[1837 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



the horee thieves and counterfeiters of the west, 

 und other persons of that description, isidisrci^ard- 

 ed.* The neighborhood of the Indians, with tlic 

 risk of the scalping Icnitio and tomahawk, ibr the 

 women and chiKh'en, is overlooked. Pestileiiiiai 

 marshes, stagnant water, yellow fever and other 

 liital bilious diseases, widows andjjorphans lefi in 

 a helpless condition, where human pity aiid sym- 

 pathy are scarcely known by name, are circum- 

 stances hardly allowed to form items in the gene- 

 ral calculation of profit and loss. Far less is the 

 iibandonment of (riends and country regarded, the 

 prospect of wliich extorted from Burns the pa- 

 thetic lines — 



With melting heart and briinfidl eye, 

 I'll mind you still, though far away. 

 A young man of this county, whose friends and 

 family reside here, told a friend of tlie writer, a iew 

 days since, he was going to Texas. " You will 

 be too far off to return often," he was told. " I care 

 not about ever returning," was the characteristic 

 reply, "so I do well." Meaning, by doing well, 

 making money! 



ACCOUNT OP THE GREENSVILLE AND HOAN- 

 OKE RAILWAY. 



To the Editor of the Fannera' Register. 



December 1st, 1836. 



As the Greensville and Roanoke Rail Road is 

 about to go into operation, a concise account of its 

 origin, location, construction, and probable reve- 

 nue, may not be uninteresting to at least a portion 

 of your readers. 



To secure the trade, and bring to its own mar- 

 ket the produce of the great and lertile valley of 

 the Roanoke, has always been considered a mat- 

 ter of the greatest importance by the town of e- 

 rersburg. For this purpose, (among the fust in 

 this country, though still a new work,) was the 

 Petersburg and Roanoke railway constructed — 

 an improvement which has lar surpassed the ex- 

 pectations of its warmest advocates. Blakely, on 

 the Roanoke, and nearly four miles below the fiiljs, 

 was selected as the point of termination of this 

 road. This work, however, had scarcely ffone 

 into operation, when the Portsmouth and Roan- 

 oke Rail Road Vv'as projected, to connect the towns 

 of Portsmouth and Weldon, (the latter place on 

 the Roanoke, four miles above Blakely) the object 

 of which was to divert this same trade to Ports- 

 mouth and Norfolk. The Petersburg interest, thus 

 in danger oi" being cut oif from the trade of the 

 upper Roanoke, saw at once the necessity of a 

 branch from their road, to some point on that river 

 still higher up than Weldon; and for this purpose, 

 a joint charter was obtained from the legislatures 

 of Virginia and North Carolina, tor a rail road 

 from some point in the vicinity of Hickslbrd, in 

 Greensville county, to Wilkins' ferry, (now Gas- 

 ton,) fifteen miles above Weldon. 



During the summer of the past year, the sur- 



* A friend in whose statement I can confide, assured 

 me, that some years since, travellino: through one of the 

 new states, in the coarse of one day's ride along a pub- 

 lic road, the residences of five notorious horse thieves, 

 were pointed out to him by a person acquainted with 

 the cotmtry. 



Vol. 'V— 2 



veys were commenced, vigorously prosecuted, the 

 location finally deternn'ned, and the work let for 

 construction in the latter part of September. 



The line of the Greensville and Roanoke Rail 

 Road leaves the most western point of the Pe- 

 tersburg road, about three miles south of Belfield, 

 and alter crossing Fontaine's creek, about two 

 miles from its conmienccment, keeps on the ridge 

 between that and Beaver creek, till it reaches the 

 summit between the waters of the Meherrin and 

 those of the Roanoke. The valley of a ravine, emp- 

 tying into the latter, is there made use of, in the de- 

 scent to the Roanoke. This location, the best that 

 could possibly be obtained, is, on the whole, favora- 

 ble; but \-et, not as much so as the public rnight be 

 led to supfjose, from the term ridge location, in con- 

 sequence of the sinuosities of this ridge at certain 

 points. 



This road is |)eculiarly adapted to the use of lo- 

 comotive power, the curves being ail short, and 

 very gentle, and the grades easy, no where ex- 

 ceeding a rise of sixteen feet to the mile in the di- 

 rection of the heavy trade, or of thirty two feet to 

 the mile in the opposite direction, e.\cept in, the 

 short descent to the Roanoke, of which more here- 

 after. 



The following table will give the reader some 

 idea of the curves, and the tangents, or straio-ht 

 lines, connecting them. 



No. 1, is the" junction of the Petersburg and 

 Greensville roads — No. 17, is on the bank of the 

 Roanoke ; the other nunsbers are merely used to 

 designate points of curve, and the terras right and 

 left, are used on the supposition that the traveller 

 is leaving Petersburtj. 



From No. 1 — curve to right — radius 



2865 feet, 

 No. 2 — straight, 

 " 3 — curve to leA — radius 



5730 leet, 

 " 4 — straight, 

 '* 6 — curve to right — radius 



5730 feet, 

 " 6— straight, 

 " 7 — curve to lelt — radius 



5730 feet, 

 " 8— straight, 

 " 9 — curve to left — radius 



5730 feet, 

 " 10— straight, 

 " 11 — curve to right — radius 



5730 feet, 

 " 12— straight, 

 " 13 — curve to right — radius 



2865 feet, 

 " 14— straight, 

 " 15 — curve to left — radius 



1910 feet, 

 " 16 — straight, 

 No. 17. 



From this table, we perceive that 79800 feet of 

 this line are perfectly straight, and only 13700 

 curved, the whole length being 93500 leet, very 

 nearly 18 mdes. Again — of the curved portion, 

 6500 feet have a radius of 5730 feet — more than 

 a mile; five thousand one hundred, a radius of 

 28S5 feet — more than half a mile; and only two 

 thousand one hundred leet with a radius as small 

 as 1910 feet. This last is the only objectionable 



