Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1874-06-25
parton and sonth Eastern LIE.
from the Dayton Journal;

A4O4A tL4S tO4A oOuEl3Ig
Soon after the Dayton Exchange was estab-
lished the project of reviYing the Coal Road
was again brought before our people. The
embarrassment growing out of the failure of /
jay Cooke & Co., met US at every hand. Our t
capitalists thought the time not auspieious.-i
The panic deprecated Railroad securities and /
all kinds of Railroad property and enterprises /
suffered great depression, and the price of coal i
went down so low last winter in this market /
that our people began to feel that we hardly |
needed a Coal Road.
1t was nevertheless thought advisable to !
bring to light all the advantages of the route |
by the way of AenIa, W WashIngton and Chilli !
cothe to the Jackson Coal Fields and to nego- |
tiate an arrangement with the Little Miami
Road and the Pan Handle Company for run
ming cars over their road to Xenia, and secure
the road bed from Xenia to Washington.
Mr.. R. G. Corwin took pains to investigate
and present the facts at a meeting of the EX-
change, and we were brought into contact with
the people along the line of the road; and we
found that there was a road already chartered
and the people at Xenla and Washington and
in that neigh boThood had made a subscription
of 800, 900 to the road; that they are willing
to stand by that subscription. The President,
Mr.. Yeoman who resides at Washington,
Messrs. Melbourn, Merrick, Alison and others
| from Xenia, and quite number of other intlU-
ential gentlemen along the road, most Of them
/ directors, came to Dayton and conferred with
I
! direetorship, the board of directors filed the
vacancies by appointing Mr.. S. Craighead, Mr..
/ r. G. Corwin and myself directors, and hav
/ ing filled the vacancies, and gotten the min
utes into shape, we had repeated meetings OF
/ the board at Xenia and Dayton, and finally
passed q resolution making the rooms of the
| Dayton Exchange the permanent place ofmeet-
| ing of the board. By resolution of the board,
| Mr.. Williams engineer surveyed and made
map and profile of the road, showing maxi
mum grade of 80 feet to the mile coming
west, east of Xenia. and made an estimate
showing that to build and equip the unfnish-
ed road from Xenia to Washington it would
cost S400 900, and finding the following dis
| tances to coal from Dayton: TO Xenia 16 miles,
| to Washington % miles, to Chilhcothe 70
miles, and to coal behind Chilllcothe 1O miles,
making 50 miles to coal, and that with the
road finished to Washington there would be
no trouble completing it to the coal fields, and
that with it completed only to Washington the
distane to bring coal would be shortened 4O
miles to the Perry county coal fields. The por-
ton that Dayton should subscribe was estima-
ted to be about $3.50, 900. With this encour-
aging state of affairs it was thought best to
secure the road bed and right to run to XenlR,
and therefore committee was appointed to
make such negotiation, and after repeated
meetings with Mr.. JeWett and Mr.. Clements,
at Columbus and elsewhere, it resulted in a
proposition on the part of Mr.. Jewett and
Judge Swan, in interest OF the Panhandle
road, and which was submitted to our board
and substantially approved. Our directors
Mr.. Craighead, Mr.. COrwin and myself, were
present, participating IN the discussion, and
with our limited knowledge of railroad mat
ters did what we thought was best. The re
suit was to secure an arrangement by which
our road could run cars over the road from Day
} ton to Xenia at a reasonable price. thereby sa'
: wing US the expense of building that much road
, and securing the road bed from Aenla to w ash
ington with all its improvements-wit the
road d-bed almost graded, with no embarrass
ment except to compromise with some farmer
2 along the line of the road, and we secured a
satisfactory arrangement for carrying fre1gh
and passengers of the respective roads for eacl
other. Nothing really now seems to stand II
: the way ofour getting convenient access to tn
I coal and iron fields. It only remains for ou
, citizens to determine whether they will tax
| hold. The board of directors have done al
. they can do, and have thought best, as thi
u project originated in the Exchange, TO call
= meeting of the Exchange of our citizens at til
q Exchange rooms in Gebbarts building o
= Third street, for Saturday evening, June 9th
{ for the purpose of laying the matter befoI
: them and having them to determine whether
4 proceed with the road. The board of director
n do not feel at liberty to make a running al
rangement with the Pan Handle road unit
. our capitalists signify their willingness
e back up the enterprise.
Xenia and Washington have done nobly
# and show great zeal and energy in pushin
., it through. They have taken the initiativ
; and have already made liberal subscription
= Dayton is able to do literally. Men of cal
l. ital must take hold, or the enterprise must fai
G The Exchange invites their cooperation
y Whether they approve or disaPProve of Il
measure, it is to be hoped that they viii a
= tend the meeting and pass upon tie questic
= for themselves.
n The strikes at the Hooking Valley ar
= StraitsVille mines may seriously affect Il
Il price of coal with US, and we should avail GU
; selves of every facility for getting. cheap cos
Le It is to be hoped, therefore, that there W
/ be full attendance on Saturday evening, Ju
: 27th j. A. JORDAN,
> President Exchange.