Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1838-06-16
whole No. o3.

tnese, remote sections OF our country ar,
brought into easy personal intercourse, anG
the intelligence and improvements of eacl
portion are rapidly communicated to the whole
mass of our population. Considered merel,
as an instrument of commerce in country
whose main business is agriculture, the canal
in my opinion, is vastly more efficient and pro.
ftable than the rail-road. The level surface
of the West adapts it 10 the cheap construc
tion of both, and the latter perhaps, because
it is the latest fashion, has been adopted,
think unwsely, as the favorite improvement OF
the new and enterprising states of Michigan
and Illinois. These improvements should be
Viewed as co-adjutors, and not as rivals and
In the order of their construction, the railroad
should follow the canal, as the pleasure car
riage has followed the transportation wagon.
Canals open farms and build towns and cities
railroads make of the people of the country,
town and city, one family, and diffuse moral
and intellectual Improvement through the
whole, almost with the rapdity of electrical
motion. But forbear further comment, my
business being to tell what is, and not what
ought to be.
Commencing near the eastern termination of
the Wabash and Erie canal, tho first railroad
communicating with that great work is the
Ohio. This extends along the shore of the
lake eastward to the Pennsylvania line. The
state has advanced funds to considerable
amount, in aid of this work; and it will pro-
badly be commenced at or near its western ter
mination, the coming season. A continuation
of this road westward, from the Maumee har-
Dor to Michigan City, by chartered company,
is contemplated-th route having been sur
veyed, and portion of the west end put un-
der contract. The "Erie and Kalamazoo
takes northwest direction towards the heart
of Michigan, and when carried about forty five
miles beyond Adrian-to which point il is now
finished and in operation-it will intersect and
be brought into communication with the south
ern and middle railroads of Michigan; the for
mer crossing the peninsula from Monroe to
New Buffalo, and the latter from Detroit to
the mouth of the st. Josephs. The State of
Michigan is now making both these roads.
The Erie and Kalamazoo" now comes to the
Maumee harbor, at Toledo, thrty-fve miles
from Adrian. When the branches to Maumee
City and Manhattan shall be made, it will come
to that harbor at the three points. The " Per-
rysburg and Akron" railroad is not commen-
ced; and that portion between the Maumee ri
yer and Lower Sandusky, will probably be
merged in the " Ohio railroad" Next comes
the . Perrysburg and Bellefontaine !" intended
as a branch Of the "Mad river rail road" now
in progress of construction. 1t will probably
intersect with the latter about forty-fve miles
from Perrysburg, in Crawford county; in which
case it would afford a shorter passage to the
navgable waters of lake Erie, by many miles
than the route to Sandusky City. No mean.
are yet provided for its construction. There
are charters for other railroads from the Mau
NEE Valley; but / am not aware that any steps
have been taken to enter upon their construc
ton, and therefore pass them by.
In Indiana, the State has undertaken the
construction Of several railroads, of great
magnitude. The " ".Madison and La Fayette
railroad leaves the Wabash and Erie canal al
Lafayette, and passing through indianapolis
reaches the Ohio river at Madison. A branch
connects it also with Lawrenceburg.- Length
about l60 miles. It's construction is progress
ing. The ".Netc Albany or JeGersonvilie ana
Charlottesville road" is designed to connect
the Ohio at point opposite to Louisville, with
the Wabash and Erie canal, by route nearly
parallel with the Madison and Lafayette rail.
road; and its length will be about the same at
that road. 1t is oeing made.
With the system under review, most of the
|
mately connected. Oft these, the most i'm
portant in reference to that connection are two
railroads from the Mississippi river to the Wa.
course as to form with that work the most di.
central portion of the Mississippi Valley. The
and extends from Quincy, on the Mississippi
| H.. 1,l, -, th
of Lafayette, in Indiana. For its construction
the State has appropriated one million eigh
hundred and fifty thousand dollars; and up
wards of fifty miles Of it under are o ract. TLt
other is formed by union of what are callet
branches of the " Central railroad" Tt com
mences at Alton, aud passing through HILLSIDE
rough and Shelbyville, strikes the eastern line
of the State in the direction of Terrehaute
For this work, one million two hundred ant
fifty thousand dollars have been appropriated
| These two works form but minor portion o.
the system of railroads which that State au
thorized by her act of 1897, and form which
in all, ,she appropriated upwards of nine millions
of dollars. All these have bearing more ol
less important on the business of the Wabash
and Erie system, and may without inproprlety
be considered portion oft.
This system, commencing in the estuary Of
the Maumee river, reaches toward the south to
Cincinnati-toward the southwest it stretches
away diagonally thro' Indiana, touching the
Ohio river at thre points in that State, and
ut one point in Illinois, where that river joins
the Mississippi. Westwardly, it treaches lake
Michigan at four points, and crossing throuel
the State Of Illinois by three routes meets the
navigation of the Mississippi at three places
below, and q. one above, the Desmoines Ra-
pids.
For purposes of trade, it commands--to say
nothing of lake and river coasts which it con
nects--an extent of country large enough fol
powerful empire, embracing one-third ol
thirteen thousand square miles Of Ohio; four.
aaL. q. turant,r ri1,a fhnrI su nd snara mil ga al