Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-09-08

South Carolina, with the funds which can be
obtained in South Carolina from individual
and corporate subscriptions and State aid, as
sisted by the funds which, from the same sour
ccs, have been and may hereafter be obtained
IN the States of Georgia, North Carolina and
Tennessee, to construct the Blue Ridge Rail
road from Anderson to Knoxville.
did not suppose there was any intelligent
person in South Carolina who did not under
stand that this was the purpose and design of
that Company. The first and most act We
motive of the projectors of the B.ue Hidge
Railroad was to have an independent conncc
ton, by railroad, of South Carolina and Char
lesion, with the navigable waters and system
of railroads West of the Mountains, which
should be under the government aud control
of citizens of South Carolina and be so man
aged as to promote the prosperity of South
Carolina, and the commercial interests of
Charleston. Their experience of the cmbar-
rassmcnts and distractions to which the Yves
tern trade designed for Charleston, was sub
jccted on the Georgia Railroad convinced
them of the folly of attempting a competition
between Charleston and Savannah, for com
mcrcc to be obtained over the Georgia roads
In the selection of route for Western rail
road from South Carolina, they were led to
the adoption of that of the Blue Ridge Road
by a consideration of its superior advantages
over every other route.
In conformity with the designs of the first
projectors of the Blue Ridge Road, the char
ter for the road in North Carolina authorizes
the Company in that State to "untc with
any other road that may be constructed, and
any contract that may be entered into by the
President and Directors, with the consent of
the Stockholders, shall be binding on the
Company"
The Tennessee charter more explicitly en-
powers the Tennessee Company " to negotiate
with any other Railroad Company in North
Carolina or South Carolina, who may desire
to extend their road over any portion of the
route hereby designated, and to transfer to the
last-mcntioncd Company all the rights, pow
crs and privileges herein granted to them ;
and thcreupon the said Company shall have
the same powers, rights, privileges and immu-
mites as are herein conferred on the Company
hereby incorporated"
The charters in the other States were gran
ted before December, 1852, and the Lceisla
ture OF South Carolina must have been infor-
med of the clauses which have been cited, and
1T is plain that attention was directed to them,
for In the lth section of the charter, grant
w IN '|SOSbioCi, lccAJ W Unc due hlQPo
Railroad in South Carolina, it is provided that
@ it shall be lawful for that Company to com
bine with any other railroad having the privi-
lege to do so, and to consolidate the manage
mcnt of hcCompanies so combining and to
make any regulations for such combination of
interests or management, as to them may seem
meet"
In the report of the President and Directors
to the Stockholders, in 1856, they are inform
cd that "the Companies in North Carolina
and Tennessee had by deeds, covcnanted to
transfer to the South Carolina Company, when
the railroad is completed in those States, all
the corporate rights, powers and franchises
which were conferred by their respective
charters; that the principal part of the Stock
in the Georgia Company being held in South
Carolina, secures the control of the road in
that State; and thus when the connection be-
tween Anderson and Knoxville is completed
by the construction of the road in those States,
the South Carolina Company will possess the
management and control of the entire line
These statements are in needless detail for
the purposes of reply to your letter but
take the occasion, which your attack on the
Company affords (and so far thank YOU for
having made it), to notify the people of the
State, so far as can be done by this reply, of
the origin, purpose and designs of the Compa-
ny, while the elections are pending for the
next Legislature, which must decide the fate
of this great enterprise.
EDWARD Frost.