1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



331 



seems in a great measure restored, and the travel 

 has so much increased aa to justify the opinion 

 lierctofore expressed that lew roads in our coun- 

 try have a hetlcr prospect of ultimate success. 



Amontr the errors into which we have I'ailcn, it 

 is believed that the eHbrt to establish and carry on 

 an extensive manufacture of machinery has proved 

 the most expensive, thou<Tii in the infancy of our 

 eslablislmient the difficulty and delay met with in 

 promptly procuring necessary articles or repairs 

 seemed to render such an establishment indispen- 

 sable. Now when the number of such factories 

 has greatly increased, conducted by workmen (or 

 their own account, it is believed that a small part 

 •of the force, heretofore deemed necessary, will be 

 required, consequently reducing greatly these ex- 

 penditures. Considerable loss has also been sus- 

 tained by being compelled, in consequence of a 

 mail contract and the delay in finishing Weldon 

 bridge, to purchase stages and horses, which we 

 had contracted to have furnished up to the period 

 when it was supposed they would be no longer re- 

 quired. That period having arrived, being una- 

 ble to renew or extend our contract, and the bridge 

 siill unfinished, the purchase was indispensable. 



Application was made to our late legislature for 

 a loan, on a pledge of the stock and profits of the 

 company. The terms on which it has been au- 

 thorized, require the consent of the stockholders ; 

 the law is submitted for your consideration. It 

 may be proper to remark that a reliance on that 

 aid has enabled us to procure a credit, without 

 which it would have been impossible to have con- 

 tinued the operations of the road. 



By agreement with the Wilmington company 

 we are permitted to use their road to Halifax, and 

 when finished (which it is expected will be about 

 the first of July next,) to continue our run to En- 

 field, about ten miles farther south, by which their 

 stage route will be much shortened. Mutual in- 

 terest will secure the continuance of that good 

 feeling, which has ever prevailed between these 

 companies. 



An agreement has also been entered into with 

 the Maryland and Virginia steamboat company, 

 which, while it affords increased expedition and 

 comfort to travellers, cannot fail greatly to advance 

 the interest of both companies. 



With the aid relied on from the state, the com- 

 pany will be relieved from existing debts, be ena- 

 bled to finish the wharf and warehouse so much 

 needed for the accommodation of the business of 

 the road, and to procure necessary engines and 

 coaches, and then by means of the connexions al- 

 ready secured, we feel fully justified in our expres- 

 sion of confidence in the value of this enterprise. 



The reports of the treasurer and general agent 

 are herewith submitted. 

 By order of the board. 



Arthur Emmerson, President. 

 Office of the Portsmouth and Roanoke ? 



Railroad Company. 5 



To the President and Directors of the Ports- 

 mouth and Roanoke Railroad Company : 



Gentlemen : — Although from personal observa- 

 tion you may be presumed to be acquainted with 

 the condition of the work under your control 

 which has been committed to my management, it 

 may be considered my duty according to usage to 



review the operations upon the road since the aP- 

 fairs of the company were confided to me. 



By reference to the 5tli annual report of the 

 president and directors, it will be seen that the 

 road was opened to Garysburg in August, 1836. 

 The tardy progress of the remainder of the work, 

 comprising the superintendence from (iarysburg, 

 to the Roanoke river, tlie bridge across the Roan- 

 oke, and the road and fixtures at Weldon, render- 

 ing my personal attention only occasionally neces- 

 sary, I voluntarily relinquished one half of my 

 annual salary in "October, 1836, still however re- 

 tauiing entire charge of the transportation until 

 Alay, 1837, when, agreeably to some general regu- 

 lations of the stockholders, the duties of general 

 agent of transportation devolved on the president 

 of the company, and I confined myself entirely to 

 the completion of the road, which was efi'ected in 

 November, that is, on the 27th of November last, 

 the bridge over the Roanoke was so far completed 

 as to allow the passage of the cars, which com- 

 menced on that day running regularly to Weldon. 



On the 1st January, 1838, I again resumed the 

 charge of the transportation department by a re- 

 solution of the board appointing me the "general 

 agent and superintendent of the affairs of the 

 company." I found the road very much injured 

 by the use of two heavy engines which had been 

 most ill-advisably placed upon it. Between Ports- 

 mouth and Suffolk, where the rails had undergone 

 some decaj', the road was entirely broken down, 

 and almost impassable. Between Suffolk and 

 Weldon, although much of the iron was broken 

 and many of the rails crushed, this portion of the 

 road was not so materially injured. My attention 

 was immediately directed to the repairs of the 

 road, and a large ibrce was employed, which soon 

 put it in a condition that has, I believe, given ge- 

 neral satisfaction to the public and to all concern- 

 ed. The engines were also put in repair; and 

 without going into details, let it suffice to say, that, 

 since the 10th of January, the care have been 

 running with a regularity and speed unsurpassed 

 by any other road in the country. And, as I ob- 

 served in my report to the board in May last, no- 

 thing is now wanting but an administration of the 

 affairs of the company upon the system which has 

 been adopted. The simplicity of a railroad with 

 its embankments, excavation, bridges, and iron- 

 capped superstructure, and the great ease with 

 which high velocities are attained, and immense 

 burdens transported, are too apt to beguile those 

 unacquainted with such matters into the belief 

 that all is accomplished when the wheels are put 

 in motion, when in fact the work is but just be- 

 gun. Besides the many heavy losses which com- 

 panies have sustained, the whole railway system 

 has well nigh been brought into disrepute by so 

 fallacious an opinion. A reference to my printed 

 reports, but more especially my communications 

 on file in the office of the company, will show the 

 great anxiety 1 have felt, from the very com- 

 mencement of your improvement, to leave the 

 management of your road in competent hands. 



In my report of 1836, nearly twelve months be- 

 fore the completion of the railroad, in my remarks 

 under the head of transportation, I observe, in re- 

 lation to the agent, that the various and compli- 

 cated duties to be performed by such an officer 

 after the completion of the road — including the 

 enforcement of established regulations, the insti- 



