Cairo evening times. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1865-1866, 1865-09-20
From Yesterdays Edition.
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE
CHAMBER OF COM
MERGE.
Address to the Foreign Capitalists
now in this Country.
Advantages to be considered in connec-
ton with the building of a Railroad
from Cairo to Vincennes.
DR.. McDOWell's Speech.

DR.. McDOWell's Speech.
To-day at 1 o'clock, a large number re-
paired to the Chamber of Commerce, there to
hear the report of the Committee appointed TO
draft a circular letter, addressed to the Railroad
capitalists now in this country, in behalf of
the enterprise which would connect Vincennes
with Cairo by rail- Hon. ". II. Green, Chair
man of the Committee, made the following re-
port
To THE Hon. SIR MORTON PEro, and other En-
glish Gentlemen Interested in the Atlantic
and Great Western RaitaOay:
The Chamber of Commerce of the city OF
Cairo, on the 18th of September, appointed
committee, composed of the undersigned with
instructions to present to you certain consider.
atoms, which might induce you to proceed
without delay to the construction of broad
gauge railway from Vincennes to Cairo.
In pursuance of such Instructions, we re-
specially ask your attention to brief and con-
densed statement of some of the benefits to the
Atlantic and Great Western Railway Company,
which may confidently be expected sto follow
the construction Of the line of road above in
dicated The Committee address you without
hesitancy or fear of intrusion, because they be.
lieve your visit to the United States has been
made, in large degree, with view of OBJ
serving, and acquiring information about the
material wealth of the country ; and especially
to note all facts that may tend TO the advance
ment of your great railroad enterprise.
The proposed Road from Vincennes to Cairo
should be considered, first, as an auxiliary, a
feeder to the Atlantic and Great Western Rail-
way secondly, as lateral, or Southern, ex-
tension of that, Road.
The distance from Vincennes to Cairo, on an
airline, is l60 miles. The route of the project
ed road, between these points, passes through
the richest part of Southern Illinois. In all the
country along its line Indian corn and tobacco
are extensively grown; and several ofthese coun-
ties produce the fnest-Mheat raised in the
West. This road will run through localities,
which at present are further from River and
Railroad than any other in the State of Illinois;
the farmers having no means of reaching a
market except by hauling the abundant pro-
ducts of the rich soil in wagons drawn by
oxen or horses, along rough dirt roads over
distances varying from % to 40 miles, 1t
needs nothing more than a statement of the
isolation of this region show that ag riculture
langushes, although the land is rich the
alluvial soil of the valley of the Nile and
the counties are as thickly populated as
any in the South part of the State. The steam
car alone is now necessary to deyelope this re-
gion We believe it may be stated with con-
lidence that the construction of this Road would
increase the produc:iveness of the country
along its line at least twenty fold, and this now
neglected part of the Ohio Valley would be
enabled to pay its just tribute to the commerce
of the world, enriching alike the producer and
the carrier.
This Road would run over and near some of
the richest coal measures in the State, and
would pass near the vast deposit of iron and
lead in Hardin county, and the salt wells of
Galatin and Saline. Near the line of the Road
also are several mineral Springs of local celeb
rity for the possession of remarkable curative
qualities 1t passes through the best grain
growing and fruit raising section of the State
much better than that lying between Gen.
tralia and Cairo on tie Illinois Central
We forbear to elaborate our views of the
many natural advantages of the region through
which this road would pass, lest we weary you:
we desire only to state enough to arouse your
attention to an earnest consideration of the
prospect of building the road. From our
knowledge of the country along the line of this
Road we believe the way freight and travel
alone would make it a paying investment.
But it is as a lateral on Southern extension
Of your great broad guage thoroughfare that
the Branch from Vincennes to Cairo acquires
its greatest significance.
Cairo, the Southern terminus of this Branch,
at the confluence of 5000 miles of river navi-
CATION, is city whose almost unprecedented
growth indicates somewhat the vastness of the
commerce that flows through it, passing from
the North to the South and South to North. In
the year 1850 the population of Cairo was 242;
in 1855, $40; in 1860, $500 in 1865, $4,000.
Its permanent prosperity and sure advancement
at an early day to commanding commercial pos
ition among the cities ofthe greatW eslern Valley
may now be regarded as settled. Within the
present century it will be the commercial cap
ital of the Great West. By means of the Mo-
bile and OHIO Railroad and It's connections,
Cairo is in direct communication with Charles
ton, Mobile and New Orleans; and by the
Cairo and Fulton Railroad (partly tnshedi it
will soon extend its connections into Southern
Missouri and the rich and teeming valleys of
Wachita and Red Rivers. Over 200, 900 pas
sengers, going North and South by rail annu-
ally, pass through Cairo, and the amount of
freight is vast in proportion to the travel. 1t
is the true head of navigation of the Mississippi
River. Every year that River between Cairo
and st. Louis is blocked up with ice for
from one to three MONTHS and during
from three to six months Of every
year, in CONSCIENCE of low water, transports
ton, except in very small boats is impossible
1t is then true that freight and passengers,
leaving New York for the South by rail. du.
ring the low water season or in midwnter, can
only find certain passage by way of Cairo.
Similar causes, and i'll somewhat greater
degree, interfere with the navigation of the
Ohio river, and during five months of every
year heavy freight from the East going