The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-08-09
(Raleigh News and Observe

Cranberry, Bristol, Big Stone Gap and
all points west and northwest, get
aboard" The hotel porters along the
line between Wilmington and Bristol,
Tenn, had about as we'll begin prac-
ticing on a train call something like
the above.
l have just secured a big piece Of
railroad news. 1t has not yet fioated
anywhere near the surface n I had
to dive after it. It has never yet pass
ed through the Mergenthalers nor run
the gauntlet Of a close syndicate of
big capitalists and railroad builders
who are as mum as the steel rails
they propose to lay, but my news is
authentic and perfectly reliable.
A new line of railway from Big Stone
Gap, Va, via Cranberry, Linville
Falls, Lincolnton, Charlotte and Will
mington to Southport.
This is the great new scheme n l
am prepared to say that the prelimi-
nary plans are all settled, the necessa-
ry men and money organized and the
work of consolidating old lines, con-
structing new links, widening gauges,
etc, will almost Immediately begin.
On last Saturday a judge of the
United States circuit court at Bristol
confirmed a sale previously made of
the South Atlantic and Ohio railroad
running from Big Stone Gap to Bris-
toll, and this Dad passed into the
hands of a syndicate of New York cap
italists. This was only a sort of a
formal proceeding and of especial in
terest to only a few on the inside who
knew that upon the confirmation of
this sale hung the destiny of a great
new four-hundred mile railroad line,
s~- - 4l1 G~--4 .o~n1 IL
in the world with one of the best ports
on the south Atlantic coast.
The public generally paid no atten-
ton to the sale of the little railroad,
but when the confirmation of the sale
was flashed over the wires, it was
| echoed in subdued tones in big bank
ers' offices in New York, Philadelphia
and Boston and it was talked about
almost in a whisper by a few prOmi-
nent North Carolinians. l heard the
| whisper and l went to work to I'M
[ earth the story, and here it is:
The South Atlantic and Ohio rail-
rOad which as stated, extends from
Big Stone Gap to Bristol, forms the
nucleus of the great new trunk line.
At Bristol it is to be linked with a
road already in operation extending
from Bristol to Elizabethtown, now
owned by the Pennsylvania Steel Com
pany. At ElizabethtoWn, Tenn, it is
to be linked into the rOa owned by
the Cranberry Iron and Coal COmpa-
ny, extending from Johnson City via
ElizabethtOwn to Cranberry, N. G.
Here it is to hook on to a new road
already graded, and to be Immediately
equipped, extending to Pinola From
PinOla a new link is to be built cross
ing the Blue Ridge at Lost Hollow
Gap and extending down the eastern
slope of the ridge to Collettsville in
Caldwell county, where it is to be
linked with the LenOir and COllettSville
road, now owned by Wanamaker and
associates, of Philadelphia. At Lenoir
it will tap and perhaps link itself with
the Carolina and Northwestern, which
will bring it to .Lincolnton, where it
will weld itself to the Carolina Cen
trail (the Seaboard Air Line) and make
a straight shoot for Wilmington n
thence to Southport. The only new
road to be built to form this great coal
ing line of four hundred miles is a
fifteen mile link between Pinola and
CollettSville via Linville, and the link
between Wilmington and Southport.
A glance at the map shows that this
is one of the most feasible and prac-
ticable railroad scheme in the south
and the wonder is that the scheme has
not been promoted before.
The new line means much for North
Carolina. 1t means much for it's manu-
featuring interests especially, as it will
put all the piedmont and central sec
tons of the state in direct, quick and
economical connection with an mex
haustible supply of coal equal to Poca-
hontas or any other coal on the mar
ket. 1t turns the coke ovens of the
great Cumberland range into Cranber-
ry and our other iron ore beds, the
richest in the world. 1t cuts the Blue
Ridge at Lost Hollow Gap, passing in
the shadow of Roam Mountain, on
down by Linville, skirts around old
Grandfather, one of the grandest
mountain routes in the world; crosses
the famous Johns River valley and
blazes a great industrial highway
through the counties of Mitchell, Cald-
we'll, Catawba, Lincoln, CASTOR, Neck
lenburg and on to the sea.
This new line will onnect at Big
Stone Gap with the great Louisville
and Nashville system. 1t taps the Nor
folk and Western at Bristol. 1t cuts
across the Southern system at Hick-
DRY and Charlotte. 1t graspS the two
hands of the Seaboard at Monroe and
Hamlet. 1t crosses the Coast Line at
Pembroke and again at Wilmington,
and it plunges into the of
| the outside world at both Wilmington
and Southport. The scheme has been
on foot for several months, but it has
l DtSJ htpl perfectly dulcl. L dIll IL "
it for the first time and / have it
| straight. All the roads involved in
the deal and all the owners and man.
| ayers are working in perfect accord
and harmony and within a few days
| energetic work is to begin.
There is abundant capital behind the
| scheme and brains enough to build
half a dozen such enterprises. l don't
| know of all the individual forces that
| have been instrumental in working out
the scheme. In looking over The field
l can see the footprints Of William
! p. Clyde and George Scott, of New
York. of Thayer and his associates, of
| Boston: John Wanamaker and others,
| of Philadelphia: of Mr.. Richards, the
| banker and capitalist, of Dover, New
| Jersey; but the plainest Of all the foot
| prints are those of General Robert
F. Hoke, of Raleigh, the president of
the Cranberry Iron and Coal Compa-
ny, and the president of the East
Tennessee and Western Carolina rail-
a l expect to see in the very near
future solid trains Steaming through
the state and passing along over the
Blue Ridge through a lev gap, and