COMPLETION OF THE ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY
FIRST TRIP OVER THE ROAD

The A. & G. W. R. R has at last been completed to this point. Its success is now an established point. The track layers reached here on Tuesday last, and the construction trains passed through the Depot grounds to the lower part of the town, heralded by bands of music, ringing of bells, and the liveliest demonstrations of gratitude on the part of our citizens. The long talked of, much abused road has at length been finished to Meadville, and the shrill whistle of the locomotive now daily wakes up this already becoming a familiar sound. echoes of old Cussawago, and

On Wednesday morning, the fine new locomotive "Wm. Reynolds," sent down the previous evening from Correy (sic) for the purpose, left the depot at half past eight o'clock, with Messrs. Kennard, Chief Engineer; Wm. Reynolds, President; and G. Church, J. J. Schryock and J. E. McFarland, Directors; and a few attaches of the road, on a business trip. The accommodations, of course, were not very ample; but all were in good humor, and rolled along pleasantly. Our position enabled us to obtain a fine view of the scenery on the route, which as far as we went is excelled by few roads within our knowledge.-Passing slowly up the creek we soon lost sight of the town, and sweeping over the beautiful flats on its border we reached the bluffs above McGuffin's Falls, giving us a distant view of Saegertown. The scream of the locomotive announced our approach to the village; but we made no stop, and passing through the wind fields on its eastern side, we were hurried in sight of the "broad ford," where some of the heaviest work on the route is to be seen. A few rods on, and we passed by where the bones of Behemoth were exhumed last summer from their long rest, and the old woods echoed with a sound quite as startling as would be his re-appearance in his native haunts. Soon the high bluffs were reached overlooking Venango Boro., which is surrounded by luxuriant fields, stretching far back to the distant hills, affording one of the most beautiful and picturesque views along the line. From this point to Cambridge we found a body of laborers preparing rails for the road, a large amount of iron and other materials being left here for distribution.

A short distance above Cambridge we crossed French creek on a fine bridge, and a few miles further on we saw the materials ready for the bridge over French Creek, four miles below Meadville, which will be in a few days be carried down by rail and soon placed in their proper position. Between this point ad Union Mills, in Erie county, we found some long stretches of straight line, and the road being partially ballasted, our speed was increased and we dashed along at a more rapid rate. We arrived at Corry, 40 miles distant, about half past one o'clock, having made many stops on the way, connected with the business of the road. Corry is one of the wonders of the fast age in which we live-the creation of the combined effects of oil and steam. Here the A. & G. W. crosses the Sunbury and Erie road, and here the new road to Titusville branches off towards the South. Some half dozen locomotives, puffing and screaming-long trains of
cars laden with oil barrels, standing along the tracks-one of the largest brisk oil refineries, a large and handsome hotel, and many dwelling houses, &c., gave unmistakable evidence of a prosperous village, where, but a few months since, stood primeval forest. Aladdin, with his wonderful lamp, could scarcely have worked a more magical change! The A. & G. W. R. R. Co. have here a repair shop, turntable, &c.

After dinner we coupled on a freight car and a platform car, and brought down with us wire for the telegraph line to Franklin, and sundry materials pertaining to the road elsewhere. We reached Meadville about nine o'clock in the evening, highly delighted with our trip on the first locomotive that ever left the Borough, and were satisfied that a new era of prosperity is about to dawn upon us, maugre the croakings of old fogies who have imagined our town was finished and should be fenced in! All honor, we say, to the men who have battled long and bravely to secure this consummation - who have stood up in the dark days of the enterprise and pressed onward, through the most discouraging difficulties, until their efforts have been finally crowned with glorious success.

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