Three railroads extend from Boston in different directions; the first,
26 miles in length, to the manufacturing city of Lowell, which is
thus become a suburb of Boston, and the second, 44 miles in length,
to Worcester, the centre of an important agricultural district. The
former cost 60,000 dollars a mile, the latter 32,000. The third road is
the Providence railroad, already mentioned above as one of the links
in the great chain from north to south. The Lowell railroad enters
into competition with the Middlesex canal; the Worcester road is to
be continued to the River Hudson, where it will terminate opposite
Albany. It will also be connected with the city of Hudson, 30 miles
below Albany, by a railroad extending from West Stockbridge. It will
thus become to Boston a Western Railroad, which name it has in fact
received. A company has been authorised to execute the portion between
Worcester and Springfield, a distance of 54 miles, the whole distance
from Boston to Albany being 160 miles.[CG] The Eastern railroad, a
fourth work is about to be undertaken, passing through Lynn, famous for
its boots and shoes. Salem, a little city which carries on an extensive
trade with China, Ipswich, Beverly, and Newburyport towards Portland,
the principal town in the northern extremity of the Union.