South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1871-06-30
EXTENSION OF THE MARTINS
BURG & POTOMAC RAILROAD.


10 previous letter addressed to Mr..
Faulkner, its President, through your val
liable columns, the question Of extension,
via BioomeTy GAP, to the heart Of our Coal
Fields, was submitted for examination aud
discussion. Since its publication, it seems
that capitalists are active for construction
Of the Washington & Ohio II r .(the new
tangled pseudouym Of our Alexandria, Lou
doun Hampshire r r. } intending diver
sion OF that Road from its original proicc-
ton to the Coal Field Whether an In
junction PHPeiuaie,i will not stan an enter
prise Of that sort, far conscious, dciiJerate
breach Of contract is not to be discussed
Jasf nor That time IS coming, ho,rcrer!
The argument for extension Of vour Road
TO the Coal Field, in prqesenti, is intanei-
bic, By e1traneous Considerations, ,,,an-
@eerGt'e, upon i's logical strength of Poll.
tico Economical considerations.
Martinsburg is developing her newest,
and probably best, relatons of proximity,
advantage and competition, by Williams
port, Hagcrstown and Harrisburg, to Phil.
adelphia and New York. At Williams
port, she finds the chesapeake K Ohio Ca
nal, at llagcrstown, the Western Maryland
Raiiroad, and che franklin K ilroal leads
her on through to Interchangeable COMMON
PohH u departure, tc PhllG lphia and y.
York. Nov strengthen her position. I'm.
ter the South Branch Valley Of Potomac, at
sixty niles, with extension 10 the Coal
Irade-so gra,ped after in twenty five
miles,) and tie route If DE S1uh Braach,
to ITS Head Springs, gives you The best pas
sage OF the Aiegbauies to the Greeubrier,
thence by Blue Stone and Clinch, on to
Memphis, the ? int Of departure Of the
Southern Pacific Rlilroad
Here is a route from Harrisburg, com
mandjng NV York AMI PHILADELPHIA, to
tho Southern PaciGc Il. r. intcrceptiug the
Pennsylvania Central, the Western Mary.
land, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Wash
iugton and Ohio, the Chesapeake aud Ohio,
the Norfolk aud Memphis Roads, al of
which are cut transvcrsely, in their common
course, westward Into tie Mississippi valley.
This will in time De the greatest railway
line upon the continent, AMI every link ia
the chain will ultimately prove Of the high
es; profit, for this road pursues momLy tie
"niVrdk course of streams, GU ohcrs cHHiHg
MrogJh mountains The GREAT WATER
SHED Of the Ailaghanics Is at the head Of
the South Branch Of the Potomac Every
stream from the head Of Greeubrier (within
few miles Of I'D enters the Gwfof .Ncrjco
This great Geographical fact is not known
to Tho country, but It Is u fIc, still.
Had IL been properly understood, the
Pennsylvania Central would not have tried
its route through Page Valley to reach
Memphis, with loss Of distance of several
hundred miles, and great Disadvantages il
rransceniing the AileghaGies.
Il is important, however, side Of this
discussion, to present material interests TO
extend your Road to The Georges Creek
Coal Fields, for reasons shortly stated in
my previous letter to Mr. Faulkner.
Tho nttemptto carry the old Alexandria,
Laudoun X Hampshire RIi!Toal, from is
original route which would have secured
AleXaudria as the port of shipment of our
coal At lJ7 miles Of distance, may yet prove
very disastrous to her.
The popular and often repeated theory,
that another Coal Field, Of semi bitumin-
ous coal, equal in quantity or approachabIe
in quality 30 ours, in the Al,ghauieS, is
found st thirty, forty or fifty miles south
Of Piedmont IS Wjlrly .JailacioUs. The
bard coal If northern climates ends in
Pennsylvania. The scmi-hfuminous does
not rc1ch the hcad Of me NorM BruHch NJ
PfOgiUc--u JHnHliH1py field lies south
ward, which on the Tombighee, in Alaba-
ma, becomes >i Jjtumen. Climate asccr-
,ains laws as iacrHo5i, as lho theories Of
men arc simply variable, hUctuating and,
.H u.aoy usiauces-0bsurd.
The great Importance Gf this subject 10