Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1S86. 415
road with the Boston & Worcester. The next thing which the people
of Springtield had to meet was a proposed road from Hartford to
Albany. This meant a Boston, Hartford, & Albanj' Railroad, and
Springfield a tributary suburl).
All these interests came together with a clash at Worcester, July
2, 1835, as arranged by the Hartford convention. Levi Lincoln
was called upon to preside. There were more Connecticut than Massa-
chusetts delegates from tlie thirty-five towns represented. George
Bliss spoke for Springfield, Nathan Hale for the Boston & Worcester
road, John A. Rockwell for the Norwich route, and General Johnson
pleaded the cause of Hartford and " the direct " route. He was sup-
ported by Nathan Smith, of New Haven, and Major Putnam, of
Hartford, the latter stating, upon the authority of Albany business
men, that, in the winter, communication between Troy and New York
was destined to be via Hartford and New Haven. It would have
been unwise to try to commit the convention to any one route, and
each party hastened awa}' to make the appeal to moneyed men.
Stock-books of the Western road were opened in August, and pub-
lic meetings were held from one end of tlie State to tlie other. The
$2,000,000 asked for was not secured, however. The influence of
New York city was against the road, since it was feared at the
metropolis that trade would be drawn from Albany to Boston. The
merchants of New York did not propose to " let Boston people come
Yankee over us." In this emergency a meeting was held in Faneuil
Hall, Boston, Oct. 7, 1835, delegates being present from all the
towns along the route, including Albany itself. The old liall was
full. North Appleton gave figures, Hermanns Bleeker promised tliat
Albany would do her duty up to the State line whether Massaclm-
setts did or not. Edward Everett pledged the Commonwealth to a
policy of progress, and William B. Callioun announced that his town
of Springfield liad already taken one-eighth of the two million, and
the towns from the river to Worcester had done nobly.
Another canvass was made, and 18,300 more shares were sub-