The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-12-24
New Coal Carrier.

ton With the Carolina Cen
trail it Will Form a Direct
Trunk Line Between Will
mington, Charlotte and Gin
clnnatl.
Wilmington Star.
In the last issue OF the Manufactur-
ers Record there are several articles
i'm reference to development in the
South. regarding especially certain
enterprises now III progress, when
should be of great interest to the
people of this section. Chief among
these is the great railway line build
ing from the Appalachian mountain
coal fields TO the South Atlantic sea-
board, IL matter III which the Star
has been trying-it seems without
successful interest the business men
Of Wilmington. Everybody else but
the business men Of this city consider
this new line OF railroad Il very i'm
portant matter. But people take
more interest in it, apparently,
then if it were Il line connecting two
points IN the most remote parts OF
the world. They are going to let
this important line OF railroad pass
within IL few miles Of their city and
be extended on to wharves and ware
houses at a competing point. They
are doing nothing to turn traffic this
way. They are going, suplnenely,
to allow a competitor, not heretofore
really regarded as such, to secure all
the benefits of this new enterprise.
We do not understand why our
| people are so Indifferent in this mat
ter, which every other city interested
| considers of such great Importance.
Ours is the only city III the two
Carolinas likely to be affected by the
opening of the Clinchfield railroad,
which has not shown interest in this
new developments; which has not
| striven to secure the chief advantage.
| While other cities have been wing
with each other, Wilmington, which
| has natural advantages superior to
all the others in this respect, stands
| by uncOncerned and let's the OPP
portunity pass by OF making her
port the most important one on the
South Atlantic coast.
OF this line ofrailroad the Manuftc-
turers' Record says showing of what
| great Importance to the country and
| especially to the South Atlantic sell
| board it considers it:
The building of the Carolina,
| Clinchfield K Ohio Railroad, in honor
OF which Spartanburg gave IL great
| banquet last month, is one OF the
most remarkable railroad enterprises
OF the day. It's completion will fulfill
| the struggles of South Carolina when
its great statesman, Hayne, and 9th
ers nearly three-quarters Ola century
ago sought to construct such road.
They SAW its Importance as Il freight
| and passenger carrier. but they saw
even more They realized that such
connection link would unite the
West and the South into closer bust
ness relations, and that out OF this
would come a broader national de-
velOpment which they believed would
prevent the impending war, They
indeed, saw with prophetic vision
that 1.-The development OF the South
would mean the enrichment OF the
Nation" But the leaders in this
great plan were diverted from their
task by the pressure of the politics O
the middle OF the last century, and
thus one OF the most magnificent
schemes OF the greatest leaders OF the
old South went down. Other men
great leaders in finance-have takel
up the work. and though their mo
tives may be the seltishness of desire
for gain, they are building Il line
which will prove immensely valuable
to the South and the West alike
The people of Charlotte recognize
the Importance that the building o
the Clinchfield Railroad will be t(
Wilmington. The great improve
ments that have been made to Thu
road bed of the Carolina Central Rail
road between Wilmington and Bosti
shows that the railroad officials ex
pect a great deal of heavy hauling tt
be done over this part of the Sea
board Air Line. In Tuesday evening
Chronicle, of Charlotte, there appear
ed the following editorial on thi
subject:
1.-The old Carolina Central is nov
| indeed and in fact, a thing Of tn
; past. The last reminder of it ha
: disappeared with the Reconstructed
! of the rOadbed between Bostic am
Monroe. Bostic is the point nea
: Rutherfordton where the Carolina
! Clinchtield & Ohio the new coal-caI
rying road from Johnson City, tap
, the Carolina Central, and to max
! the track OF the latter available,
has been rebuilt. Standard weigh
steel rails have replaced tn
light iron rails and the track ha
t been surfaced and ballasted so tina
g in its entirely, it has been brought II
S to the measure of trunk line raj
Y roads-for the Carolina Central
;, now a section OF directtrunk lin
5 between Wilmington and Cincinnati
through Charlotte. The new col
structiOn work on the Carolina CeI
\ trail makes a remarkable change i
/, the appearance OF the line and for,
o shadows the coming of heavy COZ
! trains and fast passenger trains
II Connection is to be made at BOst
q on New Years Day and people Twin
/, along the line of the old Carolin
: Central will witness a new sight
! their section OF Countrywide speed
h ing ola string ofsteel hopper coal cal
drawn by n standard consolidate
engine The work of reconstructin
the Carolina Central track betwee
Hamlet and Wilmington is almo:
n completed. This direct linking
e mountain to sea, of coal fields t
# deep water dock, will be abundal
d cause for a Happy New Year to Mort
Carolina in general, and to Chariot
and Wilmington in particular"