Report of the Hoosac Tunnel and Troy and Greenfield Railroad Part 11

Whenever all the capital stock of the Southern Vermont Railroad, excepting not exceeding twenty shares, of one hundred dollars each, and one hundred thousand dollars of its mortgage bonds, with coupons attached, the whole amount being one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, payable in twenty years from the date of issue, with six per cent.

interest, payable semi-annually at the Bank of Commerce, in the city of New York, and the aforesaid lease of said company to the Troy and Boston Railroad Company, together with the rent reserved therein of twelve thousand dollars per annum, payable semi-annually, shall have been transferred to the treasurer of the Commonwealth, for the future security of the Commonwealth for its whole loan of credit to the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, in such manner as the attorney-general shall prescribe, and to the satisfaction of the governor and council, the state treasurer shall deliver one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars of said scrip to the treasurer of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company; and when the remaining portion of said bonds, with the coupons attached, shall be in like manner delivered to the state treasurer, he shall deliver to the treasurer of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company the balance of said scrip, amounting to seventy-five thousand dollars: _provided_, that if any holders of said bonds, not exceeding ten thousand dollars in all, shall refuse to surrender the same at par, the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company shall not be required to purchase the same, but the state treasurer shall withhold an equal amount of state scrip at par in lieu thereof.

The semi-annual payments of the coupons, with the balance of the income from the lease of the Southern Vermont Railroad, shall be collected by or paid to the state treasurer, who shall therefrom pay the interest on the two hundred thousand dollars of five per cent. scrip herein authorized to be issued, and shall pay the balance to the commissioners of the sinking fund of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad loan, to be by them from time to time invested as is now by law required.

The Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company shall, as soon as may be after the pa.s.sage of this act, procure from the legislature of the slate of Vermont the requisite authority for purchasing, holding and mortgaging to the Commonwealth the franchise, railroad and property of the Southern Vermont Railroad Company, according to the provisions of this act; and in case such authority shall not be granted, and any want of security by reason thereof accrue to the Commonwealth, the governor and council shall withhold from the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company portions of scrip const.i.tuting the last deliveries to be made on the completion of the tunnel, to such amount, not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars, as may be required for further security.

SECT. 9. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed: _provided_, _however_, that such repeal shall not, and nothing contained in this act shall, have effect or be construed in anyway to release or impair any security which the Commonwealth now has or may hereafter have by force of the bond and mortgage now held by the Commonwealth on the franchise, railroad and property of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company.

_Approved April 4, 1860._

[1862.--Chapter 156.]

AN ACT providing for the more speedy completion of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel.

_Be it enacted, &c., as follows:_

SECT. 1. The governor, with the advice of the council, is hereby authorized and directed to appoint three able, impartial and skilful commissioners to investigate the subject of finis.h.i.+ng the Troy and Greenfield Railroad, and of tunneling the Hoosac Mountain, whose duty it shall be to report to the governor and council what, in their judgment, will be the most economical, practical and advantageous method of completing said road and tunnel, the estimated cost of fitting the same for use, the time within which the tunnel can be completed, and what contracts can be effected, and with what parties, for completing said tunnel and road, and the probable cost of the same, the probable pecuniary value of the road and tunnel when completed, the sources and amount of traffic and income, and all other facts in their opinion useful to a.s.sist the governor and council in determining the best method of securing a continuous railroad communication between Troy and Greenfield.

SECT. 2. The Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company is hereby authorized to surrender to the slate, the property now mortgaged; but the right of redemption shall not be barred until ten years have elapsed after said road and tunnel are completed and the same open for use. The said commissioners shall immediately, in the name of the Commonwealth, take complete possession under the mortgages to the Commonwealth, given by the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, of all property, rights and interests intended to be conveyed by said mortgages, or either of them, and then shall, without unnecessary delay, cause the said railroad to be completed and put into running order, and supplied with suitable depots, turn-tables and other usual and necessary appliances for the reception of freight and pa.s.senger cars, from the eastern terminus of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad to the Hoosac Tunnel.

SECT. 3. Said commissioners shall audit and allow all just claims for labor, service, materials, land-damages incurred after April sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty, and before July twelfth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, in carrying on the work of constructing the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel, and may procure the release of all attachments and discharge all liens on said materials. The accounts thus audited shall be transmitted to the governor, and, if approved by the governor and council, the governor is hereby directed to draw his warrant upon the treasurer in favor of the claimants, for the amounts thus allowed, to an amount not exceeding one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars.

SECT. 4. Said commissioners are hereby authorized, with consent of the governor and council, to use or run that portion of said road east of the Hoosac Mountain, or lease the same to the "Vermont and Ma.s.sachusetts," the "Fitchburg," the "Troy and Boston Railroad Company,"

or either of them, until the completion of the said tunnel.

SECT. 5. Said commissioners shall have authority, with the approval of the governor and council, to continue the work on the Hoosac Tunnel, and by contract or otherwise, to expedite the completion of said tunnel.

SECT. 6. All the net earnings and income derived from said railroad, including the tunnel, shall be held by the Commonwealth in trust: first, for the payment and reimburs.e.m.e.nt of the interest on all loans, advancements and disburs.e.m.e.nts of the Commonwealth, on account of said railroad or tunnel: second, for the payment and reimburs.e.m.e.nt to all parties having a legal right thereto.

SECT. 7. The governor is hereby authorized to draw his warrant on the treasurer of the Commonwealth, for such sums as may be required from time to time by the commissioners for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, and the amount of the same is hereby appropriated therefore; and the treasurer of the Commonwealth is hereby authorized to issue scrip, or certificates of debts, in the name and in behalf of the Commonwealth, to an extent sufficient to secure the required funds, which scrip shall bear such rate of interest, as is allowed at the time on state scrip issued for other purposes, and shall be redeemable at the end of thirty years from the date thereof; and he shall sell or otherwise use the same at his discretion, to procure the sum necessary to meet the payments in this act provided: provided, that all expenditures and advances made under and by virtue of this act, shall be on account, and form part of the two millions of dollars, authorized to be loaned in state scrip to the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company by chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-four; and said expenditures and advances, together with all sums. .h.i.therto advanced to said company, excepting the sums advanced on account of the "Southern Vermont Railroad," shall not exceed in amount the said two millions of dollars. Such changes may be made in the location and grades of the road, as may be necessary to improve the same; and no lease shall be made of the portion of the road east of the tunnel for a term exceeding six years; nor shall such portion be constructed without the approval of the governor and council.

SECT. 8. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed.

SECT. 9. This act shall take effect upon its pa.s.sage.

_Approved April 28, 1862._

[1863.--Chapter 214.]

AN ACT in addition to "an Act providing for the more speedy completion of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel."

_Be it enacted, &c., as follows:_

SECT. 1. The commissioners appointed under the one hundred and fifty-sixth chapter of the acts of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, are hereby authorized, subject to the advice and approval of the governor and council, to construct, complete and equip the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel; and to make such alterations in the line of said road as may be deemed necessary to render it suitable and proper for part of a thorough line from Troy to Boston; also such alterations in the location and dimensions of said tunnel as will render it suitable and proper for use, in accordance with the spirit and intent of the two hundred and twenty-sixth chapter of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-four.

SECT. 2. The governor is hereby authorized to draw his warrant on the treasurer of the Commonwealth for such sums as may be required from time to time by said commissioners for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, and the act or acts to which this is in addition; and there is accordingly hereby appropriated for the purpose of constructing and completing said tunnel and railroad and equipping the the same, and paying interest upon such scrip, as has been or may be issued during the progress of the work, the unexpended balance of the two millions of dollars authorized by chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and referred to in chapter one hundred and fifty-six of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-two. And the treasurer of the Commonwealth is hereby authorized, upon the warrant of the governor drawn as aforesaid, to issue scrip or certificates of debt to the amount of said appropriation, which shall be expressed in such currency and shall bear such rate of interest as the governor and council may direct, and shall be redeemable at the end of thirty years from the date thereof: and said treasurer shall sell or otherwise dispose of the same as he may deem proper, subject to the approval of the governor and council.

SECT. 3. Said commissioners', and their successors in office, shall be removable by the governor, with the advice of the council, and in case of any vacancy occasioned by death; resignation or removal, such vacancy shall be filled by appointment of the governor, with the advice of the council; and said commissioners shall, once in three months, and oftener if required, present to the governor and council an account of all contracts entered into by them as such commissioners, and of all payments and charges by them made, by virtue of their commission, with their vouchers therefore, which vouchers and accounts shall be examined, and if found correct, and in good faith, shall be allowed by the governor and council; but no lease of any part of said railroad, nor any contract amounting to more than ten thousand dollars shall be made by said commissioners without the of the governor and council.

SECT. 4. Said commissioners in altering the location of the line of said road shall have the same power as railroad corporations have in making locations under existing laws, and may take, by purchase or otherwise, such lands, or eas.e.m.e.nts therein, as may be needed for any purposes connected with the construction of said tunnel, and all t.i.tles or eas.e.m.e.nts so taken shall vest in the Commonwealth; and all parties aggrieved by any action of said commissioners, under this section, may have their damages a.s.sessed in the manner provided by law for the a.s.sessment of damages against railroad corporations; and all damages so a.s.sessed shall be paid from the treasury of the Commonwealth to the party ent.i.tled thereto, upon the warrant of the governor, drawn pursuant to the provisions of this act.

SECT. 5. Said commissioners, subject to the approval of the governor and council, shall have the power to use a part of the money appropriated by this act, not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, to extinguish any liens or claims, or rights of redemption which any person or corporation may have, in order to perfect the t.i.tle of the Commonwealth to said railroad and tunnel.

SECT. 6. The contract executed by the Troy and Boston Railroad Company, on the eighteenth day of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, by the Vermont and Ma.s.sachusetts Railroad Company on the twentieth day of said February, and by the Fitchburg Railroad Company on the twenty-third day of said month, printed on pages eighty-eight to ninety-four, inclusive, of the report of said commissioners made on the twenty-eighth day of February, aforesaid, and referred to in the message of the governor, dated the twelfth day of March, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-three, is hereby approved, ratified and confirmed.

SECT. 7. The compensation or said commissioners shall be fixed by the governor, with the advice of the council; but the compensation of the chairman of said commissioners shall in no event exceed the sum of five thousand dollars per annum, nor shall the entire compensation of all of said commissioners exceed the sum of seven thousand dollars per annum.

_Approved April 29, 1868._

[C.]

_Statement of J. W. Brooks, Esq., Chairman of the Commissioners, made to the Committee during the session of the Legislature, 1866._

The first Act for loaning the credit of the State to the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, dated April 5, 1854, provides, besides other conditions, that when seven miles of the road in one or two sections is completed, and 1,000 feet of the tunnel, in one or more sections, sufficient for one or more tracks is completed, then $100,000 of scrip shall be delivered to the company.

The size of the tunnel required by this Act is not definitely stated, nor what proportion of the $100,000 of scrip is loaned on account of the tunnel.

The Act of April 4, 1860, defines the size the tunnel to be 14 feet wide and 18 feet high. If this means excavation and not completed tunnel, then the room required for the ballast and drainage would reduce the height to about 16 feet above the rails; a size absurdly small enough to be regarded as certainly not above the minimum intended by the Act. The same Act provides that $30 per foot shall be allowed on account of heading, and $20 on account of the enlargement, making $50 per foot for the completed tunnel; $50,000 of the first advance may therefore be considered as on account of the first 1,000 feet of completed tunnel, and the remainder, say $50,000, on account of the road which had been then completed west of the tunnel.

The second delivery of scrip was on account of the tunnel, and under the provisions of the' Act of 1859, which provides that $50,000 may be advanced upon the completion of 1,000 feet of heading. The heading was done and $49,777.78 delivered October 4, 1859.

The third delivery of scrip was under the provisions of the same Act, and was on account of grading three miles of road, in detached pieces, near Greenfield. For this, $50,222.22 was delivered January 3, 1860.

The fourth delivery was under the same Act, and for completing the second 1,000 feet of tunnel, for which $30,222.22, was delivered March 1, 1860.

An Act changing the terms of the loan was pa.s.sed April 4, 1860. Section 2 divides the scrip remaining undelivered, as follows: "No further deliveries of scrip shall be made to said company upon the conditions authorized in former Acts, but the undelivered portions of the loan of two millions of dollars authorized by chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the Acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-four, amounting to one million seven hundred and seventy thousand dollars, shall be divided and apportioned between the railroad and tunnel, and for the construction of each, respectively: 'six hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the completion of the unfinished portion of railroad extending from the eastern terminus of said road near Greenfield, to within half a mile of the eastern end of Hoosac Tunnel."

Section 3 contains the following provisions: "The governor and council shall annually appoint a state engineer for the purpose of examining and determining monthly the amount and value of the work done, and materials delivered on the railroad and tunnel of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, who shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars, payable quarterly. The state engineer shall forthwith fix permanent marks in each end of the Hoosac Tunnel, marking the progress of the work up to February twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty, from which to determine the progress subsequently made. He shall also determine by suitable notes, marks or observations, the amount and value of all grading, bridging, masonry, or other work done, or iron, or other materials delivered on the road east of the Hoosac Tunnel, prior to December twenty-second, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, and fix data from which to determine the value of any work, or materials delivered subsequent to the date last named. He shall monthly, immediately after the first day of each month, estimate the proportion which' the work done upon the road, since the preceding estimate, bears to the whole of the work required to be done in the graduation, masonry, bridging, and superstructure of said railroad east of the Hoosac Tunnel; and also the work done in the excavation of said tunnel, which he shall certify separately to the governor, together with the amount of state scrip to which the company is ent.i.tled under the provisions of this Act. Such monthly estimates shall be based upon a width of road-bed at grade of fifteen feet, on embankments, seventeen and a half feet in side cuts, and twenty feet in through cuts; in the heading of the tunnel upon dimensions fourteen feet wide and six feet high in the middle, and in the finished excavation of the tunnel of fourteen feet wide and eighteen feet high in the middle.

"The deliveries of scrip shall be at the rate of fifty dollars for each lineal foot of tunnel, divided between heading and full-sized tunnel, in the proportion of thirty dollars for each lineal foot of heading and twenty dollars per lineal foot for the remaining excavation; and of six hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the whole of the graduation, masonry, bridging, and superstructure of the unfinished portion of the road east of the tunnel.

"The Scrip shall be delivered on the road in the proportion which the value of the work done and the materials delivered each month bears to the estimated cost of the whole work and materials required on the portion of road aforesaid.

"No expenditures shall be required merely for the purposes of ornament, but the work shall be substantially performed, and the rails shall weigh not less than fifty-six pounds to the lineal yard; for any defective materials or work, a proportionate amount of scrip shall be withheld.

"The governor and council shall have a general supervision of the work, and for that purpose shall visit and inspect the same at least once in each year, and as much oftener as they may deem expedient; and they shall have power to correct abuses, remedy defects, and enforce requirements, by withholding scrip or imposing new requirements in such manner as the interest of the Commonwealth shall in their judgment require."

Under the provisions of this Act scrip to the amount of $455,034.70 has been delivered on account of the railroad and $40,131.95 on account of the tunnel.

State scrip was delivered in sterling up to and including the delivery of March 7, 1861, and afterwards in dollar bonds. In this statement the sterling is changed into dollars, to show it all in one currency, and the pound sterling is reckoned, as by the State treasurer when the deliveries were made, at $4.44-44/100.

The certificates for amounts due on account of the railroad or tunnel were for irregular sums, and the scrip delivered was in round amounts; the fractional difference sometimes in excess and sometimes below the amount of the certificates is divided between the tunnel and railroad in proportion to the amount due on account of each.