Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-04-17
THE ROUTE re BIRMINGHAm.
The COaT-FteIds the wealth Of the Gulf
statesIThe C0untEy's Progress
The Greatest scheme for Cor
tnth ard Memphis.
R1ENzr. M1ss.. April h. IL.

RIENzI, MISS, April ls, lsz2
EDITORS APPE.GL-The subject Of rail-
roads should enlist the attention of the
people Of your city at this time, as You
are endeavoring to become a great COM
mercial and manufacturing metropolis,
and you are dependent upon the people
of the States east and west of you for Che
essential requisites to accomplish that
purpose. You are therefore directly in
terested in the construction of the Ely
ton, Corinth and Tennessee River rail-
road, the termini of which are Birming-
ham, Alabama, and Pittsburg Landing,
on the Tennessee river, below all OBJ
struetions to navigation in the river.
This route has already been surveyed
and found practicable and a distance of
one hundred and sixty miles, forming a
connecting link between the Atlantic
ocean and the Pacific ocean, your city,
and also with the northwestern waters,
thereby connecting St. Louis, Louisville,
Cincinnati and Memphis with the iron
and eoal-fields of Central Alabama.
This great enterprise must not be per-
mitted to slumber, nor should we open
our eyes with smasmedic start at the
magnitude Of the undertaking, and close
them again with fancied certainty that
the fates are going to bring us the i'm
provement, while similar ones have cost
other = sections .untiring efforts and
vast outlay of money and labor to secure
them; but we must, by consent and
combination of labor and capital, put
our shoulders ID the wheel, and press
forward in this great and important
undertaking, until this great object shall
l., Il I
aid and influence in this behalf.
The construction and completion of this
road fully develops the hidden resources
of the mountain regions Of Alabama
1t passes through the heart of the finest
coal and iron fields in the world, also
abounding in marble, slate and stone of
all kinds. 1t passes mountains whose
base is marble and whose crown Is iron,
whose towering nights pierce the storm
clouds and rear their lofty heads to
heaven. In many places along this road
we find coal cropping out at the surface
and the stratus Is from ten to fifteen feet
in thickness and of the finest quality.
This coal can be dug and delivered on
the cars on this road, when completed, at
a cost not exceeding two dollars per ton,
and could be delivered in Memphis at
less than eight dollars per ton. This will
be, when completed, one Of the best
freight roads in the South when the re-
sources along the line shall become de-
veloped, which will necessarily make it
one of the best paying roads in the
United States. The produce of the West,
shipped from Memphis, st. Louis, Louis
Vile and Cincinnati, can reach Eastern
Alabama and Western Georgia by a
hundred miles less railroad carFyage than
by any other route, because this road will
be a continuation of the road from Sa-
vannah and Brunswick, Georgia, by the
way of Opelika and Birmingham, Ala
bama, to Memphis and Pittsburg Land
ing, Tennessee. By the construction OF
this road Memphis and COrinth will find
their demands for coal, Iron, stone, hum
Der and marble supplied at lower rates,
and of better quality, than they can OBJ
tain elsewhere in the United States.
The Alabama iron then can be delivered
at One-half of its present cost, and this
road will open up market for her mer-
chandise and produce, as cotton and
wooden factories will necessarily spring
up along the line of this road at the
different magnificent water-powers of
the mountains, as it were by magic, and
/
will grow up BY the side of the iron fur
naces and rolling mills which the build-
ing of this road will call into existence.
This road will cause Corinth to compete
with Atlanta, Georgia, in magnitude
and Importance, and the Bluff City, by
the aid of this road, viii be able, in q
fo-s 1.-sof 1ysosssis after tlIc cOnfpfet1on OF
this great and important enterprise, sue
eessfully comIete with Philadelphia and
Pittsburg in the great business of manu-
featuring which is now needed to make
Memphis great and populous city.
Philadelphia is almost alone sustained
by the extent and variety of her manu-
factories since she has been stripped of
her commere by New York, and her
manufactures alone find employment
for at least one hundred and fifty thou
sand operatives. @
The South gets about three hundred
millions of dollars year for her cotton,
and what becomes of the money!, 1t
goes North to pay for what we should
raise and manufacture at home. We
should use on. own iron, and our own
coal, and manufacture our own goods
and everything else that is needed
Now, suppose that the people Of the
South would pay One-tenth ofwhat they
make annually to improve the country,
in a few years YOU would = L0wels,
Manchesters, Birmingham and Pitts
burgh's all over the South, for there Is
more wealth in the iron and coal fields
of Alabama, than in Pennsylvania,
which viii be developed alone by the
construction of a railroad therein, and
| the Elyton, Corinth and Tennessee Riv-
er railroad through an area Of country
one hundred miles in width, where the
people have neither railroad facilities
OF river navigation by which they can
transport their produce to market, and
by a proper effort in behalf of your city,
she can obtain the control of the trade
to a great extent, Of the region Of eoun-
try through which cur road passes as
the tonnage from your city to the ATTAIN
tic ocean would not have to be trans
ferred until 1t reached its destination.
Hoping that your people may take an
interest in this road BY rendering it ma
terial aid, remain yours.
]. T. ARNOLD President.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the
bush. A very poor rich man, named
Lal Mitra, was recently admitted to the
Lambeth workhopse, in London. He is
an East Indian of immense estates in
/ India, but his extravagant career in Lon
don has deprived him Of even the baresl
means of livelihood Without friends
/ I'm England ha has har.Y,- far,,s,TsalIad n