The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-02-04
MIR. EDrron: noticed in Yesterdays

MR. rDlroR: 1 notlced In yesterday g
Phenir q short communication. signed
Columbia" written in the interest of O
bill, now before the Legislature, to furnish
aid in extending the. Spartanburg and
Union Railroad to Asheville. North Caro-
lima. The proposition made by the friends
of this road is certainly most reasonable
and generous, and should command the Sc
rious consideration OF the General Assem-
bly,. This company proposes to ''show
their faith by their works." inasmuch as
they do not ask the State to lend its credit
to their road until they make o substantial
demonstration Of good faith and earnestly,
by first securing inrividual subscriptions 20
the amount of 100000 rs a capital with
which to commence operations. The Spar
tanburg and Union Railroad Company do
not desire to bring the extension of their
road into competition with any other road
in the State, but only ask the General AS
sembly to consider it npon its orn merits.
Asheville, North Carolina, distant only
seventy-four miles from Spartanburg Court
House, the present terminus OF the Spartan
burg and Union Railroad, will most certainly
be reached by railroad communication from
the West, ola the French Broad Valley, in
two years, if not in less time, which will
bring the products of Tennessee, Kentucky
and Ohio to point almost at our doors.
From the certainty of the early completion
Of the entire chain of roads West of Ashe-
vile, the State of North Carolina, we are
assured, has recently appropriated fabulous
sums of money in order to reach that point
with her roads from the East, and will thus
perfect an unbroken chain of railroads from
her sea-board to the rich and fertile vallies
of the great West. Let not the Legislature
overlook the important fact that Charleston
Is, by many miles, nearer to Asheville than
is any harbor on the coast of North Caro-
lima, and that by giving the Spartanburg
and Union Railroad Company the aid they
ask, and enabling them to extend their road
to its natural terminus, the billions of pro-
duce, naturally seeking the nearest and
cheapest outlet, would be shipped ria Spar
tanburg, Columbia to Charleston
1t is now thought that the Wilmington
and rutherford Railroad, for the compile
ton of which the State of North Carolina
has subscribed $4,000,000, will pass the
Blue Ridge at Butt Mountain Gap-the
point at which the Spnrtanburg and Union
Railroad Company contemplate crossing
also. Should this be true, it migMbe agree
able on the part of the two companies, or
the States by which they are respectively
fostered and encouraged, to unite their
strength, and thus, at O much earlier day,
effect the desired connection. Assuming,
however, that the Spartanburg and Union
Company will receive no outside assistance,
it is but fair to presume that if the General
Assembly grants the assistance asked for in
the bill the work will be speedily accom-
plished. There is only distance of eleven
and one-fourth miles of the entire survey
from Spartanburg to Asheville, that can be
called mountainous, and the most compe-
tent engineers have estimated that the max
lmum grade on this division will not exceed
sixty-three feet per mile. The work on all
other parts of the road will be comparatively
light. running the entire distance through O
country that furnishes at hand, all the
wood, stone. &C., required to construct the
road. When we remember that this road
passes through country possessing bound
less. though as yet undeveloped, mineral
resources; that its completion will give US
unbroken communication with the "hog
and hominy" region of the word-the Eden
OF America; that it will give new impetus
to MI our industrial enterprises and pros
perity to all our people; that it will enrich
the State, and make Charleston indeed and
III truth, the queen city of the South; we
cannot doubt that the General Assembly
will grant the aid that this company ask in
the bill. Tiger.
The New Orleans Crescent tells a good
story Of rapid youth in Washington, who,
finding on New Years Day the hacks en-
gagged, or beyond his conscience, hired q