Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-02-20

Report Of the secretary of the Iron
Mountafm and Helena Railroad.

j. c. MacCabe, Esq, Secretary ofthe Iron
Mountain and Helena railroad, addressed
to Governor Clayton, of Arkansas. 1t
contains valuable Information relative to
the characteristics and resources Of our
sister State, and is well worth perus-
ing. Its wide circulation through the
North and West will do large amount
of good, and give capitalists an idea
what rich mines of wealth may be de-
velopsd in this region. The report
appears 10 the neatest style Of the
typographical art, and reflects credit on
the compositors and pressmen of the
book and job department of the PUBLIC
LEDGER, where the work was printed.
Mr.. MacCabe asserts that among the
several railroads projected 10 Arkansas
none more deservedly claims the atten-
ton of the State authorities than the
Iron Mountain and Helena railroad.
Traversing the heart of Eastern Arkan-
sas from the northeastern boundary of
the State in a due south direction to
Helena, one hundred and forty miles,
passing through or near the county seats
Of six large counties, and Immediately
affecting the business of at least seven
other contiguous couaties, it will sub.
serve the interests of the people of
Green, Laurence, Randolph, Craighead,
Poinsett, jackson, Woodruff, Cross, Crit
tendep, St. Francis, Phillips, Munroe,
and Mississippi counties. 1t will secure
at the northern boundary of that State
Immediate rail communication with St.
Louis, and at the southern connect it
with the head of low water navigation on
the Mississippi river at Helena; and by
the extension of the road few miles,
with the system of railroads in the State
Of Mississippi nop, in daily communica-
| ton with New Orleans. Being an extern
sion of the Iron Mountain and ST. Louis
railroad, it will be the middle link be-
tween the latter city and New Orleans,
thus drawing to Arkansas the great bulk
| of the trade carried on between the grain
and meat producing States of the North
west, of which st. Louis is the center,
and the cotton, rice, and sugar produc-
ing States on the Gulf of Mexico, whose
business center is New Orleans. Already
a large element of the emigration from
Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Missis-
sippi, moving to Arkansas or going
through it to Texas, take Helena en- route
as the best crossing on the Mississippi
river and the safest and most direct point
| to the Southwest. With the Iren Noun
tain and Helena railroad in operation,
this emigration would naturally tend to-
ward the rich and fertile valley of the
beautiful White river or the splendid
cotton and corn lands found in the valley
Of the alluvial Arkansas. With St. Louis
at the North and New Orleans at the
South, both centers of foreign immiga-
ton, this railroad would present facile
outlet for their superabundant popula-
ton, inducing the thousands of able
bodied laborers vainly seeking for en-
ployment in these overstocked cities to
come to Arkansas and find in the cult
walton of its millions of untitled acres,
in the working of its mines, the naviga-
ton Of its rivers, the telling of its for
ests, in its workshops, factories and
foundries, an honest livelihood and
manly independence, while at the same
time they increased the revenue and
promoted the prosperity of the State.
Iatersecting the Memphis and Little
Rock railroad at or near Forrest City,
in St. Francis county, thirty-fve miles
north of Helena, and the Cairo and
Fulton railroad in Green county, not far
from the Missouri line, the emigrant
from New Orleans could take at Helena
the Iron Mountain and Helena railroad
and 20 to Little Rock or Fort Smith
via the Memphis and Little Rock
railroad, or to Fulton, on its western
frontier, via the Cairo and Fulton juno
ton; while the emigrant from st. Louis
might reach these places, or seek his
fortune farther south, through the same
system of railroads. In point of public
benefit to the State, of national impor-
lance, and Of cheapness Of construction,
the Iron Mountain and Helena railroad
recommends itself most strongly to the
fostering and encouraging hand of the
State authorities. Its main assets, con-
sisting of lands situated along the line OF
the road, highly fertile and eligbly stu
ated for residence and cultivation, need
only the supervening influence offriendly
legislation to give them available vitality
Any appropriation of any part of the
public domain to this enterprise would
be wise expenditure of the State re-
sources, to be returned ere long in the
permanent prosperity of the people, and
the consequent enlargement of the reve-
nue. of the State The building of this
road will be desideratum to Eastern
Arkansas, and must most happily
effect every interest-political, social,
agricultural, manufacturing and min
ersl-of all Arkansas. 1t will build up
the credit of the State, by enabling the
citizen to meet the demands of the tax