Loudon free press. (Loudon, Tenn.) 1852-1855, 1853-07-01
For the "Loudon Free Press"
LETTERS ON LOUDON.
No. q.

No do
In any anxiety may manifest to build up
Loudon to the fair proportions and true great
ness of which she is so abundantly capable, l
beg that be believed when / say that l am
not influenced by any sordid or money motives.
/ am not one of the company that purchased
this property and laid out the town. / am in
no way connected with them by the ties of kin
dred, or any other, except those of good neigh
borhood. Nor am / merchant, mechanic or
professional man deriving my living from the
place. In every point of view then am as
free as possible from any selfish or pecuniary
motive. am certainly partial to Loudon but l
hope neither extrayagantly nor foolshly so. If
l am anxious to see her prosperity promoted
her commerce extended, her manufactures es-
tablished and enlarged, her n or i, religious and
educational interests cared for, it is only for
their benefcient Fesults l want to see promo
ted among us and throughout East Tennessee,
that enlargement of spirit which flows from
wealth and virtuous intelligence, and those rich
er blessings of higher civilization, and a no.
bier patriotism, and purer christianity which
they secure, multiply and diffuse. Under those
influences hope to see here established COM
plete system of public works and heaven-blest
charities. These will constitute the true great
ness and glory of any community; these will
call down the blessings of heaven; these are
monuments worthy to endure when those who
rlised them have passed away.
The world is just beginning to be informed
octhe vast natural wealth this region of which
Loudon is the centre and outlet. The public
mind is turning with keen avidity to the noun
tains of coal, iron, and copper which lie round
about us. The first difficulty, and the only one
which has long shut us out from the rest of the
world, will be found in those wild and grim for
tresses of nature,-those apparently inaccessi-
BILE mountain walls,-with which, every where,
nature guards her treasures. To think of pen
etrating these recesses of scaling these ramparts,
and of bringing to light and conveying to mar
ket their hidden treasures was once ridieuled as
an idle dream of visionary mind. But impedi-
ments to men whose first impulse is ito go
ahead" will only stimulate activity, quicken the
pulse of speculation, open the purse of enter
prise. Much of the capital and skill, once en-
p!oyed our mother country, and in the older
parts of our own, will soon be diverted from
their ancient channels, and be taught to mean
der through the hills, the ravines, and the Rivers
Clinch, the Cumberland, and the Tellco.
The very first, and believe the wisest plan,
ever devised in the Southwest, for the purpose
of connecting Lake Erie and the Ohio with the
Atlantic was the original one, of which this we
now advocate is the carrying out. That was
a grand idea of connecting the metropolis of
the west with Charleston in the Southeast. 1t
enlisted for its accomplishment some of the
greatest and wisest men this country has pro-
duced; such men as Hayne, Calhoun, Bland
White and Jarnagin in Tennessee; Clay, Crit
tenden, and others in Kentucky; with Drake,
Wright, Mansfield and Kelly in Ohio. 1t was
in July in 1886 that the celebrated convention
to promo-e this grand work was held in Knox
vile. Seventeen years have passed since then,
and with them have also passed away many of
the chief actors in that brilliant assemblage.-
Who can ever forget the high-souled and chiv-
alric Hayne who presided on that memorable
occasion. With what dignity, zeal, and glow
ing enthusiasm was that great man pervaded,
and how much of these he inspired in all who
acted with him. For days and nights this great
enterprise absorbed their deepest thoughts. The
original route then advocated was that by way
of Ashevile and the Warm Springs in North
Carolina, down the French-Broad, thence across
the country through the Cumberland Gap, into
Kentucky, AMI So on to the Nor.hern term
mus. With the exception of the main points,
there were few intermediate ones named. Those
were great men and patriots and their object
was to accomplish the great national work.
To do so they never thought of fence
worming it about to accommodate little petty
localities.
Calhoun with his eagle-eye and farreaching
vision saw that the route proposed was not the
most eligible one. l remember that he did not
indeed oppose it, but he told the convention that
the headwaters of the Savannah and the Ten
nessee, with some gap between them, and the
valley formed by the latter river indicated the
true route. / remember that he made an able
speech in advocacy of the Tennessee Riv-
er route; that he said the road should discend it
to Russelrs Ferry (Citco) at lees: before any
DETECTION to the North was made. And he said
moreover that his judgment was that the Road
should descend this River still further:-that it
should not leave it until it had reached some
point in ROane county-some where between
the mouth OF the HolSton and KingstOn-and
thence north-warl to the Cumberland Noun
tains through some favorable gap which he was
persuaded could be found there. Take notice.
/ do not pretend to give Mr.. Calhoun's exact
language; but this will say, "This was his
route, this the valley and these the points he
named. And l can yarify this assertion by ref
erence to an original letter from Mr.. Calhoun to
an intelligent gentlemen now deceased, but who
then lived in the county of Monroe. This letter
is now known to be in the hands Of leading
merchant in Knoxville. Why it has never been