The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-03-22

Things for Wilmington a. New
Road VIII Strike the @eaboard at
Rutherford and This Port Will Be
come a Great Shipping Place.
An interesting account Of the con-
struction work now going on in Vir-
ginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, on
the line of the new South and Wes-
tern railroad. which is also being built
across the mountains of Western
North Carolina, is taken from a re-
cent issue of the Louisville Times
This road is being built to give
outlet to vast supplies Of coal. In this
state several thousand men arc en-
gagged IA completing the road from
Spruce Pine to Marion. 1t is the gen
R4raI relief that connection TVIl be
made at RutherfOrdtOn with the SEA-
board Air Line, and that Wilmington
will become one Of the greatest outlets
for the great coal fields that VIII be
reached. Recent developments in this
citv. whereby valuable wharf property
was purchased by Il holding company
for the SeabOard, and further news
recently announced from Raleigh that
many changes are 10 be made in the
terminals at Wilmington all give add
ed color to the frequent reports con
corning the final plans in contempla-
zion. 1t is said that tte entire yard
OF the Seaboard in this city is to be
changed and that h necessary sur
veyS and engineering work will b.
done by corps Of engineers within
the next few weeks. This is thought
TO be the beginning .uf the great i'm
prGvementS that will have to be D{O-
vided to handle the vastly increased
business that the road expects to be
offered when Ehe connection with Ihe
coal fields is made.
A fair ideS OF the immensely of the
undertaking now IL process OF con-
~struction, and which means SO much
for the future Of Wilmington car be
gathered from the Louisville Times
article which followS:~
over in the Virginia mountains
5,6e0 men are pushing construction
work on the South & Western Rail-
road. the 500 mile zine which is being
constructed primarily with the view
of furnishing a southern outlet for
the vast Southeastern Kentuckey coal
f;DI1c h1yhnJ1rh fHic &c tho mNS5 i'm
pmtant piece of EGilroad construction
now under way in b south, SO quiet
ly is the work being conducted that
few people are aware OF the under
taking, although 50 per cent Of the
project is ROW completed.
beginning at a connection witla
the Chesapeake &;0nio Railroad Con-
pany's Big Sandy extension, in Pike
Aunty, the South e Western Rail-
road is being built across Virginia,
Tennessee, North Carolina and a part
Of South Carolina, TS1here a seabOard
connection Will be made. The total
cost of construction is placed at $40,
000, 600 and the projectors, who num-
bcT men foremost iii the railroad a1-
fairs Of the country, are sparins no
expense IL making the line fully
adapted to the REFRESHMENTS of the
heavy coal movements which will
take place 1owarF1 the south with its
completion.
The coal TERRITORY in Kentucky
which will be placed in tOuch with de
VeFopment forces by the new railroads
extension is regarded as The finest IN
developed field in the south. In Pike
county where the South & Western
line begins. the new exteK sion of the
Chesapeake & Ohio zine furnishes an
outlet 10 the north. This line has
been il operation rwo yeas-s and al
kTady 4 large GOA tonnage is being
CARRIED ever the line 10 the northern
markets. In the Pike-countv field =
number of large operations have
been started lately, in some instances
corporations with millions of dollars
of capital leading i'll developments.
Among the large development
forces in Pike and adjoining counties
is the Big Sandy Company, a $4,000
600 corporation: the Northern Coal
and Coke Company, a $40, 900 900 con-
Germ, and the North American Com
pany, in which j. P. Morgan is the
central figure. these concerns own in
The aggregate over half Il million
acres OF coal lands.
Along Marrowbone creek, where a
feeder connects with the Chesapeake
& Olio lire, several mines have been
opened. The Greene1gh Coal & Coke
Company, the Marrowbone Coal &
Coke Company and the Pike Coal &
Coke Company, each capitalized at
100000 are installing plants with a
view of getting out an ultimate OAlt-