester had been alienated from Boston, and united to Providence and New York by the Blackstone Canal, and it required time to revive a business with Boston. But gradually trade increased; the Norwich and Western lines were commenced, the operatives and their supplies added to the traffic while these enterprises were in progress, and their completion opened new sources of revenue." While the Worcester was approaching completion earnest endeavors were making to procure its extension to the Hudson. The effect of the completed line upon business was immediate and marked. Indeed, it surpassed the expectations of the most sanguine. If so much could be accomplished by fifty miles of road, what might not be claimed for one four times as long, traversing a region not tributary to the Massachusetts capital. Influential movers of popular opinion, such as Edward Everett, Abbott Lawrence, T. B. Curtis, and others, aroused, by public speeches and printed arguments, a popular demand for the measure, as one vital to the true interests of the state. A charter had been obtained in 1833. Within a month after the completion of the track to Worcester books were opened for subscriptions; and so firmly had the idea that the stock would immediately become remunerative fixed itself in the public mind, that the directors were charged in the public prints with a desire to prevent subscriptions being taken except by a favored few. What the Worcester road had done for Boston was presented at a monster meeting in Faneuil Hall, in that city, as follows: "I trust," said Mr. Lawrence," that you all know from experience, what I certainly do, the vast increase of business in our city within a few months past. I ask you, "You will call me enthusiastic, but I cannot tell you half the advantages which I think would be derived from opening this road to the Hudson River. I believe the city of Boston and its neighborhood are destined, if this project should be effected, to change far more than the city of New York changed, when the Grand Canal was completed. Many people doubted the expectations of advantage from that work, but it caused real estate in the city of New York to advance fifty per cent. Within one year, in our own city, it has advanced more, it has doubled in value; it could not, without real value, during the pressure of the two past years, have held its own, but it has come out with an advance. What will be the effect of a railroad to connect this city with the great West, I forbear to estimate. If I expressed my feelings, I should be called latitudinarian." The Western Railroad was completed to Springfield in 1839, and to its terminus, opposite Albany, in 1841. A consolidation of the two lines took place in 1867, when the two corporations adopted the name of the Boston and Albany Railroad Company. This road has the following branches in Middlesex County: the Newton Lower Falls Branch leaves the main line at Riverside; the Milford Branch, twelve miles, leaves at Framingham, traversing Sherborn and Holliston; the Saxonville Branch leaves at Natick, and terminates at the manufacturing village of Saxonville, in the northeast corner of Framingham. The completion, in 1841, of the railway which Captain Hall regarded as "madness," was sure to give for many years to come all needful facilities for the expected traffic between our northern seaboard and the lakes. It was not, therefore, until ten years later that a new line approached Hoosac Mountain over the route traced by Mr. Baldwin. The Fitchburg Railroad was chartered in 1843; opened to Waltham in December of the same year; to Concord June 17, 1844; and to Fitchburg March 5, 1845. Its route lies for nearly its |