Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1853-10-20

the DeSt eSumaJeS maze, tne enIlre road
cannot cost sum exceeding $500, 600
Its entire length from Gallpolis to the
Marietta and Cincinnati road is 3s
miles. The Scioto and Hooking Valley
Road have contracted for their road
north from Jackson to Newark, at $780,
600 per mile, all complete. That road
has miles which will cost S75, 1000, es-
pecially one at Somerset, while the
whole line runs across the valleys, and
must be much more expensive than a
road running with them. Capt. Kenne-
dy told me he knew a portion of the
road, and that the most expensive one,
and that in his opinion the SO miles could
be made for $500, 900, if not less. Eve
ry one, acquainted with Capt. K, the
able engineer on the Marietta and Gin
cinnati road, knows that his judgment
in such matters is to be relied upon.
The reason why this route was adop-
ted, in preference to the one by Jackson,
is plain on the facts. We reach Chilli
cothe in distance three miles less by
this route; we save ten miles of very
expensive road from Jackson to Byers;
and we pass through, by this route, the
best coal and iron region in Ohio.
/ 8. As TO its prospects for business
/. 1t is the natural connecting link be-
tween the great Virginia central road
and Cincinnati, and the whole north
and northwest. A glance at the map
will shew this. The Virginia road, as
now located, comes into the valley of
the great Kanawha, above the Salines,
and down that river to Scary; a point
within forty miles of Gallipolis. From
this point to Gallipolis, road must ul-
timately be made. No difficulties inter-
vene; the valley is level, and the road
can be very cheaply constructed. By
this route, Cincinnati. Dayton and Co.
Iumbus can be reached in much shor-
ter distance than by any other conceiv-
able route. With this link completed,
between the Virginia Central and the
Marietta and Cincinnati roads, and its
connexions, no traveller destined for a
point north of the Ohio river, will ever
pass over any other route. The route
by Guyandotte, Sandy and Maysville,
will only increase the distance by not
less than 25 miles to Cincinnati, and of
course, by rs miles to Dayton and other
points north and northwest of Cincin-
natl.
And Virginia must make this connex-
ion. Her own interests prompt her to
it. Otherwise, this travel will most of
it 90 over the Baltimore road; it will
never run off into Kentucky, to pene-
trate Ohio and the northwest. Nor is
this all, during the inclement season of
winter, this route over the mountains
viii be much to be preferred. Its
grades are nothing, compared with the
Baltimore road, while little or no snow
will be found to cucumber its track in
winter. In addition to this, it will open
to southern Ohio a direct and cheap
route to the Mountains and Springs du-
ring the heat of summer. From 200 to
800 miles of travel by rail, will bring
all the southern portions of Ohio in con-
nexion with the bracing airs of the
mountains, and its health-giving waters.
These mountains will then, instead of
Mackinaw, become the favorite summer
resort of the people of all southern
Ohio. This connexion must and will be
made, and when made, will become one
of the great lines of connexion between
tide water and this great valley of the
West.
2. As to local business. This road
passes for over ten miles on its northern
end, through the best coal and iron re-
gion in Ohio. The valley of little Rae
coon, is for coal and iron unsurpassed
in Ohio; its extent, north and south, is
about eighteen miles; and this road
passes over the upper half of this dis
tance, and side road can easily be
made at very cheap rate, whenever
called for, down the Creeks as far as
the coal and iron extends, at point not
much over two miles from its junction
with Big Raccoon. At present the
upper half of the valley will furnish
coal ample for all the wants of interior
Ohio and Cincinnati. To reach this
region of coal and iron, this road is in
dispensible, since the Marietta and Gin
cinnati passes it some ten miles to the
north. This road too, is the only one
by which the Jackson camel coal can
be reached.
The iron ore is also inexhaustible;
and whenever iron shall be made by
stone, instead of charcoal, any amount
of iron can be made in this valley, and
along the line of this road.
By this road, this coal and iron will
be made accessible to the interior of the
State and to Cincinnati, through the
Marietta and Cincinnati roads, and the
roads connected with it. Cincinnati,
Chilicothe, Dayton, Xenia, Springfield,
and north and west of these towns must
derive their supply of coal and iron
from this region of Ohio, passed
through by this road on the southeast,
and the Marietta and Cincinnati on the
northeast. These two roads open along
their lines over twenty miles Of the out
crop of this rich mineral region.
The coal and iron can also BY this
route reach the Ohio river in from 16I
to 25 miles. By no other road can the
river be reached in double the distance.
And when the river is in good order