The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-02-24
WHAT MAY BE A TRUNK LINE.
a Project Which may help Cincinnati
Southern to Reach the Sea.

ShlOllud was CIldl lH L!ldl
State, Georgia, North Carolina and Ten.
nessee in 1852. This road was to extend
from Anderson, S. c., to Knoxville, Tenn,
distance of 196 miles. The enterprise
was the business dream of John G. CAL
houn, and has been the pet scheme
of the Trenholms, the Gourdins, the
Hamptons, and the leading men ofSouth
Carolina ever since the road was first pro-
jected. The object of the incorporators
was to connect Charleston with the great
Northwest by direct line of rails which
would shorten the distance to Chicago
and Cincinnati over the existing lines by
about 200 miles. On the South Carroll.
ma and Georgia end of the line over 81,
100000 were expended before the civil
war put an end to the work. Of this
sum, the State ofSouth Carolina and the
city of Charleston contributed So, ,OOO 900,
and the balance was raise, by voluntary
subscriptions and mortgage bonds, which
are now the only existing liens on the
road. In South Carolina 43 miles of the
road were completed, connecting Ander-
son with Walhalla, and this section of the
road has been in good runnig order ever
since Beyond Walhalla the road was
graded O., far as the Blue Ridge Mountains,
and tunnel, 5000 feet in length, was
begun through the mountains. About
4,500 feet of this tunnel were completed,
$50 feet being bored through rock. By
means of tunnel the grade over the noun
tains was reduced to 70 feet to the mile,
which is an easier grade than that of any
of the other railroads crossing the Blue
Ridge and the Alleganies. In the State
of Georgia two small tunnels were part
of the original plan of the road. One Of
them is entirely completed, and the other
is very nearly so. A large part of the
grading in Georgia is also completed.
The road runs directly through the Rabun
Gap, which admits of passage through
the mountains at a comparatively trihing
expense. On the northwestern end of
the line IS miles of road were completed,
from Knoxville to Marysville, Tenn,
and this portion has been in running or
der ever since it was built. At this end
of the road about 81 100000 were expen-
ded by the State of Tennessee, under the
Internal Improvement act. One hundred
and thirty.fve miles of the road, as orig
inaIly surveyed, remain to be constructed
The work was being rapidly prosecuted
when the civil war began, and that put
veto on the enterprise which has not been
removed up to the present time. A mum.
ber of New York and Boston capitalists
are now preparing to take possession Of
the charter, and push the road through
to completion.
A prominent South Carolina citizen
now in New York told Times reporter
yesterday some very interesting facts in
in regard TO the Blue Ridge Railroad and
the roads with which it will compete for
business if it is built as originally de.
signed. He said: "The mortgage liens
on this property consist of first mortgage
bonds to the amount Of S236, 900, with in-
terest since 1861, and second mortgage
bonds to the amount of S598,000. In
1864 a first mortgage loan of S1,5OO,0OO
was authorized by the company, but
under this authority bonds to the amount
of S236,000 only were issued. In the
same year the Legislature of South Caro-
lima guaranteed bonds to the company to
complete the road to the amount of
81 100000. This guarantee was never
used, but in 1868 the Legislature con-
frmed it and added s3,00O,000 to the
guarantee, provided so much was neces-
sary to pay the outstanding first mortgage
bonds, and the floating debt of the COM
pany, and to complete the road. Owing
to the panic of 1873, only $598,000 of
these second mortgage bonds, guaranteed
by the State, were ever issued, and the
balance of the State guarantee was re-
turned to the State Treasury and can.
celed. The State guarantee on the Sec
ond mortgage bonds was declared consti-
tutional by Judge Melton, of the Court
of Common Pleas of Richland county,
before the Endorsement was made. These
mortgages are first and second lien on
the entire road, with all the rights and
franchises of the company, except on the
Tennessee end of the line, where the
State of Tennessee has a prior lien on
the Is miles of completed road, for the
81 900, 900 advanced under the Internal
Improvement act. The importance Of
the action about to be taken toward the
completion of the road will be apprecia-
ted by those who understand the system
of railroads connecting the great North
west with the Southeastern Atlantic ports.
The Louisville and Nashville and the
Kentucky Central Companies have re-
Gently combined with the Knoxville and
Ohio Company, and agreed to build their
roads to the Tennessee line, so as to form
direct connection with Knoxville, and
contracts for the work are about to be
awarded. The Cincinnati Southern finds
itself at Chattanooga dependent on the
Louisville and Nashville to reach the
Atlantic ports of the Southeast; and in
order to make itself independent, the
Cincinnati Southern has already sur
veyed a line from Emory Gap directly
east to Knoxville, distance of AZ miles.
So you see the three great Western and
Southern corporations are making haste
I to reach Knoxville, the northwestern end
of the Blue Ridge Railroad. At Ander-
son, the southeastern end, there arc two
railroad connections with Charleston,
Port Royal end Savannah. One is over
the Greenvlle and Columbia Railroad,
WHICH, uaS IeCeutly OeCA puASno'eo ~
the Clyde party, of this city, and the
Stewards, of Richmond, Va. The other
is by way of the Savannah Valley, which
is to be built, and the route this way will
be so miles shorter than by the Greenyillc
Road. The Edgefeld, Trenton and Aiken
Railroad is rapidly approaching compile.
ton. The South Carolina Railroad, the
great corporation OF the State, is about
to pass into the hands of New York and
Boston Capitalists. 1t should be remem-
bered," continued the speaker, "that the
only completed railroad from the North
west to the Southeast is the Chattanooga
and Atlanta, now controlled by the
Louisville and Nashville Company
The freight business Of this line is so
great that the trains almost touch each
other, and the facilities for doing the
business of the section arc totally made.
quate. The completion of the Blue
Ridge Road will supply a want that has
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