Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/71

 A Rival Road Takes Shape east of the disputed Fashion Course in February and March. Meantime, the rails and wheels for the cars, ordered in May of 1864, arrived on the scene, and were stocked at a dump near the present Willett's Point Boulevard on the meadows edge.

With the spring of 1867the directors of the Woodside & Flushing R.R. energetically renewed the struggle to get the road completed and opened. On February 11, at a directors' meeting, it was resolved to adopt the Fashion Race Course route as confirmed by the courts. This meant that commissioners would have to be appointed to appraise the land taken from the Leveriches whose estate was located immediately west of the Fashion Course.

In the hope that all the legal roadblocks were about to be cleared away, the directors issued a call on March 5 for immediate payment of 70% of the stock subscribed to make possible immediate resumption of work, and to pay for work already done. As of April 1, $50,000 had been already spent on the road and $20,000 more was needed to pay for the right-of-way. In the first two weeks of April 1867, laborers were again set to work on the uncompleted eastern end of the route, and more than a mile of right-of-way through the Leverich estate and Fashion Course secured. Work went on busily all through May and June, including minor alterations to the Flushing Creek drawbridge.

Just when it seemed that no further foreseeable obstacles could arise to prevent an early completion of the road, the public and the directors of the Woodside & Flushing were alike astounded by the announcement in mid-July that Oliver Charlick of the Long Island R.R. had successfully bought out the New York & Flushing R.R. at a reputed price of $300,000. What had begun as a rumor was confirmed when on Saturday, July 13, 1867, Oliver Charlick took formal possession of the road.

The implications of this maneuver were far-reaching. The South Side R.R., which had been dickering with the old New York & Flushing to lease or purchase terminal space at Long Island City, was effectively shut out of an East River terminus. Worse still, it was immediately obvious to everyone in Flushing that Charlick, having once gotten the New York & Flushing into his possession, would not stand by and permit a competing road to be built that might spoil his investment. As was expected, Charlick immediately notified the directors of the Flushing & Woodside R.R. that their road was no longer necessary and