The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-01-07

81 Nl0S tflAQ6 10 Any pnGtlG I'M &
provement in the Southern country"
The editor of the Raleigh star an !
the completion Of the private
subscription with the following com
ments.
" must be permitted TO remark
that the State owes much 10 that
sterling man. Governor Morehead. for
success in this enterprise; and that
he who mas heretofore been styled a
'wheel-horse' IN this matter. may be
justly entitled 10 appeilation of a
whole team. WhisSs we pen these
hasty lines, the deep-nouthed cannon
is peaiing forth from Union Square
commemorative of this great deed for
North Carolina We are not of a very
excitable disposition. but We must
confess that 1t makes our blood run
quicker at every peal, SO that We
can scarcely restrain ourselves from
responding to its notes, HuZZa, HuzZa,
for the railroad"
On July IL. 1859. the private stock
holders met at Salisbury and organ
lied the company. the board Of di-
rectors unanimously elected John NJ.
Morehead president He was con
~tinuously reelected president until
1855. when declining further election
he was succeeded by Charles r
Fisher. During these five years of
President M~orehead's administration.
the North Carolina Railroad, truly de-
as Inc kISdlcSI OI ali enter
priSeS SO far attempted by the State
Of North Carolina in the nature of
a public or internal Improvement"
was constructed and opened to traffic.
The surveys were commenced August
p, 1850: on July II, 1851, at Green's
bOro, in the presence Of al immense
thyong, ground for the laying Of the
rails was broken; on January 20,
1856, the road was ready for cars
from G~oldsboro to Charlotte, a dis
lance Of 223 miles. In his last re-
port to the board Of directors, En-
gineer Gwyn said that the breaking
Of ground for this railroad may be
justly regarded as an event which
will ever be memorable in the annals
of North Carolina-an era which
marks her engaging with earnestness
in honorable competition with her
sister States in the great work of in
terna1 improvement which is to raise
the State to hat rank which the ad-
vantages of her situation entitle her to
hold" and continuing, he said:
From this memorable day, July IL,
1881, there has been no faltering or
heart and han IN h great under
taking; the whole State, her entire
people, catching the enthusiasm which
it engendered have o1ne forth in their
might and majesty. battling in the
cause Of internal improvement, those
heretofore signalized as laggards now
pressing orWar in the front rank
The contractors on the
| North Carolina Railroad were al
F, stockholders, and with only two OF
: three exceptions entirely destitute OF
experience in the work they under
took: they m their contracts
very generally in January. 1852, anG
on the first Of January, 1888, with
s out the aid Of a single dollar from
e the treasury Of the company, but re.
lying entirely upon their own eredl'
: and means, their united abo amount
r ed to $500, Gee, which carried to thu
e credit OF their stock subscription, full
S filed the second condition Of the sub
scription on the part Of the State an
e brought her in as j partner in tn
great enterprise. This Coupling tn
f subscription of a Ha4llion of dollar
Y by individuals, chiefly farmers, sn'
s working out a half q million or thei
own r~eSourceS) is an achievement un
6 precedented in the annals OF the pub
lie works Of this or any other country
and wherever known tand 1t ought (
e be published everyWhere) will dis
abuse the public mind anu vindicat
g the energy, enterprise, and industr
Of the citizens Of the State. ! hay
d repeatedly said publicly, and per
d ceiviug no improperly in it. [ ava
6 myself Of this occasion. to say that j
a. my experience now excee ling thirt
years, / have not found on any ploli
d work with which, I hay. been con
l. nected a set of contractors NOR. re
h liable than those with whom | hav
IT had to deal on The North Caroln
,e Railroad, and none with "holn III
intercourse has been so Peasant an
n agreeable"
lr 1t is no small tribute to the wis
TO dom and constructive genius OF Pres
ct dent Morehead to be able to shy tina
e. of all the contracts which as prcsidef
Of the road he had to make, the on!
at one about which any controversy eve
~ arose, or any charge Of favoritis1n ".
le ever made, was one which the Sta.
at directors, for partisan political pa
&c poses, took out of his hands and II
a ferred for settlement to a committf
Of their own choosing.
L. The North Carolina Railroad vi
a. My one link IN the great State sy:
e. TEN which MoreEead contemplate
IN As he himself expressed i. this 81
@, tenn was to include "one great leaCir
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