Repeated attempts were made to induce the Legislature of Pennsylvania to authorize an extension of the road in that State, but owing to the opposition of the Pittsburgh and Erie Bailroad, and especially of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, the desired permission was finally refused. The estimated aggregate cost of the road was about one and three-quarter millions of dollars, and when the principal contracts for labor and iron were made, there was a very fair prospect of disposing of the bonds of the company to advantage, and thus, in addition to the loans effected in Philadelphia, New York and at home, the means to complete the work were reasonably anticipated. In the Directors' Report of 1854, they were obliged to announce unlooked for embarrassments, growing out of the altered condition of the money market. The story of the seemingly hopeless, but finally successful, struggle that followed is told in another part of this work. At length, in 1857, after five or six years of persevering efforts, and most perplexing difficulties, the road was opened through to Youngstown; substantial machine shops were built at Cleveland, station houses erected along the route, and the coal and iron of the Mahoning Valley were made accessible by a quick and easy route. In October, 1863, the road was leased for ninety-nine years to the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, which had already laid a broad gauge upon the track, That company now controls the main line to Youngstown, with the several branches to Hubbard and the coal mines. The narrow gauge is kept up for the use of the Mahoning trains, freight and passenger, while the broad gauge is used by the Atlantic and Great Western through trains. The track has been extended to the shore of the old river bed, an extensive wharfage established, and large facilities obtained for connecting the traffic of the road with the lake commerce.