The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-03-18
FROM CINCINNATI TO THE GULF.

Clnclnnatl S0utnern hallrOaQ upon Ihe
business of this city it is natural to think
primarily of the demand for our wares,
fabrics and manufactures that is to spring
up along its line and the trade that will
flow here from that vast section that has
hitherto been about as remote as Quebec
from our mercantile and manufacturing
world. There is another, or rather sew
eral other phases of the question to look
at, but we think that the one that will
come home especially to everybody will
be the moving Of our area of early mar.
ket supplies from three to five hundred
miles further towards the tropics than
heretofore. New Orleans fortnight ago
began to forward new potatoes, green
peas and cucumbers north, and these
have already made their appearance in
st. Louis and Chicago markets.
Jacksonville, Florida, sends us greet
ing on the 18th with a delegation of pas
sengers for the new Southern Road and
is for her oranges, strawberries and vege-
tables, now abundant there, but twenty
four hours distant from our markets.
The Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, to
say nothing of Southern Tennessee, are
but twelve hours hence, and millions Of
acres are available for the raising of mar
ket vegetables, weeks if not months
earlier than our Kentucky, Clermont
and Hamilton County friends can grow
and bring in the products Of their gar
dens The result of all this is two-fold
great industry hitherto unknown al
most South will spring up from here al,
most if not quite down tos the Gulf, and
the season for spring vegetables and
fruits here in Cincinnati will be extend
ed over one-half of the winter months
An instance of how the opening of a
great trunk line directly south affects
the development of industry and popu-
lation along its line is shown in the st.
Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad that
runs south from st. Louis through Mis-.
souri, to Arkansas and diagonally across
that State.
When opened years ago it passed
through portion of Arkansas almost a
wilderness and now line of thrifty
population extends almost its entire
length; towns are building up, lands are
bought, farms opened and improved.
Fruit seems Indigenous to the climate
and the demand at St. Louis and north.
ward is almost unlimited. We see it
stated that last year something like 190,.
900 packages of fruit and vegetables
passed over that road to st. Louis mark.
cts and as high as one thousand dollars
worth of small fruit was marketed from
q acres of ground on the above road ir
Arkansas. Tennessee is equally favora.
BILE for both fruit and vegetables and fol
that matter so are any Of the States
whose railroads connect with our grea
artery South. 1t follows necessarily tha
population must spring up its whole length
and the regions we penetrate, now among
the most populous and enterprising O.
any Of the Southern States, will, in de
cade, almost double their population
And why not? Since Rome built hel
Appian Way what revolutions have
amazed the world! And ofall the peace
full revolutions that have come railroads
are perhaps the most marvellous in theil
effects upon the development of human
industry. Hitherto in the United States
the great railroad lines have tended east
and west, but latterIy the instinct of com
merce has pointed Enthusiastically to thu
need of lines north and south. The Mis-
sissippi River, with all its marvellous ca
pacities for transportation, is left behind
in spite OF its floating palaces by the
rushing locomotive, with its endless
trains that speed perpetually
to and fro like o shuttle in
the web of human destiny. The railroad
north from New Orleans and Mobile is
extending its ramifcations and connec.
tions throughout the great Northwest
The St. Louis & Iron Mountain piercing
the great State Of Texas with its con.
Meeting links is pushing onward .in the
direction of Mexico. And now our OWL
Southern Road, the best built, the most
important Of them all, is opened to poul
into our lap the products Of region
vast as an Empire, and to join us in link,
of indissoluble unity to the Gulf of Mex