The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-10-28
THURSDAY MORNING, OCT. 2sth, 1875
The Blue Ridge Railroad.

than the completion Of the Blue Ridge
Railroad to Knoxville, Tenn, by which,
we will,become directly connected with
the great granary of the West, whence
we now receive our supplies, Of -four,
corn and meat, in q large measure. This
road was once pet schemezof our peo-.
pie, and but for the most wastefuH e3-
travagance and bad management would
have been completed ere this. It's histo-
ry has been an eventful one, and has at
last wound up with q chapter ON bank
ruptcy, so far as the road ID this State is
concerned. Our people have become in
different and cold upon the subject of its
completion, in consequence Of the numer-
GUS misfortunes which have befallen its
attempted construction; but we are CON;
fdent this is only a temporary lethargy
from which they may. be awakened
whenever there is hir prospect for the
completion Of the enterprise, and at the
risk of provoking sneer from the timo-
rous doubters in our midst, we are dis
posed to think that all that is necessary
to build this road now is a determined,
energetic and united effort on the part of
the citizens living along the line, and in
places interested in the completion of
the road. Energetic efforts are being
made in Tennessee and North Carolina
to secure passage of the Blue Ridge
mountains, and whoever meets the road
they are building viii secure the connec-
ton. We have advantages on this route
which must insure success if we utilize
them. The amount of work done npon
our line renders it a comparatively small
undertaking to finish the road. We
need this road greatly, and unless we
can secure it there can be no doubt that
Anderson is bound to decline as a mar:
ket, while if it is built there is not the
slightest doubt that the value of our
property as well as the business of our
town viii be greatly advanced. The
objections so common to new railroads
on the part of merchants; that they cause
new towns to spring up along their line
and thus injure the old markets, is short
sighted at best, but most certainly, even
it cannot be urged against the compile
ton Of this road, for it will not cause the
building of d single town within thirty
miles of Anderson, 4
1t will also be of great assistance in
the way of afording a competing road to
the one nov in existence, for if run by a
separate, company it would necessarily
coalesce with the Air Line In its freight
arrangements, and thus prevent the dis
elimination in freights, which is 50 bit
terly complained of by our merchants.
Every class Of. our community are vitality
interested in this measure, and we hope
they will not lie dormant, when they
should be at work. It is time that this
question was being seriously discussed by
our citizens. The people of Walhalla
are to meet on Tuesday next to discuss
the prospects Of success, and the means
best adapted to securing the necessary
fands-for completing the road, and we
hope it will not be long until Anderson
will do the same. Our interests are
greater than theirs. To show that the
people in other States along the line of
this road are greatly interested in its
construction, we append an extract from
a letter of Dr.. W. L. Love to the Keowee
Courier, in reference to meeting held
in Murphy, N. c., about the fifth of this
month, to advance the interests Of the
Marietta and North Georgia Railroad,
which is in part the Blue Ridge. He
says:
Col. w. G.. McAdoo, of Milledgeyille,,
Ga, formerly of Knoxville, was at the
meeting, and stated from the stand that
he was there at the instance of DR.. Mar
row, President of the Knoxville and
Charleston Railroad, and for the purpose
of seeing what was the prospect of COM
pleting the Marietta enterprise as far as
Murphy, and especially of extending it
from Murphy to some point on the Ten
nessee River, south of Maryville, Tennes-
see, SO as to-. connect it with the Blue
Ridge Railroad. He said in substance,
and I believe almost in words, that his
charter and interests tied him to the. Line
from Knoxville to Walhalla, and that
they were ready, with money and con-
yict labor, to build the road to the North
Carolina line, whenever they could see a
chance for connection southward. l
am sure he. became and went away salts
fed that the road to Murphy is q fixed
fact, and that it will be completed at an
early day. From Murphy to our line Is
only forty miles, at the mouth of Nanta-
hala, and this will be under contract be-
fore the road reaches. Murphy. These
forty miles will be of very easy construc-
ton, as more than thirty miles are almost
on an air line and nearly level. And
while Colonel McAdoo did not say the
Tennesseans would build their road from
Maryville to the mouth Of Nantahala,
still we are quite sure they would be
glad to connect at that point with any
road running either into Georgia or
szS6ath Carolina. -.
"When this is accomplished" to use
your language, there will be not sixty
miles of the Blue Ridge Railroad built"
as you say, but 125 miles built, leaving
seventy miles or less to be built-that
part between Walha.la and the mouth of
Nontabala-one-half of which is nearly