Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-08-25
For the Journal.
W., C. d R. Railroad.

benefited, but who know that your city
would reap advantages almost incredible
to stranger. by merely laying four miles
gins. as it has often begun before. to man
iiest itself moro fully than during the idle
months
But few of your citizens. I imagine. un-
derstand the Importance of this little
piece of unfinished road-augmented now
the Cheraw and Salisbury road. The
grading on that road ia nearly completed
to Jones's creek, five miles from the point
where write, and the engineer advertises
for cross-ties. In few weeks or months
the trains will run there, and the Stanly,
Montgomery, and upper Richmond plant
ers and traders reaching this place, and
hear the engines shrek equally distant
one on a road leading to their old market,
Charleston, and the other to o ne,o one
will at least hesitate, and weigh the advan-
tages, &C., &C. And if must say it, there
are, entre nous, certain facts. contingen-
cies. manners of doing business--certain
differences in important particulars in the
two markets, an impartial review and COM
parieOn of which will not always result
favOrably to Wilmington. But, with the
enterprise and integrity Of her business
men, who will not surely continue to allow
by a neglect of their duties this desirable
trade to leave our State, any defects
mentioned can and will be remedied.-
But to return. is it possible that this little
four miles of track cannot be laid Is it
possible that another season must pass
before this old highway of travel from the
Yadkin and Pee Dec valley to Cheraw, can
be tapped by our road Must friends of
Wilmington yet see tie valuable products
OF that large and fertile region hauled by
their doors to the O. & S. railroad, or to
Cheraw. while down in the lonely dells of
Island Greek, where but few men or wag-
ons ever ventnred, our engines dismally
wall as they move off towards Wilmington
dragging the empty cars.
Now no one Can surpass me in respect
for the officials of our Road. I admire
their skill and the energy shown by them
under adverse circumstances. I don't
pretend to know more about their business
than they do themselves, but one fact is
pretty we'll settled here, and that is that
ance and necessity of this little work.
They may say "those Lilesville folks seem
to think the salvation of the world depends
upon opening the road to their lonely,
rusty little vlllage-why more SO than it
did d few years ago in laying the track
from Moss Neck to Scuffietown, or Old
Hundred to 1O3
Well, that is rather plausible, and alb
stractly, and theoretically probably cor
rect !; but [ wish some of them would come
up and stay a few especially if
fho1r nd e.
themselves.
have been living here forty years, and
know something about this matter, even
though can't take three-legged thing
and tellexactly how many tea spoonsfuls of
dirt are to be removed to level hill, an d
know that more than half the produce
which has gone to Cheraw, along this road
in the past year, would have gone to Will
mington if the road had been finished to
this place. And know that the freights
{ tAerefrom, and the consequent increase of
travel and return freight would have gone
q long way towards paying for laying the
track fer leaving out Turpentine and
Rosin, land am not sure that even that
is ne cessary to sustain my assertion, J the re
would have been more business here-rail-
road business mean than at any point
on the road. And though the Cheraw road.
il it is finished to the point mentioned as
soon expected, and ours stand as it is,
will get nearly all the trade of this section,
land whenever in the far distant future.
Lilesville and Wadesboro' may be reached
by the Wilmington road, it will be found
difficult to regain the present golden op-
portunity and direct the trade from
it's channel.) Yot mow. with old
iron, borrowed iron. any sort OF iron,
even temporary track of exactly, I be-
lieve, 81 miles would secure all this for
Wilmington
Wake up, men Don't let our South
Carolina friends thus outstrip you and
forever ''snow you under" Don't let it
be said they with no money like your
selvt 81 built and equipped road 19 miles
tain section, while you couldn't simply lay
down the iron miles and go win the
race
Now, of course. Mr.. Editor, all this
anxiety is not entirely free from selfish
ness. We all expect to be benefited more
or less (''naore" so far as the writer is con-
cerned) but at the same time we feel
deep interest, apart from all local or per-
sonal considerations, in the early opening
of the road to an accessible and available
point, because we knoW the Road, Will
mington and the people generally would
realize results profitable and beneficial to
degree far greater than commensurate
nth the cost of this little piece of work.
And we are heartily tired of promises-of
the spssmodio and periodical revicals
which have became so common in connec-
ton with "our" Road.
Two years ago next month, my most
worthy and esteemed friend, who was then
General Superintendent. agreed to pro-
position made by a gentleman here: that
on the Christmas morning following this
gentleman was to make up into a monster
s'nog" three hundred eggs, after partaking
of which all of us were to get aboard the
train here and-provided anybody should
be sober enough to ''run the thing"-go
on an excursion to Wilmington. We
didn't 90. And so its been ever since
promise after promise made time after
time set. And yet the trains stop In
Sleepy Hollow. and yet the cotton. corD,
wheat, -four, fruit, sperits, trade and travel
90 to South Carolina
Should the egg-nog arrangement be car
ried into effect merit Christmas won't you,
Major, come up and join US
Lilesville, August 10th.
ID G Pofoyonno uon rnodo nhnvo IN