Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1871-05-27

GE0 AN 1NlEh6SilNo LIZA w
take pleasure in publishing the follow
ing letter from highly respectable gen.
tleman ofW ashington City, who, having
spent many of the pleasant hours OF his
boyhood in Shepherdstown, has never
ceased to feel a deep interest in our
town and its people He has promised
to write again in reference to those I'M
portant matters pertaining to our ma
terial interests, and we hope to receive
frequent favors from his pen hereafter:
Washington, May IS, 1871.
Nv Dear Sir-It gives me great plea
sure to learn that your people are wa
king up to their true interests, and that
their determination to secure the adj
vantages of Railroad will very shortly
be accomplished. The election OF
competent Board of Directors betokens
earnestness in the future, gratifying to
all concerned.
To expect success, prosperity or I'M
provement without close connections
with the business world, is vain hope
indeed, and it would be crying shame
in this age of progress if your advanta-
ges were permitted to ito waste.
The very mention Of the name OF
Shepherdstown conjuresup in my bosom
the remembrance Of early attachments,
and kind wishes for the descendants OF
many whom | once knew, but, it is sad
to think they have nearly all passed on
to the spirit land. There may be few
left to remember me-a very few IN
deed, as it is now more than fifty years
since bid adieu to my native county,
leaving behind me kind wishes for all.
Here allow me TO say that, | do not
consider it altogether grateful for a
person at my time of life, (who has re-
ceived so much kindness from his Ma
kerr as ''to wish to spin his thread
Ger again" although | must confess it
would please me to live long enough to
see Shepherdstown gracefully throwing
off the modesty Of a quiet country town,
and instead, assuming the busting i'm
portance within its grasp.
Now my dear friend, what I want to
say is just this, and | pray You do not
think me either oflicious or impertinent.
Allow me to suggest if solid men Of
means come among you to purchase
property for manufacturing, or other
business pursuits, and offer fair price,
do not endanger your advantageous To-
cation by asking cxhorbitant prices
which would result, as in hundreds Of
cases, in driving such away to seek 9th
er homes, and carry the improvements
YOU require with them. | will venture
the assertion that more railroad routes
have been changed by farmers and land
holders demanding eXhorbitant sums for
the right Of way than by all other caus-
es put together My own experience is
that liberality to railroads in all such
cases is much the wisest, and by far the
most profitable in the end. Let me
state my case. Some twenty years ago
received letter from Mr.. Cameron
of your county, then locating agent of
the n. w. Virginia Railroad, from Graf
ton to Parkersburg. He stated Gas |
had a 100 acre tract that it depended
much upon my answer to his PROPOSE
ton whether the road went through my
land, or up the Hughes river route four
miles south of me thought / saw
sincerity in his reasoning, and wrote
him to learn if "no charge at all would
secure the location. His reply in less
than one month was, to my great de-
light, that the stakes were all perma-
nently set on my whole tract, and, fur
Their stated that my "liberality" as he
termed it, had its influence for many
miles either way need not say the
gift yielded larger profits to me than l
ever expected at the time.
When the Shenandoah Valley Rail
road is completed; the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal at your door the unparal-
leled water power; the immense beds
Of cement the iron ore the high and
healthy location the rich agricultural
surroundings direct railroad facilities
to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Wash
ington, will put new face upon every
thing about you, and cause you no long
er to be considered an out-of-the way
place, the name of which is never seen
on railroad map, but will soon make
Shepherdstown what nature intended 1t
TO be one of the most important manu-
featuring places in the Valley of Nir-
ginia W.
uo,,,,, Acc,DrSr LAW Brink