The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1856-01-16


merchants of New Orleans TO a full sense {
t the importance of rendering all the aid insthei
power to the enterprise
: "A GREAT ESTERPRIsE.-We are pleased I
$ be able to announce the presence IN our city {
: G. G.. Young, esq, the president, NJ. y. Cole
8 man, ESQ., the eK-president, and col. Vs.
4 Bonner the able chief engineer of the Vicks
!. burg, Shreveport and Texas railroad com
> pany. L is the design Of one or more thes
gentlemen to address a meeting OF our Cit
zens, to be held to night, upon the merits c
y the enterprise in which they are engaged, an
(. its claims to the liberal patronage Of the citi
!. zens Of New Orleans.
u The road in question is work, in whcl
our city is particularly interested and al
though we have alluded toit frequently,
: may not be amiss to partlcularize somewha
: on the present occasion. This road, eommenc
I ing at a point on the Mississippi river, oppo
site Vicksburg, is designed to penetrate, th'
distance of 100 miles,. "a country which is now
and will continue to be, tributary to New Or
leans. It embraces the northern part of Lou
isiana, the southern part Of Arkansas, and The
northern and eastern portion of Texas, compre
hendins the finest cotton lands in the world
With fine and salubrious climate, and an in
exhaustible soil peculiarly adapted to the cul
ture of the great southern staple, this most de.
slrable region of country is sparsely settled
and the larger portion of it uncultiyated, sim
ply on account gifts inaccessibility. The lands,
a large portion of which are bottom lands. the
most desirable of all others for producing fine
staple cottons, are now almost valueess for the
want of an outlet to market. Some imperfect
estimate may be formed of the capabilities of
this fertile region of country, the larger portion
of which lies falloW and waste, from the pro-
ductivcness of the small portion that has been
brought under cultivation. From the country
which finds an outlet at the mouth of Red Riv-
er, four hundred thousand bales of cotton find
their way to New Orleons under all the pre-
sent disadvantages Of protracted, expensive
and uncertain transit. Should an artificial
communication be opened with this country,
as an inevitable consequence increased ia
clltles of conveyance would intellectually in
crease the quantity of production. An influx
Of immigration would at once follow, lands
would be settled and brought into cultivation.
and region of country, which is susceptible of
producing. at less labor and expense, the finest
staple cottons (next to Sea Island) in the
world, would attract oft a swarm OF popula-
ton from the Atlantic States, whose worn out
lands yield scarcely remunerating profit LII
we take a more extended view, and eontem-
plate, what is sure to follow, the extension of
the road to Texas, the mind will be at fault in
estimating the vast extent and wealth of the
trade which will be grasped and poured into
the lap of New Orleans. This is. no fancy
sketch, for it is vertable picture ofreal life,
and there is no class of people better satisfied
of its truth and reality than the merchants of
New Orleans. rs al@EsE=&
The Red River counties, and all the country |
bordering its tributaries, within striking dis
lance fthe contemplated road, are the sources
of an immensely rich and increasing trade,
all of which is concentrated in New Orleans
This is a feature that commends itself specially
to the favorable consideration Of the people of
this city. That large and fertile region Of
country, lying west of the Mississippi and
south of the Arkansas is, in one sense, appro-
prlately and exclusively our own We may,
and do, have active competition for the trade
Of other sections and in those States east of
he Mississippi river from which we now de-
rive large business, we are experiencing an
1ually very sensible diminution, in conse- t
luence of a steady and progressive diversion r
~ means of railroads to the sea board but in r
his emphatically western trade we have no ri +
'alsh1p; 1t IS ours from necessity; the relative
position OF the country, the Intervention of the
Mississippi river, and the bulky nature of the S
taple productions necessarily compel the plan 0
ers to send their crops to this market, receiv- f
ng in return such interchangeable commodities
s they may require. d
We may IN another way obtain some inkling Il
fthe importance of this trade, from the serious
osses and lembarrassments experienced when k
yer, as for instance, for the last two seasons,
here has been, IN consequence Of the low stage b
the rivers, a suspension of communication. tt
TREND, IN whom we have every confidence, tt
Tho has just returned from visiting that por- Q
on otcountry, informs us that, at one point, n
acre were ten thousand bales of cotton waiting ii
II opportunity of shipment since the fall of1854, lie
nd, from exposure, IN a damaged condition. al
lccordlng to his estimate there were at least et
1000 bales IN the section of country that he
ad.vlslted OF the old crop yet lying over, wait W
II the means OF transportation. We also sc
now, from an inspection of the bills that of
lie cotton that did reach this market from the
ed River country some of it was at cost Of u, ~
ON seven to fifteen dollars per bale. From n
le very satisfactory reports of the president .e u,
nd chief-engineer of the road we obtain an M
lea of the serious embarrassments the people al
siding in the interior, who are dependant OF
pom this market for their necessares of life, ID
ave had to encounter. fss-s zzTs4. ss-tF he
During the last many months of the suspen- az az
on of navigation the planters residing in the "
ktreme northwestern parishes of the State, IN
i'd even in Texas, have been compelled tds ui
md teams to the Mississippi river to purchase o
e necessares of life. a large number Of OF
agons have been sent from Fannin and the I'd
1joining counties in Texas to Alexandria and m
lie mouth of Red River. distance of some te
ree hundred and fifty miles. Some idea Of :
lie difficulties under which the people in the te
terror and back country are now laboring to III
,ocure supplies may be formed from the prices az
hich western produce has borne during the III
resent season at Shreveport Pork has sold
thirty-six dollars per barrel bacon sides l..
Eenty-two cents per pound lard fifty cents =
n pound flour from twenty to thirty-two h
ollars perbarrel; salt fourteen dollars sack 8.
'rn two dollars and fifty cents per bushel. -
othing but money could purchase these ar ~
cleS and it has freauentlv hannened that tbev ~