The first payment of $50,000 under the Act of 1854, should have been for seven miles of completed railroad. The certificate of the engineer, upon which it was paid, gave (see page 82 of House document No. 185 for 1860,) the length of rails laid as upwards of seven miles; nothing in the certificate showed then any part of it was completed road, and upon investigation then made it proved that while most of it was done, a part near the west end of the tunnel "was not ten feet wide," and would cost several thousand dollars to complete it. It is clear that this payment had not then been earned in the manner provided by the statute.

The second payment was on account of the road, under the Act of 1859, for grading three miles of road, "said three miles being all situated within four miles of the point of commencement;" Page 30 of House document No. 185 for 1860 says of this grading, "the continuous line is interrupted by fourteen gaps of cuts and fills;" it is thus made up of fifteen separate pieces, avoiding all but the cheapest part of the work, and costing, as the contractor who did the work certifies, between $8,000 and $9,000. Under, to say the least, a somewhat liberal construction of the Act, $50,000 was said to have been earned by doing this grading.

All further deliveries of scrip have been under the Act of 1860, which provides that the $650,000 to be delivered on account of the road east of the tunnel shall be in proportion to the progress made upon the work. On page 15, (Senate document No. 93 for 1863,) the cost of the work done and materials furnished upon the road east of the tunnel is stated at$463,047 90
Deduct amount first expended, as testified by the contractor, for which the $50,000 was paid, say8,500 00
Amount expended under the $650,000 appropriation, including the cost of worthless bridging and masonry,$454,547 90
The cost of completing the grading, bridging, masonry and superstructure upon this part of the road, as estimated by Mr. Laurie in 1862, was$370,970 80
Deduct the cost of a small change in the line, and of embankment washed away by the Deerfield River,5,275 00
Sum required to complete the road upon the old line where the work stopped,$365,695 80
Amount already expended under the $650,000 appropriation,454,547 90
Amount expended and to be expended at the then prices,$820,243 70
Of which 55 per cent. had been done when the work stopped, in July, 1861. 55416/1000 per cent. therefore of the $650,000 had been earned, and this amounts to$360,204 00
The total amounts earned and paid compare as follows: Amount paid upon the tunnel,$170,131 95
Amount paid upon the road west of the tunnel,50,000 00
Amount paid upon the road east of the tunnel,505,256 92
$725,388 87
Amount earned upon the tunnel,$129,475 00
Amount earned upon the road west of tunnel, (not fully earned,)50,000 00
Amount earned upon the road east of tunnel, (temporary work included,)410,204 00
589,679 00
$135,709 87
Overpayment in reckoning sterling exchange, say44,000 00
Overpayment when the work stopped, in July, 1861,$179,709 87
Further payments made upon the same work under the law of 1862,140,226 95
Total amount paid more than earned,$319,936 82

If proper deductions had been made from the amount earned on account of the unfinished condition of the seven miles west of the tunnel, on which the first $50,000 was paid, and on account of the worthless masonry and bridging which have been reckoned in at full cost, the overpayments would be shown more correctly to exceed in amount the sum of $350,000.

Transcription of text from [image facing page 10]

Profile of Hoosac Mountain

Length of Tunnel when finished25,586.0feet
Jany.1867E.End heading3,521.0
""E.headingW.shaft1,044.0
""W."""298.0
"" W.End heading1,010.0
5,873.0"
Balance19,713.0"
Depth of Central Shaft when finished1,037.0"
Jany.1867down393.0"
Balance644.0"