The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-03-08
THE COAL ROAD.
Meeting at Exchange Hall Last
Night.
wHATwAS DONE.

Hal w 40 DONEs
THE sPEECHRs-A COMMITTEE ON oRGANI-
ZAlIoN - MEETINGS APPOINTED - THE
ROAD To BE BUILT.
The coal road meeting called for last
night was composed almost OF persons
living along the proposed line of road, not
more than dozen citizens OF indianapolis
being present. Every town on the line was
we'll represented, and the hall was quite
we'll filled. At about S O'Clock
Mr.. Christ. Thompson, of Bowling Green,
called the meeting to order and said: /
am somewhat surprised ttat we have come
all the way to Indiapap olis to get hall to
meet ip, True, this meeting was called to
organize q meeting of residents along the
line of the proposed road, but / am sur
prissd thai there are not Indianapolis men
here to run it. But since such Is not the
case, / move that Gen. Frank Whits, of
Terre Hsute, be called to I'll chair. The
motion prevailed, and Gen. White took
the chair. Hiram Teter, of Bowling Greer,
was made secretary. The charm an, in
explanation of the objects of the
meeting, said: We are here to organ
izs q company to build narrow
gauge road TO the mineral wealth of Indi-
ana, There are two lines proposed, one
direct to Bowling Green and one down the
river through Morgan county to Spencer,
in Owen county. / want to say that the
advantages Of the first route are, the coal
country through which 1t runs and the
shOrtness Of the route.
THE OTHER ROUTE
only crosses a neck of the coal fields,
while this one orvsses the entire field.
There is no railroad through tie country
proposed to be tapped. 1t is central be-
tween two great lines. 1t has the timber
and rock. 1t is VI derstood that we are to
raiss $4,000. This line was first
talked about on Saturday, and we
have already raised S40,000 We will raise
the balance without trouble. There Is no
deep cuts or high hills, and alter you leave
White river there is no loug bridges.
This route has already been surveyed three
times, and the surveyors bear out ali
| have said. Now, we would like to
hear from the citizens of Indianapolis.
In response to repeated calls Mr. j. NJ.
Ridenour stepped to the front. He has
long been in some way identified with the
railroad Interests of the state. This mar
row gauge road wss no new project. He
was one among the first, with Gen
eral Martin, Judge Roache and others,
to 60 into an organization OF q company to
build road on the line about which the
chairman had spoken. The sections through
which this road is to pass are the creamy
acres, the great gold mines of the West.
If we ever reach
SPECIE PAYMENTS
it must be by digging the wealth out of
these hills or filling it out of these valleys.
will not only give this project moral
support, but want to give it material
support. indianapolis is sensitively alive
to this project, IS she has been to all other
roads. The roads running into the city
are now generally controlled by
parties outside of the state, al
though Indianians have been the
PIONEERS in building them. Indianapolis
has given Is rgely to railroads In the past,
and 1t is not the temper of our people to
have any more paid to roads out of the
public treasury, but the individual sub
scriptions will be liberal. 1 understand
there is another line proposed by General
Morris and others. There Is room for
both, and / hope both will be built. Mr..
Thompson moved that when the meeting
adjourn it be to meet ut Ex-
change Hall again in one week, and
in the meantime that a committee
of two from each town on the line to per-
feet the subscriptions so that an organiza-
ton may be completed. The motion pre-
vailed and the appointments were made
as follows: Charles Ballard, VIM. B.
Thompson, Monrovia; Jefferson Worden,
Alfred Pruitt, Hall; j. w. Ray, w. III.
Ryan, e. Scligar, Eminence; DIR. Melon
aid, James L. Smith, Quincy; VIM.
Spangler, Enoch w. Richardson, Cataract;
NJ. Thompson, Hiram Teter, Bowling
Green; J.. M. Todd, J. G. Burton, Joseph
Shelton, Indianapolis; John A. Taylor, A.
K. Harryman, Mooresville. Gen.
White, the chairman, said that as
the meeting was about to adjourn,
he wantsd 10 make few suggestions. |
Forty thousand dollars In stock is |
already raised. 1t behooves every man |
along the line of this road to work. We
can raise all the capital necessary. In |
disnspolis will take hold of it, ana II she |
don't we can get somebody else to. We
can perfect the organization and sell our
bonds. Mr.. Ridenour had been through |
the bond mill two or three times in an of |
fetal way, and he did not want any more
bonds. Popularize this thing. Do 1t ex-
clusively by stocS. II a man can't give
but SIS give him stock. Col. Hurlburt
thought there was feeling that this road
would not pay as an investment. He un-
certook to show that it would be q grand
paying Investment. Meetings were