FARMERS' REGISTER— SOUTHERN RAIL ROADS. 



151 



mile witle, canying adcjith of nearly twenty-three 

 fee^t at low water. The mouth of this river, at the 

 sea, li-qm Hilton Head on the one side, to the 

 Hunting Islands on the other, is between seven 

 and eight miles; and it penetrates a wide and 

 nearly straight course, ' some distance into the 

 country, insomuch that a vessel runs below the 

 visible horizon in going up the river, as if she were 

 at sea. Also, many rivers of less note discharge 

 their waters .therein. Hence, the appellation ol' 

 bay woukl be a mprc appropriate term, ibr this no- 

 ble expanse of water, than that by which it is at 

 present knoAvn — that of Broad River." 



As a commercial depot, it may become the 

 exporting port of the western states; for, if a rail road 

 can be laid down from the Ohio to Baltimore, it 

 certainly can from the gulph of Mexico to Beau- 

 fort. 



A rail road from thence to Augusta would be a 

 cheap and easy achievement. It will be the sub- 

 ject of a separate paper. 



The expense annually incurred by the loss of 

 steamers in -the western rivers to get their produce 

 to market, and the amount of one year's damages 

 arisiiig from the dangei's of the gulph of Florida, 

 incun-ed by the underwriters, \vould pay the whole 

 expense. 



Hence, my proposition would be to lay down a 

 railway of the sim])lest description; or, should the 

 subject on discussion prove worthy, a better one of 

 a permanent character. 



We will suppose Newbern to be the centre of 

 the commerce now impeded by the "deplorable" 

 state of Gcracock, and destined to be eternally 

 harrassed bj* the shoal of Hattcras. 



The distance from Newbern to Wilmington, on 

 the Roanoke, is 60 miles — from thence to J^iurfVees- 

 borough, the same — from thence to Suffolk 40 — in 

 all 160 miles. A railway at "S 1000 a mile would 

 according to Mr. Fulton, be ?i 160,000 or not one 

 half the expense annually and actually incurred bj- 

 the attempt to navigate Ocracock. Should this 

 succeed, a railway from Fayetteville to Raleigh, 

 and thence through Halifax to Murfreesborough, 

 where a union with the lower branch could carry 

 all the produce of North Carolina to an easy mar- 

 ket, and a port [Norfolk] that might become one of 

 the most important commercial and military depots 

 in the middle, would render the most useful results 

 to the Middle States, while the commerce of the 

 west will eventually confer the same benefit on 

 Beaufort m the Southern States. 



This may be a dream, and its writer be called a 

 visionaiy — but, it can do no injury, even should it 

 have no effect. And, as the motive in composing 

 it is pure, I send it for insertion in the Camden 

 Journal. I assume the title of one who in his 

 own age was deemed a vision aPy^, but, in ours is 

 found well worthy of our gratitude and respect. 



I confine my views to the single effect it would 

 have on the commerce of North Carolina. As a 

 measure tending to the general convenience of 

 making it the great passage from the west to the 

 east, and vice versa, travelling, &c. &c. much 

 might be said. They are obvious. The distances 

 stated are not perfectly accurate; but sufRcientlj- so 

 to elucidate the subject. 



WORCESTER." 



•With the exception of Drayton's account of 

 Beaufort and a paragraph relative to a rail road to 



Augusta, the above paper was published in the 

 Camden Journal for the 10th May 1828. Its ac; 

 tual bearing on the line of rail road that will have 

 to be laid clown in the first instance from Fayette- 

 ville, and at a fiiture and no distant period, from 

 the fixrthest west, is very important; and, it is ren- 

 dered more so by the illegal attempt at imposition 

 (for it deserves no other term) made by the corpo- 

 ration of the Charleston and Augusta Rail Road 

 on the. General Post Office-. 



To facilitate the correspondence of the country 

 as well as to cheapen its conveyance, and add to 

 its celerity, was a leading motive to an advocacy 

 lor the adoption of rail roads; and, csi^ecially to 

 cheapen its conveyance must, originally, have been 

 the object of the above named company. For, 

 in Mr. Dcxter's pamphlet we find the following 

 observations: 

 '•Sundry freights from Augusta, and 



the mails, - - - - S 10,000 

 Way passengers and travel from 

 Greenville and Columbia, with 

 mails, "horses, carriages, servants, 

 &c. equal to fifteen passengera 

 at 85, - - - - - 27,375" 

 In the latter instance on no mail ia 

 there any calculation made; but, 

 the company is now asking the 

 governnentforthe con vcyance of 

 the mail from Charleston to Au- 

 gusta, ^50,000 



Or five per cent, on the capital they have expend- 

 ed, and six per cent, on what ought only to have 

 been expended. 



That such a charge was, until now, never con- 

 templated is evident from the estimate they made 

 of their net income, ^229,140, ^138,960, or 

 ?S; 120,960; and one of the directors (Mr. Miller,) 

 ventures "to predict that before the expiration of 

 three years, the mail -will be transported from this 

 city (Netv York) to New Orleans in eight or nine 

 days.' 



What was the language of the Charleston 

 Mercury? 



"The Augusta Courier states that the Charles- 

 ton morning papers are on its reading room files, 

 by breakfast time the succeding day: and that it is 

 expected to get them on the evening of the same 

 day, when the rail road is completed." 



"The United States Mail and stage passengerf3 

 were transmitted on it nine months before any 

 other company transported it on a rail road; and it 

 is questionable if any extended line of communi- 

 cation of an efficient and permanent character, 

 Avhether rail road, turnpike, or canal, has been ex- 

 ecuted in so short a time, or at a cost approxima- 

 ting so nearly to the original estimate. 



The cash receipts for April, 1833, freight and 

 passage are upwards of..f 3,G00. 



The total for Mar, 1834, was ft 18,000. 



This demand' on the part of the company, and 

 the recent report as to the financial condition of 

 the General Fost Office, will lead to the question, 

 whether its revenues ought not to be pledged for 

 the interest on, and final discharge of, the principal 

 incurred in the formation of rail roads for the con- 

 veyance of the mail. 



if a consideration of this land is rendered im- 

 peratively necessary, by the conduct of the 



