The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1882-05-03
THE RAIL ROADS.
The r. d. Ms. Weekly Outlook
Along the Iron Rails.
The Richmond ani - K r.

The Richmond aud II Il Il. has
declared another quarterly dividend OF
= per cent payable Nay ID.
The new stock of the Richmond
and DauvilIe Terminal Company will
be issued May 5th. Col. VIM. K. Trigg,
is the general agent u Headquarters,
ROOM I, i45 Broadway.
Miss Rebe. Smith drove the last
spike on the Scotland Neck X. X. \
big diuner was given the workmen.
The correspondent of the Weldon Ne.c'
adds that in connection with the Rail
road signs of Reconstruction, sewers
weddings are at hand.
A meeting of the Richmond auC
Danviile Syndicate or Stockholders
of the +. & D. Extension Company ha'
been called to meet at ia Broad st,
Newark. New Jersey, May Sd. Thos
Sedden, Secretary.
--Friday is .'Unlucky," they say; bu'
on that day a locomotive crossed Frencf
Broad River at Paint Rock. and raj
down to Warm Springs 50 that at las
the track Is open from Raleigh to Nor
ristown, Tennessee.
Railroad Commissioner Bonham
and a large party, were dlned ano
wined at the completion OF the Angus
Ia, Asheviile, and Knoxville r K, t
Greenwood, S G. This is to pas.
through Eastatoe Gap, and tap tht
Ducktown route near Wa,nesville. o.
follow it into Asheville, and on to Nor
ristowr.
Mr.. NJ. c. Dixon, who has hae
skating Kinks at several places in NORTH
Carolina, went to New York to sell
car-coupler, invented by Mr.. Brooks
He was paid 81, 800 for it; and short
shortly afterward John Schroeder anC
his wife Rachel, met him on Broadway
They invited him to a saloon, where al
partook of beer. When they were goins
out Mr.. Dixon found 81 200 of his money
gone, and charged Mrs. Schroede, with
taking it. He caused her to be arres
ted.
Many persons fail to comprehend
what is termed The Richmond anG
System Or "Syndicate." They arc
mystifiei by the rapidity with which a
small, new, and debt burdencd line
like the 40 miles of track from Rich.
mond and Danvi.le, has developed into
the controlling inf1uencein half "a dozen
States The key to it is-stock spccu
lation, seconded by the extraordinar.
growth and expansion of trade and
travel during the past half dozen years.
When Richmond and Lees Army
needed bread, and other succor, The
patriotism, of the old North Stnte arost
superior to State pride, or Stale selfish
ness, and the grand scheme OF North
Carolina development for which the
best minds of the State had so long
labored, was killed on the day which
Jaw tho North Carolina Central
Railway tapped at Greensboro, by the
connecting link with Danville.
When the war ended, a series OF
accidents, burnt bridges, etc, inter
rupted through communication with
Norfolk, at various periods, so that
much traffic got accustomed to going
North, via Danville. The Managers
of the Richmond line were shrewd iel>
lows VIII saw that the North Caro-
lima System must be broken up before
the demand for a Consolidation of thr~e
lines between Asheville and Newbern,
should become strong enough to force
its adoption. Unhappily for North Car
DINA there was considerable jealousy
between some of the Eastern towns, as
we'll as between the of the
different Roads. The first newspaper
writing that the Editor of the Farmer
ard Mechanic ever did, comprised a
series of articles in Newbern journals
wherein he plead with all the facts,
| M nn,1 -, --,L -, ]
could offer, that the three Roads should
be consolidated" and thus a grand
Trunk Route from the sunrise, at
Beaufort harbor, to sunset at Asheville,
west of the Blue B'dge, be created,
and daily traversed by the same trains.
DO this I've urged,-and North
Carolina will no longer be a strip of
land, across which the Of
the continent. daily whirls without a
particle Of proft, or honor to US. Do
this, and North Carolina will at last
have a great State Road, like the New
lOrk Central the "Pennsylvania
Central" the Baltimore & Ohio Cen
trail, . and the Georgia Central"
Neglect to do this now, and you will
never have another opportunity for the
strings OF Charleston, Norfolk and Bal
timore, are already drawing our trade
away from u.s."
Many ADLER heads than ours have urg-
ed the same views; but the opposition
of those who were in office, the ieal
ousies of rival localities, and the in
trlgues OF stock spectators, always pre-
vented the consumation SO devoutly to
be wished.
A. S. Buford saw his opportunity.
and-so did Maj. VIM. A. Smith, then
President Of the North Carolina Rail
road. There is considerable ''history'
of the transaction, suffice to say Bufori
secured a virtually perpetual lease at a
sum which insured the stock holders a
six per cent. dividend on their stock.
and thereby stopped any complaint on
their part. True, the lease money
and taxes, and lawyers fees, and run,
ming expenses. were greater than the
earnings Of the Road! But what of
that, so long as the lease broke up the
consolidation movement, switched
on the current of trade, from North
Carolina ports, to Richmond, and
paved the way for other enterprises
THE SYNDICATE.
These things were all done prior to
1879. Col. Buford, and his Richmond
colleagues, seeing the success of past
measures, and forseeing a Boom in
IN railroad matters, set about to
iengthen their cords and strengthen
thelr stakes. To carry out their projects
a number OF New York M~illionaires
were taKen into the scheme. We have