Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1857-04-01
NAsEvTrLE ANp MENpHIs.

We htCANAA 80 tNNHN- u |
Eagle and Enquirer of yesterday. What say
our Nashville co,emporaries of this Road?
Let Memphis hear from the capitol;
HUNDREDS OF LIVES n MILLIONS OF PROP
ERTY LOST.
The past month, and particularly the past
week or two, have been more than usually pro-
life in disasters to river navigation. Nearly
every day do we hear of some fine steamer
being lost, often with lives, always with vaIu-
able cargoes; and our readers have doubtless
noticed the fact, that four out Of every five OF
these accidents Occur above Memphis, and gen
orally on the Ohio river.
That stream is annually becoming less and
less reliable for navigation, which was sus-
pended by ice al least two months during the
past winter and the winter before, and which
is generally suspended, every year, from Au-
gust to January. Sand-bars, snags, ice, and
collisions in narrow channels, are so common
above Memphis, and particularly above Cairo,
as 10 cause all travellers to feel that locomotion
by steam is becoming seriously dangerous.
Wrecks are encountered almost every twenty
five miles ; and a passenger, when stepping on
a boat, as often anticipates a sand-bar, or a
snag, or a collision, or a fog, as a safe arrival
at his journeys end. But a day or two since,
one Of our citizens, Col. Topp, who was re-
t turning from the North, took boat at Louis
Vile. AS a matter of course, he got aground !;
bat being anxious to reach home, he chartered
a skif, got on board with his wife and daugh-
ter, and started with the current, preferring to
|, risk being picked up by some lucky boat, to
/, remaining on a sand-bar a week OF two.
Twenty-four hours since, many Of our citi-
zens were rendered extremely anxious as to the
fate of friends on the Nashville packet Cline
, which Inmor said had blown up.
We ask, is there no remedy for all this ?
Will men thus continue, from year to year, to
2 trust themselves, their families, and their mil
lions of property to a channel Of communica-
, ton yearly becoming less reliable and more
dangerous?
Is there no way to avoid this danger to life
and property? There is; and the whole coun-
E try interested in the social and commercial in
tercourse that now exists, and will constantly
increase between Memphis and the Ohio val
ley and the lake cities, will endorse what we
t say.
4 Can any man tell us the number of people
who would have passed over the Memphis and
Ohio Railroad, from the Ohio valley to New
Orleans and back, had that Road been compile
e ted two years ago? Can he tell US how many
T thousands were detained by ice for months, and
by low water for a longer time? Can he tel
the number who were deferred from travel BY
n the known BeTils of low water and ice? Car
be estimate the amount of produce thus KEEP
from market for long weeks? and still, again
can he tell us the extra thousands that all thi:
faoN ANEAbA Ia ~ pay III AAAo aNN0AAte1 ~ ~
: and fuel alone?
1t is computed by an able Cincinnati cotem,
porary, that, from April, 1855, to March, 1856
the value Of property destroyed on the Ohi'
Il river alone would build a railroad from Mem
g phis to Louisville. This may seem startling
q but to one who has noticed the records Of dis
ssters to steamers, fat-boats, ksel-boats, &c.
i it is not so.
d The larger portion of the commerc between
the Ohio Valley and New Orleans, would pas
. over the Memphis and Ohio Railroad. 1t woult
- be transported from Louisville to Memphis, an,
u thence take water to New Orleans. or it woult
be shipped by steamer from New Orleans, AM
take the road at Memphis. Our merchant
would thus do the receiving and forwarding o
an immensely valuable business that now pGsss
By them; such a as would soon be
g come more valuable than any other, becaus
so very large. The arrivals at our hotels, toe
would be by thousands instead Of hundreds
< weekly for every train that would CONT dow
from Louisville, and every packet that woul
II come up from New Orleans, would have thei
hundreds on board, who would take a meal, an
spend an hour, a day or a week at Memphis.
The truth is, we regard this Memphis an
lie Ohio Railroad as a sort of pet Of ours.
Is We did some of the first work years age
/ when the press had TO throw itself into the fight
: It is now a sine qua non with our citizens, be
cause they all see its vast Importance to Mem
lie phis, and its magnitude grows upon us, as W
contemplate it's influence upon our prosperity
We see it stated, by reliable authority, tia
foaT-ffths Of all the railroad trGUel IN the UniOf
IN Is on the various roads leading out West, frol
is the Atlantic seabosrd towards the Ohio VALLEY
l. the upper Mississippi and the lakes; and it
certainly of great moment to US to make sue
g connection in the shortest possible time.
Our Nashville friends, too, are deeply inter
L ested in the early completion Of this Road
a - g - -.
a public opinion relative to it. The day of al
= tagonism between Nashville and Memphis
ed gone by, but not that of a generous rivalry
at Each will control its own destiny, and the dee
tiny Of both promises to be a bright one. Th
q beautiful capitol of our chivalric State mus
he soon be The centre of a large inland trade an
the day of her prosperity has but just dawned
If our own CITY, we will say but little bu
" thus much we will say of both, that Il is thsi
ls mutual interest to be connected by as direct az
in sksr. a line Of railroad, and tn as short a tim
e, as possible. We think every citizen of eac
, place will say /" Amen to this. Let US nov
see what line that is.
v With the exception of a few miles, The Mem
phis and Ohio Railroad Company have thei
ir entire line under construction from Brownsvill
to Paris, in Henry county. That Road crosse
II the Nashville and North Western Road nes
d the corner Of Carroll, Weakley and Henry
exactly one hundred and twelve miles froI
Memphis. From that point to Huntingdon
about thirteen miles, by the Nashville and Mort
: Western Road; and it is thus one hundred an
to twenty-five miles from Memphis to Hunting
.. don, by the Memphis and Ohio and the Nash
l vile and North Western Roads. We nam
Huntingdon, because this latter road passe
Sc through that place from Nashville to Hickman
of and because it is the point from which anoths
route to Memphis is often spoken Of. Thi
other is from Nashville to Huntingdon, an
9, thence to Jackson, Bolivar, Grand Junction
&C. ria the Mississippi Central and Tennessee
Railroad.
to The distance from Huntingdon to Memphi
I'd by this route is as follows: Memphis to Gran
Junction ~ffty-two miles; Grand Junction t
OF Jackson fOrty-eight miles Jackson to Hun
Id tingdon thirty-five miles; total, one hundre
10 and thirtY-fve miles. This is ten miles longe
IN than by the Memphis and Ohio Road. But tn
to distance by the latter Road may be shortsne
ID still more. Ii is ninety-seven miles to Mem
Is phis to where the Memphis and Ohio Roa
he strikes the western boundary line Of Carol
county.
IT From that point it is four miles to McLs
Is morseyille; and it is nine miles from McLe
lie moIesvilIe to Huntingdon; thus making it bu
le one hundred and ten miles from Memphis t
al Huntingdon by this route. 1t is twenty-fv
ly miles NEARER than any other line to Huntingdon
Jn and saves an hours time, and large expense il
passage and freight between this point an
Nashville.
a. If Carroll county will take this matter il
hand at once, and before rival routes and inter
ests spring up, she may make her county sea
y an important place. Let her people determin
% to give more aid to the North Western Road
" and the Memphis and Ohio Road, and let Their
10 also determine to build a Branch Road fror
\ Huntingdon, through McLemoresville, to a di
rect connection with the Memphis and Obi
Road, about four miles west Of that village
Let them do this, and when they see the bene
8 fits and conveniences that will flow from thes
works, they will never regret having aide
them.
7 The county can do it, and We mistake th,
! spirit of the age and Of her people, if they q
not do it. This done, Nashville and Memphi
y will no longer visit By the river; but the %citizenl
$ of each pllce will breakfast at home, dine a
e Huntingdon, and sup at the other end of tn,