Pointe Coupee Democrat. [volume] (False River [i.e. New Roads], Parish of Pointe Coupee [La.]) 1858-1862, 1858-09-18

garded with every assurance of success
The route has been thoroughly explored
and marked out by an experienced En-
gineer, who reports most favorably upon
it as being entirely free from such oh.
%structions as generally make up a1arge
item of expense in the construction Of
Railroads, and through the indefatigable
exertions Of R. l. Barrow, the agent of
the Company, in the shortest imaginable
time, has within a fraction of one hum
drcd and thirty thousand dollars already
subscribed towards the extension.
The building of the first section of
this road from Baton Rouge to Bayou
Crosse Tcte has clearly demonstrated a
fact, a fact Of much Importance in this
particular branch Of internal improve
ment, which is simply that slave labor is
in every respect the most economical,
effective and sure, in the ~alluvial and
swamp lands, for building railroads. So
satisfactory has this first attempt proved,
the Company propose to increase the
present force by the purchase Of fifty
additional hands to place upon the line
when the arrangements are completed
for beginning the work.
1t might, perhaps, be presuming too
far, too speculate or hazard opinions up
on the profits OF. benefits which are to
eventuate from this undertaking; but
the changes it will effect when it shall
have been completed to Alexandria, and
the rich reward which Pointe Coupee
shall reap, when those great bodies of
splendid land, through which it passes,
shall be brought into cultivation, to say
nothing Of the possible continuation
thence through other portions of this
State and Texas on to the Pacific itself,
are too apparent to need elucidation.-
Nor is there anything in the mention Of
this, as a route to the Pacific, impossible
or improbable; for while many of the
papers Of the country are filled with
elimination and recrimination from the
officers and stockholders of the Southern
Pacific r. r. Co., and its affairs seem to
be in intricable confusion, this road,
slowly, but surely, nevertheless, with
its advantages in point of laborcrs, may
yet distance all competition and pour
the rich treasures, which that Company
once safely concluded as within their
grasp, by way Of Crosse Tete and Baton
Rouge, into the great receptacle at New
Orleans, before economists have deter
mined the next stroke Of policy adequate
to save the thousands already paid in to
that road, from total loss, and the Com
pany from forfeiture of its privileges i
Z But to return by way of our ideal road
from these imaginary s~plendors of what
might be, to the banks of the limpid
Crosse Tete, we must not omit to men,
ton to your readers other unerring EVIL
dences of prosperity and progression
which marks a distinctive feature in our
population. Messrs. GumDle, & Co.,
enterprising merchants of Portageville,
have now in course of construction and
rapidly approaching completion, a large
and commodious building designed for
the manufacture of cotton seed oil. The
native richness of this soil is such as not
to require fertilizing with cotton seed to
enhance it's yield, and this factory will
of course open a convenient market for
an article heretofore Improbable and
useless in a great degree to the planter,
while it will beyond all question be a
rich source of revenue to its intelligent
and active proprietors.. These gentle
estimate the cost of this underta-
king, 1.-THE first of the kind, we believe,
outside of New Orleans in this State,)
at about ten thousand dollars when com
pleted; and the ardor and interest which
they have manifested, certainly deserves
the best wishes Of the community to
give the effort a fair trial and convince
the skeptical that all things are possible
to enlightened mind, though the slavery
of habit and custom see nought but des-
and ruin in whatever deviates in