Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-05-09
TIE RAILROAD NETTING.

- A@li- A.At% ~ Eli ~ y, n AaASttrs =c&tr
circular Saturday calling meetin
OF the bond holders on the r. A. & Z
railroad at the Court House th.
= night. ~w1L-~zETTr
Fhe dhject Of the meeting As state
IN the circular, was to consider tn
means by which the road could b
pushed to completion. IT
A large number of business mel
and others interested in the road as
sembled at the the time designated ii
the Chancery Court room.
Ms.G. b. Wilson was elected chair
man and the representatives of tn
press acted as secretaries.
Mr.. Kennedy stated that the meet
ing was called at the instance o
the friends and subscribers to the
bonds of the road, with view &C
\ having report from the President
of the company as TO the present con
tlition and future prospects Of the en-
terprise, and with view OF co-opera
ting with him in the prosecution oil
the work, Especially was il important
! that delinquent AsNbseribers should
come forward and pay up their sub
scrip;ions; that although the work
had not progressed as rapidly rs was
desired, and as all had expected, that
tins was brought about, at least in part,
BY the great financial depression Of
the lust year, and by the failure OF
many subscribers to promptly pay
calls on their subscriptions. That the
benefits of the road to all business in
terests OF GAINESVILLE, and to the people
along the line is already seen and felt
and if the road could only be compile
ted rapidly to, Princeton, the benefits
would be greater than the most san
guine friend now believed. W To-
Maj E. c. Gordon, in response to
calls made upon him for a speech,
came forward and said he was glad to
see this gathering OF the business men
of Clarksville. He doubted not all
came for some good purpose, some
with the commendable purpose of
seeking more accurate information as
to the affairs of the I. A. q T. r. r,
and others who had more knowledge
of its status had come to mark to-
nighta new era in the history of the
enterprise The remark of the Pre-
mier of England in his memorable
speech a few daysisince, that the de-
mand for information was always a
plausible demand, and often a rea-
sonable one, was applicable as well to
the affairs of railroad corporations by
its stock and bondholders, as to the
affairs OF state by. every citizen of the
country; and as President of the COM
pany it. gave him great pleasure to
outline the past history of thisA enter
prise, as well as its future prospects,
and it's necessities.
When the road was begun, the
whole country was in a prosperous
condition, aud was prosecuted with at
least some degree Of vigor until the
fearful financial crash, which virtually
work on all railroads
the country. When work
was begun here there was little or no
difficulty in obtaining money to build
a railroad where the resources along
the line could be demonstrated to
promise sufficient development as to
pay interest on the cost of the road.
He had sold his interest in the Geor-
gia Pacific Railway to come up here
and help the people build this read,
and to devote his time, his attention,
his energies. and Il large portion of his
means to the construction OF
this line, line which he hoped would
lead from the Ohio river to
the Gulf OF Mexico. Atthat time he
had assurances of as much money as
was required to build this entire line,
and there were fair prospects of find
ing good market for the securities of
the road, but very soon thereafter the
dark financial cloud began to gather
and it was not long before it burst
out by the failure ofzthe Metropoli-
tan bank and other great financial insti-
buttons throughout the country. After
these great calamities had fallen upon
the people, many of the friends of this
either decided to go no fur
Their or we're unable to do so, and the
result was that he and his immediate
circle of friends had either to furnish
the money or abandon the work. They
chose the former course, and preferred
to raise additional sums of money by
the sale of other valuable property
rather than abandon this enterprise,
and with the exception of about $780,
300, furnished by local subscribers,
they had furnished the balance, and
that the road had cost up to this time |
nearly TSOutVp. ne also fllitu6 u SIdto- |
ment in a general way as to the liabili- |
ties and resources of the company, and |
that if delinquent sub
scribers would come forward and |
promptly pay up the $4,000 now due
the work would go rapidly forward.
The road had been well built and |
in all important particulars was con-
structed with a view to u change OF
guage, to the standard guage-th that is,
wide road bed, ties s feet long, trestles |
and bridges calculated for 30 ton loco
and nearly all of the twenty |
miles were laid with new steel rails.
There are nearly ten miles additional
graded, while considerable force is
now at work The third section of |
ten miles win be graded within few
weeks, rails for six miles of which are |
already on hand, and in GAINESVILLE. |
Negotiations are now pending with
contractors to complete |
the grading on the third and fourth |
sections of 10 miles, and it is conf |
IDENTIFY expected that this contract will |
be closed within few days. From
heretofore had with the |