Washington telegraph., 1852-03-03
ARKANSAS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 1862

theorists, and opinions formed from these
sources by men who wish to Judge dispas-
sionately, as my friend from Saline, but
who have never travelled over the ground to
know whether such theories and opinions
are or are not we'll founded And [ now
venture the assertion, Mr.. President, un-
/ hestatingly, and with the full confidence
! that it will be verified by the result, to
this intelligent convention, that far the
! greatest obstacle to the construction of the
road to Memphis is to be found at White
river,-in bridging it, and the overfowed
bottom on this or the other side of it, or in
throwing up embankments through its bot
tom-for much more current is to be found
there than at any other place between this
city and Memphis. And this same cur
rent, riUer, and auu7adation, have to be
crossed by road to Helena also: the ad-
vocates Of either terminus are in precisely
the same category, as to this The over
flow beyond the st. Francis river, as it is
now. and throwing out Of the question the
levees now IN state of construction to keep
out the water entirely, is but few feet
deep, and does not extend more than 8
or 10 miles, if that much, and without any
current in the water-so that there would
be no difficulty whatever, in running the
road across it, either upon levee of earth,
or upon piles driven into the ground. And
L speak of these matters from personal
observation, and from the matured judg-
ments Of practical men, who have been
intimatel ly acquainted with the route through
all the vicissitudes of the seasons, for ten
twenty and thirty years
The road upon the entire line, in pro-
portion to distance, can be built at as
small an expense as road to Helena-and
the distance, as [ have shown, is not much
greater. From Little Rock to the St.
Francis river, with the exception of few
miles at White river, railroad can be built
for as little money as any road in the
world, of the same length it is nearly
perfect level the entire distance-no hills
to dig down or tunnel, no valleys to ele-
vate-nothing to do, but to clear off the
ground, throw it UP to make it dry and
firm, and place the rails and cars upon it.
When you reach the St. Francis, you are
within less than forty miles of Memphis,
through a level valley of the richest land
on the continent; and some practical men
even have said that it could be made at as
little cost per mile as the road on this side:
but be this as it may, noting will be founI
there capable Of being swelled by the mc,st
fanciful imagination into impracticab' e
nothing to deter men Of our race from. per-
fec;ing work which promises such bless
ings to our State such glorious Prospects
for our country.
If, however, justice be done, neither of
these oue72o1cs will present any obstacle to
the work, or cause any additio lal outlay, of
any Of the means raised for ifs construction.
The Legislature, and Swar1p Land Com
missioners, out of the millions of acres
granted to the State, for The reclamation of
the Swamp Lands, will, I presume, almost as
a matter Of course, pr otect these localities
by their levees reel? I'M these lands-eyen
apply means out of ne Swamp land fund,
to run, in the language of our eloquent
friend to-day, ''cr0.ss levees' at the proper
places, as an appropriate means Of thorough
reclamation Of the lands, and on which we
can place our raiJ oad
And the leve IS now in course of con-
struction, on the Mississippi river, under
the guidance CT these Commissioners [ am
well informed are superior generally to any
of the levees to be found on that river from
the Lake of the Woods to the Gulf Of
Mexico; end will and must, if persevered
in, recla2 IN the entire country east OF the
St. Fra lcis
The. Permanent Committee, although
only acting under the direction of a prima-
ry s.ssembly of part of the people, felt
the weight of responsibility imposed upon
tb en- but having embarked in the enterprise
for the good of Arkansas-oU Arkansas
they shrunk not from the task. With
anxious examination, they weighed well the
many different routes suggested: Helena,
Napoleon, Gaines Landing and Memphis;
each of which presented peculiar advanta-
ges locally, and beckoned fondly to the CEN
tire of the State, and to the pride of our
village of Little Rock The interests OF
the western valley Of the Arkansas, the val
ley of White River, of Red River and OF
Washita, were duly considered: and with
what of mind God had vouchsafed TO us, we
pondered well-yet 2'ondered boldly, Tor
'"tis base
Abandonment of reason to resign
Our right Of thought"
We found that Arkansas was shut out
from her sister States, and from the trade,
travel, and commerce of the world; that
her rivers had failed to answer early expec-
tations; that our population was yet SMALL
and what is called vulgarly "capitol,' was
scarce. We felt satisfied, that the sense o1
the whole community, which was our own
Judgment too, was first to make one road
from the Mississippi to the centre, upon
which others might afterwards be most con
veniently engrafted, from all parts Of the