Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1911-05-03
SOME BLUE RIDGE HISTORY.
Interesting Side Lights on Il Very
Interesting Subject.

.. - iNSSol III ou-
dressed the following letter to Theo-
dore n. Jervey, Of Charleston, and
his reply, which follows, gives some
very interesting bits OF information:
Columbia, april 1S.-Theodore ID.
Jervey, Charleston.-My Dear Mr..
Jervey: Columbians naturally feel
keen interest in the revived project
to build a railroad from Walhalla by
way Of the Stump House mountain
tunnel to a connection beyond Ra-
bun Gap with Knoxville, through
Clayton or Sevierville, and there
has been considerable discussion of
the matter in the press. Some Of
those interviewed have seemed to
take it for granted that this was the
route advocated by Robert Y. Hayne,
and 1t is for your authoritative opin-
ion on this pcin! that we venture to
write.
Is 1t not a fact that Mr.. Hayne
much preferred the French Broad
route, as surveyed by Dr.. John john
son, and that Haynes view prevail
ed, while 1t was John c.. Calhoun
who preferred the Stump House
Mountain-Iaabun Gap route? Is the
Broad river route advocated by
Hayne the route followed by the
Southern railway Of to-day from
Asheville westward? Do you hap
pen to know when and by whom the
present half-finished Stump House
tunnel was commenced and what
would have been the route followed
from that tunnels western portal?
If you can find time to let us have
for publication an answer to these
questions you will greatly oblige us
and will make a useful contribution
to a discussion which may have tan
gible results. 1t was, Of course, your
Robert Y. Hayne and His Tines
which suggested this letter.
Very truly yours, sir.
The Daily Record.
Mr.. Jervey's Reply.
Charleston, April 20.-The Daily
Record, Columbia-Gentlemen: Your
letter Of the 18th shows such a thor
ough understanding. of what / aimed
to disclose in my Life Of Hayne, that
! could answer 1t completely with one
word, eyes," but the subject being
one Of the deepest interest to me,
will develop 1t, as you suggest, with
some detail.
The late VIM. A. Courtenay was
Interested in my attempt to write a
life Of Robert Y. Hayne. He thought
the Western railroad scheme a great
conception, but informed me that he
feared, from what Col. Alfred Rhett
had told him, rs communicated to
him by the %colonel's father, Senator
Barnwell Rhett, that in the quarrel
between Hayne and Calhoun over the
route, Calhoun had been right and
Hayne wrong, on account Of the fact
that the French Broad route favored
by Hayne necessitated the objection
able and dangerous grade at Saluda
Mountain.
Concerning this. l questioned the
Rev. Dr.. Johnson, who unhesitatingly
assured me that as an engineer he
considered that Hayne had been right
and Calhoun wrong, as l have quoted
page 486, Robert Y. Hayne and His
Times" CA thread stretched from
Charleston to the country in Ken
lucky midway between Louisville and
Cincinnati will pass almost exactly
through these two cardinal points,
Asheville and Butt Mountain Gap, in
North Carolina. Measuring off at
right angles from this air line, the
Rabun Gap In northeastern Georgia
is distant to the southwest 60 miles,
laying upon the route the disadvant-
age Of being from 40 to SO miles
longer, and with the Stump House
tunnel for additional xpens and
disadvantage, against no tunnel at
all.")
] have Dr.. Johnson's brief note,
which discloses how thoroughly
Hayne worked and how slight was
the appreciation in his day of the i'm
mense value Of his way Of working.
! have given DR.. JOhnsOn's opinion of
h relative merits OF the two routes
and will quote the rest Of his memo
randum:
when the directors Of the Green
vile and Columbia and of the Char
lesion and South Carolina railroads
ordered surveys to be made for the
locating and constructing of their
lines IN the years 1S47-4S, | was en-