engineer, that it might crumble on being exposed to the atmosphere, and a brick lining was constructed for the purpose of preventing the loose stone from falling upon the track. Besides the above tunnels, of natural rock, there are two constructed of brick at the Sing Sing prison yard.

The whole cost of the Hudson River Railroad, when entirely finished, will not vary much from nine millions of dollars. Of this sum the original stock subscription was for 30,165 shares, amounting to 3,016,500 dollars. The balance is obtained from other sources. The road was opened on the 29th of September, 1849, for the transportation of passengers between New York and Peekskill, a distance of forty miles. On the 6th day of December following, an additional section of twenty-three miles was opened, extending to New Hamburg; and on the 31st of the same month, the remaining distance of nine miles to Poughkeepsie was brought into use.

One characteristic of this road deserves especial mention. We refer to the system of signal flags, introduced to secure safety from accidents in running the trains. Flag men are stationed upon every mile of the road, generally at the curves, or upon a slight acclivity, where a view of the track for some distance can be had. Upon the approach of a train, if all is clear ahead, the flagman displays a white signal. If there be any obstruction in sight, or a diminished speed be required for any cause, a red flag is displayed. During the intervals between the trains, these men daily examine the road, to see that all is secure. If a chair be broken, a rail loose, or a spike drawn, the evil is at once corrected, and thus the road is kept in perfect repair. This is a very important improvement. It may be true that more caution is necessary upon this road, in consequence of the great number of curves; yet there would be a less number of accidents, were this system adopted upon other roads, where a high degree of speed is desirable.

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Commencing at the principal city station, at the junction of Chamber and Hudson streets, the track is laid through Hudson, Canal, and West streets, to Tenth avenue, which it follows to the upper city station, at Thirty-fourth street. Over this part of the route the rails are laid even with the streets, and the cars are drawn by what is called "dumb engine." This is considered a great improvement over the use of horses, for drawing the cars through the streets, where, by the corporation regulations, locomotives are not allowed to run. This engine appears very much like an ordinary freight car. The machinery is entirely out of sight, and it is made to consume its own smoke. While passing through the city, it is preceded by a man on horseback, who gives notice of its approach by blowing a horn. At Thirty-fourth street, the line curves into Eleventh avenue, the dumb engine is detached, and the regular locomotive takes the train. As far as Sixtieth street, the track is laid upon the street grades, which are somewhat undulating. At this point the regular grades of the road begin.

Passing Manhattanville and Carmansville, the first obstacle of any impor

tance was the heavy rock-cutting at Fort Washington Point, nine miles above the city. This excavation is in solid rock, fifty-six feet deep at the highest point, and one hundred rods in length. The rock taken from this cut amounted to nearly fifty thousand cubic yards. It was used to construct the protection wall near this place. From this point, suspended from high poles, to the high ground on the opposite side of the river, are the various telegraph lines which extend south from New York. These were at first sunk in the stream, but they received so much damage from the anchors of vessels navigating the river, that it was found necessary to suspend them, in this manner, out of the reach of danger.

Twelve miles from the city, the line crosses Spuyten Duyvel Creek. Here is a draw-bridge to allow vessels which navigate the river to pass into the creek, and also several hundred feet of pile bridge to allow the free passage of water in and out of the bay. Spuyten Duyvel Creek falls into what is called Harlem River, and separates Manhattan, or New York Island, from the main land.

From this point the line proceeds along close to the river, passing Yonkers, Hastings', Dobbs' Ferry, Tarrytown, to Sing Sing. This part of the line is level. At Sing Sing the road passes through the yard of the State Prison, directly in rear of the main building. The track is several feet below the yard. Two arches of brick, of twenty-four feet span and six hundred feet in length, are here constructed, one upon each side of the yard, for the purpose of rendering it secure.

A short distance above Sing Sing, the road crosses the bay formed by the junction of the Croton and Hudson rivers. The distance across is about one mile. A draw-bridge is here constructed; the remaining part of the distance being partly well protected embankments, and partly pile bridge.

The line now crosses Teller's Point, a narrow neck of land extending more than half way across the river, and dividing Tappan and Haverstraw Bays, so called; the former being below, and the latter above, this point. Here there is an extensive excavation through sand and gravel for nearly half a mile. More than four hundred thousand cubic yards of earth were removed from this cutting. Passing this, the track follows again close upon the banks of the river to Oscawana Island, where the first tunnel through solid rock is passed. Half a mile above this, the road takes a curve inland, to avoid Verplanck's Point. Here there is some heavy rock cutting, and, to accommodate the road to a brick-yard near at hand, another short tunnel was made. Between this point and Peekskill station the road makes its greatest divergence from the river; and, at the highest point, passes over a summit of 34 feet, by a rising and falling inclination of 13 feet per mile.

At Peekskill, between the 42d and 43d miles, the line curves to the left more than a quarter of a circle. A little north of the village it is carried across the bay, at the mouth of Peekskill Creek, a distance of three quarters

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of a mile; part of the distance by a pile bridge eight hundred feet in length, with draw for vessels, &c., and the remainder by embankment. At this point the Highland division commences. Two miles north of Peekskill is the third tunnel upon the line, which is denominated Flat Rock tunnel; and within another mile the line passes through the projecting point of Anthony's Nose, by a fourth tunnel, with heavy and extensive rock cutting at each exit.

For a considerable distance along the Highlands, the mountains have an elevation of from one thousand to fifteen hundred feet, and shut down close to the water's edge. In many places the road is formed by cutting a large portion or even the whole of its width into the rock, leaving a perpendicular natural wall upon the east side, from ten to thirty, and even forty, feet high. In one case, six miles above Peekskill, where the road is formed across the outlet of a small brook, much trouble was occasioned by the sinking of the embankment. Several months after this portion was graded and ready for the rails, and a portion of the track was laid, while passing over it with a horse and car-load of rails, the embankment for more than a hundred feet went down so suddenly that the horse, car, and rails were overwhelmed, and two men on the car escaped with difficulty. It is now constructed upon piles, and probably secure. Similar difficulties, though less important, occurred at five different points between Peekskill and West Point.

The elevated ground opposite West Point, at Phillips' Hill, is passed by a tunnel nine hundred feet long, being the fifth upon the road. Emerging from this, to avoid a sudden bend in the river, the line is carried across a sort of bay, by a pile bridge nearly a mile in length, and extending more than one third of the distance across the stream. On reaching the shore it intersects a short branch built for the accommodation of the iron works at Cold Spring. The road passes directly through the village of Cold Spring, where two formidable rock cuts were encountered.

From this point to Breakneck Hill the road is nearly straight, notwithstanding the numerous bays in the river, and the rocky projections from the hills, presenting obstacles which seem to bid defiance to the skill of the engineer.

At Breakneck, the road passes the sixth tunnel, and follows along close to the water, crossing Fishkill Creek, in rear of Dennings' Point. Here the Highlands end. North of the creek is a cutting in blue clay, more diffi

cult to excavate, in some respects, than the hard rock cuts.

North of Wappinger's Creek, which is crossed by a pile bridge at the village of New Hamburg, the road encounters a ridge of limestone rock, very

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hard and compact. Here it was necessary to construct a tunnel of considerable length, the seventh upon the line. To expedite the work, two shafts were sunk, one seventy-two feet from the surface of the ground, the other to the depth of fifty-three feet. A large portion of the tunnel excavation was drawn up through these shafts by steam power; and the water, which at some periods was troublesome, was disposed of in the same way. The eighth tunnel was about one mile north of Milton Ferry.

At Poughkeepsie the line passes through the lower part of the place, all the roads leading to the river being carried over the railroad. North of this station are two heavy sections. Indeed, of the twenty-six miles extending from Poughkeepsie to Tivoli, the north line of Duchess county, seven are rock cuttings. A line was originally surveyed from Poughkeepsie to Albany, passing through the country away from the river, in some places being as much as seven miles distant; but, for various reasons, it was abandoned.

Above Tivoli, with one or two inconsiderable exceptions, the road follows close to the river the whole remaining distance to Greenbush. As a general thing, the track is five feet above high tide-water, and very few excavations or other works are of sufficient importance to deserve especial notice. At Greenbush the track is united to that of the "Troy and Greenbush” road, six miles in length, which has been leased to the Hudson River Company for a term of years.

The Hudson River Railroad is probably one of the very best constructed roads in America. The road bed, generally, is thirty feet wide at the top; the protection wall three feet in thickness, and carried five feet above ordinary high tides; the rails weigh seventy pounds per yard, and the outer rail, in all cases of exposure to the river, is ten feet from the top of the wall, affording a wide margin for the washing of the bank, and ample security against running the cars into the water in cases of accident. The time proposed for running the trains between New York and Albany is four to four and a half hours. This will be likely to vary somewhat with the season, though it is believed that it will never exceed the longest time named. This will be a saving of at least four hours to each passenger, over what would have been occupied on board a steamboat, an important consideration, certainly. By the terms of the charter, the fare through is not to exceed three dollars at any season. This will unquestionably be the fixed price during the winter, and must be considered very reasonable. Whether the competition of the boats, during open river navigation, will be such as to induce the company to reduce the fare in the summer, time will determine. Considering the great obstacles surmounted in constructing the road, and the saving of time passing over it, three dollars, at all seasons, cannot be called an unreasonable fare, while, for the winter months, none will deny that it is extremely low.