noon of
the fifteenth of March
It was December now , and winter had set in early . Temple found it exceedingly difficult to secure the assistant surveyors , rodmen , chainmen , and the rest , whose services were absolutely necessary , but by dint of hard work , he at last completed the organization of his several engineering corps , and set to work surveying the line , locating it , establishing grades , and the like . Hurry it as he might , the work was very slow , because of the bad weather , but at least it went forward , and early in January gangs of men were sent into each county to make a show , at least , of construction work , and thus to avoid all possibility of the forfeiture of the county and town subscriptions . The greatest difficulty encountered was in meeting the requirement that a car should actually cross the line between the two counties by noon of the fifteenth of March . That part of the line was peculiarly difficult of access . It could be reached only by a twenty-five mile journey across country , over roads which , in the winter , were well-nigh impassable . In order to build any sort of railroad line at the point involved , it was necessary to carry across country all the tools , earth cars , and construction materials , together with a large company of workmen .