The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1857-01-26
For the Journal.

tea. 1t is subject of paramount impor-
lance to our city:
For the Journal.
dR. EDITOR: Notwithstanding some few /
mistakes which had crept into my communi- !
cation to you of the 10Th inst, and notwith-
standing the apathy which, for sometime past,
has been prevalent in our midst, especially on
railroad matters, | find it came to pass that
some little talk was created by my commun- /
cation and your notice thereof What has
been is nothing to what will be, shall be; the |
matter as far as lies in me, shall not sumber.
The communication from Terre Haute to |
Attca, or some point on the Wabash Valley |
road, shall be put through, and that to "t0ute
suite" If delay ever was dangerous, never
was it more so than it would be in the pres
ent instance. To hesitate now would be folly; |
nay, ruin;-not only to our present road, but
also to our city; as it would give all other
roads now in conception, considerable chance
of taking the field before US, and consequently |
OF defeating our road.
Oar interest as citizens is to use the Evans !
Vile aud Charlottesville Railroad; and as
community it IS to support direct cOmmuni-
cation to Lake Erie at the nearest available
point; we therefore have to use our present
road for main trunk line. Does she not run
north and in direct line to Lake Erie?
Look at the present condition Of Evans !
vile, and contrast it with what she would be,
were we to have direct northern line, with
only one change for Travellers and for produce
and freight, no transhipment whatever. Do
you suppose that passengers, from New Or
leans for the East, would take a journey to
Portland, of some twenty hours; pass through
Portland to Louisville, where there is fire.
quently long delay; then twenty hours further
to C1ncinnati for the pleasure Of riding some
ton, bC,t tbo of in ot,li
Cleveland railroad, when by taking the cars at
Evansville in the morning they could get to
Toledo the same evening? Though this may. !
to some, seem fast travelling, yet it would
only be after the usual rate 1t would give
us majority of the passengers, to moral
certainty, that pass Evansville, usually travel
ing East. But new routes have been opened
of late from Cairo, via the Illinois Central
Railroad, with the Ohio and Mississippi road
connecting at Vincennes, and the TeTre uaute
and Alton railroad at Terre Haute Coming
over either Of the routes, passengers would
take our line either from VincenneS or Terre
Haute direct to Toledo, rather than follow the
usual cid tortutous route which has been
hitherto travelled.
And if the Ohio and Mississippi road was
completed, would passengers tor the Atlantic
cities travel by it to Cincinnati and Cleveland
when as soon as they touch our road they
could reach Lake Erie in half the time.
The shortest and cheapest lines always
draw off the freight and passengers; so l con-
tend that the road advocate, being the short
est and cheapest, will ultimately be the
chief direct Northern line for Northern and
Southern travel
Independently of the through business,
very large amount would accrue from local
travel both North and South, on that portion
Of the road between Terre Haute and Attica,
as also from points beyond Attica none Of
which now comes over our line From Terre
Haute to Attica, the road would run through
the richest and most populous part Of the
State. Having disposed Of the passenger
travel, l will now attempt to deal with the
freight
The statistics of the past year have proved
TO us that the increase Of freight transporta
ton on railroad more than keeps pace with
this ideas of che most sangune calculations;
the major portion of the freight which at pres
ent IS carried over our road, is either direct
East or West freight. The freight after leav-
ing Buffalo for the West has to be shipped and
tTanshipped until the packages are SO damag
aged as to destroy or injure the goods. At
every tranShipment there is delay, and the
time it takes to get from Buffalo to Evansville
IS 50 long that nearly all our merchants have to
so to Indianapolis or elsewhere to hunt up
their freight and are months instead Of days
in receiving their goods.
Itwould take only three days to land freight
in Evansville from the time it was delivered
at Toledo, and this would be done as certain
and with as much regularity as lift only pass
ed over single line Of road
At the present time we are not doing one
fifth Of the amount of either local or through
freight business that we should do, were we
possessed of direct communication. The
local freight between Evansville and Terre
Haute it is presumed is at present about the
same as it will be with its natural increase.
But what can be said of the district north of
Terre Haute and between that point and the
Lakes, on what route would they depend on
for their supplies if we had through road?-
Would not that whole rich region Of country
come to US for their groceries and heavy trade?
Would not all their shipments Of produce
South come through our city?
1t has been objected that we should build
up rival to the canal. The canal is an un-
reliable medium of transportation; and even
if it were in order, there would be employ
ment enough for both, and the nature of the
trade that would seek the two different modes
of transportation are so different, that there
would be scarcely any rivalry between them,
as we have Seen on the New York canal and
the railroad that runs beside it. But the ca
nal has betrayed and disappointed us, and no
one places any reliance on it for the future
We must act as though it was not in exist
ence. The only way we can now reach the
Upper Wabash Valley, North of Terre Haute,
is By way of indianapolis and Lafayette, which
IS certainly ''going the farthest way around''
to get at our friends. The despatch and reg
ularity of railroad is the only way now to
command business. 1t would be great deal
more sensible to take hold of this road in ear
nest than to be harping upon intriguing for
the apnoi1tment of Canal Commission.