Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-07-28
TENNESSEE AND PACIFIC RAIL,
ROAD ITS PROBABRE INFLU-
ENCE ON IMMIGRATION.

Whlch we tAlnk wall cOrrecL the efFOneOus
views of many of our readers, as to the
fertility of the Cumberland plateau across
the widest portion of which the proposed
railroad from Nashville to Knoxville will
be constructed li a.7h
"The plateau of the Cumberland noun
tain and country Immediately adjacent to
the same, on both sides, has remained
stationary since the first settlement of the
country, and has actually grown backwards
in population and development, which she
surrounding country and other parts Of
Tennessee, though the agency of railroads,
has kept up with the spirit of the age.
The Cumberland mountain offering as
great inducements to immigration as any
country in the West which has been 50
rapidly filled up Of late years, has remained
like wild unsettled island, unnoticed and
unerpIored-while the tide of population
has passed by, crOwding towards the plains
beyond the Mississippi. E.... ~
As the question OF settling up the vast
wilderness of the Cumberland plateau,
through The centre OF which this road runs,
by Immigration and introduction of capital
and intelligent and skilIful labor, is a
matter Of importance, append here a
statement made by Mr.. w. w. Powell,
formerly of Ohio, but now a resident Of
Cumberland county, Tennessee, as l can
voach for the truth of his description Of
the natural advantages of the plateau.
LETTER OF Mr.. W. W. POWELL.
The stranger who passes over the table
land merely as traveller, has no suspi-
cion of the enormous mineral wealth which
lies hidden in our soil, nor does he suspect
the real productive qualities of the soil
itself In passing from Sparta to Kingston
he is upon the highway which has been
used as the thoroughfare for stages before the
day of railroads. To pass over this high
way, and judge of the condition of the
country by what he thus sees, simply mis-
leads him who thus judges, for almost every
sod of the road is built upon a ridge for
thirty miles in extent. The poorest land,
and the poorest table, as a rule, are found
upon that route. Those who lived on this
route depended upon keeping houses of en-
tertainment for travellers they did not be-
come farmers, and did not improve and de-
velop the country neither did their neigh
bors, whose time was occupied in hunting
deer and drinking whisky, 4
Unattractive as this country appears
when seen seen from the stage
road, regard it as really one of the best
portions of the United States, and for the
following reasons:
THE sALUBRITY OF ITS CLIMATE.
My attention was first called to this fact
early in the year 1860 Icame here from
the State of Ohio in May of that year, suf-
fering from a complication of diseases, and
was apparently on the verge of the grave.
Ny friends believed that had come here
to die, but in a single season the climate
restored me to vigorous health. My ap-
pearance will convince any one that | am
not boasting of health (which donot possess.
There are few men, even young ones, who
possess so much physical vigor as / do, and
that too at the age of sixty-one years.
might not have mentioned my own case If
It had been an exception to the rule, but
mine is the experience of all who put
themselves under the recuperative infuen-
ences of the climate.
THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL.
The soil all over the table is sandy
loan, with yellow clay subsoil. The soil
is easily titled, and even under the misera-
BILE treatment to which it is usually sub
iecied Yields remuneratiye returns Tor. tbs
labor bestowed ON it.
With fair and skillful treatment, few
portions of our country will give greater
reward for the skill and capital expended,
r1,, rvf,- q Il
There is no place where the cultivated
grape will yield more bountifulIy, or which
will produce hay of better quality, than
on this table, and there is no farm crop ap.
propriate to a temperate climate which
cannot be made perfect success here.
What is wanted TO produce this desirable
result is simply good farming, and without
good farming no man deserves a crop.
FRUIT.
| do not think this table-land is equalleC
anywhere for quantity and quality of fruit,
of all kinds, and Nth railroad to let as on
to market, we could supply the whole Soutf
with apples of a delicious quality
from one end of the year to the other
and with the Tennessee and Pacific Rdit
road to help as, we can supply Nashville
with peaches, Strawberries, etc., raspberries
of a superior quality, and to any extent
wanted. There is no limit to our capacity
to produce In anticipation of the railroad
plans are already being formed for planting
orchards by the hundred acres. Severa
gentlemen of my acquaintance propose t.
do this; some will plant several hundred
acres.
We are learning our natural advantages
and intend to profit by them. Give u
the Tennessee and Pacific Railroad as 8
means of transportation, and l will pledg
you in few years apples to transport 70
us by the million bushels.
COAL AND TIMBER.
Nashville wants our coal and timber, ant
if this railroad is built she need not eros
the Ohio for her supply. We have boil
in ualmited quantities, and with the rail
road to facilitate its transportation, Nash
willie must in the very necessity of the cas-
become manufacturing city Of immens
importance. Our coal is bituminous, il
quality not exeelled, in quantity inexhaus
tible, generally found near the surface, OF
ten cropping out.
lfkON OhE.
OF rich and excellent iron ore we posses
a great abundance. have in my posses
sion specimen which / believe to be a
much az ninety per cent. iron, and the 10
cality from which it was taken appear
to be a mountain of iron. Upon ia
surface may be gathered hundreds OF tons
We can spare white and post oak tie
enough to supply half dozen railroad
from Nashville to Knoxville, and woul,
be glad TO exchange them for stock in tn,
road. The same of bridge and buildinl
materials, and some of our lands can b
appropriated the same way. The table
land contains an immense amount of ex
cellent and valuable timber, such as whit
and yellow pine, the various description
OF oak, black walnut, chestnut, poplar
hickory, maple, yellow locust, etc.
IMMIGRATION.
The tide has at last set in hitherward
and now the people viii continue to come
This county will give the railroad NOR
passengers and freight than any othe
county on the line between Nashville an'
Knoxville
From present indications, do not hesi
tate 10 believe that before the close of thi
year, our county will receive an accessio
| Of not less than one hundred families
every one Of whom will materially aid i
| the great work of developing this hitheTt