The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1900-10-18
FROM CHAR LESION
TO ClNCl NATl.

THE GREAT RAILROAD SCHEME OF
llAiNE AND tAlnOl lN--TllE tCN-
vENTIuN AT KNoNNILLE AND THE
ROUTES SUGGESTED.
Knoxville lrennD Sentinel
Away back in the thirtics, nearly
two.thirds of Il century ago, when tail
roads IN this country were very new
Robert y. llaync. John 6. Calhoun
and probably other brainy South Caro-
linlans, formed rough plan for the
building of Il railroad from Charleston,
then the foremost Southern port, to
Cincinnati. This gigantic scheme of
internal improvement was never car
ricd out, bat in the march Of progress
other developments in tho way of raul
road building, not literally the same,
but answering the purpose for which
llaync and Calhoun planned their road
have long since materialiZcd.
The primary object Of tapping the
great center of western trade by rail.
road having deep water middle AT
lantic coast port as its terminus, which
these great South CarOlinians had in
view, has been accomplished by the
building Of not one only, but several
highways of travel and commerce.
The road planned by Uaync and Cal
houn was to have been known us the
Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston
railroad. The company was organized
and great deal of the capital stock
paid in before the project was aban-
doncd on account of The panic of 1887
The route was to include Columbia ,
Knoxville, Lexington, Louisville,
Maysville and Cincinnati. The first
meeting of the stockholders was held
in Knoxville January 9th, 1897. At
that meeting the route was discussed
and partially adopted. That portion
definitely decided upon was through
the valley of the French Broad, as the
most feasible way Of passing the
mountains. Before this meeting of
stockholders railroad convention was
held in Knoxville in July, 1896, for
the purpose OF furthcriny the project.
General llaync was elected president
of this convention, he being the cmcf
mover in The undertaking, and six
months later when The stockholders
held their first meeting here he was
elected president of the company
which had been formed ut the convcn-
tlon previously held and also at other
meetings. General Haynes idea was
to raise money for the road by issuing
bonds prcdicatrd upon The credit of The
States through which The road was to
run, each State hearing pro rata share.
As governor of South Carolina he was
better enabled TO forward his purpose.
The building Of this road was first
suggested, it seems, by +. 5. Thomas,
who was 1T one time editor Of the old
Charleston City Gazette, and vino later
became editor OF the Cincinnati Daily
Evening Post. He first projected il in
his mind during The war of 1872, and
tells about il in his published rcmi-
nisccnccs. lie says:
"Bcfore and during The war re-
sided in Charleston and was engaged i'm
editing and publishing the Dally City
Gazette, OF that place, and the Caro-
lima Gazette, weekly. used about
sixty pounds of paper per
day, which, while the war lasted, cost
me fifteen to twenty cents per pound
freight from Baltimore. then pro-
jcctcd railroad Iol the Atlantic
coast, without calling it by that name !;
my plan was to lay the rails, which
were to be of wood, upon piles driven
into the earth. suggested my plan
to the late Gov. Charles pnckncy,
Peter Trcncau, Esq, and Con. Thomas
Icbrc, at one of our weekly meetings,
at Mr.. Trcncau's house, when il mct
the fate of most projects that are new
in their nature, and gigantic in their
extent; it was laughed at rs being, if
at all practicable, a hundred years too
soon to be thought Of. gave myself
no further trouble or thought about
that or any other railroad, until the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad was pro-
icclcd, when benz IA resident If Bal
timore, and having lost my fortune,
had nothing to give but my time, and
devoted two or three weeks of that g,
Immediately preceding the opening Of
the books, TO visiting the Workshops and
factories and urging upon their inmates
the great utility of the undertaking,
and the prosperity 0! every ono hccom-
ing stOckholdcr, if only for share.
> In the fatl Of 1927. ! came
out to Ohio and went down as far down
as Louisville. On my return | stopped
a fortnight in this city. The idea then
struck me of a railroad from this city
to Charleston, and The superior advan-
tagcs it would have overall others from
the circumstances Of its being from
North TO South, and thus bringing to-
gcthrr people who are strangers to
each other, and whose products are 80
admirably calculated for a beneficial
exchange" "
Mr.. Thomas then tells of how hc
suggested the project to q number of
Cincinnati business men, but he re-
ccivcd little encouragement. Among
those were DR.. O. Fairchild, Mcssrs.
Allison Owen, VIM. S. Smith, Hugh
Mclean and Francis Shields. About a
year before his death, which occurred
IN 1899, llaync wrote from Charleston
to Mr.. Thomas, who was then IN Gin
cinnati, saying among other things:
We lear no competition from other