Washington telegraph., 1855-04-04
For the 1slegraph.l
Omr ailrOa d /.


part of the State, be not enough to arouse
the public mind to the Importance, nay.
absolute necessity. of taking such steps as
will secure the early completion of the
Mississippi. Ouachita & Red river Railroad,
nothing, it is feared. that can be said or
written on the subject, will be of any avail.
The lucid arguments of "Citieea:, which
appeared in your columns some two years
ago; your own urgent calls on the people
to awake; and the more recent eloquent
and stirring appeals of General HASKELL,
in behalf of this noble enterprise, have all
passed cff,-been forgotten, or, what is
worse, not needed Still, it is to be hoped
that the general distress now abroad in the
land for the very necessares of life-the
pressure of the times, and the fearful ap-
prehension of something worse to come,
may yet accomplish what facts, arguments.
and eloquence, have hitherto failed to
achieve
There is a class of our citizens, who
GALLO like, care for none of these things
they prefer that matters should remain
as they are, and therefore. will lend no
| helping hand to an enterprise, which has
for its object the alienation Of the burdens
under which we are now groaning There
is another class who are friendly to the
road, and would be glad to see it built,
but who think it cannot be done for years
to come, and therefore treat the whole af-
fair as Wild visionary, utopian, and in
advance of the times. They seem to look
upon Arkansas as yet in the chrysalis
state, although she has been member of
this confederacy of States for the last twen-
ty years. occupying position, it is true,
not very enviable, but one which, if such
c0unsels obtain, she will hold for all time to
come.
The main cause of the distress now so
prevalent. will be admitted by all to be the
difficulty. nay, the impossibiiity for the
present, of sending the products of the
country to market. and getting for them
such things as are necessary to our SUBJ
sistence. The present season. however, is
not peculiar-it forms no exception to or
dinary seasons, or what has frequently hap
pened before 1t will be recollected that
navigation did not open the past season
until April, nor did the bulk of our cot
ton get to market sooner than May and
| June and then. so burdened with expen-
ses, by reason of the short period the riv-
er was navigable, as scarcely to sell for
enough, wherewithal to buy necessaries, still
less TO pay debts. For the four preceding
months, middling cotton commanded. in
New Orleans, from nine to ten cents per
pound, but when ours reached market it
was down to SIX and seven cents-show-
ing loss to the planting interests, in a
single year, amply sufficient. with other
means within the control of the company, to
build the Mississippi, Ouaehita & Red river
Railroad
The question to be determined, and it is
one in which the country has vital inter
est, is-will Red river answer as an outlet
for the productions Of the upper country,
or rather the country above the raft ? It
is known to all acquainted with the face of
the country in which the raft is located, that
it is extremely fiat and low, affording scarce
| ly any banks within which to confine the
river, and when it reaches the lakes through
which it is proposed TO give us navigation,
it spreads over an immense surface, at this
time perfectly dry. The volume of water
then, that must come down from above, in
order to fiji up this vast surface, and afford a
sufficient depth for steamboats, to pass
through, requires rise in the upper river
of from fifteen to twenty feet above its Or
dinary stage, and to remain at that high
stage some three or four weeks.
During the present season there have
been three rises in the river, of from ten to
twelve feet each, affording an ample depth
Of water for boats of large class to ply
between the raft and Kiamitia, distance
of 500 miles. and to touch at Fulton or any
intermediate point, where railroad might
terminate, and yet, the water in the raft re-
gion was barely sufficient for the passage of
keel-boat
These facts clearly demonstrate that Red
river will not answer as an outlet for the
teeming productions of the upper country,
now annually doubling and in few years,
will be four-fold greater than at present
But admitting there was no obstruction
whatever in the river. between Fulton and
Shreveport, would Red river then answer