Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-04-13
From lhe Mohile commereial negister.

From the Mobile Commercial Register.
 MR SANroRD-I have taken a lively interest in your patriotic efforts in the cause ofnternaI improve ment. You have awakened spirit of inquiry, on this subject that cannot fail of resulting in the most sisnal success of all your anticpations, and whae- yer may be the difference of opinion on the means to be employed whether by the appropriation of the national funds, or the resources of our State, without foreign aid none can deny to your efforts the credit o flowing from dsiuterested regard for the public good If you have not in the course you have pursued regarded party distinction you have certainly kept steadily in view the great interest oi your fellow citizens, and by them your efforts will be gratefully treasured n memory, when the factions of the day, and the petty interests that distract IS will have disappeared and let no trace of their | existence.
 most cordially agree with you hl Inc general views you have from time 10 time presented, of the important beneiils to be derived from internal inn pavement, but l have not been able to bring my mind to approve of the mode, that seems to have suggested itself to you, as most practical If the great object is 10 afford canne oi communication, by which the greatest quantity Of the products of our state, together with hosc of the neighboFina; states can find the shortest route to the Gufof MeXi- co, or in other words, to make Mobile the nearest and best market for the produce of the rich valley | Of Tennessee and fit be an object to identify the heretofore dscordant interest Of North and South Alabama, then would say that d canal, uniting thc waters of the Tennessee witl tributary branch ot tue COosa not the best means of ellecfng those objects, The first objection that presents itself s that the point of junction, would be too far north east from the cotton growing region We may lay it down q rule subject to few exceptions, that whatever may be the staple commodity of our coun- try, the exports will be bulky thaa the articles imported for necessary home consumption. The cotton and tobacco of the rich counties of Madison Limestone, and the adjacent parts of Tennessee, would not be slipped against the current one hun-
 
 the waters of the Coosa but when shipped would follow the current the long and tedious, but easier route to New-Orleans. Our market could only at tract some of the surplus products of East Tennes see, North Carolina, and Western Virginia, al which can be as well secured to us by q different channel, and too that must, if 1t should be eff ected, inevitably the law of nature bring 10 our market the products of great portion of Kentucky and the most fertile regions of Tennessee and North Alabama Should Cutters Landing on the Ten. nessee River and Selma, the Alabama be as sumed as the points of conneyion, the slightest glance the map would designate if as the short est route for the various products of that rich and beautiful country to the Gulf of Mexico, saving ma ny hundred miles of difficult navigation. On this route water communication is not to be thought of but it is believed that when the various estimates of the amount of money to be expended in the con- st!ucion of Il Rail Road, shall be compared witlthe amount required for canal to unite the waters ofthe Tennessee and Coosn the result will be altogether in favor of the former. The distance does not much, if any, exceed one hundred and fifty miles. And the topography of the country which the Rail Road would run is most sneularly favorable to sue cess. The ascent from the Tennessee to the highest ground separating the waters of that river from the tributary streams of the Mobile Bay, is remarkably gradual and easy; and the descent thence to Selma is scarcely percepable. First, through Wills Val ley and then through Cahawha Valley and Pleasant Valley. There are nc rivers to cross, deep ravines to fill up no mountains to cut down or tunnel There is no part of our continent where Providence has been bountilul in supplying the materials for the construction of Rail Road, on the very spot where they would be required. On either hand, within very short distance of where the road would run, there are immense cliffs of blue limestone, rs- ing ledge above ledge, ianty resembling the work of art and easily to be separated from the rest of the mass.
 have given no estimate of the amount of produce that would, through this channel find q market nor of the amount of money that would be required to complete the great work but those estimates will be made, cautiously avoiding erroneous data and when made, the public are earnestly invited to exa- mine and weigh them well. If so, have no fear but that the object to be effected, will be found to be worth ten times the amount to be expended nor have
 any fear to the ability of the State or even the City of Mobile to furnish the means, if Constitution al scruples should deny the aid of the National Government. It is intended in future numbers to enter more minutey, not only into the estimate of advantages to be obtained and necessary expenditures to be incurred, but into the particular advantage that Rail Road on the proposed route, would claim over any other practical channel ofcommunication.
 FRIEND TO RAIL ROADS.