The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-05-04
The Blue Ridge nailrosd.

vItation OF the Charleston Board of
Trade, addressed that body on the
subject Of the Blue Ridge Railroad.
As this is one of the most imperatant
enterprises in which our people have
engaged, we append Mr. TrenhoIm's
remarks as reported by the Charles
ton Courier:
MIR. PRESIDENT AND -GENTLEnES ::
l desire to avail myself of the present
occasion to call your attention to the
importance of a project which, before
the commencement of the late war.
had, i'll great degree, engaged the
attention of the people of this State.
and In which large amount of capi
tai has been invested that is now
lying idle and unproductive.
In January, 1851, the State of
North Carolina, at the instance Of a
few spirited, enlightened and enter
prlslng citizens of that State, granted
charter for a company to construct
a railroad from the point where the
line of the State Of Tennessee crossed
the Tennessee River to the point
where the Georgia line crossed the
same river, near the village of Frank
lin. III North Carolina, a distance of
about seventy-threc miles. The I'M
portance of that grant was PERHAPS
not thoroughly understood, except
by the few who had been actively
engaged i'll obtaining it, 1t was a
departure from the cherished policy
of North Carolina, which had been
consistently and firmly opposed to
every project for the construction of
railroad across the State in d &C.
ton to bring trade and traffic beyond
its borders in the direction of the
seaport Of South Carolina 1t had
been opposed to carrying the traffic
and trade of that State either to South
Caroline or Virginia. They had not
only been opposed to granting priv
leges to accomplish these objects, but
they threw every obstacle in the wav
of existing railroads being made to
conduce to those ends by requiring
that the North Carolina railroads
should have a suagc different from
both those OF Virginia and South
Carolina, and by refusing, as the gen
tlemen here all know, for long time
to permit connection to be made be-
tween Charlotte and Danville, which
is part of that policy. This road
began at no plac" and terminated at
no place. 1t brought nothing from
anywhere. 1t carried nothing in the
direction Of any important place.
But those who projected the enter
terpnse saw clearly that the people
of Cincinnati and the great CONNER
cial and manufacturing interests of
the Intervening country of Tennessee
and Kentucky. would, in the progress
OF time, inevitably seek an outlet to
our own Atlantic coast; and looking
at that outlet with an eve of intelli- !
gence, forecast and Judgment, for
which they We're entitled to great
credit. they foresaw what had been
conceived and counted upon. 1t was
that as the Mississippi River made a !
detection towards the sea at New I
Madrid bend and the borders of the 4
State OF Tennessee, making large I
lndenture towards the Atlantic coast. /
and the Atlantic coast, on the other /
hand: DETECTING from Cape Hatteras.
taking from thence n Southwestern !
direction. with Il straight line drawn
from the Mississippi River, made the !
shortest railroad route that could be (
made from the Mississippi River to
any point on the Atlantic coast In
other words, that railroad com
mcnclnS ut Cincinnati, and from
thence passing through Nashville, !
knoxville, or any interior points. /
seeking an outlet on the Atlantic .
coast would be shorter by several :
hundred miles to Charleston than to !
Boston, Philadelphia or Norfolk.
This railroad in North Carolina,
which l have spoken Of, was intended
to form the link in that direction.
and the construction of it is inevita-
bic. 1t is Il question merely of time
1t was interrupted, before the war,
by circumstances over which the few
who were interested in the project
could exercise no control 1t was
postponed indefinitely by the war.
But we have now reached period of
progress when the great political,
social and commercial and industrial
changes which are about to take place
absolutely demand and enforce the
of this road
South Carolina granted q charter
for this road in 1861. Those who had
been actively engaged in obtaining
the charter found that the session of
the Legislature had passed away. and