The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1882-09-06
Tho Coming Q Question.

what do they want ?'-asked one
of our callers, abiding to the prevalence
of ''Railroad" candidates for the Legisla-
ture, in all directions. Well. there is a
good dea! of l.; gisiation desired by the
'Syndicates." several new charter,
will be asked for; and several modihca-
tions. The Richmond & Danville Syn'
dictate, or IN. G. Midland" having be.
gun to build its route from Danville to
Mooresville, will need certain charter
amendments. The Cape Fear aod Yad-
kin Valiey-ditto. The Lenoir Marrow
Guage ditto. A narrow guage route fol-
sight-seers, aud timber getters is project
ed, and the Asheville and Charleston route
will be opened.
Last, but not least, the W n. G. r. r.
will demand indefinite time, and devia,
tions of route. for the Ducktowp Branch.
Many persons think the route will never
be built farther west than jackson coun-
ty. or possibly to Nantaheleh, in Swain,
and perhaps down the Tennessee river to
the Tennessee Railroads, in the direction
of Chattanooga.
And really We cannot blame the Rail-
readers for baking at the prospect.
West of W~aynesville the locomotive will
have to climb over, or tunnel through,
nearly a dozen ranges Of mountain, like
a mole crossing corn-rows. These corn
rows are of solid granite. 1T is said there
was a big accident in the Cowee tunnel
last week. and many lives in peril.
10 some places the route runs for miles
on miles down narrow valleys, not wide
enough for a double-track, or a turn out.
The noted Red Marble Gap is for a long
distance less than ten feet wide, with
walls of solid rock, half a mile high.
But these mere physical difficulties are
only half the battle. We have it from
many sources, some of them u~nfriendly
to the r. & D. folks, that the Road will
not pay expenses after it is built. One
OF the leading Senators ian ex-Railroad
director, by the by) testified in the Leg
~islative Investigation, that he believed a
car load' could be made up almost any
day. west of Waynesville! But this, even,
was extravagant. The bulk of the freight
would be mineral and timber. The min
erals are mostly in Cherokee, Clay, and
Macon, whose entire traffic goes to South
Carolina, and Georgia. The people of
the South Western counties have no deal
ings with North Carolina. and they openly
speak of the Georgia Narrow Guage as
Our Road, and Atlanta al 'tOur Mar
ket.' Members of the Legislature, and
Supreme court lawyers, have to come to
Raleigh once in two years but they are
about all who do come. The Sherifs send
their tax-money by the Legislators and
the latter pass through three States to
reach the Capital. They take the cars
at Mt. Airy, Ca; cross South Carolina to
Charlotte thence 200 miles to Raleigh.
Luckily for the R. & D. people, the times
are favorable for their release. The West
is no longer solid" Burke, Buncombe,
Madison, Haywood, etc., have got their
Road, and Cherokee takes little interest
in the Ducktown Route. Many Persons
believe the marble sap" fuss is not so
savage as it looks on the surface. More
over. the State has given up the main
features of the boosted North Carolina
system" without a sigh; so why demand
this DucktOwn prong?