Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1876-06-01
PRESIDENTS REPORT
To the Annual Convention Of the Stockhold-
ers of the Chester and Lenoir Narrow
Gauge Railroad Company, held at Lin.
colntOn, N. c., on the 18th of May, 1876.

ers of the Chester and Lenoir Narrow
Gauge Railroad Company, held at Lin.
colnton, N. c., on the 18th Of May, 1876.
PRESIDENTS OFFICE,
CHESTER AND LENoIR N. u. RAILROAD Co.,
CHESTER, S. c., May 10, 1876
To the Stockholders of the Chester and Le'.oir ~.
G. Railroad Company:
GENTLEMEN: As President of your road, en-
trusted by you, in conjunction with the Board of
Directors, with the management OF its affairs, 1t
is incumbent upon me to render you report OF
the operations and transactions of the past year.
cross earnings FOR yenr ending May 1, Jag
Operating expenses, lo,los -
Net earuinps ,,,,,..,,,.,......,.......S 6,9sS 80
In regard to the work done upon the road and
its present condition, refer you to the report OF
the Chief Engineer.
From that report, it appears that the road-bed
was graded ready for the superstructure in Au-
gust or September last 1t may seem to you that
the road bed being ready at that time, the laying
of the track and completion of the road, so as to
make it available for traffic. has been unreasona-
bly, delayed, and that you should have been, be-
fore this, reaping some advantage from your ex-
penditure. That it is not so, none OF you regret
more than do. This delay has not arisen from
the want of assets upon the part of the Company
but from the difficulty OF making the assets
available they consisting, for the most part, Of
the bonds issued in aid of the road by the coun-
ties of Chester and York-the individual SUBJ
scriptions having been expended upon the road
bed. The stringency of the monetary affairs, par
ticuarly OF our Southern section of the country,
has rendered it difficult to dispose of the bonds
at q fair valuation, and your Board of Directors
has been averse to dispOsing of them at a sacri-
flee. That your road has not been sooner ready
for traffic, has not been from want of effort upon
the part Of the Board of Directors.
Shortly after our annual meeting, proposition
was made by stakeholder of Chester, to furnish
the iron and fastenings, and cross ties. and lay
the track from YorkVile to Dallas for $5, 400 per
proposition, although they thought it too high,
and appointed q committee to arrange the details
Of the contract; but they failed to agree to the
conditions demanded by him, deeming them in
urious if not destructive of the interests of the
Company.
Negotiations were attempted with some parties
in New York to exchange bonds for iron, but this
Also AFTER at one time promising fairly, failed OF
success Nor was it until November, 1875, that a
contract for iron was effected with the Roane
Iron Company, Of Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the
rate of $50 per ton of 2,240 lbs they receiving in
payment the notes of the Company at twelve and
eighteen months, guaranteed by % citizens OF
Chester and York. The whole amount of the
purchase was $4,000. To secure the guarantors,
the Company deposited in the National Bank of
Chester, 100000, bonds of the counties of York
and Chester and executed a mortgage on the en-
tire road and road-bed from Chester to Dallas
Tredegar Iron Works at Richmond, Va, upon
six months time, the company depositing, as Sc
curity, $1,000 of county bonds.
AS some dissatisfaction was expressed by some
of the tockholders at the refusal of the Board to
accept the proposition of a stockholder, without
entering into the details of the cause of disagree
ment it will be sufficient, and hope satisfactory
to them, to know what saving has been made to
the company by this refusal which they depreca-
ted:
Stockholders proposition per me ...... 400 90
Sssen! cost isai!s per mile; .'.::sa $40
Fastenings and spikes per mile,......... 24o
Track laying per mile,.""............ IsV NJ, m
difference, 81 Ssoo per mile, asx miles, or -
total saving of....... SooSso w
The cross ties it was found somewhat difficult to
procure of good material. In order to expedite
the work. forest pine ties were contracted for at
diminished cost. Ofthese there are some eight or
ten thousand. These will not last more than two
or three years.
The Depot buildings at Chester and the Air
Line Junction, have both been completed, and
Mr.. S. B. Latham appointed Agent at Chester and
Mr.. James H. Fayssoux at the junction.
Satisfied that as soon as the road was open TO
the Air Line for traffic, more tractive power would
be requisite, I have made arrangements for
another engine to be delivered on or before the
10th of June
Owing to the financial embarrassment of the
country it has been found very difficult to dispose
of the bonds Of the counties. There are about
$l22, 500 of them now pledged for the payment of
iron and fastenngs and other Indebtedness of the
company. Could these be sold at a fair valuation,
it would discharge every obligation ofthe compa-
ny, and leave it untramelled except for the
amount due for thepurchase of tho Kings Noun
tain Rail Road.
At the annual meeting at Dallas in May, 1874,
a resolution was passed authorizing the issuing
of mortgage bonds at the rate of $50O0per mile. No
action has as yet been taken in this direction.
would respectfully submit the propriety of doing
so now to your consideration. If we design car
rying out our scheme of Road, we must devise
some plan for raising the necessary means. do
not think we should cease our efforts to keep the
work alive and moving. Should the work once
stop, it will be more difficult to start 1t again.
Good faith to our friends in North Carolina, re-
quires that we should make every effort in our
power to extend the road to its terminus at Le-
noir
AS you are all aware, there was an act passed
at the last session of the North Carolina Legsla-
ture, amending our charter, giving us, upon the
failure Of subscription of the county of CataWb ba,
the right to run directly from Lincolnton to
Hickory Station. The citizens of the latter place,
with only one dissenting voice, have voted to
make subscription, not exceeding $4,000, to
road from Lincolnton to their town. If we can
hold out prospect to them Of our determination
and ability to 60 on promptly, have no doubt
they will willingly lend us their aid. Then let
us have no relaxing in our efforts; let us finish
what we set out to do.