Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-10-29
RArHRoADs AGAIN.
oar Best chance Yet.

Oar Best Chance Vet
This paper has been charged with |
being iukewarm on the railroad
question unjustly so. We have
been slow to take hold of schemes
we deemed impracticable, beIiev-
ing that the mooting of them tend
ed more to kill off than to invigo-
rate any sentiment favorable to
such enterprises; but we believe
that proposals nov made to us tfe
not only practicable but better suit
ed to our interests than any other of
the many schemes which have oc-
cupied our attention, and we pro-
pose to urge them with all the force
that IL i'm ms On the attention of our
readers.
LOCATION OF THE LINE.
or course we are speaking Of the
enterprise which was last week in
troduced to our notice by Judge
Wood, OF Alabama. The clearest
idea Of the proposed line will be OBJ
tanned by commencing on the map
of the United States at Mobile, and
from that point following the thir-
ty-eighth meridian of longitude
northward TO Chicago. 1t will be
found that very near to this line lie
the cities OF Mobile, Tuscaloosa,
and Florence, Alabama, GAINESVILLE,
Tennessee, Evansville, Indiana,
and Chicago, Illinois.
It is proposed by the new line to
establish communication between
these important cities, together with
the intervening country. Not that
it will be required to construct
line to Chicago. Mobile South and
Evansville North are the proposed
terinini. Evansville once reached,
the communications from that,
point, not only with Chicago, but
every important point North, East,
and West, are SO abundantly estab-
lished already that all the purposes
of the road will be fulfilled.
RESOURCES OF THE LINE.
1t Is a wonder that no railroad
has yet penetrated the country to
be traversed by this. 1t is a terri
tory whose resources are inexhaust-
ible. From Mobile ito North Ala
bama, as fine a cotton country as
exists, is penetrated. In North Al
ALBANIA it strikes the iron mines and
coal measures, the development of
which was the purpose of those who
first started the project then inn
mediately on entering Tennessee, it
strikes the rich iron country of
Wayne, Lewis, Hickman, Dickson,
and Montgomery; reaching Clarks-
vile it is in the middle of the noted
tobacco district, to which this city
has given its name; besides which
it will be fed by the manufactures
which such line cannot fail to de-
velop here. Then in its course
through Kentucky II taps as fine a
coal district as can be found south
of Pittsburgh and at Evansville
opens communications with the en-
tire United States.
This whole country is at present
destitute of railroad cOmmuniea-
tions. In its route through Ala
bama and Tennessee it passes
through tract averaging over fifty
miles wide, with the Mobile & Ohio
road on one side, and the Louisville
Il Great Southern on the other, but
itself destitute of railroad commu-
nication.
GAINESVILLE INTEREST IN 1T.
How long has GAINESVILLE been
hoping and working to get commu-
nicatiOns with the coal fields north
Of us, and the iron country south of
us? Say, rather, how long is it
since, hammering at one impracti-
cable scheme and another; hope de-
ferred has been converted into the
apathy of despair? Now, at last
here is project offered by men who
are unquestiOnably able to carry it
out, by which, not only will the de
sired local advantages be effected,
but communication North, South,
East, and West will be secured US
by a line independent OF that now
existing.
1t has long been seen that -Clarks-
willie can only continue to grow as a
manufacturing city, and the essen
tial conditions of her attaining that
rank are that she gain ready and
cheap access to the coal and iron
which must be the materials Of her
work, and then be secured ready
and cheap communication with all
those trade centers which must fur
nish her a market for the goods.
The proposed line would give her
direct communication with the At
lantic and the Gulf of Mexico, the
agricultural lands south of US, the
northern lakes, and the eastern ci-
ties. 1t is certainly the road want
ed by GAINESVILLE.
CAN WE GET IT?
There is the rub. There is no
doubt that the road will be construc-
ted as far as Florence, Alabama,
but whether it will take the course
we have described from that point
depends on several considerations.
There are conflicting lines north
ward from Florence, and the adop-
ton of the one or the other will de-
pend mainly on the aid and encour-
agement held out by their respect
i've inhabitants.
One of. these conflicting lines |
would take the line through Jack |