The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1866-08-02

hu"oTed ana SeteH miles over the line ytu
Danyille and Knoxville.
We have better opinion of the liber-
ahty and generosity of the Old Dominion.
even II 1t were necessary to appeal to her.
1t Is rather absurd to presume that com.
pany OF stockholders would be so foolish as
to undertake. to build railroad without
hrst having obtained an indisputable right
TO build; and yet the Cincinnati, Cumber-
land Gap and Charleston Railroad was be-
ing successfully and rapidly built when the
war broke out. The honorable gentleman
admits the prospect of more business for
the" "Spartanburg extension" than we had
supposed he was willing to acknowledge
Now, as to his other ad captandun, argu.
pent. Suppose the road completed from
Cincinnati or Morristown to Ashevlle, N.
o., and the State of North Carolina should
conclude to take that portion lying bet,oeen
ISheclte and tie State lme, near Paint
Itoch (and her reservation only applies TO
this portion) indcmniiying the corporators,
what does it amount to? Simply to a
change OF stockholders, and by iull com.
pensation. We would be surprised if
many of the stockholders the Blue Ridge
Road would not sell their stock upon terms
much more favorable to the purchaser.
But admitting that the State of North
Carolina should take this portion of the
road, 1T would be her interest to bring to
Ashevillc as much freight and as many
passengers as possible. Then would COM
mence the competition between the lines
running from this point to Norfolk, Va,
Beaufort and Wilmington, n. c., and
Charleston, S. G. So much the better for
the citizens of Ohio, Kentucky, and Ten
nessce.
The road running this line would reach
Charleston, through the centre of South
Carolina, in almost an air line, passing by
Columbia, where there is u water mower
superior to Lowell There would be no
diversion from this line, at least from Ashe.
VILE, n. C., south. But suppose the Blue
Ridge Road completed to Anderson. what
guarantee is there that the Savannah Val
ley Railroad, or the road to Port Royal.
Will not be built, thus diveiting the road
and business from the centre of the State.
and adding immensely to the cost of this
a,rGa,aT -cS! !.su>i..a lin,,' WI -
to Ashcvillc, the great products
of the West would seek the shortest route
to seaport, which is Charleston, S. G.,
where, i'll the language of Mr.. Memminger,
"there is no competition, the market is
clear, and the proximity Of the sea, and of
the West Indies particularly, furnishes an
open door to the produce which will come
here for sale or shipment" 1t would thus
pass through different parallels of latitude,
and bring products to be exchanged Tor
those of different kind.
The Legislature of South Carolina, in
1888, appointed the lamcnted Iiaync,
Abram Blanding, Governor Noble, and
others. commissioners "to cause examina-
tions, surveys, and estimates to be made for
u railroad between Charleston and Cincin
natl 3" They applied to the then Secretary
OF War and obtaned the services OF dis
tinguishcd corps of United States Topo-
Engineers The engineers re
ported to the convention which met at
Knoxville, Tennessee. July 1, 1886, com.
posed OF $50 dclee ates from nine different
States, to wit: Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana.
Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, North CIR.
olina, South Carolina and Georgia. The
committee to prepare business, say, in re-
lation to this report, that it is found to be
entitled to entire confidence, as well on ac.
count of the able manucr in which it has
been drawn up, as the skill aud accuracy
of the engineers who have assisted in max.
ing the surveys.
"From this report it will appear that
within the chartered limits of the compa.
ny there is no practicable pass through the
Allnghany Mountains, but the valley of
the French Broad River; and, most for
tunately for the undertaking, the general
direction Of this river within the noun
tain region comedies with straight line,
drawn from Charleston to the branching
point in Kentucky; and what recommends
it more strongly Tor adoption, is the fact
that Its head waters rise in level plain,
which begins at the summit of the Blue
Ridge and stretches to the northwest in an
open valley without any descent, percepti
BILE to the eye, for 30 miles, to short dis.
tance below Asheville, in North Carolina,
and for the next 60 miles, it has very
regular descent to the point where it issues
from the mountains; which descent IL the
whole distance averages only 13 feet to the
mile, and in only one mile is there de
scent of 40 feet. This committee have no
hesitation, therefore, in declaring that this
must be adopted as part Of the line of
our road, and that it is perfectly practi-