TRUNK LINES COMPARED.
Compared by Mileage.—At present there are twenty-four corporations reporting over one thousand miles of line each. A comparison of these roads by mileage is profitless, as it furnishes no just clew to their importance in point of business transacted. Several of the shorter of these twenty-four lines largely exceed some of the longer ones in the volume of business transacted. As an example of the little value of comparison by mileage, the New York Central & Hudson River Road, with but 1,421 miles of line, reports $63,132,920 receipts, while the Union Pacific, with 6,288 miles, reports but $19,898,817. Two of the twenty-four roads, viz., the Southern Pacific Railroad (5,931 miles) and the Richmond, West Point & Terminal Railroad (6,869 miles) report neither gross or net earnings. The remaining twenty-two report both, and these reports furnish a satisfactory basis for study.
Railway Mileage of the United States.Compared with Area, 1888.
Explanatory.—The horizontal black lines below interpret the right-hand column of figures, and therefore picture the annual total mileage of railways operated.—The color below interprets the left-hand column, and therefore pictures the fluctuations in the number of miles built annually.
The Key explains the shades on the map. The lightest shade indicates an average of less than one-fiftieth of a mile of railway for each square mile of land. The second shade, from one-fiftieth to one-twentieth of a mile of railway, for each square mile of land, etc.
KEY TO SHADES ON THE MAP.
| Less than | 1/50 m. to 1 sq. m. | 1 |
| 1/50 m. — | 1/20 m. " " " " | 2 |
| 1/20 m. — | 1/15 m. " " " " | 3 |
| 1/15 m. — | 1/8 m. " " " " | 4 |
| 1/8 m. and | over, per " " | 5 |
Total and Increase.