REPORT
ON THE
HOOSAC TUNNEL AND TROY AND
GREENFIELD RAILROAD,
BY THE
JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE
OF
1866.
BOSTON:
WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS,
No. 4 Spring Lane.
1867.
Hon. Joseph A. Pond,President of the Senate.
Sir:—I herewith transmit to the legislature the Report ofthe Joint Standing Committee of 1866 on the Hoosac Tunneland Troy and Greenfield Railroad.
I am very respectfully
Your obedient servant,
TAPPAN WENTWORTH, Chairman.
The Joint Standing Committee of 1866 on the Hoosac Tunneland the Troy and Greenfield Railroad, authorized to visit thetunnel and railroad, examine into the condition and progressof the work, and to report fully the result of such examinationrespectfully
REPORT:
That since the adjournment of the legislature the Committeein a body visited the tunnel and railroad in June, and again inOctober, and they continued their examination of the conditionand progress of the work by sub-committees in the months ofJuly, August, September, November and December; (one ofthe examinations being exclusively devoted to the operations onthe railroad which were commenced late in October;) the othersto the tunnel and the various structures and mechanical operationsconnected therewith, including an examination of theexisting contracts, and an inquiry into the general organizationadopted to carry out the laws and purposes of the State inregard to the enterprise.
The Committee have also examined the records and thedoings of the directors of the Troy and Greenfield Railroadfrom the organization of the corporation until the surrender ofthe railroad to the State, and have made extracts from therecords to show the financial condition of the corporation, itsdealings with the contractors for constructing the road andtunnel, and also the embarrassed condition of the contractorsand corporation from 1855 to 1861, which finally led to thepractical abandonment of the contract on the part of Messrs.H. Haupt & Company, and the surrender of the road to theState under the mortgages wh