The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-04-13
crcaSTTcc UNDERTAKING.
Binding of the South and western
RafIyxay-Sevenfeen Tunnels i'm
Eighteen MIle-Easx Grades over
the Blue Rfdge-To Connec1 sea-
board Air Line With Coal Fields.

It Il nov almost an assured TACT tnat
the South and Western viii come 10
R~utherfordton and connect with the
Seaboard Air Line at this place. Ine
old route. first surveyed. down cove
and Mountain creeks. ii Is said by re-
liable parties in a position to know
has been abandoned and the line VIII
now come by way of Thermal City
Union Mills and will parallel n
Southern Railway from the mcdowell
county line to this town. There are
now two surveying corps
Ru~therfordton and Marion going over
this latter route so as TO locate the pest
possible lire. The corps which mas
been located here for the past month
Is now making the ina survey or the
route from Thermal City here. after
which the location will be made 50
the prospect for this new road is most
fiattering. The only question tina
now seems to be worrying our citizens
is. .swill the road enter the town. or
connect with the Seaboard Air Line
at their station and leave US out oy
a mile as the others have doneE Two
lines have bee surveyed Tor the sea
board connection. One goes oirectiy
to the Seaboard depot. and otner
down Gleghorn creek through tne
western portion OF the town, the lat
ter. of which it Is hoped and believed,
will be selected.
The outlook for the building of the
South and Western railway from the
coal fields of West Virginia and ken
lucky via Rutherfordton to spartan
burg, S. c., and perhaps Clinton, IS
splendid. Abundant capital Is behind
this gigantic enterprise, which prom
Uses to be the best and most costly
road in the country. 1t Is estimated
that the average cost Der mile. WITH
seventeen tunnels in eighteen miles
over the Blue Ridge. will far exceed
500, 900 per mile. The excavations
and entertainments are being made
from twenty to twenty-five feet wide,
large enough for a double track rail-
road, While the grade, one-half or one
per cent. is an ideal n for heavy
coal trains carrying sixty to sixty nVe
cars.
Three thousand laborers. scattered in
fourteen camps, are at work TIVE
Spruce Pine and a point four miles
south of Marion. At Toe river near
Spruce Pine, three piers of concrete
masonry have been finished, and a
splendid steel bridge is now being
placed across the stream. and Wnen
completed. trains will be running to the
tunnel. There are five tunnels through
solid rock on top of the Blue Ridge.
These unnels are 1895, 1900, 1.6oo.
$50 and 800 feet long, and are ocated
between camp No. 1. near Spruce Pine,
and camp No. 8 on the dividing line
hetween Mitchell and Mcdowell coun-
ties. The most improved machinery
with compressed air drills is being
used on the seventeen tunnels piercing
through the Blue Ridge mountains.
Twelve boilers of 60-horse-power each.
with 10 drill capacity. are boring with
all possible speed. Five more bollers
and drills. using compressed air, Will
soon be at work. Working at both
ends of the tunnels with two sets or Ia
borers. night and day, they bore in rock
under the only Twelve 1eet
per day on an average.
So one can readily see what a titan
tic and slow work 1t Is. yet it is claim
ed that this work will be completed In
one and one-half years. Seven steam
shovels. one near Marion n six be-
yond the mountains. are fastening the
grading work. From Spruce Pine to
the top of the Blue Ridge is seven
miles; from Spruce n to Marion is
twenty-one miles By direct road. but
by the railroad it will approximate
thirty-fve miles. requiring superb en-
cheering skill for a road SO nearly
level. There is not a trestle on the
entire line. The company is asking
for no bonds. and is moving rapidly l
it's work. 1t is said that the grading
will be finished. the track laid and
rains running to Spartanburg by May,
1908.
The Pennsylvania railroad and the
Thomas F. Ryan syndicate, which con-
, trolls the Seaboard Air Lin and the
Atlantic Coast Line, are the financial
packers behind the new enterprise,
and that the road will now be built is
a fact that cannot be further doubt
! ed. The election of Mr.. Alfred Wal
ter. chairman of the board Of direc-
tors of the South and Western, to the
presidency of the Seaboard Air Lin
on April 4. shows conclusively that the
! two roads are closely allied.-Ruther
fordton Special to Charlotte Observer.