Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-07-03
THE RAILROAD TO HIGHLAND.

THE RAILROAD TO HIGHLAND.
There is another reason for having conf
dence in the proposed scheme. railroad to
this place would draw in trade which already |
has more convenient marts. Pendleton Is
nearer to .Harrisonburg and Bridgewater; 70 !
cahontas finds Millboro more accessible, ana
SO too does Bath and even o small part OF
Highland. A road running to this point would
reach out and gather in the larger bulk OF all
this. Further, there are many resources right
around us untitled for want of market,
which would swell the business done with
Staunton. We have minerals which could be
developed, timber going to waste which would
be worked up, fine grass which would be
turned into butter, all of which would
give employment to unemployed lapor'
which in turn would want supplies
thus supplying what others need and demand
ing that which others supply. And this e1'
change would be carried on principally
through Staunton merchants, who are too
shrewd not to see the great advantage the
completion of such a project would be to
them, and the great loss they sustain if it were
to be diverted into other channels. AS for
Highland, we can say, ''Barkis is willin'.'
And we feel that we can go further and say
that, Notwithstanding the fact that her people
are indignant in consequence of taxation i'm
posed to meet railroad bonds for which they
get nothing, they will aid in the undertaking
if they have guarantee that the road will b.
built.-Highl1aad Recorder.
The Recorder has shown such deep in
terest In the material advancement OF
its county and such keenly intelligent
appreciation OF It's wants, united with 80
friendly spirit towards Staunton, t"at
what its editor says about the proposed
railroad is worthy of the highest consider
alton by our business men. Highland has
once been taken in by a subscription to
s'deferred' railroad, the Marrow Gauge;
but if Staunton took hand in a railroad
to that point its citizens would feel assur-
ed that there would be NO repetition of it..
The passage of the Marrow Gauge through
Highland was merely an incident in line
projected from Washington to st. Louis.
and had no deep local interest to prevent
it's suspension at will. We desire to press
upon the Staunton M. & M. Association
this matter of a railroad to Pendleton.
Not alone because of the well deserved in
huence of it's members in the community.
bat because they are necessarily the best
informed about the merits of the enter.
prise. One thing. we think, is fully re-
cognizsd by all in interest. and that is
that SJaunton must do something. What
that something is, can be the only ques-
tion to decide. Is it a railroad The
times are propitious for it. Iron was
never so cheap. labor never as cheap, and
the timber lies along the route with no
cost of transportation. 80 cheaply can a
| railroad be built now, that we recently saw
a proposition from firm we'll known to
our people, to build one through a
mountainous country, including the super
structure and the furnishing of certain
quantity of rolling stock, for the total of
81, 500 per mile payable in city and county
bonds. In this enterprise it is reasonable
| to suppose that Staunton would have the
cooperation of at least three counties.
With such an opportunity to do thing
that must be done some time-or we
| suffer the irrevocable loss Of large body
of valuable trade-it seems to US that
Staunton's intelligence, power, and re-
put in operation.
The mere bu ilding of the railroad would
produce an instantaneous effect on affairs
along it's line. A goodly trade of itself
would at once spring up at the very begin
ming of the work, and be fit introduction
to the new period of commercial activity
which must soon follow the depression OF
the last four years. Our county produce
would have a nearer and better market
from the first month the work got under
| way, and this one enterprise would soon
beget others. 1t is fact, however DIS
agreeable to us all to record it, that our
town has not originated single enter
prise in the lifetime of the present gen
GRAFTON. In the State charitable institu-
lions, and in the army Of pupils brought
by the female colleges bringing such q
volume of business to her, Stanton has
! had no hand whatever. The institutions
she owes to her unrivalled climate, and the
colleges to private enterprise. but in her
corporate capacity our town has never
originated a single scheme for her own
! benefit. 1t is not that she is not large
enough. for we remember that when
Lynchburg had only Six thousand inhabi-
tants she had the nerve to subscribe
$500, 900 to the Virginia & Tennessee rail-
road, and. by that one act secured arm
footing among cities. Like Staunton in
her subscription to the Valley railroad,
Lynchburg had already made large sub
scription to the James River & Kanawha
canal and found that as 1t passed her it
carried her back country local trade away
to Richmond, and she had the pluck to
save some bad money by throwing good
after it. By her railroad subscription
| Lynchburg got at back country trade
that no amount of drumming by the larger
cities has since been able to wrest from
her. Such victory for Sbaunton would
follow the building of the railroad
to and through Highland.
The best news that the true friends Of
ireland, we don't mean the dynamiters,
have had for a long time is the announce
ment that last Friday night, Michael Da-