ARTICLES. RATES of Tolls established by the Canal Board on Persons and Property transported on all the Canals of the State, 1844, and also the minimum Rates fixed by the Constitution. PROVISIONS, &c. 1 On flour, salted beef and pork, butter, cheese, tallow, lard, beer and cider, per 1000 lbs. per mile..... 2 On bran and ship stuffs, in bulk, per 1000 lbs. per mile..... IRON, MINERALS, Ores, &c. On salt manufactured in this state, 1000 lbs. per mile... 4 On foreign salt, per 1000 lbs. per 5 1st. On gypsum, the product of this 2 23 22 On round dock sticks, passing in cribs 04 50 4 46 23 0 2 3 0 2 23 24 6 On brick, sand, lime, clay, earth, mile S 1st. On mineral coal, (except coal to be used as fuel in the manufacture of salt, which shall pass free of toll.) going towards tide water, or going north on the Champlain canal, having come from the west, or going west from Utica or from any point west thereof, or going upon any lateral canal; and on anthracite coal going from tide water, per 1000 lbs. per mile..... 2nd. On all other mineral coal than such as above specified, per 1000 lbs. per mile.... 9 On stove and all other iron castings, per 1000 lbs. per mile... 10 On copperas and manganese going towards tide water, per 1000 lbs. per mile ...... 0 450 4 46 0 4 5 0 4 46 0 450 446 25 1st. On boards, plank, scantling, and On mahogany (except veneering), re- 020 0 5 0 0 5 00 2000 500 1 5 0 0 5 00 26 On sawed lath, of less than ten feet in PRESENT RATES ON STAVES. 27 On staves and heading, transported in 04 5 0 4 46 28 On the same, if transported in rafts, 11 On bar and pig lead going towards 12 On furs, peltry (except deer, buffalo, 13 On deer, buffalo, and moose skins, per 1000 lbs. per mile...... 1 0 0 0 4 46 29 14 On sheep skins, and other raw hides, 0 500 4 46 0 450 4 46 0 4 5 0 4 46 31 On staves and heading for barrels or On shingles per M. per mile, carried On the same, if conveyed in rafts, per On split posts (not exceeding ten feet boats 32 On the same, if conveyed in rafts, per 35 On sawed stuff for window blinds, The secretary of state, pursuant to the resolution of the Assembly, of February 2, 1843, has submitted the second annual report of the several roads in the state to the legislature. The document has not yet been printed, but a gentleman at Albany has furnished us with the tabular statement which follows, carefully copied and compiled from the official manuscript documents. Much care has been taken to compare and verify the various columns, and it may be regarded as strictly correct. It should be observed, that the column showing the net income of the road, does not, in all cases, express the legitimate earnings of the road. The receipts for the year past include sales of surplus materials, and other extraneous items. The first seven roads in the table form the continuous line, in the order in which they are placed, from the Hudson to Lake Erie. The average cost per mile, of the whole number of roads, is 30,700 dollars. By reference to the cost of construction given in the table, and deducting the cost of the Schenectady and Troy, and the Albany and West Stockbridge roads, from which no revenue is derived, the total cost of the other roads is shown to be 17,197,251 dollars, from which are derived the aggregate income of 1,100,016 dollars. From this statement results 17,197,251 dollars: 1,100,016 dollars:: 1:,64 or 6 4-10 per cent on the capital invested. This is an increase of nearly one per cent over the results for the year 1843. The railroads of Massachusetts ranged about the same for that year. The rate per cent of income, on some 2000 miles of railroads in the United States, as ascertained by Chevalier de Gerstner, in 1839, was very nearly the same. The whole number of miles run on all the roads, is 1,257,529; the cost for running and repairs is 799,752 dollars; which gives the average cost per mile, sixty-four cents. The West Stockbridge road is run in connexion with the western railroad, forming a continuous line between Greenbush and Worcester. No separate account has been kept of through and way passengers. The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad company have an undivided interest with the Utica and Schenectady, Syracuse and Utica, Auburn and Syracuse, and Auburn and Rochester Railroad companies, in 100 passenger cars, and twentyeight mail and baggage cars. Of the seventeen railroad corporations of the state, eleven of them have complied with the requirements of February 2, 1843, leaving the following companies in default, viz.: New York and Erie, Buffalo and Black Rock, Hudson and Berkshire, Lewiston, Long Island, and New York and Harlem. CANALS AND RAILROADS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Canals and Railroads constructed by the State.-In 1791, a report was made by a committee of the legislature, recommending the improvement of the Delaware, Lehigh, and Lackawana rivers; a canal from the Schuylkill to the Susquehanna, by way of the Tulpehocken and Swatara; the improvement of the Susquehanna, with its north and west branches, and a connexion by way of the Sinnemahoning between the west branch of Susquehanna and the Alleghany river and Lake Erie. A portage connexion was also proposed from the head waters of the Juniata to those of the Conemaugh, in order to form a communication from the Susquehanna to Pittsburg. As railroads were then unknown, it was proposed to connect the canals by means of good turnpike-roads across the dividing summits. Nothing was done by the state on the subject of internal improvements until 1824, when an act was passed authorising the governor to appoint three commissioners to explore a route for a canal from Harrisburg to Pittsburg, by the waters of the Juniata and Conemaugh rivers; and also the route for a connexion by way of the west branch of Susquehanna and Sinnemahoning, with the waters of the Alleghany river. An examination of the country between the Schuylkill and Susquehanna, through the great valley of Chester and Lancaster counties, was also directed; together with a route "beginning at a point on the river Schuylkill, in the county of Schuylkill, thence by Mahanoy creek, the river Susquehanna, the Moshannon, Clearfield, and Black Lick creeks, the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas, and Alleghany river to Pittsburg." In 1825, an act was passed authorising the appointment of a board of canal commissioners, and directing the following additional surveys to be made: "one from Philadelphia through Chester and Lancaster counties, and thence by the west branch of the Susquehanna and the waters thereof to the Alleghany and Pittsburg; also from the Alleghany to Lake Erie; one other from Philadelphia by the Juniata to Pittsburg, and from thence to Lake Erie; one from the city of Philadelphia to the northern boundary of the state towards the Seneca or Cayuga lake; one through Cumberland and Franklin counties to the Potomac river; and one by the Conecocheague, or Monococy and Conewago to the Susquehanna.” A survey was also directed, by the same act, to be made through the county of Bedford, to connect the route of the proposed Chesapeake and Ohio canal with the Juniata route. By the act of the 25th of February, 1826, the canal commissioners were directed "to locate and put under contract a canal on the east side of the Susquehanna river, from the mouth of the Swatara to a point opposite the mouth of the Juniata; and one from Pittsburg to the mouth of the Kiskiminetas; thus commencing two sections of the main line of communication from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. They were also authorised, as soon as they might deem it practicable and expedient, to construct a navigable feeder of a canal from French creek to the summit level at Conneaut lake, and to survey and locate a route for a canal from that to Lake Erie." "In order to sustain the credit of the commonwealth, an internal improvement fund was established (April 1, 1826) under the control of the secretary of the commonwealth, the auditor-general, and the state-treasurer, as commissioners; which fund was specifically appropriated, pledged, and set apart for the purpose of paying the interest and reimbursing the principal of the state debt which might be created in consequence of the construction of the canals and public improvements: the accounts of the fund to be kept separate from the other public accounts." This fund consists of the tolls which were to be received on all the public works, the auction duties, the net proceeds of all escheats, and the dividends on road, canal, and bridge stocks owned by the state. By subsequent enactments, the tax on collateral inheritances, taxes on certain property, and sundry other appropriations were added to the fund. By the act of April 9, 1827," the construction of a canal up the Juniata as far as Lewistown; another up the Kiskiminetas and Conemaugh to Blairsville, and one up the Susquehanna to Northumberland were duly authorised." By the same act, surveys were directed to be made of the route across the Alleghany mountain from Frankstown on the Juniata to Johnstown on the Conemaugh, with a view of determining whether the portage should be by a smooth and permanent road of easy graduation, or by a railway with locomotive and stationary engines or otherwise." Surveys were also ordered between the west branch and the Alleghany river; up the north branch from Northumberland to the state line, and from Pittsburg to Erie by the route of Beaver and Shenango. A survey for a railroad was also directed to be made "from Philadelphia, through Chester and Lancaster counties to the Susquehanna, and also to ascertain the practicability of connecting the north branch of the Susquehanna and Lehigh rivers, by a canal or railway." A survey was, by the same act, directed to be made for extending the canal down the Susquehanna, from the mouth of Swatara to the Maryland line. Operations for the construction of the French Creek feeder (to Conneaut lake) was ordered, and surveys directed from Conneaut to Lake Erie. The commissioners were instructed to make a survey for a canal from Philadelphia up the valley of the Delaware to Carpenter's point; "and if found practicable, to locate and contract for the construction of such portion of it as should not exceed the cost of 100,000 dollars, provided that the average expense thereof should not exceed 12,000 dollars per mile." By the act of the 24th of March, 1828, "the extension of the canals on the Susquehanna, from the mouth of Swatara to Columbia; from Lewistown to Hollidaysburg on the Juniata; from Northumberland along the west branch of the Susquehanna to Bald Eagle; from Northumberland to the New York state line, on |