The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-02-16
The Unaka Valley Railroad.
Mo1n The Aiken Recorder


From the aiken Recorder.
At the recent session of the Legisla.
ture, charter was granted for the con-
struction of q railroad under the above
title-extending from Oconee County to
the sea, bound through the Counties
adjacent to the Savannah River. As
Aiken County is on this line it may be
of interest to know something of this
project.
From a pamphlet entitled "The Un-
developed South" issued by Geo. B.
Cerolam of Knoxville, Tenn, in the
interest of this scheme, which has been
sent us. we extract from it the following
points:
ga pamphlet was issued in 1886 by
DR.. D. W. L. Breyfogle of Louisville,
Ken, which was widely distributed at
home and abroad, and has had large
influence in attracting attention of cap
ital to the wealth and opportunities for
investment in the South. DR.. Brey.
fogle's large investments in Southern
lands and properties have increased his
efforts in the direction of Southern de-
velopments and have been instrumental
in associating with him for this purpose
strong men of the East and abroad
among them Mr.. Henri M. Braem, of
New York, and one result has been the
organization of the Charleston and Nash.
vile Railway Company of which DR..
Breyfogle is the President. 1t has
secured valuable lands along its lines,
and has bought out CONTROLLING rights of
way and other valuable franchises in
cluding the charters and franchises Of
continuous organizations covering the
whole line"
The pamphlet dwells on the great
wealth of lumber and minerals locked up
in the region of the Cumberland noun
tains, and the need of Great Trunk
Line of Railway-at right angles to the
Atlantic Sea Coast extending to the
West, and urges the early construction of
q line from Nashville to Charleston, S.
G., across the coal fields and through the
mouutaius-via the little Tennessee and
Rabun Gaps to the coast.
"Starting from Nashville this line
would run southeastwardly for about
sixty miles through the richest agricul-
tural portion Of middle Tennessee.
Then for forty miles more through a
country with a poorer soil, but fully
compensate in being underlaid with the
Trenbore formation bearing oil and
natural gas. This brings US to the wes:
tern line of the Tennessee coal field
which comprises the Cumberland table
lands-a plateau here fifty miles wide
and 1000 feet above the valleys on either
side and 1000 feet above the level of the
sea-"
The Cincinnati Southern Railway is
crossed at the foot of the plateau $50
miles from Nashville and IS miles north
of Chattanooga. -Four miles further
east the Tennessee River is reached.
Here the line enters the most beautiful
and fertile portion, as it is the most
thickly settled in the Valley of East
Tennessee, outside of the immediate
vicinity of Knoxville or Chattanooga.
and known as the Hiawassee Land Dis.
trict. "These ridges and valleys are as
prolific in all the elements of great
traffic for a railroad as the Imagination
can conceive" Twenty-three miles east
of the crossing of the Tennessee River
the line crosses the E. 7. V. & G. r. R.,
and 81 miles further reaches the eastern
side of the Valley of East Tennessee at
the pass through Chiltower mountains
the western range of the Smoky chain.
Ten miles from the Chiltower Gate
way, the famous pass of the Little Ten
nessee through the Great Smoky or
Unaka chain is reached. This is one of
the finest passes on the continent extend.
ing for about Is miles through the
Smoky range, the cliffs rising abruptly
on either side from 1000 to 1000 feet.
In the middle of it the State line be-
tween Tennessee and North Carolina is
crossed. The grade through this pass is
less than so feet to the mile. Then we
come to Bushnell about 250 miles from
Nashville. Thirty-fve miles from Bush
nell Franklin, the county seat of Macon
County, N. O., is reached The scenery
of this region surprising that of Ashe.
Vile. Fourteen miles above Franklin
the Georgia line is reached and five
miles further brings us to Rabun Cap
the most famous in all the Blue Ridge
being approached for many miles by
almost imperceptible grade. The rise
from Chiltower pass at the western en-
trance of the mountains to Rabun Gap,
the summit of the Blue Ridge, being less
than 1900 long, steady rise most oi
the way and no part of it equalliug 80
feet per mile.
Five miles further on, winding down
the head waters of the Savannah River
the line would cross into South Carolina
and nineteen miles beyond it reaches
Walballa aud the lines putting up from
the coast. Considered as whole The
line from Nashville to Charleston is the
most remarkable in the United States
1t is no exaggeration to say that thi:
line runs through greater amount and
variety of natural wealth than can else
where be found in any part of the Amer
ican continent, across which line o
equal length can be drawn. w.