Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-02-17
FROM MONROE COUNTY.
Knoxxil and Macon Railroad Coun-
try it Passes Through-Its Feasibility
Its Value.

=.
Knoxville and Macon Railroad The Coun-
try 1T Passes Through-Its Feasibility
Its Value.
MADIsoNvILLE, Feb. Is, 1871.
Editors Of the Chronisle.
/ find strong solicitude among the
thinking men of this old, staid and sober
county, Il mean among those like Calico,
who are still of the opinion that the world
moves, Notwithstanding the political
wire-pullers keep the brakes hard down.
in reference to the proposed railroad from
Macon to Knoxville via Ducktown. You
will see, by reference to the map, it will
be nearly an air line to Cincinnati via
Lexington or Danville, KY, and will be
vastly cheaper and much nearer than a
route which has been spoken of by Chat
tanooga. This line of road by Ducktown
will enable that valuable feeder, with its
vast mineral stores, to be better served
than it could be by road direct to Cleve-
land, inasmuch as it will be OH direct line
to the markets, and could be supplied with
coal of better quality and much cheaper
than from Chattanooga, and may enable
her to establish rolling mill at Knoxville,
as we'll as refineries. The route of the pro-
posed road through the natural passes of
the mountain, from DucktOwn in the di-
rection of Knoxville, some 20 miles only,
is through inexhaustible beds of superior
brown hematite ore, much of it of char
acter suitable for the manufacture of steel
by the Bessemer process /; and also large
deposits of manganese, roofing states, mar
BILE, fire-clay, &C., and would furnish an
outlet for the immense supply of
valuable timber OH the mountain slopes,
power for manufactures, furnished
from her mountain (never-failing)
streams, together with her rich vine
clad hills, where the grape, in full luxuri-
ances of growth, is spontaneous, and pre-
senting an inducement no where else to be
found so attractive to the German and
Swiss emigrant, where they can follow
their accustomed labors of cultivating the
vine and tending their focks upon the
rich mountain slopes. The lands along
this line can be had cheap-say, one dollar
per acre-and, owing to their geological
formation, are susceptible of high cultiva-
ton, aud differ from the lands in the GEN.
tiers of counties, which are held too high to
encourage immigration-altho from
one-fourth to one-third of the lands are
for sale, for the reason that, with the mode
of cultivation, the lands grow poor, de-
crease in products, and are not remunera-
tive.
The question of labor is one of much
from the outside world. The existence of
the daddy did" system, as well-as other
causes, produce no evidence of prosperity
and continued advancement for 10 these
MANY wears. 1t is well known that in or
der to draw immigration in this direction,
in competition with the influence of the
West, with her rich lands at 81 % per acre,
we must offer cheap lands, favorable eli
mate, good water, and facilities to market,
n - Ae,t l,o
large proportion of German and Swiss who
are seeking new homes are industrious,
frugal and persistent, but have small means
to purchase lands, and are not like Ten
nesseeans, a trading, swapping people.
But whatever their hands find to do, they
they do it with all their might, and thank
the Lord for small favors, and larger in
their due proportion.
learn from Macon that influential par
ties from there, Savannah and Brunswick,
are now in Cincinnati urging the connec-
ton with Knoxville, as being of more
value to them than any other. -ShOrtness
of distance, directness with two ports on
the coast, Savannah and Brunswick, with
the Gulf through Florida, and the finest
cotton section in the world, are the induce
ments-competition and cheap freights
being the consequences. This route will
necessarily absorb the Rabun Gap road,
sO-called, which has dragged so long with
its obstacles, being like the Indians gun:
trimmings cost more than the gun; and
passing through section of country in
North Carolina barren of product, and
through section of country in South
Carolina that has persisted with the using.
To Knoxville this road is of the greatest
possible Importance, and absorbs all pro-
jects for the future of her greatness. For
with the completion of line of road from
Cincinnati to Macon, with reasonable
effort In immigration and the encourage
ment of manufactures, she will be the en-
porium lying midway in the rich salubri-
GUS valley of East Tennessee, between the
grass and the cotton, and upon the great
highway between the Atlantic and Pacific
at San Diego. Let us have progress.
MONROE.