Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-05-02
A Great Coast Lime HALLWAY.

IL ID al CNGnl VI 4dI LuOI6 IUhu OIulAoAI
significance, for it promises in the near
future to be productive of results OF
great and lasting Importance to this en-
tire section, and indeed to the whole
Atlantic coast of the United States.
1t does not mean simply a short
ening of time and distance be-
tween Georgia's great seaport and
the metropolis of Florida for the benefit
of Northern tourists and shippers, but
it really means the formation, at no dis
tant period, of a great combined coast
line of railway connecting New York
with New Orleans, via the Atlantic
coast cities, and from thence probably
stretching far away though Texas into
Mexico and to the Pacific coast.
A prominent railway manager used TO
say that such line of road would De
the most valuable which could exist IN
in the Eastern, Atlantic and Southern
States. and his plan was to connect
the railroads Of the Gulf ana
Atlantic coast, give them a first
class track in every respect, and double
it as soon as practicable, and his pro-
posed route was as follows: From New
Orleans to Mobile, thence to Pollard,
and thence to cambridge, the present
terminus of the Savannah, Florida and
Western Railroads. distance of one
hundred and twenty-four miles. This
part of the line from Pollard to Balm
bridge has yet to be built, but all the
rest is already constructed, and in full
operation. 1t is probable. however, that
now, with this line from Waycross to
Jacksonville completed, and because of
the very cogent reasons so well set forth by
our correspondent from South Georgia,
in his letter on the Railway Commission
laws of Georgia and Alabama-elsewhere
published this morning-the proposed
line VIII extend TO Jacksonville from this
City thence via=tbe Florida Central and
the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile
Rail ways 70 Chattahoochee, Florida, and
from that point rather than from Balm.
bridge the link to Pollard will be built.
When this link is supplied, and a
good track secured, the great
atlantic coast Mexican line" will be
completed, which, as we have stated,
will extend from New York via Phila-
delphia, Baltimore, Washington, Rich
mond, Petersburg, Wilmington, N. g.,
Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, Pol
lard and Mobile to New Orleans, where
it will connect with the Texas Pacific
Roads for the Pacific coast and Mexico.
The distance from New York to New
Orleans is about 1, 800 miles, and all the
road necessary to be built to secure
this grand Atlantic coast system will
pass over a level section of country with
a surface, in great part, as even as a quiet
sea.
The gauge of the roads from Whining
ton to New Orleans are uniformly five
feet, and from Wilmington north, of
''the, standard gauge" four feet eight
and half inches. Therefore, all trains
over this proposed line would now run
through from New York to Wilmington,
at which point there would be needed
fresh train for the Southern cities 1t is
probable, however, that when the system
is completed. the Southern roads will
adopt the standard gauge and trains
will run through from one ter
minus 70 the other without delay.
With good track and machinery
this run Of aIteen hundred miles could
easily be mana N 4zfty hours, at the
average rate of speed of thirtY-eight
miles per hour, which, we doubt not,
could safely be attained, or in forty eight
hours at a rate of thirty-one and a quar-
ter miles an hour. By running one such
train through daily, an enormous pas
senger traffic would be secured, while
the problem of a fast mail and express
service for each of the principal cities
aud towns on and adjacent to the line
would be solved.
The great advantages this proposed
line would prove to Savannah are simply
incalculable. Not only would the
schedule which we have outlined give
our city passenger mail from New
York in twenty-fOur hours and one from
New Orleans in sixteen hours, but it
would largely add to the commercial i'm
portance of the port. We would be the
first Atlantic port which could be reach
ed from Texas and all points south of
us, and as shippers would
naturally seek to get to the ocean
as soon as possible, so as to reap the
benefits to be secured by water communi-
cation with the outside world, without
the dangers and delays attendant upon
the route by way of the Gulf and the
Florida reefs, it is reasonable to antici-
pate that very large proportion of the
cotton of Texas, Alabama, Florida and
South Georgia, the naval stores
of Florida and sections tributary
to this line, and. The ffuits ana 4egatal
blss ef eI,i e state would poured
ii0f6 Tie ssvsnna|E for distribution
d sllaa u fhe gleBe. Thus our
chg sE6lila ggfow rapidly in size, wealth
and Importance, and become, more than
ever, the first port on the South Atlantic
coast.
We have herein as briefly as possible,
and therefore somewhat feebly, endeav-
ored to outline a great Atlantic coast
railway system, which is readily sug-