Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1895-09-26
ATLANTA EXPOSITION.
The "chicago of the South"
The Great Show Opened Sept. i9-The Govern
rnent Exhibit to Excel That at Chicago
Building and Exhibit of the Southern Railway

to the South, and still more especially
to the City of Atlanta and the State OF
| Georgia, is the Cotton States and Inter
national Exposition which was formally
opened at Atlanta. Ga, on the 18th day
| of September. and to be closed on the
3lst day of December.
That Southern City of about no. 900
population should have the enterprise
and public spirit, not to say the temer-
| itv. to undertake. almost single handed,
an enterprise so wide in its scope, so
mammoth in its proportions and requir-
| ing such a vast outlay OF money as TO
richly entitle it TO the designation of
| International, in the face of uni
versal commercial depression and tinan-
| cial panic. and that Atlanta, Ga, which
was left but little more than heap OF
ashes and smouldering ruins, with its
| population of 10, 900 scattered and home
| less by Sherman S army, when 1t took up
| its famous March to the Sea, should
be that city, il is not surprising that the
first suggestions of such an enterprise
were received with general misgiving
and that even the Southern States and
cities counselled against it, and were
| slow to come To the assistance OF sister
| city in an undertaking which at such a
! time was regarded as hazardous In the
extreme and too mammoth TO promise
even a measurable degree of accom-
plishment.
4 visit to Piedmont Park, however,
about two miles north Of the center OF
Atlanta, will dispel every doubt of the
| realization of a degree of success sur
passing the most sanguine expectations
of the projectors Of the. Cotton States
and International Exposition.
From the roof garden of the new and
modern "Aragon Hotel, which occu-
pies the highest hill in this hill city, a
| magnificent panoramic view of the city
and its surroundings is afforded. All
around you, spread over hills and val
| levs, Just sufficiently pronounced to al
| ford pleasing variety to the topography,
is the compact. wel-built hustling Chi
cago of the South. Gate City of the
| South. Atlanta with its wealth OF we'll
| paved streets and avenues, laid out ap-
parently regardless of rule or plan, which
| JON the macadamiZed roads that lead
| through the picturesque suburbs to the
rich farming lands beyond.
There is an appearance of solldlty,
grandeur and beauty in her public build
| ings. her hundred churches, her semi
narieS, colleges, numerous public school
| houses. her Henry Grady Hospital, her
stores and private houses, suggestive OF
| abundant building material near by, and
| looking away to the east. fourteen miles
across the foothills. the famous Stone
| Mountain looms up, a solid mountain OF
! granite. where immense quarrleS are OPP
Grated now. but where, thirty-One years
ago. grim-visaged war held sway and
thousands were slain, and their blood
trickled over the rugged, granite sides
of Stone Mountain.
In looking over these lovely hills and
valleys, clad in the gladneSs of Southern
verdure and yielding abundantly TO the
hand of the happy husbandman, it is
difficult TO realize that it was ever the
theater of war, and that the soil was
| literally soaked with fraternal blood.
In such an undertaking the question
of transportation is one of natural prom
inence, and every person in anywise in
terested in this exposition, every person
proposing to become an exhibitor or a
visitor has doubtless propounded the in
Quirv. whether the Southern railroads
are w VIC EtliNN VI iA''iiN'Ai'' z
the enormous travel and traffic to and
from Atlanta during the period OF the
exposition. This question Of course has
| long since been answered TO their salts
faction by the Committee on TtanSpor-
tation of the Atlanta Fair; but for the
benefit of many who acquired thier
knowledge Of the railroads of the South
! during "A period Of ten or fifteen years
succeeding the close of the war, perhaps
il will be well to say that no comparison
! can be well dra WIN between the miserable
apologies for railroads in the South dur
ing that period, with the really splendid
roadbedS and equipment and service OF
the present.
Atlanta is essentially a railroad city
and a great railroad center, having
roads. and good ones, radiating to every
section Of the country. But without
considering any of the others, there is
one system fully capable of handling eX-
peditiously, comfortably and satisfac-
torily. all the travel and traffic to and
from the exposition from any and every
direction. and that is the great comb
nation operated by a single manage
ment with headquarters at Washing
ton. ID. c.. under the name of the South
ern Railway.
One Of its lines has its northern ter
minus at Washington, and over it is
operated fast through service in con
nectlon with the Pennsylvania Railroad
from New York, through Philadelphia
Baltimore. Washington and Atlanta tC
all parts of the South and Southwest in
GLIDING New Orleans and points in
Florida, and which makes the run from
New York to Atlanta in 81 hours. MOI
only so. but its connections in other di
rections enable il TO give the same first
class service to passengers from the
West and Northwest.
So important is this great railroad syS
TEN to the success of the exposition anC
so hearty has been its interest in the un
dertaking and its cooperation with tn,
managers of the exposition, that ii hai
been accorded exceptional privileges anC
will be the only road having tracks il
Piedmont Park, which will enable il I,
land passengers from any direction
without change of cars, either in tn,
Park or in the Union depot in Atlanta
as they may prefer.
The Southern Railway has alway'
manifested the most generous interes
in every enterprise or effort to promote
the welfare of the South, and will MAKE
most interesting exhibit in a band
some building which it has erected il
the fair grounds, consisting of speci
mems of the mineral and other product
of the South and Illustrative of the mar
velous improvement in railroad con
struction, operation and architecture il
this country. T. f. G.
| " ,I,,,,,+ - IVbar tho Cha I,