The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1874-10-08
COLUMBIA, S. c..
Thursday Morning. October 8, 1874.
&From the West to tho sesSoaTa.

The great newspaper OF the West,
the Louisville Courier. Journal, turns
ats favorable attention towards our
aFostrate State. It speaks words OF
ewAIM encouragement Of the movement
aRhiuh has been set on foot to revive
= the.pr9ject Of making Charleston one
, Df she great sc.poyts 70. the West, by
che completion Of q line of railway
projected nearly forty years ago.
First, it presents the point Of the
greater nearness Of Charleston over
New York to Chicago. Omaha, st.
NAonas, Indianapolis and Louisville, by
{ t<thc following tests:
''If map Of the United States be
CONSTRUCTED on o scale Of sixty miles to
the inch and circle be described
about Chicago as osntre, with radius
of q fraction over thirteen inches, the
circumference will pass through both
NAc= yc-k and Charleston IfOmaha
'oe taken as centre, with o radius of
nineteen inches. Charleston will be on
the circumference and New York will
lie about two and half inches outside
the circle. If St. Louis be the ceutre
and the radius be thirteen inches, the
circumference will pass through
Charleston. but will leave New York
: over three inches outside. With a
radius OF eleven inches and Indian
-Apolis at the centre, Ohar,e ton will
again be on the circumference and
: New York little over an inch outside.
And ii circle be described about the
CITY OF Louisville as centre, with q
radius of nine inches, it will take in
tohaneston bat will leave New York
toll three inches outside the ciroum-
lzerence."
NE pass over its discussion of the
advantages Of airline routes, and fol.
aowsakin it's statement of the inception
af the .a-eat enterprise of the Louis.
vile. Cincfnnati and Charleston Rail-
road, and the completion of many sec
lions OF it by the State and people
ssanE its route On the very lines ori-
giusaly projected. but not under single
management. the scheme of which had
so he abandoned. Between Charles.
sSon and the West lay barrier OF
mountains, but Governor Hayne point
I'D out passage through it in lam
guage which has been regarded as
authority ever since:
From the top OF the Blue Ridge,
when attained from the East, there ia
afforded by means of the French Broad
-Hiver, whose head waters rise but
aew feet below the summit of the
,Inountains. gradual and regular de-
scent along the margin OF that stream
for upwards of one hundred miles into
the plains OF Tennessee. falling on an
average only thirteen feet in the mile.
The French Broad cieaves all the
mountains to their very base, passing
in many places through preoipitous
rocks of great height, forming stupen-
dous walls on either side, almost with
pat faA or rapid in its course, and
10 40 free from curvatnres as in the
opinion Ut the engineers to admit of
good track for locomotive engines and
their attendant trains, the entire dis
tance along its banks, without the ne.
cessity probably of once crossing the
etream. Now, We would ask whether
the mere existence Of suoh q passage
through the mountains, in he general
direction of line drawn from Charles
ton through the centre of South Caro-
lima and leading nearly in q straight
course across an interesting aud valua-
bic portion of North Carolina, and
through the very centre of East Ten.
anessee to Lexington. and from thence
70 the Ohio River, does not mark out,
ss with the unerring hand of nature,
this as the great channel of communi-
cation between the South and the
West"
-'In July, 1886, convention. com.
posed Of $50 delegates from nine diff.
ferent States, met at Knoxville and
Z lanimously resolved that the route
described by Governor Hayne offered
the best practicable route from
Charleston to the West, and imme.
diately following this meeting mea.
sures were taken for forming q great
railroad company to build a railway
from Charleston to Lexington and
, iaoui"ville. The work was actually
commenced, and the section from
Branchville to Columbia completed.
when the great financial crisis of 1887
brought the work to stand still. and
SO long delayed it that the time limited
5T the charters passed by and the
scheme OF continuous through line
under the united charters was aban-