Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-03-03
The South Atlantic Outlet.
NEW LIFE TO BE INFUSED INTO THE BLUE
RIDGE RAILROAD.
rFrom the New York Times I

South CsruIipa was chartered iu thut State.
Georgia, North Caroline apd Tennessee In
1867. The rond was to cxteud feom Ander-
son. 8 O., to Knoxville, Tenn, distance
of 1875 miles. The enterprise was The
business dream Of John G. Calhoun, aud
has hcen the pct scheme Of the Trenholma,
tho GourdiHs, tho llamptons aud the load-
ing men Of South Carolina ever since the
road WIS fi,st projected. Tho object Of
tho iacorpora'ors wins to connect Charleston
With the great Northwest b, q direct Iiue
of rails which would shorten the distance
to Chicago apd Cincinnati over tho exist
ing lines by about 200 miles % tho
South Carolina aud Georgia end of the
line over $4,O00,0O0 were expended before
the civil war put an end to the work. or
this sum, the State of South Curoina and
tho City Of Charleston contributed SO .00O,-
900 vnd the bulance was raised by vulun-
tary subscriptions and mortgage bonds
which are now tho only exis,lug liens on
tho road In South Carolina 43 miles OF
the road were completed, connecting Auder-
con with Wslbaln, aud this section Of the
road llss been iu good running order, ever
since. Beyond Wslhalla tho roud was
graded us tar % tho Blue Ridge hlountuine,
and tunnel, 5000 fset 10 leua.h, was
begun through tho mouotains About
.4,500 feet of this tunnel was completed.
450 feet being bored through n,ut rock
By means Of the tuouel the grade over the
.inuuntoius has been reduced to 70 feet to
tho mile, which ia an easier grade than
that Of auy of the other railroads o.ospine
tho Blue Ridge aud the Alicghsnies. Iu
tho State .: Georgia two small tunnels were
part Of the original rlsn of The road. Que
Of them is entire.y Completed, aud the
other liz very neary so 4 large part Ut
the craing ia Georgia is ulsu com pcte,i
Ibe road runs directly through The R.hun
Cup. which adults Of D passage through
the nOun'uius ut y comparatively tnfl,ug
'exponsu. On the Northwestern eud of the
lite clghteea miles of roud were completed
from Knox :ille to Ma'yvIle. Tenn, aud
this porliun hns been in running order ever
'si"cc It Was hn'lt AT this cad Of the roo,t
about $1,000, QUO wero expended by the
State Ut Ienpos>fe, under the lnternal In
proeemcnt Act Que hundred aud thirty
i've u,'es Of the road, as originally .urvc yed !,
remain to he CONSTRUCTED The work wa,
being rapidly prosecuted @hen the civil war
began, aud ths, put veto on the
enterprise which hts not been renewed 10
to tho present ,iuie A number Of New
Y"rk aud Bustou Capitalists nr. now prr.
pairing to take posscssioD of the charter,
and push the road through to couple.
tion.
A prominent South Cs,o.ioa citizen now
in New York told Times reporter son,r
very Interesting facts III r"gnt,i to The Blu.
Ridge kaIlroud mud the r0sds with which i,
viii compste for business it 1t il built as
originally designed. He said: The mort
gage lieus gu this property ouhs!sts "f fitsi
mOrtguc" bonds 10 The amount oi 1926 QUO,
with intcrest since 1861, upd s-coud mort
gage bonds tu The amount Of S5!,S 200. 10
1854 itst sDurtcagc tuan OF 81 50U, 900
was authorized by ih" company, Lur uud,r
thia "ntlorly bonds to the amount Of
$236 600 only were issued. Ia the same
year the Legislature of South Carolina
guaranteed bunos tu the COMPANY to com
pl'te he road TO the amount OF 81 900 QUO.
This euarsHtee wss never used, but iu 1863
the Legislature confirmed it, aud added
$S,tOO.0O to the guarantee, provided so
much Was necessary to pay the outstanding
ti'st mortgage bonds unb the floating debt
OF the compuuy and to cumyIe,e the rond
Owing to tie t~Dio Of 1878, only $685.
OO0 OF these second mortguge bonds guar.
aDtced by The State were ever issued, and
the balance of the State gunrsutce wss re-
turned to fbe State treasury aud orncel,.d
The State guarantee ON the scrcnd mort.
gage bonds was declared constitutional by
Judge Melton, Of The Court of Com a,o,
PIeas Of RichIoDd County, before The
ipdorscmeut waa nude. These mortgages
arc first and second lien on tie euure
road, with all The righte upd fruuohiscs of
tho company. except on the IenuerHee end
OF tho lac, where tho State Of !cnuessc.
has a prior lieu on tic Is miles of com
pe;nd road, for the 1000 600 advanc. d
under the internal lmpsov, mcnt Aui. The
imrorfuucc Of the action about to DO takcn
toward the complexion Of lie road vii! DO
appcfciutrd by those who understand the
system Of ra,!topds connecting the great
Northwest with tho Southeastern AlIap.io
ports. The Louisville aud Nashville ind
the Kentucky Cco,,ul Railroad cor pan,es
have recently comhincd with the Knox u;lIc
and Ohio Company, nnd ugtred to bald
their roads to the Tennessee limo. 80 as 90
form q direct connection With Rockville,
and contracts for INC work ure about to be
rwarded. The Cincinnati Snuthcro fluids
itec|f ut Chattanonea dcpendcot on the
Louisville nod Nashville to rc"ch tho Allan
tic porte Of the Spnthnast and 10 order to
make itself iudspardent, the Cincinna, i
Southern has "heudy surveyed line from
Emory Cup directly cast to Knoxville. o
distance Of i2 miles. So you sec the
three grcst Wes,crD pud Southeru corpora
tions pre mokiug haste to rencl, Rockville,