A New Railroad Project

T the Projectors of said Railway : (iEVTLEMKX : - Agrocablo to y our request, I havecarefully oxaniined the Railroad route inrticated by you, from the city of Fort Waync, in the State of Tndima, through the town of Bryan, in ühio, linni'i! through the villages and citios of Morenci, Adrián, Tecumseh, Saline, Ann Albur and Pontiac, to Romeo, in the State of Michigan, Romeo being the most westtrly lorminatioii of tlie Grand Trunk Railway of Canada ; a distance of one hundred and seventy miles, in nearly an air line. Preliminar}' surveys of said route, from Fort Wuyne to the city of Ann Arbor, have boen laido, and fully demónstrate its This line runs chicfly along tho lovel track of heavily timbered lands bordpring tho west eoast of Liake Erie,. admitting of nearly, an air-liiie of Railroad of vory uniform grades.. This lino has been already located, and is being rapidly canstruoted from the eity of Adrián, in Leoawee County, to. Saline, in Washtenaw County, Michigan - a disitmee of twenty-five miles About onefourth.of this distance the bed is. conipleted, ready for the iron, and the work is rapidly progressing on tho remainder. The surface of tho land between the city of AAn Arbor'and Romeo is most fjivorable for the location and constructiöa of a public railroad. Although I havo no profilo of such line, I have no doubt of the practieability of constructing said road at a minimum cost. This line exiends through tho most fertile, populous and wealthy sections of southeastorn Michigan, and north and northwestern Indiana and Ohio, and1, embraces a population of moro than on hundred anti eighly thountuil, and having an assessed valuation of oiie h 'indred and fifleen tafflwM of dollars. A bolt of the riciiost and. most productivo land, twenty-five miles in width, would 13 tributary to said Railroad, and would givo to it a great share of its local traffic ; and by connecting with roads leading to the Saginaw Vallev, it would becomo an important medium for the diftributiou. of tho vast products of piaster, sa.lt andilumber of that rich and extensivo territory, not only to tho ftourishing.cities-and villages along the line, but throughout the rast rogions of the State of. Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and of returning to tho great markets of this vxtlley the abundant supplies of breadstuffs and othe'r productions of those agricultural States ; add to these the distribution of coal from tho unbounded coal-fiulds of the States of Indiana and Ohio, and you havo a local traffic which alono would seeni to justify a large outlay for the construction and equipmunt of this lino of road. But, looktng beyond the local traflic of this line and of the developmcnt of tho Saginaw Valley, we perceivo considerations of much greater importance. It is well known that the Grand Trunk Railway is the grand artery of tradc to the heart of New Kngland, that its ramifications penétrate every nook, and connoct by the shortost and most direct route all of the maiiufacturin; citios and villages in the New England States.. The western connections of the Grand Trunk Railway aro by no means favorable to the largest nnioiint of trade. lts intorests are damagcd, and its energies appear to bc languishing, for want of appropriate stimulant feeders at its. western termination, while our own main lines of through railways are blookod half the year by freight Boeking tho markets of tho northoast. This proposod line from tho city of Fort Wayno to Romeo will supply this deficit, and by filling this gap of one hundred and suventy milos, a continuous trunk line will be formed from tho city of Portland, in the State of Maine, to Fort Wayno, Indiana, one of the most important railroad centers in tho middle Western States, and by other connoctions now preparing, a continuous air-line is effocted to St. Louis and the great Valley of tho Mississippi, and by taking advantage of tho Illinois Central Railroad to Cairo, the Fulton aud Cairo road to Marshall, in Texas, then uniting with the Texas Pacitio Railway to San Diego, in Southern California, we havo the shortest, most direct and foasible routes betwoen the Atlantic and Pacific ocoans. As this projected lino crosses nearly at right angles all tho main trunk railways leading from Chicago eastward, doubts may be entertained as to a sufficieucy of traflic to justify its constructiou, as it must bo expected to divido the traffic with thoso roads already constructed, but when tho amount of through freight is fully :onsidered,,all doubts on this subject will be at once dissipated. All tho througb linos of. railways from Chicago eastward are crowded with business far beyond their present capacity of transportation, and the through business is rapidl . inercasiug, from year to year, to the rxtont ot' doubling in four or fivo years. It will bo readily perceived, therofore, that no doubts need be enteitained as to sufllciency of traffic to jimtify theconstruotion of tliis short line, filling, as it would, the gap in this great through line railway, uniting the garden of the West with the principal markets of tho country and the workl Uur fresh water inland seas navigablo rivors are ice-bound from four to six montbs of the ycarr aad at the timo whon tho markot valuó oí produce and inerchandise is at its maximum,, heneo tho demand for railway transportation. Indeed, the present business of tho country would justifv jthe construction of a doublo ïüilway track on all our through lines from üniaha to the watcis of the Atlantic, ana jet agriculture, inining and the nii.'chanic arts, in connection with tho productiveness of the soil of the great prairies, and forost fields of the West and Southwt'stern States and Territorios, have Bcarcely commenced to pour their treasures into the lap of commerce, to be thence distributed to supply, in part, tho wants of the world. Should the construction of this most desirable line of railway be delayed, other lines must and will be constructed, for the ïrestïess and productive energies of the nation demand and will have appropriate outlets, and the sooner this line of road is completed the soouer will the interests oí the public industry bo subserved, and its constructors and operators receive the reward of this, their successful public ent rprist. BURTON KENT, Chief Encf.. A.& D. It.. Jï, Adrián, Nov. 21, 1871.