Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-11-17
. THE BLACK DIAMOND.
Its Proposed Route-Inspected by Mon
Who Mean BusInoss. 'H!-

Its Proposed Route-Inspected by Men
Who Mean Business. a..
Capt. w. J. Kirk, the well known
civil engineer, who has extensive 40.
1uaintance with railroad surveying,
was in Greenwood last Saturday,
and The Index reporter asked him
large number of questions about the
status, the possibilities and the prob
abilities of the big Black Diamond
Railroad scheme. Capt. Kirk probaA
bly, has more knowledge of this in
cipient enterprise and its proposed
territory than any man in the State.
He talked quite freely to The Index.
Capt. Kirk stated that only two
places in this State are positively
fixed as station or terminal points
for this road, and those places are
Anderson and Aiken. Charleston
and Port Royal arc objective points,
however. Westminster, in Oconee
county, ;s probably an unavoidable
point, being the nearest point to the
strictly logical Rabun Gap route.
AS to the road tapping Greenwood,
Edgefield, Johnston and other places
only the actual preliminaries of
building and the temper of these
places in the way of subscriptions
will determine. All experience is
against naming any place as more
than tolerably sure of railroad that
has not begun to be built.
Capt. Kinks deliberate opinion is,
that this road will be built ; that the
double track will start from the
branching point in Kentucky and
will come into this State by the way
of the old Western Carolina route
to Westminster, Anderson, Aiken,
Port Royal and Charleston. Green
wood, Abbeville, Edgefield and
Johnston will have to determine their
own chances.
Surveys have been made for at
least two different routes through
this State--one being the old Cum
berland Gap route, the other the
Blue Ridge and Western Carolina
route. The Black Diamond people
want to utilize the surveys ALREADY
made 80 as to be able to use tho
charters still extant of the Ohio
River and the Cumberland Gap
schemes.
Under charters granted several
years ago the route from the Ten
nessee line to Port Royal or Charles
ton is secured TO company wanting
to construct road. P. X. McCully,
of Anderson, is President, Capt.
Kirk is chief engineer and general
manager of tho Ohio River, Ander-
son and Tidewater Railroad Com
pany, authorized to enter the State
at the only Chattooga crossing and
pull up at the coast anywhere. Tho
Western Carolina charter secured
for North Georgia and the Piedmont
part of South Carolina still holds
good.
The Black Diamond has an under
standing with the custodians of these
surveys, and will, no doubt, use one
OF possibly both of them.
Sir Thomas Tancred, the English
engineer who recently inspected the
Black Diamond route, will probably
make a favorable report to the capi-
talists who sent him out. He is an
expert on big constructions, having
executed the Firth of Forth bridge,
the Klondyke Railroad and other
complicated enterprises. He is un-
derstood to be favorably impressed
with the general trend of the route.
He did not undertake to see all the
route.
Among the places in this State to
be touched by the Black Diamond,
Greenwood stands q chance. l. FLer
leaving Anderson, the road will
either go by Antreville, Abbeville
and Edgcfeld or by Due West,
Greenwood and Johnston to Aiken.
The Greenwood route is a shade
longer, but will be considerably
cheaper the ridge from this place
to Johnston is an ideal route.
1t depends on what the English
engineer and the people here do and
say about it.
Capt. w. j. Kirk is the engineer
for the South Carolina part of this
work. lie viii probably bo called
on to survey the various ways to the
coast pretty soon. He expects to
see the track down in two years.
Greenwood Index, November 10.
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