This letter was penned by Orville Hungerford (SH90) 8 months before he died. His last project, the building of the railroad that would connect Watertown, New York with the tracks at Rome and then continue from Watertown up the St. Lawrence River, giving people in the area access to the eastern markets, was experiencing delays. This letter was written to William Constable Pierrepont, the man who would replace Orville as the president of the Watertown & Rome Railroad on April 10, 1851. Orville advises he just got back from a tour of "our lines" and discusses the delays in laying the track and how he plans to deal with it.
Here is the full transcription:
[Letter addressed to] Wm C. Pierrepont Esq.
Avon Springs
N. York
[Postmark] Watertown
AUG 21
N.Y.
Watertown August 20 1850
Dear Sir
I returned last evening from a tour on the line of our road and am sorry to say
our prospect is not brightened much.
But 12 miles of track is laid – the contractor now promises to have the track to
Camden the first of Sept but I think it will be the 5th. If we declare the contract
abandoned it is now too late to accomplish any thing this Fall. I think therefore
our better course is to require them to complete the road to this place by the 15th
of June and the whole line by the first of Sept. and withhold estimates unless
they work up to it. This we have a right to do, and I believe is the most effectual
way of bringing them to their duty, but it will be poor consolation to have them
drive the work when too late to benefit in the Fall. Some sixty feet has lately
disappeared at Long Pond, south of Sand Bank, but I believe it is nothing
serious.
It is reported that Mattoon has sold his interest in the 4th and 5th Divisions to
Phelps.
It is also reported that the contractor on the S.H. road has abandoned the
concern.
W. C. Pierrepont Esq. Sincerely yours
O. Hungerford
[translated by A.J. Hungerford & Richard W. Hungerford Jr. in Sept. 2020]
Submitted by Richard Hungerford at 4:24 PM on June 5, 2017.