Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-08-24
THE SOUTH AND WESTERN.

The Charlotte Observer Of Wednes-
day has the following about the rail-
road operations referred to in The En-
quirer Of last Tuesday:
The South and Western railroad is
owned by the same people who own
the Seaboard Air Line and its interest
Is Identical with that Of the Seaboard.
1t owns the Clinchfield coal region in
Virginia and Kentucky some 100000
acres. The coal is said to be in quality
second to that from the Pocahontas
mines, and the primary purpose Of the
new railroad is to get its coal to the
South Atlantic states and to a conven-
lent point for export.
The termini between which active
construction Is going on are Elkhorn,
KY, and Rutherforitcn. An extension
to Spartanburg, s. c., is already de-
cided upon, and from Spartanburg 1t
will tap the sSeaboard somewhere on its
Atlanta line. From Rutherfordton 1t
will operate its trains over the Sea-
board to Wilmington. and will build a
branch road to Southport This will
be one Of its export yards.
The history Of the road is interest
ing In 1887 the old Three Cs-Charles-
ton, Cincinnati and Chicago-undertook
to build a road from the Ohio river to
Charleston, S. c. The company had
more backbone than sense, for it did
not begin at one end and finish its road
as 1t went, so that some Of 1t might
have been operating and bringing in
revenue to Offset part Of the expense;
but 1t began at the Ohio and built to
White House, KY. At the same time 1t
was building from Blacksburg, 8. c.,
to Marion, N. G. In the middle ground
haf
some of its bed was graded and
some Of its track laid. But the Three
C's went under, and the bond holders
took its work in hand, changing the
roads name in 1891 to the Ohio River
and Charleston. In 1893 the Southern
bought the road between Blacksburg and
Marion, and the southern part Of the
old Three C's was sold to the c. & o.
This left the middle still on the market,
and in 1901 Mr.. George L. Carter, pres
ident of the South and Western, bought
it. From Johnson City, Tenn, to the
North Carolina line the road had been
completed and it had been graded from
Johnson City north to st. Paul, Va.
Mr.. Carter thus became the nucleus
of the present company, which under
took the building Of the road only last
year.
And 1t has set itself to build a good
road. From Marion to Spruce Pine
there will be no trestle, but everywhere
fills. that Is embankments. The maxi
mum curves are six degrees, except
two, in a strenuous place, which are
eight degrees. On the west side Of
the valley Of the North Fork of the
Catawba there is a loop of ten miles,
embracing eight tunnels Zone Of them
1,54O feet long, another 2,150) in order
IN nreserye q grade of twenty five feet
to the mile. The lines of this loop are
nearly parallel, so that the lower Bri-
die Path tunnel Is almost under the up
per, and the lower Pine Ridge tunnel
almost under the upper, In all there
are OH this section Of the road eighteen
tunnels, to say nothing Of one in Vir-
ginia, two and one-half miles long. The
engineering is hardly so spectacular as
that on the Southern between Asheville
and Old Fort, and will not show to pas
sengers on trains its full skill; but one
who plods along 1t will see that they
have planned and are building a road
against the ravages Of time and, with