The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-08-27
A NOVEL ENTERPRISE.
The Systems of Railways from the
Great Lakes to Deep Water on the
Virainiau Coast.
Especial to News and Observer

tiSpeCldl To News ana CpSclNtl'J
Baltimore. Nd, Aug 26.-An au-
thoritatve statement of the present
status and probable score of what Is
known as Deepwater-Tidew water Sys-
tenn of railways, destined to connect
the Great Lakes and the Virginia sea-
board by way of the coal of West Wiz
gina, is made in this weeks issue Of
the Manufacturers Record in special
correspondence from Charleston, w.
Va Significant facts about the un-
dertakinE are that it is being built for
it's entire length of about 500 miles,
with a total lift of 900 feet and q
maximum ruling gradient of Is feet,
in the primary purpose of bringing
vast coal fields into touch with ocean
transportation, that though costing
something like $50, 100000, not a single
security has been offered to the pub:
lie and that it's construction and OPP
Grafton may possibly be an important
phase in railroad manoeuverings af-
fccting widely separated portions of
the country. On these points the cor
respondence says:
Nothing ever undertaken in the
way of railroad construction is more
novel or unique in its methods and in
it's history, or more loaded with pos
sible effects on the development of a
section than is the DeepwaterTid
cally under contract between the town
of Deepwater, w. Va. and the tidewa-
ter of Hampton Roads, Va, distance
of about 500 miles. From somewhe-c
along the line an ofshoot will ultimate
ly appear, headed for some point IN
one of the Great Lakes of tho North.
Wherever it may land, the total length
of the main line can hardly exceed
/, 900 miles If Lake Erie is selected
Will lpCc |
all told. But that short trunk line will
go through the heart of the best cox
ing and steam coal fields of West Vir-
ginia--a field nowhere surpassed in
richness on the globe-and 1t Will be
built to such grade and provided with
such equipment as will enable it tol
haul coal to either lake or tidewater
at a cheaper rate than is possible by
any existing line
"Then the enterprise is novel and |
unique in that for the first time in this |
country, at least, it is being built as q
whole, from the starting point to destl- |
nation, without any reference TO the
local business of interior points. This |
is the first tidewater road to be built |
from the West to the East, and it is |
the first trunk line to be constructed |
with cash in hand, without one dollars |
worth Of stock or bonds ever having |
been offered to the public. 1t will be |
the first rearzation of an old, Old |
dream for a railroad through the West |
Virginia coal fields from the Lakes TO |
the sea, and it will be along the only |
possible route left unoccupied. When |
it is built it will stand forth Minerva
like, complete and perfect and there |
will not be a mile of track or a dol |
lars worth of equipment that will not |
represent the very highest standards |
known to the railroad world of TODAY. |
ut is the expectation that entirely |
new markets will be opened by the |
new road. New York is at present |
almost clamoring for the smokeless |
Goals of the New observation-disclosures
fields and yet it is practically impos- |
isble for those Goals to get into New |
York in any considerable lots. New |
York takes for consumption and dis |
tribution about 100000 tons of |
steam Goals in a year. New England !
which takes about 100000 tons of |
smokeles bituminous coal in a year |
is the principal market for the Goals |
delivered at tidewater by the Chesa- |
peake & Ohio and the Norfolk & West |
ern roads. The epwater-Tidewater |
system proposes TO get into New York, |
and will make no fight for the New |
England trade. At Seawens Point on |
Hampton Roads the railroad owns !
$50 acres of land with 5000 fete Of /
deep-Water front. 1t VIII have 80 feet !
of water at the head of its piers and |
it is declared that in completeness.
convenience and the use of the latest |
devices and the most modern machin- |
cry no terminals in the world will sur
pass them
The work under construction will
cost about $36,000,000. With the works |
to the lakes the entire enterprise, in
Guiding everything except rolling stock |
and the Lake terminals, will cost
some $50,000,0O0. And yet the COM
panies doing this enormous work are
capitalized at only $175,000,000 and
have paid every bill without asking
the public for one dollar"
Bearing upon the possibilities the