The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-10-15
TIE TRANs-ALLEaHANY MAR
81 s. 8 =: RoW-GAUGE RAILROAD.
THE BOARD OF tALDERMEN AMI
COMaEON COUNCIL I'm JOINT
SESSION. AK 81.
MINORITY REPORT.

4 ~.
| MINORITY REPORT. &
tJ}y, f; if! E!$lS
Addresses by General Emboden Col. w
r. Bnrwell. Mr., Franklin stearns,
| Cen. Anderson. and others,
A joint meeting of the two hodies Of the
City Council was held yesterday afternoon IL
| the, Council chamber. in pursuance af:a Join.
resolution agreed to by the two bodies
Hon, Joha. A., Meredith, president Of the
Board Of Aldermen, in the chair. The meet
ling was called at the request Of the g Speeia
Committee of Fifteen0 on the proposed
Richmond and Trans-Alleghany Narrow.
| Gauge railroad to hear the, report of thai
committee, which was published in the Dis.
patch at the time the last meeting of the
committee was held in the Chamber of Com.
merce.
! Mr.. John Esders, chairman of the com
mittee, addressing the joint session, read the
| report. a.Gss
GENERAL JOHN D. 1MBoDEN,
1 temporary president Of the Richmond and
Trans-Alleghany road, addressed the meet.
ing at some length, urging the Importance oil
| the construction of this road and reciting the
many benefits which will accrue to Rich.
| mond In the event of the completion Of the
work. s.;
General Imboden predicted that Il this
subscription is not made on the part of Rich.
mond bill will be introduced in the Gene.
1 ral Assembly at its next session, and Balti.
more will get possession Of the Cllnch Val.
ley, and if the prediction proves true Rich.
mond will be cut of entirely. There will be 20
outlet except by the Chesapeake and Ohio
| railroad and the canal. The Chesapeake and
| Ohio is already tapped, and the canal is not
| finished.
General Imboden believed that Richmond
was on the brink of volcano, and that un.
less this subscription is made our city will
| be completely at the mercy Of Baltimore and
the Baltimore and Ohio road. ...
| General Imboden then spoke at some
length OF the future connections which the
| Trans.Alleghany road will have at Pound
| Gap if the road il built. In the course OF
| his remarks General Imboden referred to q
letter which Colonel Craghill addressed to
Dr.. Mills, collector OF this port, asking the
| Collector whether he thought the commerce
Of Richmond would be Increased if James
river was deepened to eighteen feet, and If
such was his opinion he would probably
recommend an appropriat ton from the United
| States sufficient to finish she work.
| ADVANTAGES OF IHn NARR ow. GAUGE sYsTEa.
General Imboden introduced Mr.. Moore,
an engineer, who has recently been building
a narrow-gauge road for the Baltimore and
| Ohio line in West Virginia. He addressed
the committee some time since on the adyan-
| tages and economy Of the narrow-eauge sys-
tenn.
Mr.. N. L. Straus called attention to the
fact that General Anderson was present,
and that the Council would like to hear from
| him.
General Anderson addressed the Council,
and said that he had the honor OF being q
member of the Committee of Fifteen, but
was in the minority. He was one of three
members Of the committee opposed to the
report Of the majority, and he, therefore,
read the following paper. expressing the
! views of the three gentlemen alluded to.
MINORITY REPORT.
| To the Honorable the City Council:
The undersigned, members of committee
to which was referred the matter Of the
Richmond and Allegheny Narrow
Gauge railroad, having understood that re-
port will be made to the City Council by a
portion of the committee favoring a sub
scription by the city to that enterprise,
beg leave to present their views in
opposition to such subscription. They
regret very much to have to differ from
the gentlemen who advocate the measure,
but as their convictions are clear, they feel it
TO be their duty to express them to the repre-
sentatiyes Of the people, who will no doubt
be pressed to commit the city to an enter
prise which must greatly add to her Perma-
nent debt, and which, in their judgment,
| promises no adequate return for the eXpendi-
ture.
The proposition is to build narrow
gauge railroad from this city to Pound Gap,
crossing the Southside railroad 10 Appomat-
tox county and the Virginia and Tennessee
railroad in Montgomery county near Dub
lin. And although it is designed, of course,
to afford facilities of transportation and ira
vel throughout the liqe, the great leading
objects, we are told, are, first, to develop the
rich mineral deposits of the counties adjacent
10 Pound Gap, and, secondly, by meeting a
line to be constructed with the same gauge e
feet) from Pound Gap west we are to have
an uubroken line from Richmond to Gin
cinuati. and possibly, in time, to St. Louis.
Now, the city appro priation is not opposed
| ON the ground that this road will ipjure ex-
isting roads. Looking to its proposed loca.
ton it is manifest that it cannot do much
harm to the Chesapeake and Ohio, and it is
not understood that the friends of the At
| lantic. Mississippi and Ohio are concerned
about it. although it would asSuredly be its
competitor. But the undersigned oppose
the subscription asked for from the city be-
cause they think that money used to build
another road from Richmond TO Dublin will
be money ipjudciously spent. Ii Richmond
should expesd million of dollars in build
| ing fifty or hundred miles Of this road,
thew see no iDdncement that could be offered
to capitalists to complete it. They will see
that when you have built the road more than
two hundred mics to Dublin that you have
only reached point with which Richmond
! Is already connected By as good, If not bet
ter. line; whereas If you had expended the
million OF dollars in building road TO the rlcn
coal and iron-miDes in Wise and Buchanan
counties you will have crested new business
by connecting these mineral deposits Wltn
| q railroad to Underwater, which now have no
outlet whatever. It is therefore submitted
| TO your honorable body that If this city has
money or credit to use In the Development
| of the resources in question 1t would be
! more iudicious not TO expend 1t in building
any other road, where we have one now,
but. utilizing what we have already acquired
! iy largely taxing our own people-a rail-
road to Dublin, built, stocked, and in opera
ttion-expend your money in building
feeder to IL from Dublin to the coaFmines,
and in locsl branches east Of the mountains
where needed. But even this 1t would not
lin the opinion of the undersigned) be judi
eious for Richmond to undertake. Nov, it