The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-05-18
WHAT an Open Eyed Travel
|srsawo C. c. 80. Ry.
GLORIOUS MOUNTAIN VIEWS
The Railway BOres Its Way Into he
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Counted for
Nothing in the Construction OF This
Wonderful Road-0pening Up of
Magnificent Coal Fields.
BY COL +. \. OLDS.

Magnificent Coal Fields.
BY COL. +. \. OLDS.
What may beHery t%ruthfully term
ed a new world in North Carolina has
been at last opened by the Carolina,
ClincIlfield & Ohio Railway. involving
the expenditure of an enormous sum
Of'mOneY and some OF the most diff
cult engineering on this continent. The
people who own this wonderful road
are In the main those who are inter
ested IN the Seaboard Air Line and
hen2e II Is particularly proper that
these two systems have joined forces
in the matter of transportation, SO
that people along the three Thousand
miles OF line of the ~SeabOard can be
carried Oh solid and admirably
equipped trains Over the new mountain
railway, marked by splendid scenery
from END to end, and can go into what
seems almost like a virgin county,
quite far from every beaten road of
travel heretofore in use in North Car
DINA.
The writer had the good fortune to
spend last week in a special tour over
the joint roads as the guest Of General
Passenger Agent Ryan and Division
Passenger Agent Charles H. Gattis. of
the SeabOard Air Line. II General
Passenger Agent Campion, Of the Car
o1ina. Clinchfield & Ohio. and the
journey was brim-full of impressions
and information from start to finish.
Leaving Raleigh with the vegetation
Su0merilke, on the third of Nav. the
journey was made to Hamlet. through
that wonderful sand-hill region of the
long leaf pine. one of natures santa
RUINS. which is beginning to attract
attention all over the country. and at
Hamlet one of the fine trains of the
through service between Wilmington
and johnson City over the two roads
VA mot Some hnllrC u-nrn no, Of
Charlotte, having a look at that city.
notably from the roof of its new
~twelve-story bank and office building,
and opportunity was taken to see
something Of the progress Of North
Cardinals chief manufacturing center.
From Charlotte the route lay to-
wards Rostic and it was found that
much Of the road had been laid with
ballast, obtained from a pit near Lilies
vile, and that the whole line had been
relaid with rs pound rail. and was in
very good shape. the Improvement
really being bic. At BOstic
the magnificent construction which
marks the c. G. & O. Railway every
where along its length was observed
at once. a large force is extending
the road southwark to Spartanburg
and this link Will be finished October
LIST. The train swung ~northWard and
passing over a perfectly ballasted line,
with IS pound rail and equipment Of
the finest type, Marion was soon
reached. When the writer was at that
place last August and made the first
through trip ever made over the c.. G.
& =. the public road from Marion to
the junction was simply in unsDeaka-
bic condition. hub-deep in mud. but
now there is a great change and a
good highway has been constructed
between the town and the c.. :. & O.
station. along which automobiles car
rying passengers buzZed to and fro.
leaving Marion the route still Law
northward and soon the train passed
upon the noble bridge which spans the
Catawba river. The instant this
bridge was reached a most glorious
mountain view was before the eyes,
that Of the BLACK Mountain range. in
Guiding notably Mt. Mitchell. the loft
lest peak east of the Rocky Mountains.
In the brilliant sunlight this great
range seemed like the wall of a world,
and is in truth the backbone Of the
eastern half of the continent. For
some distance the route lay along the
rich and beautiful valley of the Ca
taWba, there unmarried by the scars
which further down the stream the
great freshets Of the past dozen years
have made. Everything was a picture
OF fine cultivation and fertility. set
in the mountain valley Iike some ee~,
Soon the railway began to bore it's
way into the mountains. The cuts
grew deeper and deeper, the fills
heavier, and presently, skirting a
stream. the course of which had been
artihciaNy changed SO that no bridge
was necessary, the train roared
through the lowest tunnel on the Ma
r~lon-Johnson City division, known as
H~oneycutt's tunnel. It was observed
ma not only was the ballasting Of
eme road perfect: the track faultless
aho Of the highest type, but that ali
construction was of steel or con
~ or both, and the writer re-