[456] William Still, _Underground Railroad Records_, pp. 77, 142, 151, 163, 165, 211, etc.
[457] Letter of James S. Rogers, Chicago, Ill., April 17, 1897.
Of the terminal stations or places of deportation along our northeastern boundary, there are not less than twenty-four, and probably many more. Three of them, Boston, Portland and St. Albans, were located in the New England states. Fugitives were probably less often sent directly to English soil from Boston than from the two other points, and in the few instances of which we have any hint, with perhaps one exception, the passengers so sent were put aboard vessels sailing for England. The boats running between Portland and the Canadian provinces were freely made use of to help slaves to their freedom, especially as the emigrants were often provided with passes. Sailing-vessels also furnished free passage, and carried the majority of the passengers that went from Portland.[458] St. Albans was the terminal of the Vermont line. Many fugitives were received and cared for here, and were sent on by private conveyance across the Canada border before the Vermont Central Railroad was built. Afterwards they were sent by rail, through the intervention of the Hon. Lawrence Brainerd, of St. Albans, who was one of the projectors of the steam railroad and largely interested in it financially.[459]
[458] Letter of Brown Thurston, Portland, Me., Oct. 21, 1895.
[459] Letter of Aldis O. Brainerd, St. Albans, Vt., Oct. 21, 1895.
Along the northern boundary of New York and Pennsylvania there seem to have been not less than ten resorts facing the Canadian frontier. These were Ogdensburg,[460] Cape Vincent, Port Ontario, Oswego, some port near Rochester, Lewiston, Suspension Bridge, Black Rock, Buffalo, Dunkirk Harbor and Erie. Doubtless the most important of these crossing-places were the four along the Niagara River, for here the most travelled of the routes in New York terminated. The harbors along Lake Ontario and the one on the St. Lawrence River appear to have been the terminals of side-tracks and branches rather than of main lines of Road.
[460] "They crossed at Detroit and at Niagara and at Ogdensburg. Of those in New England, some went up through Vermont, some fled to Maine, and crossed over into New Brunswick." F. W. Seward, _Seward at Washington as Senator and Secretary of State_, Vol. I, p. 170.