Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/12

 4 citizenry. Nothing in the way of construction could be done until enough money had been raised to buy the right of way and let contracts. As the months flew by, the directors had been dismayed to notice the spiraling price of land, and the beginnings of villages along the proposed route further complicated the acquisition of land. Statistics were released on travel and income designed to prove that the road would pay: 600 through passengers at 15¢ each and 300 way passengers at 12½¢ each would yield a profit of $27,084 a year, or between 13 and 14% on the capital stock. At the worst the return would be 7 to 8%. In December even the little village of Whitestone held a railroad rally and subscribed 100 shares of stock on the spot.

With the advent of the new year 1853, the directors and officers felt that further delay in land acquisition would be fatal and that enough money was on hand to let contracts. One important problem, however, still defied solution: where was the road to terminate? No one, from the beginning, had considered any other terminus than the Brooklyn waterfront. The problem was, to which ferry should the railroad run? Unfortunately, the main ferry terminals were located in heavily populated, commercial areas, and the streets all about were 80 feet wide at the most and choked with carriages and wagon traffic.

The directors had originally planned to operate by steam to Bushwick Avenue, and then operate horse cars over wooden rails to the Bridge Street Ferry in downtown Brooklyn. Later it had been decided to shorten the long horse car haul by running to Peck Slip Ferry at the foot of Broadway in Williamsburgh. An informal application to the Common Council of that village was rejected, on the ground that railroad operation would depreciate property, especially if steam power was used. Mayor Berry of Williamsburgh expressed the opinion that plank roads were of greater benefit to his city, and that he would veto any application for railroad operation in the street.

Faced with exclusion from Williamsburgh, the railroad men turned to Greenpoint as an equally favorable outlet. Greenpoint had been farmland until 1834, when streets were laid out, but by 1850 settlement was still very thin and no local opposition to a railroad could be expected. In any case a modified application was again made to the Williamsburgh authorities in May 1852, asking to use Montrose Avenue and Broadway to the Broadway