The daily comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1850-1856, 1853-05-05
Bassh Houes, Crosse - - opsloa1ls
PLANK RoAf)c ANY. IS

0oWYAs - - ~ No. = z3zl
PLANK RoAr1c RAlJY. KS
Blk months ago. anumbsr Of 90.
prising gentlemen a Eaet and Mssel|
Baton Rouge, orsnpised 1hems5 IVES
into an association 70 build . Plan g. !
Road between Tie Mississippi fivS
opposite the City d Baton Rodge. and
Crosse Tete, 4 distance Of eighteen
miles. A competent Engineer was
and the workwas pushed on,
all things considered, with commend
able rapidity. The Cross Tete coun-
try. heretofore little known, except 70
its fortunate possessors, 10 one Of the
richest and most productive in Lcui-
siana, and the banks Of that bayou is
soon destined to.be one Of the richest
agricultural communities in the world.
Up to the present time the Crosse Tete
people have had . great deal Of Difficult
ty to get their produce to market. o.
well as to get their plantation supplies
home. The projected and now nearly
completed Plank Road will remedy
the evils complained of. As soon as
the Crosse Tete people had commenced
their road, the citizens residing on the
Bayou Marangoin, and Bayou Ala.
bama, living beyond the Crosse Tete,
projected continuance Of the road
we have alluded to, on to the prairies
of Opelousas, a distance Of only taoeN-
ty miles This latter named road,
will not only pass through . very
wealthy and highly populous part Of
the State, but will also, open to sale,
some Of the very best Of our now un-
sold public lands. The friends Of both
of these roads have joined together un-
der the name of the Baton Rouge,
Crosse Tete, and Opelousas Plank
Road Company, and have obtained a
very liberal-and perpetual--charter
from the Legislature, with capital OF
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
the State subscribing one tflh Of the
same,-fty thousand dollars.
Under this charter, the road will
rapidly progress to completion. In a
few days the Engineer Of the Company
will be on the west end Of the road
from Crosse Tete to the prairies.-
Within the year, the planks will be
laid from the river to Crosse Tete, as
the road is already graded and bridged.
The beneficial influence Of this im-
provement is already beginning to be
fell, and at least twenty five thousand
dollars worth of public lands have
been sold, which would otherwise have
remained unproductive to the State.
This short road Of tscemty eight
mites, connects the entire Opelousas
country with the Mississippi river, and
the comparatively Insignificant sum
of two hundred thousand dollars, will
accomplish almost as much, as the mil
lions that are to be expended on the
New Orleans and Opelousas rial road
that is to have its terminus not il
New Orleans, but at Algiers.
Experience of all rail road, shows
that it is the carrying of passenger
that makes the road profitable. W.
believe that rail roads running within
the State, and not connecting with tn
great centers Of population in the dis
tant parts of the Union, will prove un
profitable, and that Plank Roads ar
most suited to the wants of an. agricul
tural community. We hesitate not T.
sly, that when the Baton Rouge Gross
Tete, and Opelousas Plank Road Com
pany open their road the road vii
be found sufficient to meet the want
of the communities through which
passes, and that the immense bushes
of Opelousas, will find a vent, not o
the projected rail road from New Oh
leans to Opelousas, distance OF on
Ehundred and eighty miles, but owe
Ithe Plank Road of thirty eight mile
to the Mississippi river, for we conten
that sugar and other produce for a
commercial purposes, is as near Ne
Orleans, in warehouses at Bato
Rouge, as at Algiers, opposite Ne
Orleans, and as time is not SO impOl
tant to the people of the South, as j
J more thickly settled and manufactu
: ing countries, it will be no inducemer
to the planter, to have his sugar shall