Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-01-18
WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
RAILROAD.

The Raleigh On. c. Observer has
had a special examination made OF
the condition of the Western n. Z.
Railroad, and a report upon the
prospects of its completion to Ashe-
vile. The report is somewhat elab-
crate, with estimates of thessamount
of work to be done, contingencies,
etc. All the trostle work on the
mountain section is finished, except
one trestle one hundred and fifty
feet long, and this will be finished
by Jan. Goth. If no further slides
occur the roadway will be ready for
the track to the mouth of the Swan
nanoa tunnel by Feb. list. In the
Swannanoa tunnel there remains
about one hundred and fifty feet to
be taken out before daylight can be
seen through, then the bench taken
out for $50 feet will complete the
great tunnel. The hands progress
at the rate of % feet a week with
the heading, and the whole will be
completed by the middle of March.
Iron will berun over sooner, though,
and by the 1st of March the track
will be laid to Stepp's House, near
the foot of Black Mountain. The
great trouble of the road is land
slides. Owing to the peculiar slaty
formation of the sides of the noun
tains, enough work has already been
done on those slides to have COM
pleted the grading to Asheville !;
however, Major Wilson, the Presi-
dent of the road, is confident that
trains will be running to AsheVille
before July next. This road is be-
ing constructed by the State con-
victs, of whom 427 are thus employ
ed in enriching and building up the
State, instead of coming into COM
petition with her mechanics and la
borers, as in Tennessee.
In his annual message to the
General Assembly of North Caro>
lima, Gov. Vance states that the
convicts employed ON this road, have
done work in 1877~-78, 1.-TWO years.
amounting at the present railroad
prices to near 100000, being 1896
to the hand, and that the cost of
maintaining, grading and oversee
ing has ben only $4,000 for that
time for all employed on the work,
and that the net earnings of each
one, overseer and all, amounts to
S121.50 per head. Other railroads
in process of construction in that
State have about 200 more convicts
employed. A number of these con
victs were also employed in grading
a road from Murphy, Cherokee
county, to the Georgia line, which
has been finished. This line of gra
ding is intended to form a connec
ton with the Marietta and Nortl
Georgia road, which has been gra'
ded nearly all the way from
Marietta to the North Caro-
lima line and upon which
ten miles of iron have been laid, anC
the track laying is still progressing
This road is a three-foot narrow
guage, and the question is now be,
ing agitated in North Carolin;
whether the main stem of the West
ern North Carolina, from Ashevill
to Murphy, shall not also be turne,
into a three-foot narrow-guage.
1t must be remembered in thi
connection that the Western Nortl
Carolina road is 4 feet 81 inche
guage, as are all other North Caro-
lima roads, except that from Char
lotte, via Greensboro, to Danville
while all other roads south of Vir
GINA are five feet guage. Tn
question has long been one of grea
contention where the change Q
guage should be made, from the