The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-06-19
From Chicago to the South.

From Chicago to the South.
Railways multiply so fast, and new lines
having their termini at Chicago are opened
with such rapdity, that they cease to attract
general attention. Railways are completed,
rush into business, and are old lines almost
before we realize the fact that new and impor-
tant sections of the Western country thereby
become tributary to our city. A line just now
attracting attention, however, is an exception
to the rule, inasmuch as it contemplates new
departure, and proposes road that shall pene-
trate region hitherto well-nigh unknown to
us commercially. There is large section of
country lying in Tennessee, Georgia, North
and South Carolina, and Florida, from which
the great West is substantially cut off. We
have no connection save by devious, expensive
and roundabout ways to four of these States,
and the proposition is to provide for this want
by constructing great trunk line running from
Chicago to Augusta, Ca, and perhaps from
there to Savannah, or some point on the south
ern Atlantic coast.
1t is believed that the productions of the
West and the South can thus be interchanged
at one-half the cost for transportation that now
prevails. With the present facilities the east is
the point of exchange for the West and the
South. The West ships her corn to Eastern
cities and obtains the products of the South in
exchange The South sends her products to
the same point, and there buys her grain and
provisions, which must pass thousand miles
out of the natural course and be subjected to
the commissions and charges of middle men
before they reach the consumer.
1t is Oil miles from Chicago to New York
and 974 miles from New York to Savannah,
making total of 1885 miles. By the pro-
posed route South it is 919 miles from Chicago
to Savannah, but little more than the distance
to New York. 1t is evident, therefore, that
the carriage of such products as compose arti-
cles of exchange between the two sections of
the West and the South is entirely unnecessary
over one-half of the distance now traversed in
getting them to market The South requires
50,000,000 bushels of corn to-day. With the
present means of communication large guam
tity of this must be sent by zig-zag routes, by
which the expense of carrying will greatly add
to the cost. If the country was pierced BY dl-
rect lines of road, this enormous expense would
be avoided.
The Wesu -l South possesses q population
of over twenty millions, and the products OF
the two sections are so diverse that each de-
mands the commodities of the other. As our
manufactures increase in number and extent
their necessities will enlarge until the South
will find her most important cotton market in
the West, as we shall find our most profitable
grain market in the South. The completion
of a trunk line of railway between these Sec
tions will be the commencement of new era
of prosperity, and the harbinger of numberless
such enterprises that will ere long add wealth
to the country, and bind more closely the mate
rial ties that unite the North and the South TO-
gether.
The project immediate under consideration
deserves the most earnest support and encour.
agement from Chicago, and We doubt not will
receive it. Though new and Independent
line the whole distance would be desideratum,
it is not Immediately necessary. There are at
least two hundred and twenty-four miles of the
route-and perhaps more-already completed
and in operation that may be used. The pres
ent proposition is to extend the railway known
as the indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago Rail
way, so as to form one line reaching from Chi
cago to Augusta, Ga, and thence to Savannah
or Port Royal. The route as recommended is
as follows: From Chicago to Indianapolis;
thence to Lexington, Ky; thence to Knox
vile, Tenn. from Knoxville over the line OF
the Blue Ridge Railway to Clayton, Ga; and
thence to Augusta and the coast. This route
would shorten the distance between Chicago
and Augusta 25O miles. 1t is believed that
the immediate traffic over such line would be
immense, and that eventually the productions
of. Cuba and the South American States would
find their way into the country over this speedy
and comparatively inexpensive highway
Chicago Inter- Ocean.