Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1871-06-16


The undersigned are here i'm puIsu-
arce of the action embodied in the
foregoing resolution. which sufficient
~ explains the character and object 0!
our mission.
After giving drta..el history Of q c
three roads from Norfolk to Bristc'
the commissioners proceed TO a hist
~ OF the Kentucky & Cumberland
Gap road and says
Bv 1850 the surveys between Bristol
and Cumberland Cad had been com
! ulcted and the contracts let, and the
/ work of construction was commenced,
and was under vigorous pr, secution
1 in April, 1861, when the war put "A
/ stop TO al enterprise: Of the sort in
( Virginia.
/ But neither during nor since the
war has Virginia lor moment relin-
pushed her purpose to complete her
/ part OF line OF road from Norfolk,
! via Cumberland Gap, to Louisville,
I from which she has expected so much
/ advantage to her cities and her COM
/ mcrcial interests.
The IT s,rate condition of all her in
/ ddstriai and financial interests, putl.c
and private. resulting from the war,
has, however, disabled her, until now,
I from resuming the construction OF the
wcsternmOst section of this railroad
! line. Appropriations from the state
/ treasury were not to be thought Of
/ Private subscriptions from the local
communities were equally impractical
bic. In snort, for several years she
could do nothing.
But, finally, the plan was conceived
/ by Gen. VIM. Malone, President Of
/ the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad
/ Company, of consolidating ali the diff
/ ferent companies Of the whole line
/ into enc company; of obtaining a re-
! iinGuiSimcnt from tho State of her
public stock in, and a release of the
! mortgages for loans which she held
| upon, these several roads, and of en-
/ ploying the power and credit created
! bv this consolidation and these releas-
es for the completion OF the road.
1t has required time 20 carry into
execution this conception but after
/ tull discussion, and some earnest con-
/ trOycrSy, it has been accepted by the
! State. All four of the companies
which have been mentioned have been
/ consolidated into one under the name
/ of the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio
/ Railroad company. and Gen. VIM.
| Malone has been elected as its Presi-
dent for five years. The State has
transferred all the shares which she
held i'm the local companies to the
stockholders in the general one, and
she has released whatever mortgage
debts she held against any company
for the benefit of the consolidation.
We have gone into the recital of de
/ tails with the douGlo purpose of show
/ ing the Importance which Virginia has
/ always attIcAed to 4 connection from
/ Norfolk through Kentucky to Louis
[ vile, and OF accounting for her delay
in lis consummatiOn. She first con-
tributed more than six millions of dol
. lars from the State treasury towards
the construction of the line; and at
later period, while devastated and inn
poverished by war, and when every
other resource failed, she released this
interest TO a general company, in order
to confer upon il credit and power to
carry into long delayed execution the
original and still foudly cherished de-
sign.
BY this wise and liberal action of
our Commonwealth, the Atlantic, Mis-
sissippi & Ohio Railroad Company is
now in condition to prosecute the VIZ
ginia part of their line to completion.
But on a recent occasion, of some i'm
pOrtance to our company, and when
inquiry was addressed from New York
to your authorities here whether and
when your company would meet the
Virginia road at Cumberland Gap, we
are informed that an equivocal and
GiscOuraging answer was returned.
Ii must he obvious to every one that
a failure of your company to extend
its present road now within fifty-four
miles of Cumberland Cap to that
point would render futile all the outlay
which ours might make in bringing
its line from Bristol. And feeling the
necessity of arriving at a mutual I'M
Outstanding with you on a question so
important, the Atlantic, Mississippi
d Ohio Railroad Company have
thought it proper and respectful 10 lie
pUte our commission to wait upOn you
here, and to ascertain your sentiments
on the subject Of an early extension of
OF our respective roads 10 Cumberland
Gap.
Ne foFbeaF 10 enlarge upon the val
ne Of the great line of railway i'm qucs-
ton to Kentucky and Louisville-to
Virginia and her principal cities
They are as well known to your citi
zens, and to the intelligent Directors
of the Louisville and Nashville Rail
road Company, as they can be to our
selves. As to the Virginia portion Of
it, we offer line reaching down to the
very wharves of Norfolk, which are
touched by the greatest ships that
navigate the open sea. We offer Il
line which will belong exclusively to
Virginia and Kentucky; and which, !
beginning at Norfolk, on the bast har-
hor of the Atlantic Seaboard, VIII ter
inmate at Louisville, the commercial
metropolis OF Kentucky, destined, we
trust to he the principal focus of South |
crn and Southwestern trade, as well as
a leading distributing center for the
trade commanded by a system of rail
roads, and navigation stretching far
westward to The Rocky Mountains and |
the Pacific.
We have ROW, in pursuance of our |
respectfully to ask.
lst. Whether the Louisville and I
Nashville Railroad Company still in I
tends to complete its line to Cumber- |
land Gap; and
I'd. L. it entertains such an inten- |
ton, when it proposes to reach that |
roint with its road?
THos. X. BoCoCK,
10. ". HUGHES,
w. w. CIV ATHMEY,
WIN. WATTS,
Commissioners.
In delivering the foregoing commu-
l ann instructed by the Com
mission TO request an carly reply.
r. j.. WALKER,
Secretary of Commits ion.
The following communication was
received last night by the commissions
ers in reply.
Al meeting of the Board Of Direc-
tors of the Louisville and Nashville