The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1875-01-28
Jbe AigbIanb Netus.
HILLSBOR0UGH. OHIO.
Thursday. - Jan %, 1875
The Michigan N Ohio Il. r.
Hts Importance to Our Town
and County.

4 tSph ~ OuA Il " "
and County.
We give considerable space to tn
proceedings of meetings held in Cc
, lumbus, Chillicothe and Portsmouth
d recently, in favor of the auove-namer
!; road, and invite thereto the particu
lar attention of our readers. From
the positive assurances given at thes'
meetings by the President of th'
Company, Mr.. James S. Gibbs, o
Buffalo, N. Y, and from other cor
roborating evidence, some of which
has already been published in oul
columns, it would seem almost Ger.
tain that the road will be built, and
if so, its importance to the interests
of our town and county must be ap-
parent at glance.
The line of our proposed Southern
Ohio railroad passes through Pike
ton, 3S miles east of this place, and
from Piketon extends eastward into
the rich coal-felds of jackson coun-
ty, which Dayton, Springfield, Wash
ington, Wilmington and other towns
(our own included) are all so anxious
to reach. The old road-bed of the
Hillsboro & Parkersburg railroad, on
which more than half the grading is
done, extends all the way from Hills
boro to Jackson, passing through ex-
cellent coal deposites west of Jack
son. This road-bed belongs abso-
lutely to the Southern Ohio R. R. Co.
subject only to a doubtful claim of
the Marietta & Cincinnati R. r. Co.,
which that Co. has agreed to release,
whenever the former Co. demands it
and complies with certain conditions,
which it is ready to do whenever the
construction of its road is commenc-
ed.
Now bear in mind these two facts,
viz:
1st. The Jackson Coal and Iron
Region is declared by President
Gibbs to be one of the objective
points of the Michigan &Ohio R. R,
I'd. The Michigan & Ohio R. R.
will cross the line of the Southern
Ohio road at Piketon, from which
point the shortest and best route to
the Coal and Iron of jackson county
is over the line of our road, which |
is already more than half graded, and
can be made ready for the ties at a
very small expense.
Put these two facts together, and |
it is easy to see that the S. o. road
is in a position to command the as
sistance of the Michigan & Ohio, in
the construction of its line, as that
part of the line east of Piketon will
be equally as necessary to the latter
road as to the former On this basis
of common interest, arrangements
might certainly be made between the
two companies, which would be mu-
tually advantageous to both. Per
haps, in consideration of the grant
by the S. 0. to the NJ & o. of that
part of the line east of Piketon, the
latter company would be willing to
aid the former in the construction of
its line from Piketon west to Hills
boro, Wilmington and Dayton. Or
perhaps some other arrangement
equally satisfactory might be made.
We merely wish to make the sugges-
ton, for the consideration of all par
ties interested.
Our latest advices from Dayton
are to the effect that Messrs. Barney
and Huffman, and other friends of
the Southern Ohio road in that city,
still adhere to our line, in spite of
the pressure brought to bear in Ger
tain quarters to induce them to aban-
don it and throw their influence in
favor of the Dayton & Southeastern
Narrow Gauge project, which does
not seem to be making much head
way outside Of Fayette county, where
its projectors and principal hackers
reside. MIR. Barney, in recent letters
to Col. Trimble, expresses his con.
viction that the Southern Ohio is the
true line to supply Dayton with the
cheap coal which her manufacturing
interests so imperatively demand,
and that ere long her citizens will
show their continued faith in the en-
terprise by renewing their subscrip
tions to the stock of the road.
Meantime we shall watch with in
terest the progress of the new and
important road which is to connect
the waters of Lake Michigan with
those of our own "La Belle Riyiere"
at Portsmouth, and ultimately with
the Atlantic, via the Chesapeake &
Ohio R. R., and which, through its
necessarily close connection and iden-
tity of interests with our Southern
Ohio road, bids fair to prove a strong
and valuable ally of our long cher
ished enterprise, and materially aid
in its completion.
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