Report of the Hoosac Tunnel and Troy and Greenfield Railroad Part 5

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

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

ELECTRICAL FIRING.

The experiment of simultaneous blasting by electricity has been made with admitted success. The increased progress in the Central Shaft from an average of about 18-1/2 to 23 feet per month, demonstrates its utility, and will undoubtedly insure the continuance of that mode of firing in preference to the method formerly practised.

THE TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.

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

Mr. Farren commenced work under his contract about the 20th of October.

At this time there were about four miles of track,--exclusive of that which had to be removed with the trestle-bridges,--built by Mr. Haupt.

Some portions of the track were in fair condition; but the larger part of it must be relaid. Many of the ties are of hemlock; they are all decayed and must be removed, and new ones subst.i.tuted. None of the bridges were strong enough to be used, and the timber of which they were constructed is too much decayed to be used for building purposes: There is on hand in addition to the track laid, chairs, or connecting joints, sufficient to lay five miles of rails; also about ten thousand chestnut ties. Such of these as had been properly piled are sound. Many of them, however, are so much decayed, as to be unfit for use.

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

Very little alteration will be made in the general location of the line or its gradients. The curvature will be very much modified and improved.

Some sharp and reversed curves will be entirely saved by the subst.i.tution of straight lines. Others, where the expense of reduction is not very heavy, will be materially changed. The alterations below Shelburne Falls are substantially as follows:--

A straight line subst.i.tuted for one 2, one 4 and one 6 curve.

One 2 curve subst.i.tuted for one 4 curve.

Four 4 " " " four 6 "

One 3 " " " one 6 "

Three 3 " " " three 6 "

Five 5 30' " " " five 6 "

One 3 30' " " " two 6 "

One 4 and two 2 curve subst.i.tuted for three 6 curve, saving 45 and 60 feet.

One 5 40' curve subst.i.tuted for one 7 curve.

One 6 " " " one 7 "

Three 7 " " " three 8 "

One 5 " " " two 5 and one 6 curve.

Two 3 " " " two 6 curve, saving 30 and 40 feet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BOSTON April 25, 1866.

Hon. TAPPAN WENTWORTH, _Chairman of Hoosac Tunnel and Troy and Greenfield Railroad Committee._

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

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

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

Very truly yours, J. W. BROOKS, _Chairman_.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TAPPAN WENTWORTH,

----- -------,[C]

WILLIAM L. REED, _Of the Senate._

MOSES KIMBALL, GEORGE B. LORING, SYLVANDER JOHNSON, B. F. TAFT, E. H. CHISHOLM, SILAS JONES, JAMES R. GLADWIN, _Of the House._