New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-07-13

SrsiBtR nj.
| If nothing more could be advanced but what
have already suggested in favor Of the project OF
| onstructing n railroad north east from this
lefty, to complete the long airline from Boston
i Portland to this point, nothing more would te
| teeded to recommend it to the attention of CAPT.
alsts, or TO excite an interest in the minds Of
hose who have the prosperity of New Orleans
1t heart But all has not yet been said. It'll
evident that such road would contribute very
| greatly to inorease the number of strangers an
nually visiting or passing through the city, In
| the first place, if | am not mistaken in suppas.
| ng that this road would really bring to New
| Orleans n considerable amount Of trade which
would otherwise never reach it, then there can
| be no question that the fux and refux Of travel
pccasioned by this traffic itself would greatly
| benefit New Orleans But, besides this, there is
| vast and increasing amount Of annual travel
| which, being uncpnnected with any local bust
| ness, may pass us by on one side or the other,
unless drawn in this direction by the facilities
| which the New Orleans and North eastern Rail
| road may offer. There is even now a great
| imonnt Of such travel; but the fact should
never be forgotten or allowed to lose its import
| lnce that while hitherto New Orleans has been
standing, as it were, upon the very margin Of
| he industrial and commercial world, it has to-
| lay u great continent bursting into life behind
4 IL, and another ocean beyond seeking to roll its
| treasures to its feet The immense domain of
Texas, now sparsely inhabited. is rapidly filing
| mp, and will shortly swsrm with numerous
| lnd busy population. New Mexico and the
country further west, which It is the object u
! the Gadsden Treaty to secure, if they do not
| pffer the only line on which railroad to the
Pacific is practicable, present at least the short
| st and least difficult one, and that on which
anauestionably, the first California railroad
| viii be constructed That Mexico herself is
! ultimately to be regenerated or rather, TINT
| he Mexicans are yet to be replaced by more
| Anterprising and energetic race--is too plainly
written ID the Book of Fate to be misunderstood
md though result implying so immense a
;hange may be regarded as too remote for the
purposes Of tile present argument, yet the time
has already arrived when SO much of the Mex
can territory, Mt least as divides the two oceans
It the Isthmus of Tehuantepee, must pass into
Anglo-Saxon hands.
Twenty years will not elapse before New Or
leans, instead of standing, as heretofore, upon
the mere border of a civilize land, and mark
M the boundary between smiling cultivation
IN the one hand and q bowling Wilderness on
he other, will ind herself the very centre of
tolitical, industrial and social world, whose
myriad population are engaged in gathering up
he varied wealth of vast continent, and whose
limitless commerce is whitening the waters of
two oceans. The rolling TO and fro of the great
tide of travel, which is to pass from the north
md east to the now opening west, will inundatc
the great trans-union line of communication
which have pointed out as now extending from
Portland destined ultimately to extend from
Halifax down to the intersection of the Mobile
and Ohio Railroad with the Brandon. At this
Solnt, in the absence of any outlet toward New
Orleans, the great wave descending South will
livide. That part which is destined for North
western Louisiana, Northern Texas, New Mex,
GO, and ultimately for the trans continental
railway to California, will take the western
direction along the Brandon Road to Vieksburg,
and so on to Shreveport; while that which seeks
the Tehuantepec connection will pass down the
Mobile and Ohio Road, to take steamers for the
Cult at the city of Mobile. If we grant that
road continued directly hitherward, from the
point Of bifurcation mentioned, will not neceS-
sarily draw to New Orleans all the immense
travel here spoken Of it is still too obvious for
argument that large amount of it will fol ow
that road and it is equally obvious that with
out the construction of such work, New Or
leans will not have even d chance of decomposition
for its benefits
Suppose that neither the Tehuantepec nor the
Pacific Railroad should ever be built. Sup.
plse that the eastern and western travel OF
which | have spoken should be confined to the
people Of Louisiana and Texas going eastward
and those whose interests induce them to visit
these States going west. Would not, even III
that case. the numbers whom the proposed road
would draw to our city be sufficient to justify
the construction of this short and easy work
What if, to q traveller destined for Northern
Texas, the distance by the way of New Orleans
is little greater than that by way of Vicks-
burg? How many are there whom the attrnc-
tions Of n great and world-renowned city viii
cause willingly to deyiate in some measure from
their most direct route, for the qualification o,
curiosity, for the sake of advantages only Their,
to be found, or even for the sake of amnsements!
Let every man consult his own feelings, sup
posing that he was himself one of the travelling
multitude, and he can easily judge from his
own spontaneous preferences how strong wouli
he the tendency of the mass to gravitate toward
the great city, Notwithstanding the detour
which yielding to this influence would involve
But this influx Of accidental travel would not
be benefit to the city only It would increase
the business on the roads diversing from the
city westward, of which the 0pelousas, now i'll
progress, will constitute the main trunk The
road which | propose recommends itself, there.
fore, strongly as a work calculated to give
increased value to another work in which the
city is already deeply interested, both MS q re.
cipient of the commercial benefits it is designed
to secure and as heavy stakeholder. This
consideration strikes me as having substantial
Importance,
What have further to say upon this subject
at present, l shall endeavor to embrace in one
additional communication. FAp.B.
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