Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1870-06-02

| Crawford lUU ,S9I
&c Scioto I00,335 "
Seneca l00,l58
Belmont 1884
Wood 92,6l5 &
" Coshocton 9O.263. Z"
Darke $500
Now, it may be asked, how is this
that while Gallia county is one of the
first settled counties in the State
well located on the line of one of the
most prominent natural thorough
fares from the Atlantic seaboard to
the west and northwest, and south
west, in good agricultural district
that there is so much uncultivated
land in it, as compared with the 9th.
er counties named above, or the un-
named counties that have still less
The answer is simple and plain-all
the other counties have Railroads
running through them, while here, al
the county seat, during those times
of the year that the river is obstruct-
ed by ice or low water, we cannot
leave the place except by the slow
mode of private conveyance. From
the same cause people are deferred
from buying and settling in this
county, and there are seasons that for
full half the year the river is SO
near dried or froze up, that you can
not move by water, nor by rail
without going 25 miles to the near
est R. R. Station. Then if you wish
to go west, or north, or southwest,
you must first GO 80 miles north on
the Scioto & Hooking Valley R. R
to Hamden, then change to the Ma
rietta d Cincinnati R. R, and go
west to Loveland or Cincinnati, from
either of which points you can pro-
ceed as you wish.
Our citizens, in connection with
the citizens of Macarthur, of Vim
ton county, have formed a company
called the Gallipolis, Macarthur &
Columbus Rail Road Company
They have secured a charter and will
proceed at once to secure the right
of way and open books for subscrip-
tion, the object being to make the
road from here to Macarthur, in Vim
toe county; thence to Logan, in
Hooking county, to a connection
with the Columbus & Hooking Val
ley Rail Road, and there unite with
said company or by some arrange
ment run over their road to Colum-
bus
With this road built, and in con-
nection with the Chesapeake & o
R. r to Norfolk, Virginia, I have
not doubt but we would have one
of the best paying Railroads, for its
length, in the State of Ohio, and the
route is so favorable that it can be
made at moderate cost, and be a
first class road when finished, and
would no doubt work great revolu
ton in the whole business Of this
section, by bringing in population
and capital, and by inducing the
starting of machine shops, furnaces,
and different kinds of manufactures.
The location of Gallipolis, taking ev-
erything into the account, is one of
the most favorable points on the
Ohio river for a large manufacturing
population. The great Kanawha riv-
er entering the Ohio just above it,
and the Kanawha Valley being one
of the richest coal and salt regions
in America, and in Ohio the counties
of Jackson, Vinton, Meigs, Hooking,
Athens, Perry, back part of Gallia
and Lawrence counties, abounding in
iron ore, coal and salt, besides the
immense amounts of agricultural
products, of the counties named, and
of West Virginia, both above and be-
low on the Ohio river, and all of the
Kanawha Valley, the most of which,
with the contemplated road compile
ted, would find market in CALI
polls.
There are several daily steam
packets running between this D oint,
Kanawha Salines, Parkersburg, and
the Pomeroy region, and give US this
Rail Road connection, and in a very
short time we will have more than
double the number, for the fact of
the road being built would give such |
facilities for travelling that people
would be induced to visit different
parts of the country, that without
such facilities, seldom leave home,
and hundreds would visit and pass
through this section that now avoid
it, because they look upon US as be-
hind the age, in having no Rail Road
communication with any point
The Rail Road will bring to the dis
trict through which it passes popu-
lation; it will bring capital; it will
bring the products of the back coun-
ties to the river, it will create home
demand for the products of the soil;
it will give facilities for moving any
and all kinds of produce, at any and
all seasons of the year; it will create
between the rival lines;
t will, through that competition,
make freights less; it will give to
Southern Ohio, as well as the west
md northwest, and their seaboard
market at Norfolk, with another
through line of Rail Roads to reach
t, and to reach Washington City
without going around by Baltimore,
,r the more eastern cities to reach it,
md with a harbor never closed by
he frost king. 1t will induce large
hipments of produce of all kinds
rom the west and northwest, which
Fould add to the work of the road
lere, and fully believe that within
2 months, or less, from the com
'letion of the Chesapeake and Ohio {
DAD to connection with the roads Z
f Ohio leading to the northwest,
hat the work on the road will be so !
eavy that they will be compelled to ,
id second track to their road, and
haforo al. A..