The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1873-08-13
THE RAILROAD CONVENTION TO
DAY.

UeleSaleS udFe peeH "PPot!'~
from al, the Western counties OF
the State, and many have arrived.
We welcome them to old Abbeville
with a cordial greeting and warm
hospitality, We suppose the con
vention will organize in the Court
House at II o'clock NJ, and we
wish great success to the under
taking.
We don't know precisely what
the convention will do, but we have
a general idea that the first obiec
will be to show that the proper To-
cation of the great Chicago, An
gusta and South Atlantic Railroad,
which has been projected to give
the immense products of the great
valley Of the Mississippi a direct
ontlet to the South Atlantic sea-
board, must be through The State Of
South Carolina at least as far as the
city of Augusta, which seems to
have been adopted as one OF the
points which the road must touch.
And second to make arrangements
for building the road from Ander-
son to Aiken and Augusta wheth-
er the North Western extension is
built or not.
The project Of scaling.thc noun
.tains aud making a direct Railroad
connection between the South At
lantic seaboard and the great and
growing North West, has been a
, cherished idea of South Carolina
. for more than a quarter of a CEN
tury. After the Charleston and
Augusta road was built, which by
the way was the first road Of that
length ID the United States, the
project was started of extending the
connection over the mountains In
a North. Westerly direction. The
Louisville, Cincinnati and Charles
ton Railroad was originated and
pressed by leading men in South
Carolina-indeed the good and
great Robert Y. Hayne lost his
life by exposure and over work
whilst laboring as President of the
company in the cause of that
work. The times were not
ripe for so great an achieve
ment, and the only relict of
that enterprise remaining to us, is
the road from Branchville to Co.
lumbia, which was built as the first
section of the Louisville, Cincin-
natl and Charleston Railroad. AT
forwards the project was renewed
in the effort to build the Blue
Ridge. Railroad, upon which the
City of Charleston and the State
have spent millions. Up to this
time it has been South Carolina
and the Atlantic seaboard, which,
impressed with its great advanta-
ges, have been struggling to ac-
complish this great work; but now
most fortunately for US, when we
are poor from the effects Of the
war, and unable to 60 on with the
work, the great North West has
taken up the subject, and seem
resolved to force the barrier which
has so long stood in our way; and
topour the treasures Of their mag
nihcenl country down upon the
sunny plains Of the South Allan
tic seaboard, enriching the cities of
Charleston, Port Royal, Savannah
and Augusta.
A Railroad through the noun
tains, some where midway between
the Georgia State road to the
: Southwark and the Chesapeake
and Ohio road, to the Northward,
nug be Jhb. The necessities of
, the WestreQuireit. The necessities
of the South Atlantic States require
stand thevery physical confirmation
Of the continent require it. The
chain OF Alleghaney mountains
commences in Pennsylvania and
ends in North Alabama. Il runs
from Northeast to South West,
nearly parallel with the Atlantic
coa&-. This. chain of mountains
forms curtain which covers and
cuts off from the West, the States
Of Maryland, Virginia, North Car
oEna, South Carolina and Georgia.
These States lie in the shape Of a
parallelogram or block between
the mountains and the Atlantic.
AS the West and North West set