Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1872-11-07
spartanburg and Aiken Railroad.

Spartaiburg and Aiken Railroad
Now hattheexcitementa attendan
OF the election is passing; away, i
behooves our citizens to make th
lbesta Of The situation,- and instead o
! giving way to despondeney;, striY'
the harder for the. material advance
meut Of the country. : With ;th'
.onerous taxation which. land1helder
have to submit to, it .is their interes
to reduce the ;size. of their farms ant
devote to small area the labor which
| has heretofore been.bestowed on larg
er fields, but as there is no purchas'
ers for the surplus lands, the owners
have to hold them and pay the taxes
however difficult it may be to obtain
the money, .It:is universally admit
ted that lands contiguous. to a Rail
road are more to be desired and Will
command more ready sale when Of
fered than those at a distancevthe
estimate being thatsReal Estate is at
least. doubled in value on an average
for five miles on, each side Of. every
new road.
If this is the case it would be- prof
table fer landowners to. give any
corporation which;would build a>road
through their; lands, or in their. i'm.
mediate vicinity, one, half, .ot. their
lands rather than let.,theml lie idle
and pay. taxes year after year. 1t is
evident that unimproYed lands. in
South, Carolina are not increasing in
value-Aproperty will net command
the prices it would -before'the war or
even.thsee years.agoS and any shrewd
business man having lands which 4e
cannot use, will 'fnd' on, making q
calculation, that it: :is to his" interest
totdisposeo of ayportioa, and place the
money at interest rather, than let tit
lay idle, or worse than idle as the
taxes have to. be. paid. every, year
it,brings n;.an. .ineeme,or not>
{, The question then .arises;how to
dispose Of the lands.to:: THE best ad-
7antage2 Where are. the purchasers
TO- come from 2. We reply 'ihstaadtof
waiting, Micawber' like, for some
thing to turn up" let the proprietors
in their several sections, associate
themselves for the purpose Of deyel.
oping the natural resources. of.itheir
Immediate. vicinity, and corporate
with others in promoting their, muta-
atilterests. Take for. example, the
line Of country from Aiken to Edge.
FIELD C. H., ) and NinetyrSix., Gould
al Railroad be- constructed on.this, line
it woul a be of ihcalcuIable advan-
tage 10. the people: Could the, peo-
ple,be;; aroused, the road 'could- be
Built! = The only. difficulty. is: the
apathy of, the: people themselves
Each one warts for SOMEONE else to
moye. rThe citizens of .Edgefeld
county have been talking of building.
Railroads. and holding public meet,
ings for forty years. but never went
earnestly to work themselves; al
ways waiting for soried distant cit;~o
to1do the work. Latter
ly, However; the people of the west
tern section of the county have gone
to work in good earnest and are maxi
ing tangibles progfess7}and'*A
comes to tile rescue ,andoifers to build
the. bridge across the Savannah river
and FIVE miles Of Road, if the people
Of the county will extend the road to
Greenwood. 80
Now, if the citizens Of the eastern
section will take. hold in earnest help
will be forthcoming for them too. The
South Carolina, Railroads. deeply IN
beiresstsd in extending their connec-
lions through Egefeld county, and
will unquestionably help if the work
is inaugurated. :,
IS matter of course the location
Of the Road would depend to Ger
tain extent, on the amount. Of the
subscriptions made by the people
along the several proposed. routes.
In this view, we would urge, that
should be held, and Commit
tees should be appointed to visit eve
ry farmer along the line, and see what
each would do. Subscriptions of.la-
bor, material and. lands; should be
on the -lists as well as those
Of CASH. In.th;s way. an indication
could be had of the disposition OF the
people: Should there be- a willing:
ness on the part Of. the people to sub
scribe their spare lands, the Railroad ::
Company might raise some money in
the way to help build the Road by
mortgaging the lands, and in the
arrangements might be
made for colonizing them ..as is done
in the Western States. In this way
a thrifty white. population would
eventually possess the soil end help
to redeem the State =. -;
The arguments lin favor. of build;
inc this road is not confined to local
Influences alone. Eventually twill
be .one Of, the links in the,rnute:fro
the great West to the seabcard. st.
Louis, Louisville and Cincinnati soon
er or later mnst break through tile
barrier of the Blue. Ridge either at
the French Broad or Raburn Gaps.
Year by year. those powerful cities
are extending theit connections. By
enabling farmers to purchase western
corn and provisions at cheaper rate
than they now do, a larger margin of
profit will be left to the cotton plan
ter; and by bringing western. manu-
factures in competition with those Of
the, east, the prices Of many articles
needed here will be reduced. The
building of this Road would malerir
ally advance the prosperity Of Aiken.
As this would .be.the southern ter
it is more than likely the
workshops would be located at this
Al 1 l.