Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Three.

RESOLVED, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled, That the Government of the United States, is invested by the Constitution with the power of appropriating money to promote such Internal Improvements in the several States, as in the judgment of Congress, shall be necessary, or conducive, to the common defence or the general welfare of the United States.

RESOLVED, That His Excellency the Governor be requested to transmit copies of these Resolutions to the Governors of the States of Georgia, Tennessee and Maine.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

To the Honorable Senate and

House of Representatives:

The Directors of the Boston and Worcester Rail Road Corporation, in compliance with a requisition of the Act for establishing the said Corporation, respectfully

REPORT:

That the said Corporation was fully organized, by the completion of the subscription for the whole number of 10,000 shares in the capital stock, on the first day of May last. At a meeting of the Stockholders held on that day, they voted unanimously, that it was expedient, as soon as practicable, to make a definite location of the Rail Road, and to proceed in its construction; and the Directors were instructed to take all proper measures for the prosecution of the work.

The Corporation had been previously organized so far as to enable them to lay an assessment, for the purpose of procuring the necessary surveys and estimates, to show the practicability and probable expense of the undertaking. Thorough surveys of the route, and an approximate location of the Rail Road from Boston to Worcester, were made in the summer of 1831, by John M. Fessenden, Esq., the Engineer selected by the Directors for this

duty. An estimate was also made by him, of the cost of construction, and of the probable cost of maintaining the road in use, with the requisite number of carriages and locomotive engines, and other expenses. An estimate was also made by the Directors, founded on the most authentic information which could be procured, of the amount of goods, and number of passengers now annually transported on the route.

The length of the route upon the location thus made, from the depot in Bostou to the centre of the town in Worcester, is about 433 miles. This is about equal to the distance between the two towns, measured on the public road now most travelled. It is shown by the levels taken, that Worcester is situated at an elevation of 456 feet above the level of the Western Avenue, in Boston. The highest summit over which the road passes, has an elevation of 491 feet. The greatest inclination of the surface of the Rail Road, as it is located, is at the rate of 30 feet in a mile. The whole amount of ascent in proceeding from Boston to Worcester is 556 feet; the amount of descent, which is divided between three different portions of the route, is about 100 feet, and the amount of ascent and descent taken together, is 656 feet. Of the whole distance, 16 miles are level, 14 miles ascend or descend at the rate of 30 feet per mile, and the remaining 13 miles incline at different rates from 13 to 27 feet per mile.

The greatest part of the line is straight, and the shortest curves have a radius of not less than 1150 feet. The road will therefore be adapted to travelling with locomotive engines, and will admit of the most rapid speed which can safely be allowed on any rail road. For grading the road upon this line of location, no very expensive excava

tion or embankment will be necessary. The estimated cost of forming the road bed, of a width of 24 feet, which is sufficient for a double track, is $383,203. The estimated amount of the other branches of expenditure, for constructing the Road in the most substantial and durable manner, including the cost of iron, carriages, engines, land, damages, &c., is about $500,000; making the whole estimated cost, $833,000. It has been ascertained since these estimates were made, that the cost of iron will be about $60,000 less than it was then computed, in consequence of the remission of the impost duty, and the decline of the price in England; and that there will be an increase of probably $20,000 in the cost of land over the estimated amount. It has been found also, that the cost of work, as far as contracts have been made, will be less than the original estimate; nearly all the contracts for excavation and masonry, having been thus far made at lower rates.

In the estimate of transportation made by the Directors, the quantity of merchandize and materials for manufactures transported from Boston, and of agricultural produce and manufactures transported to Boston, on the route of the Rail Road, annually, was computed to be equal to 30,000 tons. The present cost of transportation is about $7 a ton. The estimated number of passengers conveyed on the route annually, is 54,000, at a cost, when conveyed in stage coaches, of $2 each. The present cost of transportation and travelling therefore, exceeds, in the space of three years, the estimated cost of the Rail Road. Should this amount of transportation, and number of passengers, prove to be correctly estimated, and should the freight per ton on the Rail Road be reduced to $250, and the fare of passengers to $1 25

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each, the produce from the transportation of goods on the Rail Road will be equal to $75,000, and from the conveyance of passengers, $67,500, making a total of $142,500.

If the freight on the same amount of merchandize be computed at $3 50 a ton, and the fare for passengers at $150, the annual produce is $176,000.

In this computation no estimate is made for any increase of transportation or travelling, over the present estimated amount, in consequence of the greater cheapness, quickness, ease, and safety of the conveyance. No allowance is made for any increased travelling from Norwich, New York, or Albany, beyond the present travelling on or near the route, or for the conveyance of the mail by the Rail Road, or of other articles of produce, which are of too low a value to pay the present cost of transportation.

In the estimate of the annual expenses of the Rail Road after its completion, including the repairs of the road, and of carriages and engines, sufficient for the amount of transportation in the above estimate, the cost of fuel for engines and of the necessary attendance, it is computed by the Engineer that the aggregate of these expenditures will amount to $34,143 per annum.

Since the passing of the vote of the Stockholders on the 1st of May last, above referred to, a portion of the Rail Road of eight and a half miles in length, leading from Brighton to Needham, has been finally located, and put under contract, for the grading and masonry, and about two-thirds of the work under these contracts is now finished. The final location of part of the Road, extending from Brighton to Boston, has been delayed, by the difficulties attending the selection of the most eligi