The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-08-04
FROM THE CUMBERLAND COAL
FIELDS TO OUR SOUTH
ATLANTIC COAST.
ALL THE PLANS ARE PERFECTED
And Men and Money Organized to Build and
Equip the Road--A Big Thing for
North Carolina.
(Staff Correspondence

gers for Lcnoir, Linvillc, Lost Hollow,
Cranberry, Bristol, Big Stone Gap and
all points west and northwest, get
aboard" The hotel portcrs along the
line between Wilmington and Bristol,
Tenn. had about as well begin practlcing
on n train call something like the above.
! have just secured a big piece of
railroad news. 1t has not yet tloated
anywhere near the surface and | had
TO dive after it. 1t has never yet passed
through the Mergenthalers nor run the
gauntlet of Il 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 per
fectly reliable.
4 new line of railway from Big Stone
Gap, Va. via Cranberry, Linyile Falls,
Lincolnton, Charlotte and Wilmington
to Southport.
This is the great new scheme and |
am prepared to say that the preliminary
plans are all settled, the necessary glcn
and money organized and the work of
consolidating old lines, constructing new
links, widening gauges, etc, etc, will
almost Immediately begin.
On last Saturday a judge of the T..
s. Circuit Court at Bristol confirmed "A
sale previously made of the South At
lantic and Ohio Railroad running from
Big Stone Gap to Bristol, and this road
passed into the hands of Il syndicate
of New York capitalists. This was
only Il sort of formal proceeding and
of especial interest to only Il few ON the
inside who knew that upon the confr-
nation of this sale hung the destiny Of
II great new four-hundred-mile railroad
line. connecting one of the finest coal
fields in the world with one of the best
ports on the South Atlantic coast
The public generally paid no attention
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 bankers and brokers' Off
ces in New York, Philadelphia and Bos-
ton and it was talked about almost in
a whisper by a few prominent North
Carolinians. | heard the whisper and |
went to work to unearth the story, and
here it is:
The South Atlantic and Ohio Railroad
which as stated, extends from Big Stone
Gap to Bristol, forms the nucleus of
the great new trunk line. At Bristol il
is TO be linked with Il road already in
operation extending from Bristol to Eliz-
allentown. now owned by the Pennsyl-
vania Steel Company. at Elizabeth
town, Tenn, it is to be linked into the
road owned by the Cranberry Iron and
Coal Company. and extending from John
son City via Elizabethtown to Cranber-
ry, y. G. Here it is to hook on to a
new road already graded, and TO be inn
mcdlately equipped, extending to Pinola.
From Pinola a new link is to be built
crossing the Blue Ridge at Lost Hol-
low Gap and extending down the eastern
slope of the Ridge to Collettsvie in
Caldwell county, where it is TO be link
cd with the Lenoir and Collettsylle
road, now owned by Wanamaker and
associates, Of Philadelphia. At Lenoir
ii will tap and perhaps link itself with
the Carolina and Northwestern, which,
viii bring it to Lincolnton, where it will
weld itself to the Carolina Central (the
Seaboard Air Line and make a
straight shoot for Wilmington and thence
to Southport. The only new road to be
built to form this great coaling line of
four hundred miles is fifteen-miIe
link between Pinola and Collettsvile
via Linville. and the link between Will
mington and Southport 4 glance at
the map shows that this is one eff the
most feasible and practicable railroad
schemes 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 its manu-
featuring interest especially, as it will
put all the piedmont and central sections
of the State in direct. quick and econom-
ical connection with an inexhaustiblc sup
ply OF coal equal to pocohontas or any
other coal on the market. 1t turns the
coke ovens of the great Cumberland
range into Cranberry and our other iron
ore beds. the richest in the world. 1t
cuts the Blue Ridge at Lost Hollow
Cap. passing in the shadow of Roam
Mountain, on down by Linvllc, skirts
around old Grandfather, one of the
grandest mountain routes in the world;
crosses the famous Johns River Valley
ana blazeS Il great industrial highway
through the counties Of Mitchell, Cald-
well, Catawba, Lincoln, Castor, Neck
lcnburg and on to the sea.
This new line will connect at Big Stone
Gap with the great Louisville and Nash
vile system. 1t taps the Norfolk and
Western ut Bristol. 1t cuts across ssle
Southern system ut Hickory and Char
lotte. IT 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 commerce of the outside world
ut both Wilmington and Southport. The
scheme has been on foot for several
months, but it has been kept perfectly
quiet am on to it for the first time
and | have it straight. All the roads
involved in the deal and all the owners
and managers are working In perfect
accord and harmony and within few
DAYS energetic work is TO begin.
There is Abundant capital behind the
scheme and brains enough to build half
a dozen such enterprises / don't know
Of all the individual forces that have