Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/70

 54 on the Flushing Creek drawbridge. Timbers were unloaded in April and in May the bridge was well under way. By the end of May the piles were all driven and the caps placed, while the draw itself was well advanced. Five more weeks of labor saw the virtual completion of the drawbridge.

Just as things were going fairly smoothly, the board of directors made a fatal error. Up to this point notices of location of the route had been served on all the landowners, and none applied to change such location, and the time within which they could apply was suffered to lapse. Then, on July 1, 1865, the directors at a full meeting voted with but one dissenting voice to change a portion of the location of the route in the vicinity of Junction Avenue, believing that the route could be improved thereby. On August 17 a new map was filed. By this proceeding the question of location was opened again, and the company was required to secure a location in the same manner as if such new route had been adopted in the first instance. The landowners this time did not let the matter pass by default, but within fifteen days after notice of location had been served upon them, applied to a judge of the Supreme Court who appointed a commission to examine the route with power to alter the same.

After holding several public hearings the commissioners determined to alter the route and filed their report about October 25, locating the road through the Fashion Course. The manner of conducting these proceedings was such as to raise grave doubts as to their regularity, so the company petitioned the courts for a ruling, and the Fashion Course route was upheld, but this decision did not come until June of 1866, causing months of delay and uncertainty.

It was said at the time that part of the pressure on the Woodside & Flushing R.R. to adopt the Fashion Race Course route came from the desire of many of the influential citizens and officials to get rid of the race track. Many people in Newtown felt that it was a blot on the neighborhood, attracting an unsavory element from New York, and the routing of the railroad through the grounds seemed an ideal opportunity to get rid of the course.

As a result of all the legal uncertainty, little tangible work was done on the road during the 1866 season. Workmen put the finishing touches to the western end of the route, and the route