The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-08-22

Memphis and Knoxville Railroad. There
was not theattendauce there should have
been. howeversthe Major 'shad- more than.
a jury" and was listened to throughout
with profound attention. Substantially
he said to those present:
What is your condition and what are
your prospects under the system that has
heretofore been pursued? Yen raise, l
am Informed, between fifteen and twenty
thousand bales of cotton per annum in
Hardeman county. This brings into the
co1nty $500, 600 per annum What be-
comes Of this large sum Does it leave
any permanent wealth in the county 2
Does the county realize any net increase ?
Look at your decayirg farm houses your
dilapidated fences your wasting farms :;
your land wearing a lonely and desolate
appearance. These are important truths,
but tn y had better be realized and ad-
mitted in order to remedy them. All the
proceeds Of your cotton so to other lands
to buy your food, your clothing, your
agricultural implements, your tableware,
your household furniture, your mules and
horses, your means Of transportation in
fact, every thing that you use in your
houses, on your farms and on your per.
sons. So long as this state of things
continues your county will never improve.
You make yourselves the willing 7assals,
the voluntary "hewers of wood and draw
ers of water" for people who live in other
sections. You buy your meat, your corn,
your wheat and your mules in Missouri,
Kentucky, Illinois and Oaio, when with
in twenty miles of you in Tennessee
there are cheaper mules, pork, corn,
wheat and beef cattle than can be found
at Sc. Louis, Louisville, Chicago, or Gin
cinnati. You get your iron from the
Northern States when you have more
better and cheaper iron IN Tennessee
than in any more northern State, and
this iron Is within seventy miles of Boli>
var With this Memphis aud Knoxville
Railroad completed to the ore banks of
Decatur, Wayne, Lewis and Lawrence, a
stream of wealth will be poured into
Bolivar that will build up factories, Goun-
drys, furnaces and rolling mills In and
around Bolivar that will make this one Of
the most furnishing and growing towns
in West Tennessee. No town or city
ever becomes truly prosperous that does
Dot engage largely in manufacturing, and
no place can engage proftably in this
business that does not have the means Of
getting cheap fuel, cheap ircn, and cheap
provisions, and all of these the Memphis
and Knoxville road, when extended eyen
to the Tennessee river, will bring to Boil
ivar. What do all a mans professions
of attachment to the South and to Ten
nessee amount to when he Will do moths
ing to bring into use the boundless hidden
wealth Of the State which only needs
railroads to bring 1t into active use and
to make it the source of Teuaassoe's
greatest power With this road secured
diately extended into Giles, Lincoln, and
to the Tennessee river it will be imme-
Maury, and thence over the mountains in.
to East Tennessee, through the matchless
coal fields of the Cumberland Range.
What citizens of Bolivar does not take
pride in this contemplation and does not
wish to contribute literally towards this
grand result?
Whenever this road is put under con
tract to the Tennessee river and begins
to pour the wealth of that region into
Bolivar, the city of Memphis can and
will extend 1t to Tennessee's great cons
mercial metropolis. At present, in that
city, many regard this road as myth,
and some Of yoar O1CB citizens, by dis
couraging the enterprise, strengthen this
notion. Whilst they speak and act IN,
favorably how can you expect Memphis
with her many, very many, projected
roads to look f4vorably upon this, which
is to be one Of her best wealth pUoiucin g
roads ? If you will be united and earn,
est Memphis will join with you. DivIs'
ions and encouragement now will d
you more harm than anything else. Boil
wars opportunity is now. Will you seiza
it or will yoa permit it to be lost forever
The shortest line from Nashville t.
New Orleans or Memphis is through Boil
war The shortest practicable line from
| Columbia, Fayetteville and Pulaski and
all points east OF them to Memphis il
through Bolivar. At present it is as quic,
a trip from Somerville t. Nashville, St
Louis and Louisville through Memphis
as by any other route With a road from
Somerville to Bolivar the time viii b,
lessened between SomerviIle and those
cities twelve hours and the distance many
miles. Why then is the road not pu
under contract Immediately between
Somer7iIIe and Bolivar thus giving t
Fayette county another outlet and
more direct one to the Northern State
ard cities.
The money that it would take to bull,
this road would be returned to the PEG
Gle iu few years, and then the road
with all It's advantages, would last for
ever.
Let all who want the road go to worl
in earnest. Let them prevail Oh al
others to help in this grand undertaking
and you viii soon have one Of the mos
thriving towns in West Tennessee and
system Of railroads that cannot be ez
ceiled anywhere.
There were men in Bolivar, he had n
doubt who had been even now muc
benefited by the building Of the Mem
phis and Knoxville road, by tie cuban
ced value OF their real estate and in til
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