The Great Bore
A Souvenir Of The Hoosac Tunnel

14 and Fitchburg railroad was completed. Shortly afterward, with the completion of the Vermont and Massachusetts road to Greenfield, the second link was forged and connected. In 1848 came the propo- sition of the Troy and Greenfield railroad company to construct the third, last and most difficult link, —the link which was to follow the windings of the Deerfield from Greenfield to the Hoosac mountain, to penetrate this great barrier of rock and darkness and then to continue its course along the banks of the Hoosac to the Vermont state line, there to make direct connections for Troy. In 1851, three years after its incorporation, the Troy and Greenfield railroad company began work. Its history is simply a continued and hopeless strug- gle for funds. In 1851 and again in 1853 the com- pany appealed to the state for money, but without success. In 1851, however, Massachusetts granted it, on certain conditions, $2,000,000 “to complete the Hoosac tunnel. During the seven remaining years of the company’s existence two contracts were made with E. W. Serrell & Co., 1855 and 1856, and two with Herman Haupt & Co., of Philadelphia. 1856 and 1858. They were years of incessant pov- erty, frequent misunderstandings, serious trouble with Mr. Haupt and much legislation. But in spite of disappointments and failures more than