The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-01-10
THE BLUE RIDGE RAILROAD.

Ihe dream OF the statesmen OF S0utn
Carolina for years past has been direct
connection between our sea coast and the
Great West by q great national highway
for freights and passengers, which would
immensely improve our commercial busi-
ness, besides opening up to us more ad-
vantageous markets in which to buy the
articles We consume and to sell the pro-
.ductions we raise for market. In this
direction quantities Of thought, labor and
money has been expended, and our whole
State was at one time so much enthused
upon the subject that our Legislature
and the city of Charleston united in the
appropriation of public money for the
:completiorof this great desideratum of
all classes of our citizens, and, after care
full consideration of all the advantages
and disadvantages of the various lines of
crossing the mountains, selected the
route known as the Blue Ridge Railroad,
from this place by way of Rabun Gap to
Knoxville, Tennessee, as the most desira-
BILE possible location, after which work to
the amount of millions of dollars was
expended upon the line, and the road
actually put into operation as far as
Walhalla. But for thelate war, with its
disasters and the evils which followed in
tits.wake, the Road would have been COM
lpleted long before this, and the South
would have been the neighbor of the
West in point of time and trade as well
as in geographical position. The harpies
of Republicanism, however, swept away
with their foul hands all that was left of
this Road, and thereby disheartened it's
friends, and, for time, dissipated all
'hope of its construction. But. now. that
ne once more have the government in
our possession, we hope the interest of
our people will again return to this i'm.
.portant public work, and that our Legis-
ilature will take some action to feviye the
building Of the Road. It is one which
will benefit all portions of the State, and
make Charleston, one of the most -four
.ishing and ] JImpoftant ports south Of New
York. I. ..,s. !
Every onewho wishes to- contribute to
the commerce of South Carolina should
the building Of the Blue Ridge
Railroad, and we believe the Legislature
of the State should lend it a helping
hand. tmay be objected thatt State
has already lost heavily in this road, but
instead of this being an argument against
further expense, it:is q reason why the
State should see tfcompleted. We have
spent too much money on it not to get
any return, and it would be decidedly a
better investment to complete it than to
lose what has been expended judiciously
upon the road. We know the State is
poor, s:bnt NE. can do something to keep
this road alive. If nothing more, the
State could well afford to put the convict
labor to work upon it, and in the course
of year or two we viii be in a condition
to appropriate annually small sums to
extending ihe length of the line, 80 that
in q few years we would have the whole
line built without imposing any serious
burden. If we take hold Of it as a State
enterprise there would be fair prospect
OF securing help from outside, and the
road could be built beyond doubt. We
hope when the Legislature reassembles
that Charleston and the up-eountry will
shake hands over their common interest,
and mature aplan for reviving this grand
enterprise. What 10 our Charleston
contemporaries, the Neaos and Courier
and Journal of Commerce, think of this
question 2 and how are our other ex-
changes disposed towards it?