Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/69

A Rival Road Takes Shape with their opposite numbers on the Long Island R.R. and reached complete agreement on the terms of the proposed lease and the details of operation. This time Oliver Charlick and some of the principal directors of the Long Island R.R. were elected to the board of the Woodside & Flushing road.

The summer of 1864 was wholly devoted to acquisition of the right-of-way through what is now Jackson Heights and Corona. The engineer of the road, Mr. Towle, undertook three different surveys and presented them to the board of directors who, in a meeting on August 1, selected what became known as the "Leverich route," because it crossed the Leverich estate north of Elmhurst Avenue and west of Junction Avenue. As various owners of land were approached by the road's agents for a righ-tof-way, they generally yielded their holdings without bickering or agreed to submit honest differences of opinion to a board of arbitrators. The directors could not help marveling at their good fortune and attributed the general spirit of cooperation to a keen desire to put an end to intolerable conditions on the New York & Flushing road.

In the late fall of 1864 the first physical work was begun on the new railroad. The contract to grade the first portion westward from the meadows was awarded to the Flushing contractor, Mr. John Higgins, who set to work on September 19. During the late fall days a second gang began work on an embankment across the meadows. On December 1, 1864 Mr. Zachariah Roe, the leading Flushing bridge and dock contractor, received the contract to build the draw across Flushing Creek.

Winter forced a halt in the proceedings but not for long. In March 1865 gangs of workmen were distributed along the right-of-way through Woodside and Winfield. The contractor was handicapped by a scarcity in the supply of labor, but the work went on so well that by the end of May the section through Woodside and Winfield was all graded. The months of July, August and September 1865 were a period of exceptional activity and accomplishment. Additional workmen were placed on the job and rapid progress was made all along the line. By September fifty to seventy men were at work and the western end of the road was ready for the track. There was a brief strike of the work force in September but this was speedily adjusted.

During the same season Zachariah Roe began work in earnest