AMERICAN RAILROAD JOURNAL.

4'7 5

Routes Across the Isthmus of Panama. T

We learn from a friend who has just returned
from the Isthmus, that the new boat, recently placed
upon the Chagres river, is navigating that stream
very successfully. It is called the Aspiuwall, ancl
runs between Chagres and Gorgona and Cruces
and is capable of carrying from 200 to 300 pas-
sengers. Her construction is anovelty; she has
a stern wheel, from 15 to 18 feet in diameter; hex
hull is 110 to 125 feet long, and from 20 to 25 feet
wide, with a main, promenade and hurricane
deck; she has adouble engine of 125 horse power;
her bottom is entirely flat, and without any keel.
and she draws but 15‘to 20 inches of water. She
carries on her bow an oar about 25 feet long to as-
sist in steering. She makes her passages in from
eight to ten hours. ,Her passengers are well pro-
tected from the rain, which commences in May,
and continues through December. ,

Grorgona and Cruces are from 50 to 60 miles by
the river, from Chagres, and only about 20 from
Panama. Between Gorgona and Panama, the land
route is travelled by mules only.

The Panama"railroad company, says our infor-
mant, are expecting soon to have their road com-
pleted from Navy Bay to Gatun, a point on the
Chagres river, about ten miles from Chagres.——
Passenger_s_from the ocean steamers will then land
at Navy Baypinstead of Chagres, and go over the
railroad to Gatun, and thence by steamer to Gor-
gona. From this place they will continue to travel
on mules to Panama, until the road is completed
from ocean to ocean.

The route by way of -Nicaragua, is soon to be

tested; Mr.iVanderbilt, we understand, is about
placing some small steamers upon the river and

the lake. ' The distance by steamers will be about
180 miles, and thence by land from 12. to 15 iniles

to the Pacific ocean. Whether his small steamers
will be able to stem the Rapids on the San Juan
river, will soon be determined by actual experi-
ment. This route will shorten the distance over
the Panama route some five or six hundred miles,
on the Pacific side, but will be more than double
thedistance‘ across the Isthmus.

The Tehuantepec route is yet full of difficulties,

but when established, it will shorten the distance
from New York to San Francisco near 1800 miles;
and from New Orleans to San Francisco near 2,-
500 miles. The government of Mexico have an-
nulled the grant to Graray; but the company at N.
Orleans, who hold under him, appear to be deter-
mined to push forward their enterprise in defiance
of the opposition of ‘the"'Me’xica1i "government.
' . Massachusetts. t‘
Tatmton Bmncln Raflxroad.--At a meeting oi
stockholders of the Taunton Branch Railroad, in
Taunton on the 30th u1t., the ‘following persons
were chosen Directors forthe ensuing year:—-—Wil-
liam A. Crocker, Thomas B. Wales, Samuel
Frothingham, John F. Loring, and Fitzhenry Ho-
mer. --'At‘a' subsequent meeting of Director_s,*W'«
A_._ Crocker, Esq., wasireechosen President,,EdWard
Pickerin'g,.Treasurer, and .A.- E. p-Swasey,‘ Super-
intendent. _ ‘ ‘ t v
North Carolina Railroad. V ,
.-The following gentlemen have been chosen di‘-7
rectors of.the_ road for. the present year :-—— V

William C. Means, ot'Cabarrus; John W. Ellis, '

and D.-‘A. Davis oi'Rowan; Francis Fries, of For-
sythe; John W. Thomas. of Davidson; John M.
Morehead, and John A. Gilmer, ol’Guill‘ord; Cad.
Jones,.Seu., of.,Orange; Edwin M. Holt, of Ala-
m tnce; R. M. Saunders,-ofVVake; A. T. Jenkins,
of Craven, Frederick J. Hill, of Brunswick.

‘positions, a large partof the western trade.

Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York.

There seems likely to be a very spirited contest
between Philadelphia and Baltimore,-in their efforts
to form advantageous connexions to secure western
trade. We think it must result in the speedy com-
pletion of the I-Iempfield and the Pittsburgh lines.

Each of the above cities is amply able to exe-
cute any projects that look to their present or future
welfare, and they will probably move in a much
more efficient manner with the stimulus of rival
interests than without such. Pittshurg too, feeling
slighted, perhaps unjustly treated, by the aid that
Philadelphia is extending to the Hempileld route,
now proposesto open a communication withtlre Bal-
timore and Ohio railroad, near Cumberland, which
can very easily be effected. Such a connection
wou‘d be of great bent-fit both to Pittsburg and Bal~

timore, and would bring the lbrmer-on the direct
line between the latter and the great. lakes.

Philadelphia and Baltimore expect a very large
increase oi business upon the completion of their
respective lines ofrailway. Each of them counts
upon monopolizing, by virtue of their superior
In the
mean time our own state is watching the progress
of her rivals with great attention, and is doing all
in lierpowerto retain her supremacy. Our canals
are speedily to be enlarged to their utmost capacity,
and all restrictions upon the carriage of freight by
railroads have been removed. All idea of protect-
ing the business of the canals byimposing taxes
upon railroads, has been abandoned, and nothing
has been left undone to reduce the cost of transpor-
tation upon our own highways. New York, Phi-
ladelphia and Baltimore are about to startupon a
new race for western trade, the possessioniof which
is equivalent to commercial supremacy. I

oamaa.‘''' . .~ ‘ '

It is stated that the Champlain and St._Lawre~nce
railroad company will have their line completed,
from St. John’s to Ptou'se’s point in the-course of
the present month, the contractor being now ac-
tively engaged in laying down the rails. This
will give the city 01 Montreal an uninterrupted
communication by railway, with Boston and New
York. . ‘

. Ohio.   .
Cleuelcmicnd Péétsbwrgfz. ~ Rax£lraczrl.——-This road
continues to doa yerylarge business. During the
first week in July 7,Q_O(l_¢pe_rsons passed over the
road; on the iourth of July, _3,_8_00., , The receipts
on the 3d, 4th, and 5th, were over nineteen hundred

dollars‘. On the 4th alone over $1,000. This is

doing remarkably well for a road that is only par-
tiallyope-n_ed,and shows what may be expected when
the road reaches the Ohio. .

Mad River Rail¢oz,zd.—-_-The T. railis now being
put down daily on the Mad River road. About
thirty-five miles of the road are in readiness for the
new iron. .

Jefersohville Railroad.

A vote is to be taken at,L,o_uisv_il_le ,on.:Saturday
the. 93d.of‘_August,- on. the question of a subscription
by the city of a million_o_f_dollars to the Louisville

and Nashville railroad, and $200,000 ‘zathjejt‘Je,t:{er- ;
‘ son and Columbus railroad."    =_ "M

J Intliauu. ' ' _ 
The .New,,A1bany Ledger states that the Presi-
dent of the New Albany and Salem railroad com-
pany had sold $100,000 of the 10 per cent. bonds
ofthe company to Eiiglishfnen at 10 per cent. premi-
um. The cars will be running’ from Albany to
Orleans on or before the -first of September.

~..~§ 

The Golden Gate. , ,_ ‘
This splendid new, steam-ship,‘which was built
by W. H. Webb for Messrsiflowland and Aspiri-
wa1l’s Pacific mail steamship line, made a,tr;ialtrip,
last week _as far as Chesapeake Bay, returning on
Thursday evening aftera varied and pleasantvoy-.
age.’ The Tribune describes this vessel asionelof
the finest steamers ever built._ Her length ondeck:
is 270 ‘feet ; her breadth of bearn 40 feet,,and' her
depthof hold,‘ 30; feet. Her engines,are‘biiilt on
the "oscillating prineiple,antl areyeighity-five inches
in diameter, withnine feet stroke. The cyl_ind:ers,,
instead of being statiotiary, as the other form of #611!‘
gines, are con_structed in such a ,ma,nner'_th_at.~the
cylinders vibrate on trunnions,isimilar___t_,othat a.-
gun, the upper end of the piston rod being directly
connected with the crank which turns the shaft,
the movement of the cylinder allowing the piston
rod to follow the circular motion of the crank.
These engines are the largest, ever made’ on" this
plan. The trunnions are ‘cast solid withvthe cylin-
ders, and are made hollow, so as to allow the steam
to_ pass in at one end and escape through thelother
into the condenser. Thepumps are driven byithe,
connecting shaft, which is made with a crank for-
ged solid in the centre ofit, ofsuch a. size as to give
the air pumps four feet stroke. There is a sepa-,_
rate condenserto each engine rendering them per-.,
fectly distinct, so that one may be worked entirely;
independent of the other. The valves of the cylin-
ders- through which the steam passes,-instead of
being oi the ordinary sliding form, are those known‘
as the conical balanced valves, similar to those used
on stationary cylinders in engines of American
construction. This improvement enables" one man‘
to work one of those ’monstrous-.eng_ineslwitlias
much ease as six men could work. one withsthe-old:
s‘lide‘valves'. ' When standing‘.'on‘ the p‘ilot-ht‘fu'sfe,
but for thenoise "of the wheels, it is almost-impossig
ble. to tell whether the engines are workingtor not.
The great advantage of engines on this principle’
is the great economy of space and weight in the
ship, asthey do notoceupy more than half the room
of side-lever engines of the .same..siZe,'nor Eire they
more than two-thirds‘ their "weight." ‘'‘The’ entire
length of these engines is only eighteen feet. They
were built at the,Novelty ‘Works’ of Messrs. ‘Still-'
man, Allen dc Co.',' and the plans were drawn and
arranged‘ by’Thoma'sp,Davis’_o_n._ ‘They were ‘com-
pleted’ in eight, months, they ishortfest time‘ engines of

this size" were ever"n'u'ade‘ in. L ' "

 

' I nxichfgan.‘ J t r ,- I,
Micltig'a9t Soul/Lem. Rai'l7'oa¢i'.—We "lear11"fi'io"I'1'f
‘the South,_Bend Register am‘ the cars hide readh-c
ed White Pigeon, which is _wi_thin thiirty-five in_iles_
of South Bend. The company has pertecteda per;

manent arrangementby which the steamers Baltic:
and Saratoga are to makedaily trips between Mon’;
roe and Dunkirk. Pas§_engers_will be tali_¢_i1 fro "
,Monroe,to. New York, in ,r"oer,ty.,one ]honi§‘,, 
_-learn also from the same paper that eight newla‘-a
gcornotives and one l1unctred"and ilEBrty_.'fixijéI.:1j‘e{‘p?:
cars are to be “placed,” ‘upon’ the S‘9lt_].lt_\fi_"_é:I'Vl3_'_‘r;0éd'.11‘fi‘-__-

sxneaia:-1y.'.   > ‘ ~ t s v   . t v 

‘Michigan City News ofthe‘11thi'nst., th'at'the con-

tracts on the Cen_tralroad from that place to the I1-p‘
liuois line have been let during the present week;
T. Martin, Esq ., of Michigan cit.y, has taken the:
‘contract for halt the distance, and Messrs. Williaml
son and Tilotsion, of Ma1'shall,l,have,t_a,kent ‘nifost"5_c‘)l’,
the other half. It is thought the grading. will bk;-'
completed by the 1st of October. A " J” "

Michigan Central VRez'ilrodd.—-A-VVeJl{eiarn from  _