[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] capital. Meantime the New York and Albany Company found itself unable to carry out the provisions of its charter, and in 1838 sur-rendered its rights in AVestchester County to the New York and Harlem Company, which assumed the construction of the bridge across the river and the building of the road as far as a point on the southern boundary of Putnam County. If was not, however, until May, 1840, that the compact between the two companies was ap-proved by the legislature. By that time "the capital had been swollen to $1,1)50,000, and stili another increase of 81,000,000 was needed to carry the road through the county." The railway was constructed and in operation to Fordham by October, 1841, but had not been extended to White Plains until late in 1844, and it was not until June, 1847, that it was opened through to Croton Falls. Thus from the time when the first charter for a railroad to traverse West-chester County was granted, until the complete realization of the project, a period of fifteen years elapsed. The cost of construction 1 In 1842 a committee investigated a proposed The work was commenced in the spring of railway route along the east shore of the Hud-1S32. The grade was required to correspond son River, and brought in a strongly adverse with the regulation of the streets, which had report. In this document it was alleged that required much deep cutting and some high