Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1868-09-11

paid III city script s1,04o,000; so that tho
State md city arc interested in the fortunes
of tho road to tho amount Of about $4,000
600. This estimate includes unpaid Interest
which has accrued upon tho bonds The
railroad company Likewise own 10000 acres
Of land, and have the promise, from citizens
living along the route, Of 100000 acres more
will, on its completion, become vo1y valuable.
Is it wise financial policy for tho State, by
Withholding the further aid required, to haz-
ard a sale of the assets of tho road by the trus.
tccs under tho first mortgage bonds, and per-
nit some rival enterprise to enjoy the benefit
80 nearly within our reach?
| Tho advantages Of the Bluo Ridge Road
over any other that has been projected arc
manifest
| 1st 1t is the shortest limo through tho
mountains from the scaboard to the Ohio
River. II must, therefore, always command
both trade and travel. The great West ex.
ports corn, wheat, flour, bacon, lard, tobacco,
whskcy, lime, salt, mules and cattle. Thcae
find an outlet through Now York and ]}alti-
more on the one side, aud Mobile and New
Orleans on the other. At the present time,
bacon may be found in Anderson which was
shipped from Cincinnati to Wheeling, thence
TO Baltimore, thence to Charleston, and thence
to the intcrior-a distance Of moro tkan !, :
500 miles. Wore the Blue Ridge Railroad
completed, ethc distance from Anderson to
Knoxville would be only 1875 miles, and from
Knoxville to Cincinnati less than 300 miles
making total of 495 miles, and saving in
travel and expense 1000 miles. To illus
trate this item of expense, corn which in Co.
lumbia boforo the war cost one dollar bush.
cl, could be bought just across the mouatains
in Tennessee for twenty cents.
I'd. During the winter months, Northorn
roads arc frequently obstructcd by snow, and
business is seriously Interrupted At no timc
is such q casualty likely to occur in tho softcr
vi"ntU pt1esu cuuJnerh States. Our ports
will always be an outlet through which tho
West can supply the markots Of tho world
and receive in return not only tho wealth of
distant peoples but tho rice and cotton of
our own fertile fields. Terminating as tha
road will, upon our coast at Charleston and
POI. Royal, it has a further material advan-
tagc over those lines which terminate upon
tho Gulf of Mexico Here the frcightcd ship
may proceed direct to the gca. There sho
must round the capcs Of Florida, an i cncoun-
ter the increased difficulties and dangers of
navigation, consuming time, and swelling the
I NOS nj fro,
3D.. The Blue Ridge Railroad passes thro'
a country rich in resources Of every kind
The soil is Of uncqualed fertility, and adapted
10 nearly all profitable species of agriculture.
Cold, silver, iron, coal and copper mines
abound, and only wait to be tapped by the
hand of industry to add their vast stores to
the wealth of the nation. Employment may
tbna be furnished to thousands of sturdy ls-
borers FROM every portion Of Christondom
emigration will be encouraged; hitherto un-
settled country will be opened to enterprise;
our watcr-courscs will be pcoplel manufac-
tories will rear their pleasant shapes; villages
will expand into towns, and towns into cities
business will thrive and its pursuits become
moro diversified; and, in short, tho whole
State will feel tho pulses Of new life throbbing
through this great artery of trade.
4. Tho Blue Ridge Railroad will be the
feeder Of every other railroad in South Caro-
lima, and large and remunerative local bus.
mess must supersede the present stagnation.
Charleston and Columbia, as commercial con.
tres Of the State, are not only to bo benefit
tod, but Port Royal, with its best harbor on
the Atlantic coast between Pensacola and the
Chesapeake, must become railroad centre,
from which imports will bo distributed to tho
North, West and South, harbor wherein
ships will likewise bo gathered from every
quarter Of the world, to roocive at that termi-
nus Of this great highway the freight which
tho West and South would exchange for tho
products Of the old world and tho East and
West Indies 1t is we'll known to common.
cal men that, during the winter season tho
price Of transportation to points North of Cape
Hatterae is nearly double that paid on ship.
monts to Southern ports
9Th. The building of tho Biuo Ridge Rail.
road is Of vast military and political impor-
tancc to tho Union, Aside from tho sympa.
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