 Dec. '97-Jan. '98 issue
These are excerpts from a report published in 1842 by the Hudson River Chronicle newspaper. This report to railroad executives outlines the location and cost of a rail line along the east side of the Hudson River on what is now Metro-North's Hudson line. Perhaps not surprisingly for the time, there's no discussion here about environmental impact or limiting public access to the river. The river shore is seen as perfectly suitable for railroad construction -- flat, relatively straight, with easy to access for construction equipment.
To: Messrs. M. Vassar, C. Appleton, Thos. L. Davies, Isaac Plett, John
Thompson, E. B. B. Killey, Jas. Hooker, Charles H. Ruggles, Joseph H. Jackson,
Charles Bartlett, Executive Committee of the Hudson River Railroad
... no difficulties of great magnitude existed, even round Anthony's Nose, or at Break Neck Hill ... Actual measurements have determined as follows: the most elevated ground 215 feet; the steepest gradient 17 feet to the mile, and the whole distance from the City Hall to Greenbush 144 miles. The practicability of also constructing a good and safe roadbed along the banks of the river, through the Highlands has been satisfactorily determined. I have before asserted, that no difficulties of great magnitude existed, even round Anthony's Nose, or at Break Neck Hill, and I am fully sustained in this opinion by the offers of experienced and responsible contractors to take the work for several thousand dollars less per mile than the amount allowed in my estimates. The map of our survey will, I trust, meet your wishes. I have spared no pains to render it accurate, and have been enabled to do so by the efficient aid of Messrs. Coe and Gardner, to whose exertions also must be attributed the unusual expedition with which the whole work has been completed. In taking a general view of the line surveyed, and in tracing it from its southern termination, it is deserving of notice that the river shore above New York island can be conveniently reached from almost any of the avenues. The Harlaem Railroad may be extended on the west bank of the Harlaem River, meeting our line a short distance above the bridge; or should the period ever arrive when the increasing population of the Island may render it expedient, other branches may be extended from the city to unite it. A line has also been surveyed by the Harlaem Company from the termination of their road to a point on the river nearly opposite Piermont. The question, however, as to which is preferable, although in itself highly important, is at present foreign to the great object of this survey, as it was designed simply to demonstrate that natural advantages exist for the construction of a Railroad along the valley of the Hudson, which are of immense importance to the city of New York, as well as to the whole community. I would also observe, that having constantly in view the large traffic, which, at some future day, is sure to exist on a Railroad from New York to Albany, my survey and estimates have been predicted accordingly. The calculations are for a double track, with excavations and embankments suitable for a work of the first magnitude; and whenever the road bed is on the river shore, it is to be raised four feet above extreme high water mark, and is to be faced with a strong protection wall or loose rock thrown in with a natural slope.
On the first twenty miles, there is a beautiful beach, offering the greatest facilities for construction ... The line from Harlaem creek follows the river shore, with a few exceptions, all the way to Fishkill Landing. On the first twenty miles, there is a beautiful beach, offering the greatest facilities for construction, loose rock lying all along shore well adapted for the use required, whilst the gravely bank above them can be wheeled in to form a road, at a trifling expense. It will be seen by an examination of the profile, that at Yonkers and Tarrytown, there are projecting points, which must be cut through; but they are composed of materials easily excavated. The small bays which it is deemed necessary to cross, have been carefully sounded, and are found to be very shallow, on an average, not exceeding seven feet in depth. The shore near Sing Sing is rather more difficult, as half a mile south of the State Prison is a rocky promontory, forming a bay below it of considerable extent: but the estimate for this section allows sufficient excavation in the rock to form a facing to the embankment across the bay, and includes the excavation in the rear of the State Prison, which together admit of the adoption of a straight line for two and a half miles, touching the end of Mr. Robinson's dock at Sing Sing. Three miles above Sing Sing the survey crosses the Croton River, which has thrown into the bay vast quantities of gravel, forming a hard bottom, nearly bare at low water.
... north of Crotonville, an irregular and broken country presents itself, and can only be avoided by keeping on the flat beach as much as possible ... A bridge, equal in the aggregate, to 300 feet, has been deemed sufficient to give free passage to the water. The heavy sand cut through Teller's Point, will furnish the best kind of material for the embankment across the mouth of the Croton. Above the point, north of Crotonville, an irregular and broken country presents itself, and can only be avoided by keeping on the flat beach as much as possible, occasionally cutting through point and gradually rising twenty-five feet in two miles, in order to take advantage of a remarkable valley lying east of the post road, and in the rear of Verplanck's Point. Through this hollow the line extends to Peekskill on favorable ground. Two curves are introduced by taking this course, but not extensive, nor of less than 2000 feet radius. At Peekskill Bay the curve is still more favorable, having a radius of 3000 feet, and where the line crosses, it varies from six to eight feet in depth, with a bottom well calculated for a pile structure. On proceeding northward from the first point above Peekskill, called Royer's Hook, to Anthony's Nose, the survey is nearly in a straight line, and although the side hill above has a formidable appearance, the rock excavations are not extensive, and the road bed can be formed much more cheaply than was anticipated, the projecting points of rock being very narrow, and the intermediate bays having a hard bottom with shoal water, admit of locating the embankments outside the base of the hill, thereby rendering them entirely secure from all obstructions and danger. At the Nose, which is formed by a spur of the mountain, a thorough cut of rock of moderate extent will be necessary. Here the bend of the river causes a deflection of the road, but by keeping on the marsh above, where it is proposed to construct the road, by driving piles, the curve round the nose would be reduced to a 3000 foot radius. The level marsh extends two miles above the Nose, and the shore still further up admits of light work till opposite Buttermilk Falls.
The whole investment of capital for the Hudson River Railroad with a double track, would not exceed $4,272,602 ... The quantities of earth and rock have been carefully estimated, and 10 per cent added for superintendence and contingencies, whilst the prices are ample in every instance. That the comparative cost of different portions of the line may be clearly understood, it has been divided into three parts.
...On comparing these statements with the cost of other Railroads, it should be remembered that on the shores of the Hudson, however rough and formidable they may appear to the eye of an inexperienced observer, the excavation is nearly all side hill work, there is seldom occasion to make what is termed by contractors thorough cuts. It should also be borne in mind, that a large part of the line is over extensive plains, where the natural surface is remarkably fine. The price of railroad iron at the present time, including 20 per cent duty, does not exceed $45 per ton. Nearly all the Railroads that have been built in the United States for the last ten years, have been constructed with iron at prices 33 per cent greater, and every description of work at a similarly increased rate; neither was the art of performing the work as well understood. The whole investment of capital for the Hudson River Railroad with a double track, would not exceed $4,272,602 or $31, 306.11 per mile; or, for a single track, $24,595.92... |