The Rugbeian. (Rugby, Morgan Co., Tenn.) 1881-1882, 1882-09-09
OUR PROPOSED RAILWAY.
To THE EDITOR OF THE RuaBEIAN."

contains a letter from wv. H. H." on
'"Our Proposed Railway" The initials
at once command the attention and
respect of every one who IS convcrsant
with Rugby history; but the conclusions
arrived at admitting perhaps OF some
demur, it is on this account the more
important not to let them pass without
criticism.
Looked at locally, there is evidently
not much bottom to the scheme. A
wide stretch of thinly populated,
mountainous forest lands is no Eel Dorado
to the railroad builder; though even on
this basis a heavy business would be
done for some time in timber, and the
Importance of this development to
Rugby ought to secure her friendly
interest.
There is, however, much more in it
than this. A glance at a railroad map
Of Tennessee shows one great hiatus
the absence Of a direct east and west line
connecting Nashville and Knoxville.
Now line stretched on the map be-
tween these cities passes a score or so
of miles to the south of Rugby; and
the direct line is perhaps also the
easiest, on the whole, from an enineer-
ing point of view; for once the abrupt
western face Of the plateau is assembled,
the unbroken divide separating the
tributaries Of the Emory (going to the
Tennessee river) from those of Clear
Fork (going to the Cumberland), gives
practicable enough ground till the
Cincinnati Southern is intersected, say
at Kismet or Pilot mountain, and going
eastward from here, fairly easy route
/. is offered by the head valleys of the
eastern branches Of Emory, leading to
the breach in the eastern mountain well
known as Winters Cap
But now draw line from Nashville
to Glen Mary Or Sedgemoor, and thence
eastwards to knoxville, and what have
we2
We have, in the first place, total
length of line not sensibly greater than
that first named; in the second, IL COM
plete coincidence with the portion of
road already built, now terminated at
Lebanon, but graded some distance
further i'll the third, at least as easy
al approach to the plateau level us can
be shown by the other; in the fourth,
ii traverse across the plateau to the
Southernroad, which the icy istingsurveys
have already gone far enough to show
will be neither impracticable, indirect,
nor even expensive as mountain roads
60.
Lastly, after crossing the Southern, u
direct Highway eastward is opened by
the Black Wolf Valley, and hence by
moderately heavy work to the upper
reaches Of Birthstone From here for
ward to the eastern face of the Cumber-
land mountain, say at Coal Greek,
) confused and heavy country may be
met. But what looks tangled on u map
often yield to actual survey route of
unhoped-for ease and directness. And
it must be remembered that this maze
: of heavy ridges has got to be pierced /;
! for in the square block of country whose
corners are defined by Elk Gap, Coal
Creek, Winters Gap, and say Sunbright
Or Glen Mary, lie perhaps four-ifths of
the Immediately available and workable
coal Of the State, and the line we are
considering forms an exact diagonal of
this square. SO that here, as in the
case of the Southern the toughest and
most forbidding portions of the route
may turn out in the end the most
profitable.
Now matters being thus balanced,
the actual construction of such link
as the Sedgemoor and Jamestown
road may decide the future location
at our doors Of the whole through
road an iron highway uniting the
Tennessee with the Mssissippi-the
+ Appalachians with the Sierra Nevada
Charleston with San Francisco-Liver-
pool with Hong Kong. 1t is difficult
S to forecast the future Importance of
/ the "point" where such a road shall
intersect the great Cincinnati Southern.
e Finally, we may feel convinced that
t "the enterprising Pennsylvania" knows
well enough what he is about when he
0 moves in this matter: and whatever he
! and his friends may decide to do or to
leave undone, his endeavors will claim
the best wishes of this community.
!, Yours truly,
w.