The
Northern Railroad built this line from
Concord to
White River Junction,
Vermont, in 1847. The
Boston-based investors were one of three groups in a race to connect with a line coming up the
Connecticut River valley, and thus on to
Quebec.
Daniel Webster spoke at the ribbon-cutting in Lebanon, "It is altogether new. The world has seen nothing like it before." Not in attendance—by choice—among the 1,200 at the inauguration of the "steam highway" were any of the
Shaker community from nearby
Enfield. The Shakers had worked a deal with the railroad to relocate its proposed corridor to the opposite side of
Mascoma Lake from their colony, while getting a bridge to its depot. A stock purchase and the naming of a locomotive
The Shaker sealed the bargain. In 1887, the company was acquired by the
Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M). The Northern Railroad corridor was part of a Boston-Montreal High Speed Rail Study in 2003. ==See also==