Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1873-06-19
Railroad from st. Louis
through Huntsville,
Ala, to the South
Atlantic. q


Valley Railroad Company, and
since that time have done all l
could to advance the interests of
the company. You now have an
able and efficient President and
Board of Directors a sufficient
of stock subscribed to
guarantee the completion of the
work, with that energy which, |
am satisfied, you will bestow and
with that liberality and public
spirit with which you will be sus.
tanned by the people Interested
You do not need my services any
farther, and therefore, | deem it
proper to resign the position
Permit me to say that no more
magnificent enterprise has been
undertaken than the one in which
you are engaged. and there can be
ho one which will confer greater
benefits upon the present as well
as coming generations, if it can
be carried into successful opera
ton. A railroad from St. Louis,
Missouri, through Cairo, Illinois,
and Huntsville, Ala, to the At
lantic coast is work of the first
and highest Importance. 1t will
furnish the most direct line from
the great city of the Northwest to
the South Atlantic seaboard. 1t
will run for many miles through
the extensive coal fields of Illinois,
then through the rich agricultural
regions of Western Kentucky aud
Northwestern Tennessee, and
then into the inexhaustible iron
ore districts on the Tennessee
River. After leaving them, it
will pass through the finest por-
ton of Middle Tennessee into the
beautiful and rich valley of the
Tennessee in Alabama. The val
ue of the farm products In 1870,
in the counties between Cairo,
Illinois, and Huntsville, Ala,
through which this road is to pass,
amounted to Sl4,383,654. The
coal and iron on the line of this
road, with the manufactures which
would be the natural result, would
furnish it with constant remuner.
alive employment. Those who
cannot appreciate the magnitude
of this enterprise, it seems to me,
have very narrow and contrac-
ted view Of the great future of
the country.
1t is, however, as the Inaugural
ton Of the new system of rail
roads in Tennessee that your road
has its commanding interest
Cheap transportation for agricul.
tural, mineral and manufacturing
products is the all absorbing ques-
ton of the day. We can never
have cheap transportation until
we have railroads built and opera,
ted upon cheaper and more eco.
nOmical plan than the system now
in use. We need and must have
railroads that can do as much bu-
siness as that now done, which
will cost not much more than half
what present railroads have cost,
and which can be operated at one
third less expense. This is the
only solution of the difficulty, and
the only means at all practicable
OF securing what is now so much
demanded, cheap transportation.
The multiplication Of costly rail
ways will not remedy, but rather
aggravate the evils of which the
country now complains. 1t is,
therefore, important that you
should not only build, but keep
your railways a narrow gauge
The small attempts at ridicule of
such roads, betoken weak and
shallow minds, which have never
investigated or are incapable of
compromising the subject.
The great engineers in Europe
as well as America, have pro-
nounced in favor of them and dali
ly experience is proving their val.
ne.
Feeling confident that you will
be sustained by an enlightened
and generous public in your efforts
to improve the country, resign
the position which you were pleased
to confer upon me, and which is
no longer necessary.
Very truly, yours, &C.,
May %, 1873. W. j. SYKES.