Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-02-27
THE RATUHaa4 RsVER.
The People OF Hsrdeman, E'ayette,
Haywood, Upton and LaudeFdzle
Counties, VYe3E as the geo
pie OF Memphis, Want to
Navigate EU.

Ripley NetcS: eve sincerely trust that
the members OF the present general assembly
will be impelied by a sense Of duty to dIsre-
gard the opportunities OF the railroad lobby
lists, who are now in Nashville actively at
work, aod pass the bill recpening HatChie
river to navigation. This IS q matter Of
more tnan passing interest to the people Of the
counties of Hardeman, Fayetts, Haywood,
Upton and Lauderdale, and the city OF Mems
phis, whose commerce Is being seriously IN
Jured by railroads unfriendly 10 her interests,
dlVertlBg cotton to other markets which
ought by natural laws go to Memphis, II
transportation could be secured to that city
at reasonable rates. Considerable cotton Is
shipped from Hardeman county to Mobile
and New Orleans over the Mississippi
Central railroad which would undoubtedly 20
to Memphis if the Hatchie river was opened
up. When bill similar 10 this was being
considered by former legislature, members
who ought to have been better informed were
made to believe that the Hdtchie was little
stream; that you could 90 along the bank,
cut down tree and let II fall across for a
waIk-loE, and If the bill passed, appropria-
tons would be asked for TO cut canals. etc,
to make it navigable. We trust the mem
b5rs who have the bill IN charge this time
will see that no senator or representative Is
imposed upon by such unfair and unreasona-
BILE stories. AS bearing directly upon this,
and atfordIng some information which ought
to be before the legislature at the present
time, we republish the following commune
cation from our friend and conntyman, Gen
eral VIM. Conner, which was Published IN
this paper on February 4, 1876:
I'm my former communication | stated that
the Big Hatchie river was better navlgable
stream than the Seine, which assertion seems
TO have taken some Of your readers by sur
prise. Zell's Encyclopedia says the river
Seine is nayigable TOR about three hundred
mlles-that Its general width is from three
hundred to five hundred feet. Hatchie Is
navlgable for three hundred and twenty-five
miles, and is about three hundred or four
hundred feet wide, with gentle current. At
extreme low water, boats cauuCt run In 1t but
for nine months in each year; but it affords
water for the transportation of large steam
boats, and at the present writing would float
the old Eclipse or any other steamer that
naVlgates the Father of Waters. Now let
US cipher q little. 1t costs you two dollars per
bale to haul your cotton to Brownsville, and
If you stay Ia town, twenty five cents each
for stall hire for your horse, or risk his being
stolen, and then you put your cotton GA the
railroad, they charge you two dollars and
htty cents per bale, or IN other words, it costs
you four dollars and seyeGty~fva cents per
bale by the way of Brownsville From Rip
ley to Hatchle river. ten miles, you can get
your cotton hauled for one dollar per bale;
ship 1t yourself to Memphis on q boat for
another dollar, thus saving on each bale two
dollars and seventy-fye cents, a ID provided
the county OF Lauderdale, within ten miles If
the rlver, raises twenty thousand bales
which Is a low estimate, there would be
saved to the producer the sum of fifty Ave
thousand nine hundred dollars each
year, and IN three years more than cur rail-
road subscriptions; and this cheap transporta-
ton would enable the farmers to send off their
" nd nj F.
selling our corn and oats at twenty five cents
per bushel we should get some forty or fifty
cents, frequently more. In recent CONVEX
satlOa had with Mr.. Albert Posey, he in
formed me that IN the season Of 1860 there
were eleven steamboats, navigating HaLchIe
nVer, all Of which were well patrouzed, and
some OF them carried fourteen hundred bates
OF cotton each trip, so that | had greatly I'M
deresbmated the trade of the river, and as
there Is more cotton made in Lauderdale at
present than at that time, l hazard nothing
IN saying we could support q boat every day
IN the week. do not belong to the order
called Changers, but understand one of their
principal objects Is to put down mcnopolies
and rings Of all sorts, and | call their atten-
ton to the repeal OF this unnavigable act #
they wish cheap transportation. As | said
before, l am no enemy to railroads but
neither am | SO much their advocate as I was
formerly, especially these hard times to raw
railroad taxes. 1 would rather have Big
Hatchie, with her former steamboat trade
than the Paducah railroad, for in all the good
weather In the fall of the year we can haul
% Fulton and IL the winter we can haul to
Hatchle. 1t you will examine map OF the
United States, look for Lauderdale county.
YOU will find it bounded on the north hy
torked- Deer river, on the south bv Bic
HatchIe, and on the west by the mighty Mis-
slssippi, and you cannot find a spot of la1d
within the limits of the county over twelve
miles from navigation. You can find no
other county in the nation so favorabIy sltu-
lted. We have a rlch soil for cotton. corn
bats, rye, all kinds of vegetables, splendid
timber, good water, in fact, one of the most
favored spots IN the western world, and if we
use industry and economy we shall be the
most prosperous people. VIC"