Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1874-03-05


are IN receipt ola letter from an intelii-
gent gessIemsa Of Philsdelphis. once .
resident Of our county. on the sal jcct Of
the proper seyminss Of the Southern Ma
syland Railroad in the loser session Of
our county. which. though addressed to
. private citizen ssd not intended for pub,
location, We have Obtained permission to
print. or the feasibility Of the nev route
and terminus proposed. 70 do not deem
ourselves eorpetent to spesk. having Civ
en- the subject as yet slight reflection. bat.
- the reasoning Of the writer has strong
~ impressed rs. ~ have felt il our duty
to zee what effect il might hare upon 9TH
ers. including our railroad authorities
themselves. With this prologue. We sub
NIT the letter to public consideration with
out further commcnt.
PHILADELPHIA. Feb. Is. 1874.
Dr.. THos. A. LrScH-DEAR Sra 1T
has been so long since We met. that fear
you have almost forgotten the existence Of
such person a. myself. yet feeling a.
do. lively interest in your unfortunate
section Of the State. cannot we'll refrain
from addressing you short letter upon
the subject Of the proposed Railroad
through yeur county. From the accounts
see in the papers. it appears that the ia
vorite route seems to be parallel with, and
near to. the Three-No'ched Road. on the
northern or Patuxent side of the county.
and around the head waters of St. Mary's
River. down to the proposed terminus.
Point Lookout. It is with much timidi-
~ propose to differ with those who are
conducting this enterprise. and who have
personally investigated. as their recunia-
~ interest demands. every available route
that could be presented. In earlier years
l have had and still retain m intimate
knowledge Of the oldest county in the
State. aud the route would pursue. had
I the money to build railroad. would he
as follows AT or near Fenwick's old
Tavern on the Three Notehcd Road l
would leave the present line of survey,
and would run as near to Leonardtown,
the county. seat As possible. and then on
iu As direct manner a. the nature of the
country would admit, to the mouth Of the
st. Mary's aud St. Georges Rivers. which
empty together into the Potomac at the
lower or eastern end Of St. Georges Is
land. The advantages Of this route would
be to ensure the travel to aud from the
county seat and the freight thereof. A
-hortcr route By Is miles at the lowest
calculation. as any one may see BY con-
sulting any correct msp Of the county.
the securing Of choice of harbors in the
St. Mary's or ST Georges Rivers, equal
to any in the world, anG where tho whole
commercial marine of the country might
ride in perfect peace and security; or If
this route should be found improbable,
in consequence of the advanced state of the
grazing Of the road, would then diyergc
somewhere lower down on the Three
Notched Road. at or near the lower Tub
mans Store. and thence in . direct line
near the Clifton Factory to the point tirst
mentioned, the mouths of ST. Mary's and
St. Georges rivers. Some advocate of the
Point Lookout route might answer. This il
true. but We propose to have harbor and
depot at Church Point. the site of the first
settlement in Mary land. where there is
also on excellent harbor." admit this
to be true also. but why. I would reply.
do you propose to run six or seven miles
up river decidedly tortuous. in search
of harbor that is oftentimes blocked IN
with ice. when you can obtain equally as
good one at the very mouth thereof,
that 10 not troubled with ice Of any thick
ness once in q generation? 1t is well
known that Point Lookout is sadly def.
cient in harbor. and to have the termi-
nus Of road at such place, where steam
ers can connect or shipping lie only a.
particular times, would be little short Of
downright folly. To build an artificial
harbor or breakwa.er would involve mil
lions Of dollars. when better one can be
obtained for nothing. aud every advan-
tage secured with the single exception of
an unbroken route to Point Lookou. du-
ring the bathing season. Now. there ari-
ses right here the question. whether it
will pay to add ten milef to the Road for
the purpose Of securing visitors this ad-
vantage for about sixty days in the year
when it is considered that a very large
proportion of these pleasure seekers would
prefer riding down from Washington and
Baltimore in seven or eight hours upon
fine commodious steamer. to the jolting
and dustirg Of cars for nearly the came
length Of time. Besides. should this
place become one OF any considerable re-
sort, ferry boat would take them from
the point propose as terminus in less
than an hour. and would be a pleasant
change for them. and far cheaper than
building and maintaining Of ten addition
al miles Of railroad. In the event Of Sc
we're freezing weather, whereby the navi-
CATION of the Potomac and Patspsco is
prevented. many thousands bushels of
oysters could and would be shipped BY
the dredging boats from the mouth Of St
Msry's. If a railroad shonld run to this
point. because il would ai,roys be an ac-
ccssible and safe harbor. The same freeze
! that would prevent :heir going to Balti-
more would put an etFecsual hindrance to
their delivering them at depot at Church
Point. and snail boats could rarely ven
ture in stormy weather to undertake the
risk Of deliving q cargo on a wharf at
, Point Lookout.
These. my dear sir. are a few of the
most important reasons I have in favor of
the route propose. and il they meet with
your approval. hastily and imperfectly
thrown together as they are. you can use
them al your own rood ;uigment may