The true Democrat., 1855-07-31
From the Jacksonport Tribune. Cairo ambition Railroad.

Ioid M at Little RoclIay Eth, 1855, with an
 non,ndix. The ulment before us has been
 ""aP,Jefullv read, ande without hesitancy, pro-
 ,ounce it one of thost able, clear and lucid
 roports made by anmilar body in this or any
 ,ther country, whieve have ever read. Itis q report which appe directly to the good con- snon sense of the peo of Arkansas. We have
 nurposed from weeb week to publish the re-
 mort in full with pro comments and sugges- lions. but our columlave been crowded with other matter--we doot say of more impor-
 tance-for we do 'coner the enterprise which
 has called forth this report of infinite lm-
 nortance to the peoplf Arkansas, and indeed
 to the whole Union, ae shall hereafter show.
 The report is accompsd with two we'll exe-
 cuted maps, the first sfing the projected lines
 of railroads in this Stafor which charters are
 already granted, and n of them permanent
 lv located. The roads brace total length
 nf more than one Htoua miileS, of which the
 Cairo and Fulton yoadrms the principal or
 main trnnlx road belti1he entire State from
 N. E. to s. ", and resng its brlarean arms
 into Texas. and pointlnirect to our great Pa
 cifc coast by much theortest route. The
 nntire length of road fir, Cairo to Fulton is
 373 miles-the remainiIength of roads being
 taken up with the Fort ith inlet and various
 Mississippi outlets. Thap also shows few other roads connecting h the main trunk
 from Texas ant LouiSiamll of a very impor- tant character; aud the ln trunk is destin-
 ed to connect the Atantseaboard with the
 Pacific coast.
 The second is generailroad map of the
 United States, very cGt delineatior, and
 shows at a glance the intance of the road
 and the certain destiny oe Cairo and Fulton
 road being the connect link in the great
 chain of railroad, unitings western wat,rs of
 the Atlantic with those che eastern Pacific.
 There are .fUe great trunkointing to our road
 from the Atlantic, conneC us with five inn
 portant sea- board cities, ston, New York,
 Philadelphia Baltimore, Charleston. The
 most of them complete thhole route to our
 northwestern border Frohis main trunk in our State we have the Mems and Little Rock
 road, the Midland road, tLittle Rock and
 Napoleon road, the MiSsiss Ouachita, and
 Red river road, and we mi; say with equal
 propriety, the Jacksoap0td Memphis rail-
 road" @ all outlets to thdississippi river,
 and feeders to the main trunAerefrom Thus
 making four important poinln the Mississip-
 pi, Memphis, Helena, Napon, and Gains
 Landing, all in Arkansas. St of the Arkan-
 sas line the Galveston and 1 river railroad
 becomes an outlet and tribut: to this main
 trunk Pacific railroad for viregion of coun-
 try in eastern Texas and link our road with
 the Gulf. The New Oreaand Opelousas railroad connects the Galvestand Red river tributary with New Orleans. he Van Buren. Little Rock and Fort Smith nch is another important tributary, draininge whole of vast region, lying in the vallef the Arkansas river, above Little Rock. Tlmost of it is rich productive section; chsel of transit for travel, merchandise, and theoducts of the country verymuch needed ind, as that river is now unnayigabIe for the grest part of the year; in brief the importance all these rail- roads is now felt and apprecia in all parts of the State. It is time we wenwake to this subject, for 1t is to our interest great and prosperous State to enlist our 9rgies and our material aid ill this enterprise Every man should come forward to the vk. It is not necessary for you to be capita to aid in this colossal work; the laborer, theechanic, the planter, and the professional n, and indeed all can assist in carrying forwara work that will not only enrich us in our and genera ton, but will prove the richest :acy that we can leave our children. The lehl of the pro. iected routes within the bordepf this State is 944 miles, The main trunk 3O1 miles, Branch from Little Rock to Fe Smith 155, branch from Little Rock to Memis 128 miles. Each of these roads have gral of lands of 3,84O acres to the linear mile of Id, which at the nominal of S5 % per acre, as soon as the work is begun, these lands Il be worth S1O % per acre, which will molthan build the road at the average cost oi2O,OOO per mile. The length of the three ale mention ed roads is 6S1 miles, at the ale cost per mile, would need some S11, $500 to com. plete them ready for operation. The dona- ton which these roads have, amots to 2,242,- 56O acres, which at the nominal S5 % per acre, will nearly construct the ro;-amount- ing to the sum of S11,212,8 aving only S458, POO to be taken in stock-n quite half a million of dollars But these Ids are tied up fast, cannot be disposed of for entv years to come, unless the next Legslaturepeals the enactment of last session, which sincerely trust 1t will do, so that the compaican accept the donation of lands for this purE. Every one must see the need of early a. energetic action on this subject. Other comics have other routes to the Pacific in contemation: the north wrought up to fever heat by seonal pre- judice, are watching with careful eyhis route to our western border. They wa more northern route; rather than have tt succeed they would prefer to run line of raiad north of our northern boundary ill British, merica! They are already jealous of the soutfor the many advantages this route to he Pic pos- 5eSses over all other proposed routes, tn with regard to distance and expense of coructinq a road. The distance is 184 miles sher than any other route, and the expenses pel;le for is Sl4, ,541 less than any1er es- innate whatever; which is a saving atnce of S47 ,l24,91O, an item to be looked to ibuild- ng road through any section of cotrv.-- The greater portion of the State feels direct and personal interest in this great enteiise. as t passes through thirteen counties, and-ouqh .he business vicinity of each county sea Ly- ng immediately contiguous we find enty- three counties, having the interest of tn road at heart as much as those counties t1uoh which it passes, making in all, thirty-si,,nn- .ies, having an aggregate of 28, $50 squar,iles pr 8,460,OOO acres of land with popular of l5l, l62, producing lO3,0 ,022 bales of colt and 5, l24, ,571 bushels of grain, valued at Sl6l- 536, and taxable property of S38, 4437-I value of products and taxable property,53.- jO5, ,563; the amount of land in cultivan is 522, 669 acres. These statistics must sly at