Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1872-10-22
CLEARING THE CONTINEN'C!
Progress Ct EEI'ntingiOH's great
work--1he c. q q. Il. II,
Forty Seven Miles west of the
White Sulphur.

Mr.. Little, of the Fredericksburg
NctcS, who is spending the autumn in
the mountains, writes long letter 20
his paper about q ride over the portion
Of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad
west of the White Sulphur Springs
We make the following extracts:
AT the suggestion Of General Wick
nam, whom | met on the ears on Sep
teInher 10Th, and 10y special invitation
of Major Randolph and Colonel Whit
comb. head engineers of this western
section Of the road, / accompanied
them Monday to the place where track
LAYING IS progressing at the rate Of Il
mile 10 a mile 4 half 4 day. Indeed,
we travelled on the train over three
fourths OF mile of track iGid h0t
morning.
Before giving you the incidents Of
the trip let me say something about
the road itself. Certainty General
Wickham and his officers are prosecu-
ting this work with a vim and energy
worthy ofail praise. 1t makes a mans
blood circulate to see how the work j.
pushed" Real life and fOrked light
ming carnestness characterize every
thing. 1t made me wish / WAS chi,f
engineer or superintendent. l don't
think | could do better myself. There
are but some forty miles to comple'e
the line from this side, ana with good
weather that ought to lie accomplish, d
by Move her LIST, at the ! resent rate +
working. The only gap from the 9TH
eT end H. now but eighteen miles,
which is pushing ahead rapidly. The
two will meet December or Christmas
and then the most important and va
uAblc railroad on the continent viii be
completed.
" Running right through he middle
of the central sections of the Union H.
well rs of the State, (that section t.e-
tween Norfolk and Baltimore OH the
east, and Memphis and st. Louis on
the west, il will command he trade of
Ohio and Kentucky, and through Cm-
cinnati and Louisville and their con
ncctiOus, all the Northwest! Through
Memphis (which will be connected
with this road by other railroads, and
her railroad through Arkansas and
Texas, California will pour her vast
trade through this central avenue of
a v Orld-wide commerce. On this sui
ject in aginaiion can scarcely begin to
grasp conception of the wonders and
the work this road is destined to ac
complish.
Think of five thousand hanfs be
ing employed on the road at an aver
age expense of $50 each per day. a d
that will give some idea OF the WAY
things is working From the White
Sulphur the rails are all steel, and the
track is admirable and excellent. Even
on fiat without springs, the jar
was almost imperceptible. In a pas
sengcT coach orc will scarcely feel the
motion.
The highest grade between Rich
mond and the White Sulphur ia seven
" feet to the mile. The White Sui
phur is $3.50 feet above mean tide at
Richmond. The highest grade on the
Baltimore and Ohio road is ll6 feet to
the mile-forty-siX feet more than the
highest on the Chesapeake and Ohio
Railroad. The average grade of the
Baltimore and Ohio road is at least
three lines what il is on this road, and
the curvature is very much greater.
But remember that the highest grade
from White Sulphur to Greenbrier riv-
er (seven miles, is only thirty feet to
the mile, and from Greenhrier river
the highest grade is only twenty feet
to the mile. This fact also demou-
strates the superiority of this road over
all roads north Of it.
We crossed the first one of the
three iron bridges over GreenbrIer.
sixty-three feet high. The view is
beautiful. From this point the rail
way track hugs the river for thiriy-five
miles, and the scenery, ever shifting
like Kaleidoscope, is a continual feast |
for the eyes. Sometimes the steep |
perpendicular cliffs continue for miles !
reminding you of the palisades on the |
Hudson.
THE next object Of special interest
is the Great Bend Tunnel, one and a |
quarter miles long, the longest COM |
pleted tunnel in the United States
| Travelled through one. years ago, in |
the south of France, between Marscil- |
les and Lyons, which was three miles |
long-but this is plenty iomg enough. |
Charles Johnson, ESD, of Richmond, |
is the constructor and he seems to have |
done his work well. The tunnel is |
straight, and you can always see day |
light in the distance. if you are under
ground. | prefer 10 lie on top, ana |
tunnels are no favOrites of mine
Moving slowly into this gaping cave |
Ol I'LL hDGSS, one SCNS TIE Sflislli pr 1
fastened 10 the caps Of the daTkies at |
work, fitting about like uneasy dem !
ons, the glare of the engines fire, |
while il snorts forth it's volumes OF
smoke and sparks, and the shrill |
shrieks of It's steam whistle reverbe- |
rate through the biackness, aud make |
the sulphurous smell more vivid-all !
combine to suggest tie lower regions. |
Hinton has six houses, four of !,
which are bar-rO0mS. The other two |
belong to the Cheasapeake and Ohio |
Railroad Company. 1t is forty-three |
miles west Of the White SULPHUR
Here the Greenbrier uuites with the |
New river, which is wider,-sOme !
1000 to 1000 feet in fact-and the seen !
cry becomes, if possible, more beauti- |
ful. The mountains are more distinct /
and individual. The river is shallow,
aud the water moves along az if whis- |
pering to the rocks and rippling into |
orcsts of foam. like gentle waves, laugh !
ing as they kiss the shore. We went |
down to the end of the track, where |
hundreds of hands are working with |
a will.
This will be popular trip among
tourists, and trade will compe! double !
track in less than ten Year,. Those /
germs of towns will become cities if !
they are property located.