, needful for the purpose ofobtaining a better 10.
'_'cati'on for the road, these surveys were farther
‘A extended to the foot of each hill.

icross lines, every road, building,‘ creek, and

tion of the road.) were measured, and the whole

upon maps on a large scale ; and-all the eleva-

'_ winter season, and with as much certainty as

in "the springthese experimental lines and
.. curves, from the summit of the road ‘southerly
=to‘the Susquehanna River, (the lines and curves
;. north of the summit having been previously
‘laid out, and that part of the road put under

. tested thegreat advantage of the preliminary
surveys and maps.’

"good economy tovexpcnd some time in making
and re-crossing the Cattatunk Creek, ‘passing

’upon.wb'oth sides of that creek.

hill, from .the county ine,.11 miles south-east-
;erly from Ithaca, extends so far easterly as to

' it and the east hill, for the passage of the wa-
., top ofwhich is level for a considerable distance)
‘ most eligible for the ground lying totlienortli
‘ andto the south of that place; and the table

I landupon its top was foundso high above the
.low_ ground on each side of it,_as to have re-

" adopted, it was therefore avoided by passing
* in the valley around the foot of that spur, with
.. a curve of 7,000 feet radius, the valley not ad-

l‘nece‘ss,a'ry to encounter deep cutting and heavy

‘ doing which, the line was again thrown upon

» . Various lines were run to avoid the deep eut-

' that to make the best road, it would be the best

"straight line crossing that hill has, therefore,

i is 2,300 feet in length, with an average height

I slopes onthc sides of the deep cut, the cost of
‘this cut, including the great length of embank-

‘ ma s before spoken of, by reducing the curves

.~ .4

'thereto; and in cases where it was judged

In addition to the surveys and levels of these
other object worthy of note, (and which, if
practicable, were to be avoided intlie final loca-

_of the information thus obtained was laid down

tiens that had been taken of stations upon the
base andcross lines, and of suchiother points
as presented obstacles to the attainzneiit of the
best location, were written in figures at their
proper places upon the same map. - e

' Upon this mapexperimental lines and curves
were projectedwith great facility during the

could havebeen acquired by many surveys,
levels,'and examinations, made in the field : and

contract,) being transited and levelled, fully

‘-Although a good location for part of the road
wasthus obtained, yet in consideration of the.
small capital to be expended it was considered

further examinations, in order to save expense
where it was practicable to be done, in crossing

around spurs of hills,;.and ascending or de-
scendingi mm the slieilves or table land found

' The point of land rejecting from the west

leaveonly a valley 200 yards in width between
ters of the Cattatunk. As this point of land (the

lays directly across the track selected as the

quired ‘-too great an expenditure of money in
deep, cutting and heavy embankinents, to be

mitting of a longer curve. a
The bend in the line at this place made it

ernbanknients through a low point of theeast
hill,‘ near Mr. Lane’s tavern, which projected
into the swamp, north of the county line: or-to
up ly one for more reverse curves to avoid it, in

uplandrcquiring deep cutting and heavy em-
bankments to the north of that place.

ting at Lane’s hill, and after a careful cxami-
nation of all of them, and of . the infirm ground
in the swamp north of that hill, it was found’,

economy to iencounter that deep cut; the

been adopted- « . _ g
This cut consists principally of gravel. and

of .I4_fe‘-et, the g'reatest’l'ieight being 21 feet.
By the aid of an economical plan of construct-
ingjdry walls to save the excavation of large

ment to be a, made with this‘ excavation at each
end of the bill, will not much exceed the same
length of road grade north of the summit.
Important savings to the company were also
made, ‘byethese re-examinations, aided by the

at t e easterniand western spurs of thillsnear

ADVOCATE or INTERNAL mpiiovemnnvrs.

_feet apart on this base line, and at right angles

which passed around the eastern point of the]
hill,‘at Booth’s mill pond, near the junction of
the northern andwestern branches of the ‘Cat-
tatunk Creek. This curve was reduced to
7,000 feet radius, to avoid crossing and re-cross-
ing the northerly branch of that creek; but it
became necessary, by such removal of the line,
to cross the more rapid Shanandagan Creek
near its junction with. the Cattatunk, about one
mile north of the mill pond.

To have avoided the crossing of the Cattatunk
Creek, at Booth’s mill pond, by passing around
the foot of the high land. at that place, and
crossing the creek at the village ofCandor, would
have required too small a curve to be safe for
cars passing that place under high velocities; in
addition to which, a small curve at this place
would have madeit necessary to make another
small curve at the village of Candor, attended
with more cost in excavation and embankment,
or in removing buildings, than the re-crossing
of the creek at that village. A due regard to
economy, and safety, recommended the adop-
tion of the ‘line that crossed the Cattatunk at
the head of Booth’s mill pond, upon a curve
having aradius of 7,000 feet, and re-crossing
that creek at Candor. , ‘ ,

The next crossing and re-crossing places for
the road over the Cattatunk, are at Chidsey’s
mill pond, eight miles north of Owego, which
lies in crescent form, at the foot of a steep side-
ling hill of the same form, upon the east side of
the Cattatunk, which is composed of hard pan,
clay, and quick-sand, well known to be very
expensive to excavate, and bad materials for a
road. '1‘o haveconstructed the road along the
east side ofthis pond, toavoid crossing andro-
crossing it near this place, would not only have
required asinall curve along the pond, but an-
other small return curve, would have‘ been ne-
cessary to get the road upon favorable ground‘
for its continuance southerly. Such l_ine would
have been very expensive, even if no regard
were had to the injury to be done to Mr. Chid-
sey, by passing through his mill yard, and thus
damaging his property. , «

After crossing to the west side of the Catte-
tunk Creek at thehead of Cliidsey’s mill pond,
it was found impracticable to continue upon
that side of the creek, with due regard to cost
and to curves, on account of the ledges of rock,
deep cuttings and heavy embankinents, that
inusthave been encoimtered at Robinson's mill
pond, and ‘Williams’ hill. . ”

These were avoided, by crossing to the east
side of the Cattatnnk below Chidscy’s mill, re-
crossing it to the west at A.nderson’s Island and
Williams’ hill, and again re-crossing. the Cat-
tatunk Creek, for the last time at Mr. VVood-
br_idgc’s lane and bridge. The road embank-
ment will, nevertheless, be slightly washed by
this creek at’ three places to the south of this
bridge . e x . ~ ' 7

0 The crossing at Anderson’s Island, and re-
cros‘_,sing at. Mr. jWoodbridge’s, were made ne-
cessary ‘bytlic easterly course of the creek,
from that island to a steep and crescent form of
thejeast hill, composed of clay and quick-sand’,
or hard pan ; and by the westerly course of the
creek, on and near Mr, Woodbridge’s land, unl-
til it again washes the foot of a steep west hill;
along which it runs nearlyto its junction with
a rapid flood brook, from a valley of the west-‘
erly range of hills. 1 1 -- . y i t _‘
The line. of road generally crosses the Catte-
tunk Creek with considerable obliquity,*and
sorneiextra expense mu's"t;be incurred, to pass
the streams under the road, as nearly at right
angles as practicable.. It, however,crosses the

I

lage of'0wego,) nearly at right an les..- . y

- ‘This is considered the most -di cult stream
upon the line to pass in safety, and-will require
a_ heavy expenditure of, money, as may be seen
by the accompanyingestiinate of_Ina'sonry.-55¢:
The Cattatunk Creek,from. Candor to Owego‘,
being in times of_-freshets navigablefor arks,
the viaducts to be -built ‘across; that _ stream
must, of course, be elevated,to,suc'-h a height 818

the village I of Candor, the most northerly of

to admit of their passing underJthe1n.i ,.

579

‘The road bridges, built across that creekby
the inliabitants of the country, are from 9 to 12
feet above the level of low water, at those
places. Several of them have been built for
many years, and all of them have been found
sufficiently elevated to admit of the passage of
arks descending that stream. ~

When the.-prices of lumber and fuel, in the
valley of the Cattatunk, are so much increased
as to make it the interest of the inhabitants to
clear off the hills, or mountains, bounding the
valley, of that creek; the rain and melted snow
descending from those mountains without be-
ing checked in their passage by any vegetable
growth, may be expected to increase the height
of the floods in that creek; and of course to
give that water an uninterrupted passage under
the railroad, the height and length of the via-

; 1

‘ducts to be built across the creeks, must be in-

creased beyond’ what might now be considered
ample dimensions for them. V l .

- These increased dimensions forlthe viaducts.
(of which there must be in number 8 small
and 8 large ones, and together amount to from
960 to 1030 feet in lcngth,) will considerably in-
crease this item of expense in the construction
of the road—not probably" chargeable, to grading.

The great abundance‘ of building stone to be
found in the neighborhood of the; Cattatunk and
Owego Creeks, will enable me, with good eco-

Owego Creek, (about two miles from the-vil."

noiny, to s bstitute abutments and piers of so-
lid mason y, for wooden _trussels,iin building
the viaducts across those creeks. ,

The superstructure of wood to be laid upon
those abutments and piers, ifgniadey-after the
model exhibited, andgrecommended to your Ho.
norable.Board, will,‘_it_is, believed, be sufficient-

ly firm to adniitthe spaces between them to be

increased to forty feet. v , _

VVhen these superstructures of wood decay,
ins'tead of replacingrthem with wood, they may
besubstituted by arches of solid masonry, by
buiding an additional pier between each of
those. now to be erected. .

examinations, it became manifestthat the maps
before mentioned (which comprised, the eleva-
tions and improvements of "the whole district
of country deemed at all eligible [for the location
of your railroad) hadenabled me, at a very small
cost, to select for this road the. most gentle

grades,» (the maximum rise being reduced to

217%: feet per mile,) curves of the greatest radii,
(being from 7,000 to 100,000 feet, except at the
villages at the northerly and southerly termina.
tions of the road,) straight lines of the greatest
length, and a route the most eligible and least
costly that the country would afford ; and that,
too, with more certainty of being the” best,
and at much less cost than it could have been
done without these’ preliminary surveyslrand
maps.   

I now havetlic satisfaction," of assuring your
Honorable Board,’ that the whole road is loca.
ted, (except about one‘ mile at the village of
Owego, wliichfhas been emitted at the request
of some of th_’e.Dire‘ctors,) and thatit is my firm,
and honest conviction, that by the above men.
tioned modeof proceeding in making the pre.
liminary surveys and maps, I have obtained the
most eligible routes, grades and,c'wr’ves the most
gentle, with straight lines connecting them of

the greatest length that the country would

afford; and that the cost of constructing the
road. (taking into consideration the. natural
obstacles to be overcome) will be found unusu-
ally small, and much less than could have been
reasonably anticipated, by any person having
only the slightest claim to experience in works
of this-kind ;- and further, that the plan and lo-

a sum ofmoney amounting to at least one tlrirtl
of the whole cost of grading it; and that the
amount of work to be done upon it is so redu-
ced, as also to save one year in the time re-
uired for its construction, whenicompared with
t 1e best location that could have been obtained
without the aid ofthcse preliminary surveys
and maps. «

—From these -reconnoissances, surveys, and I

cation which has been adopted,‘ will save to the I
stockholdersin the construction of their road, ‘