The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-04-14

II ,
rather to decrease.
A long continuance of heavy rains has caused
some anxiety on account of its interfering with
seed time, but there seems now prospect of
farer weather. The grain market has been firm
during the week. and wheat has advanced Is. per
quarter.
In cotton there has been large and active
business, and an advance of 3-l6 paid on Anne
ri,an descriptions in the early part OF the week
has been well maintained. SPECTATOR.
Report Of MI. Latrobs on the Completion
OF the aItimore and Ohio Railroad
The following report from b. H. Latrobe,
esq, in reply to a resolution of enquiry adopted
by the city directors Of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, contains matters of general interest to
our readers.
ENGINEERS OFFICE, B. & 0. R. R.,
Baltimore, April 18th, 1851
]. J. TURNER, esq,
Directors on The part Of the city, dc.
Sir: have the honor to acknowledge the re-
ceipt of your note of the 22d March, with the
following resolution of the first branch Of the
city council passed on the 18th of the same
month T" Resolced, That the directors on the
part of the cGy of Baltimore in the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad Company be requested, at
their very earliest convenience, to report to this
branch at what time, in their opinion, said road
will be completed to the Ohio river at Wheel
ing, said report to be accompanied with snch
practical data as will show the correctness OF
the conclusions to which they may arrive"
have just returned from passing over the
whole line of the road between Cumberland and
Wheeling. which will enable me to answer the
enquiry of the resolution more satisfactorily,
while it will account for the delay in my reply.
When the road west of Cumberland was COM
menced in May, lS49, its completion to Wheel
ing in June, 1852, was promised, with the un-
Outstanding that there would be no check from
want of men or money. This promise could
have been kept but for the necessary change of
route near the western terminus, which will have
been the cause of several months delay. 1t is
now expected that the road will be opened to
Wheeling in December, 1852.
The reasons for expecting this result are de-
rived from the general state and progress of the
work in its several parts upon the several sec
tons of the line, which are briefly noticed as
follows:
There has been five successive lettings upon
the line-the first in April, l849, and the last in
December l850-by which different divisions
have been, from time to time, put under con-
tract as they could be made ready, and as the
character of the work upon them required-and
now the whole route of 200 miles is in progress
of construction. For the first 2 months there
was surplus Of labor upon the line, but since
then there las been scarcity which has made
constant efforts necessary to keep up supply !;
but for this, the graduation and masonry"
would have been in more generally forward
state. The sections, however, on which the
completion of the road depends, have been kept
nearly all the time we'll furnished with hands, so
that there will not have been much delay expe-
renced by the deficiency of labor upon the
lighter work. ! he chief Inconvenience respect
ing the latter will be that some of it will have
been finished more hurriedly than could have
been desired. This remark, however, applies to
parts of the graduation only, (such as some of
the earth embankments,) and not to the mason
ny or other mechanical works, which will have
been built with all the necessary to its per-
manence and complete finish. Notwithstanding
these difficulties, the plan proposed for the con-
duet Of the work in its several departments, has
not been, thus far, materially departed from.
AT the beginning of the work in l849, its
opening last fall to the Piedmont station, near
the mouth of Savage river, 80 miles from Cum
berland, was contemplated but the unavoidable
delays attendant upon the adjustment of the To-
cation in conjunction with that of the canal ex-
tension to the same point, together with the sick
ness prevailing in the Potomac badly during the
autumns Of lS49 and 1850, made that impracti-
cable, and the idea was abandoned, the more
readily as nothing of Importance would have
been gained by its accomplishment The com
mencement of the laying of the rails west of
Cumberland was therefore postponed until the
present spring, and is now steadily advancing,
upwards of miles being now passed over by
the locomotives with their trains carrying the
iron materials of the track
AS the whole line to Wheeling is to be pushed
forward in this way, by transporting the iron
over the road as fast as il is finished, it will give
the cearest and rcadiest idea of the progress and
time Of completion of the whole line TO say, that
no delay in the progress of the track from this
time forth is anticipated, and that the laying of
it will advance at an average rate of about ten
miles per month. This counting from the Ist
of April inst, would lay the whole 200 miles
from Cumberland to Wheeling in 90 months
from that date, or by the Ist of December, 1852
and the opening of the line to Wheeling can
not be delayed beyond that month, if there be
no failure in the supply of labor and of means TO
pay for it. These are the only contingencies.
and, so far as they are under the control of the
company, they will not stand in the way
am not expected to speak of the financial
part of The subject In regard to the labor.
can say that every proper effort shall be made
and that think the worst is past. We have
now about $500 men and 800 horses upon the
whole line-making about 90 men and four
horses per mile. This force would be very in
adequate TO finish the 200 miles by the end of
1852, were the work only now begun; but it has
so far advanced that concentration of labor
upon the heavier jobs midway and near the west
end, will soon begin to take place. and their pro-
gress will thus be accelerated.
In speaking Of such Of these as are known to
the board and to the community here, ms are re-
markable for their magnitude, ! will state
(each section being about mile long, and its
number. therefore, showing its distance from