Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/118

 102 owners along the line were willing to donate the land, that the route avoided the hills, and would sweep in a broad arc at Sea Cliff Grove. We hear of one further spur in the 1872 season: a two-mile branch to (Old) Westbury from the Stewart road to the south, this latter advocated by the farmers of the area.

In the spring of 1873 extension fever was again in the air. A survey to Northport, the most distant point yet, was made for the Stewart road. It was also rumored that the citizens of Cold Spring were offering to take $100,000 in stock should the road be run to the center of their village regardless of whether or not it continued on to Huntington. With the year 1874 the strongest effort of all was made to push on eastward. In April the directors sent Superintendent Barton to address a large meeting of the farmers and dairymen of Westbury. Mr. Barton stated on behalf of the company that they were willing to construct a branch road to Westbury from East Meadow and that it would cost about $25,000. Of this sum $18,000 was subscribed upon the spot and a committee of seven was appointed to solicit subscriptions for the balance. The spur was reported ready to build at once.

On June 19, 1874, the North Side directors took the step of organizing two new companies for the express purpose of building eastward: the North Shore & Port Washington R.R. and the Roslyn and Huntington R.R. The route of the former was published in the newspapers. Starting from Great Neck it would run east to Manhasset, thence northeast across to the Middle Neck Road where would be located Port Washington station, then on a trestle along Bar Beach and over Hempstead Harbor and then along the level beach through Sea Cliff to Glen Cove.

In July 1874 Mr. I. D. Barton addressed the citizens of Huntington at their invitation and told them that if the people east of Roslyn would extend a reasonable amount of aid to the enterprise in respect of right-of-way and stock subscription, that his company would build the road that summer. He intimated that the Town of Huntington would be expected to furnish about two and one-half miles of right-of-way and take about $25,000 worth of stock. If this seems presumptuous to us today, it is well to remember that the Towns of Brookhaven and Southampton did as much for the South Side and Long Island R.R. only five years before.