Phenix Gazette

CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL AND
BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAIL ROAD.
A Compromise effected.

On the 7th inst. at the City Hall, in Washington, a General Meeting was opened of the Stockholders of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, according to legal notice; when the following important Report was presented by the President of the Company:

To the Stockholders of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company in General Meeting.

The President and Directors beg leave respectfully, to submit, along with a copy of the act of the General Assembly of Maryland, in pursuance of which the present general meeting has been convened, a report, approved by them, of a compromise of their Board, appointed to confer with a committee of the Board of Directors of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company.

By order, and on behalf of, the President and Directors.
C. F. MERCER,
President of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co.
Canal Office Washington, May 7, 1833.

The committee appointed, by the order of the Board of the 6th of April last, to confer with a committee of the Board of Directors of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company, have performed that duty; and after several conferences with that committee, as well in Washington as on the line of the canal, and in the city of Baltimore, beg leave to recommend to the President and Directors the annexed terms of compromise, in lieu of the 1st section of the act of the General Assembly of Maryland, entitled "An Act to provide for the continuation of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road to Harper's Ferry, and for other purposes," and of sundry conditions contained in the said act; which, in all other respects, except the modification thereof, contained in the annexed terms, is left unchanged.

The committee deem it unnecessary, if not inexpedient, to enter into a narrative of the various opinions expressed by themselves or the committee of the Rail Road company in the progress of their negotiation; but avail themselves of this occasion, to do justice to the candor which marked the course of the committee of the Rail Road Company, and to express a hope, which the assurances of those gentlemen, composing that committee, tended to confirm, that, if the proposed arrangement shall meet the approbation of both companies, the harmony, which it is so desirable to establish and preserve in their future progress, will be restored to their mutual benefit.

C. F. MERCER,
W. GUNTON,
W. SMITH.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, and the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company, by their respective committees, covenant and agree to the following terms of compromise, subject to confirmation or rejection by their respective companies:

1st. To accept the act of the General Assembly of Maryland, entitled "An act to provide for the continuation of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road to Harper's Ferry, and for other purposes," within the time limited by the said act for the acceptance thereof by both companies, so as to secure to each its intended benefits. And as the purpose which the Legislature of Maryland had in view in passing the same, will be more effectually attained by a modification of some of its conditions, the said companies mutually and reciprocally covenant and agree, in the event of such acceptance by both, faithfully to fulfil the conditions hereinafter inserted for their common benefit, and so far to modify those stipulated in their behalf by the act aforesaid, viz:

The Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company, in consideration of the damage that may be done to the Canal, and of the interruption or hazard to which its navigation will be unavoidably exposed in the construction of the Rail Road along the margin thereof, bind themselves to pay to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, for grading the four miles and one tenth of the Road between Harper's Ferry and the Point of Rocks, hereinafter described, the sum of two hundred and sixty thousand dollars. The said four miles and one tenth part of the Road shall consist of a space to be laid off between the entrance of the bridge at Harper's Ferry and a point two miles therefrom, according to the location of the said Road, which point will be below Millar's Narrows: of one mile and one twentieth, extending from a point opposite to the door of the chief public house, at the Point of Rocks, up the valley of the Potomac, comprehending the Lower Point of Rocks; and of one other mile and one twentieth, extending above and below the upper Point of Rocks, so as to comprehend the same; embracing all that part of the canal border at those places in which an interference exists between the location of a Canal and Rail Road.

In making as well as locating the said Road, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company shall act in conformity with their own judgment, subject to the conditions, as to the curvature, inclination of surface, and the breadth of the said Road, which the act of the General Assembly of Maryland prescribes, except that so much of the said Road as is expected to be hereafter common to the Frederick and Harper's Ferry Turnpike Company and the Rail Road Company, shall be of the breadth, at the surface, of not less than thirty feet, instead of twenty, for the better accommodation of both these Companies.

Should the Canal Company prefer it, they may begin the lowest section of the said Road at any elevation opposite the tavern at the Point of Rocks, not exceeding four feet above that of the Road now constructed at that place; and, in case of a change of the present elevation, the expense of raising the present Road and its appurtenant fixtures, so as to adjust the same to the Road below, and to its extension above, shall be at the cost of the Rail Road Company; and shall be done at such time as they may please to direct: Provided, however, that at the lower termination of the pass, through Millar's Narrows, above mentioned, at both terminations of the pass by the Upper Point of Rocks, and at the upper termination of the pass by the Lower Point of Rocks, the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company may, if they please, in fixing the elevation of these points or termini, unite an engineer of their own appointment, with the engineer of the Canal Company, charged by the same to make the location thereof, so as to adjust those points to the intermediate Rail Road, according to the terms of the said act of the General Assembly of Maryland; and the Canal Company may, in like manner, unite their engineer with the engineer of the Rail Road Company, in fixing the intermediate location of the Rail Road, according to the said terms.

In the construction of the graduated road aforesaid, for the four miles and one-tenth, before mentioned, and in satisfaction of all injuries that may be done the canal in the construction of the said road, and as indemnity for any injuries that may be done the navigation thereof, during the construction of the said road, payments of the $266,000 shall be made monthly by the said Railroad Company, in the following proportions, viz.: one and one-twelfth part on the first day of each of the following months, until the graduation shall be completed; but if the same be completed earlier than the twelve months, allowed therefor, the residue unpaid, at the time of such completion, shall be paid on the first day of the month next ensuing the same.

The passage to the Harper's Ferry Bridge, across the canal, from the railroad, shall be by a pivot, or draw-bridge, the expense of attending which shall be equally divided between the two Companies; and the elevation of which, above the bottom of the canal, shall remain, as at present adjusted, at the three feet above the bridge across the Potomac, unless it be, hereafter, the pleasure of the Railroad Company to elevate it still higher. And the curves of the road, at the entrance of the defile or pass of the Point of Rocks, and at the crossing at the said point or draw-bridge, being not provided for by the act of the General Assembly of Maryland, shall be adjusted to the residue of the road, as conveniently as can be done, in the graduation of the Railroad by the Canal Company.

All expenses to be incurred, in condemning or purchasing ground, or materials, for the location and graduation of the railroad, through the four and one-tenth miles aforesaid, shall be, as at all other places, where the land required, is not now, the property of the Canal Company, at the proper cost of the Railroad Company; and where the said road shall occupy ground, now the property of the Canal Company, the Railroad Company shall obtain, and convey to the Canal Company, an equivalent breadth of ground, along the northern side of the Railroad, for the future supply of materials to the canal.

It is, already, herein provided, that the portion of the Railroad, at Harper's Ferry Narrows, shall be thirty feet in width, for the common use of the Harper's Ferry and Frederick Turnpike, and the Railroad Companies. The Canal Company will allow the use, by the Railroad Company, of any authority which they possess, to obtain permission from the Turnpike Company, to lay their rails on the part of the said road common to both, the Canal Company being bound by their articles of agreement, only for the graduation of the said road, from the Harper's Ferry bridge, down to the point at which the said turnpike will diverge from the railroad, to ascend the hill above Millar's Narrows; and the Railroad Company shall, also, adjust the surface of that bridge to the elevation of the pivot bridge across the Canal, at their own cost.

The Railroad Company agrees not to continue the Railroad further up the valley of the Potomac than Harper's Ferry, until the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal shall be completed as far as Cumberland, provided that the canal be completed thereto, within the term allowed by the charter of the said Canal Company.

The period of twelve months, from the date of the acceptance of these articles of compromise, shall be allowed the Canal Company, to complete the graduation of the four miles and one-tenth of railroad before described; but the President and Directors of the Canal Company shall urge the contractors, who may undertake the same, to proceed with diligence, and to complete the graduation in the shortest time practicable, consistently with the health of the country.

In case of any possible difference of opinion, or disagreement, between the two companies, in relation to the construction of these articles of compromise, such difference, or disagreement, shall be settled in the mode provided by the act aforesaid, for the settlement of the construction thereof, by the same parties.

This Report of the President and Directors was, after debate, referred to a Committee consisting of Richard S. Coxe, John Mason, Archibald Lee, Thomson F. Mason, and Henry Huntt; and the General Meeting was adjourned to the 9th instant.

Yesterday, accordingly, the General Meeting re-assembled. Mr. Coxe, under the instructions of the Committee, reported against concurrence in the proposed arrangement, at the same time expressing his dissent from the conclusions of the Committee.

A debate of considerable length ensued; after which the question being finally taken on agreeing to the arrangements proposed by the President and Directors, it was decided in the affirmative.

The aggregate vote being, in favour of the compromise, 6904; against it 1800.

A compromise is therefore at last effected of this long-standing controversy.