riginal terminus was at Prince Street, but the
line was afterwards extended southward to the City Hall and later to the
Astor House. It was not until 1837 that the road reached northward
to Harlem and not until 1842 that Williamsbridge became the northern
terminus. The line was looked upon as a worthless piece of property
until 1852, when it was extended north to Chatham, to connect with the
Albany and Stockbridge Railroad, and thus give a through line from New
York City to Albany.

Another property built in these days and destined to become eventually
an important part of the Vanderbilt lines was the Hudson River Railroad.
This company was chartered in 1846, but for many years was frowned on as
an unsound business venture, because of the belief that it would be in
direct competition with the river traffic and therefore could never be
made to pay. Nevertheless the promoters went ahead and by 1850 the road
had been opened to Poughkeepsie. The entire line of one hundred and
forty-four miles was completed to East Albany in 1851. At the same
time the Troy and Greenbush Railroad, extending six miles to Troy, was
leased, thus giving the new Hudson River Railroad an entry into the city
of Troy. The Hudson River Railroad was entirely independent of the New
York Central enterprise and was controlled in those early days by a
group of New Yorkers, prominent among whom was Samuel Sloan.

As we enter the Civil War period, we find the three important properties
which were afterwards to make up the Vanderbilt system all developing
rapidly and logically into the strategical relationship which would make
ultimate consolidation inevitable. The completion of the Erie Railway
and its gradual development as the only through line across the State
from New York to the Great Lakes; the opening, expansion, and general
solidification of the Pennsylvania lines and their aggressive policy of
reaching out to the lake region on the west and across New Jersey on the
east; the extension of the Erie interests into the New England field,
and the possibility that the latter might gain control of the Harlem or
the Hudson River Railroad--all these considerations naturally aroused
in the New York Central interests a desire to insure the future by
obtaining for themselves control of the lines that would connect their
own system with New York City and the Eastern seaboard.

During the Civil War, however, no progress was made in this direction.
It was not un