The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1909-11-04
GEO. l. CARRIERS 200 MILE CLlNCH-
FIELD PROJECT COST $3OOOO,OOO.OO

New York, They had engineers inves
tigate and they reported that it would
cost an almost fabulous sum to build
the road and almost as much rs would
be necessary for road thousand
miles in length. The money mer
would have none of it. To build a rail
road straight through the toughest sec
tion of the Appalachian system was
too much for Wall street to tackle But
he was undaunted. He persisted, anC
it is said that he spent nearly a million
dollars out of his own pocket trying Il
get help. He secured experts anC
found that there was tremendous
amount of coal, and on the strength O
their reports he personally bough
some 300, 900 acres of land, which now
forms the Clinchfield district. He saw
that the world was consuming coal a
the rate of more than six billion tons ;
year and that much more was needed
He saw that coaling station would b,
needed off the Atlantic for ships bounC
for the Panama canal, and that tn,
south was needing more fuel and cheap
er fuel, which would be possible by
reducing the haul several hundred
miles by building straight through th'
mountains.
With the coal property clinched, Mr.
Carter arranged his data in such
manner as to cause the financiers Il
take notice. Here was something tha
the world must have The money mel
gasped when the figures were present
ed. They sent experts and other eX
perts, and all reported the coal supply
inexhaustible. The fuel could be mar
keted by building Mr.. Carter's railroad
and he alone had the key TO the situa
tion.
All of this looked good, but it requir
ed millions and millions to build tn
road and it might be years before any
thing could be realized.
1t was Thos, +, Ryan, the most dar
ing of financiers, who saw the oppor
tunity. This capitalist had railroad
in the north and the south and her
wasa chance to get the most importan
line that would be feeder to his Othe
southern roads.
In the world of finance, where Ryan
leads, Others quickly follow. He or
ganized syndicate, composd Of sucl
men as Norman B. Ream, late owne
of the Erie, and director and heav!
stockholder in many American banks
trust companies and railways; Thoma
Jefferson Coolidge, of Boston; Jas. A
Blair, the veteran banker of New York
and others. Mr.. Carter was started t,
work and for five years he has iterall,
shoveled money out and has accomp
lished wonders in railroad construction
He left the sections easy of construc
ton untouched, tackling the long fills
cut and tunnels. The first funds wer
used in overcoming the greatest oh
structions, and the other came easy
For miles the road cost as much a
$500, 200 mile,
When the panic Of 1907 came on con
struction generally was suspended ev
erywhere, but Uncle Sam and Geo. l.
Carter kept on digging. Uncle San
continued to assail the Culebra noun
tains, while Mr.. Carter kept up his as
saults on the great tunnels, seventeen
of them within as many miles.
The result of the expenditure of tn
immense amount of money in the con
struction of the road is that it is a mod
ell railroad in every respect. The loy
grade of one-half of one per cent ha
been arbitrarily maintained regardless
of cost. At times vast amounts c
money spent in construction have beeI
lost because of the abandonment of til
routes found, not to admit of the loN
grade to be maintained.
The new road has opened to the worl
the amazingly beautiful scenery c
XNaStarx, Moth ftnrol;no It ,roe -
far from the line of the c., G. & o.
where George w. Vanderbilt erecte
his magnificent Biltmore estate, cosl
ing $l,000,0O0. After touring Europ
and America he declared that no cour
try in the world could rival this SaI
nhire country Of Western North Care
lima for natural beauty. The altitud
is the greatest in the east and here on
may revel in veritable wonderland
Ex-Secretary of the Treasury Leslie NJ
Shaw recently took trip over the roa
with President Garter, and declared a
terward that the scenery was the granC
est in the country.
George H. Carter will not be satiafie
until the g., c. & o. becomes a link
a trunk line from the Great Lakes |
the South Atlantic seaboard. Tn
would be possible by the extension {
: the g., e. 4 o. from Elkhon City, Ky
to Ironton, Ohio, there connecting wit
the Detroit, Teledo and Ironton. Sue