100 



FA KM Ell S' HKGISTEll. 



[No. 2 



millions of doilare annually. This profluce con- 

 sists of corn, cotton, wheat, fish, peas, and an im- 

 mense amount in naval stoies and lumber. These 

 articles are nearly ail of such bulk- as lo forbid a 

 deposiie l)ei\veen the place of production and sale. 

 Hence the importance of its beintr received from 

 the wharves and rivers of the producers and car- 

 ried at once to the ocean for its final destination. 

 To the fishing interest the success of the work is 

 of peculiar importance, as the annual tribute from 

 abroad for this article alone is estimated by ffentle- 

 men from that section of the state at -9300,000. 

 This work has also been examined and estimates 

 made, under the authority of an enp-ineer of the 

 state and of the United States. They difl^er 

 greatly as to the cost, which may be owing to the 

 material and the manner of constructing the work. 

 But however, uncertain this may be, tile people in 

 that section of the slate, it is said, are willing to 

 risk their own capital in its success, and think a 

 subscription not exceeding 500,000 dollars by the 

 state, would render it certain. If so, the conven- 

 tion was of opinion it should be granted. 



4. The payment by the state of the balance, 

 150,000 dollars, of its subscription to the Wilming- 

 ton and Raleigh rail-roads ought at once to be 

 made. The convention came to this opinion as 

 an act of justice to the very liberal and spirited 

 exertions of the private subscribers, in having 

 risked so much on their part for so great a public 

 work, and Irom the certainty, as well as from the 

 progress made, as the high profits expected, that 

 the work must and will be finished. The prompt 

 payment cannot injure the state, and will greatly 

 aid a spirited portion of her citizens. 



5. The survey of Neuse and Tar rivers, with 

 the view to steaaihoat navigation, and if found 

 practicable, that the board of internal improve- 

 ments be authorized to contract for effecting it. 

 Those rivers are the property of the state, the 

 charters granted for their improven:ients having 

 been long since forleiled. It is proper then, that 

 the surveys should be had at the expense of the 

 state, as due to her citizens, who will use them 

 lor their produce, as well as from the fact that one 

 of these rivers is so directly connected with the 

 prosperity of one of its markets, Washington, 

 which has heretofore been sustained with so much 

 epiril, but which has recently suffered so severely 

 by fire ; whilst the other leads to an old town, 

 which has many claims on the liberality of the 

 state, besides its direct connection with the great 

 rail-road in which the state has so deep an in- 

 terest. 



6. A survey from Raleigh, via Hillsborough, 

 to Greensborough, with the view to a McAdam- 

 ized turnpike road, a conipany and a subscription 

 of two-fifths by the state. This route is recom- 

 mended from the fiict, that it is to take the main 

 line of travel from the seat of government to the 

 western counties in the state ; that it passes 

 through two among the largest and most produc- 

 tive counties in the state, whose people are far- 

 mers, deal principally in the necessaries of life, 

 own their own vehicles, accustomed to their use, 

 and, without this road, can share but little in the 

 direct advantages of internal improvements. Be- 

 sides, it is for the present to terminate at one of 

 the most flourishing inland towns in the state, 

 Greensborouorh, which has its flourishing schools, 

 its steam-mills, cotton factories, and in every way 



its population is both active and enterprising. A 

 cheap and speedy mode of reaching a market, as 

 we learn, would often enable the enterprising pro- 

 prietor of tier cotton I'actory to send the product 

 of his esinblishmcnt to the city of New York, and 

 realize a profit of two or three cents on the pound. 

 This profit would not operate to his advantage 

 alone, but to that of the grower of the raw mate- 

 rial. 7'he pro|,'osed survey would cost but little ; 

 and the road, if McAdamized, would not likely 

 exceed, according lo the estimate of the board of 

 internal improvements, ^3,000 per mile, and a 

 part of it, possible one-half, would be an ordinary 

 turnpike, the cost of which would not exceed ^200 

 to 300 per mile. The road, in justice, ought to 

 belong to the state, except that experience has 

 shown, to construct and keep up such works, calls 

 for intlividual interest and attention; otherwise 

 they constitute a continual drain on the public 

 treasury, and end in ruin. From this line, a 

 blanch might hereafter be extended, with great 

 propriety, to some eligible point on the Dan river ; 

 and thus cive to the people in that fertile region, 

 the means of reaching, i/^so inclined, the markets 

 of their own state. 



Such are the works as placed in the first class 

 of the plan proposed by the convention ; such are 

 some of the views and reasons which influenced 

 that body in recommending them. If any one 

 should object, that his work ought to be placed on 

 equally favorable ground with the most favored 

 class, he should pause, consult the means of the 

 sta;e, and then ask himself, "if such a plan had 

 been adopted but five years ago, would not my 

 wishes now be gratified?" Time marches rapid- 

 ly ; and a few years, as we trust, will serve to 

 bring into operation the whole scheme, and others, 

 if their claims and advantages shall hereafter be 

 disclosed and properly pressed. 



Second class. — These as will be seen, contem- 

 plate a connection with the two great rail-roads 

 now in progress, as well as with the proposed 

 road from Fayelteville to the Yadkin. The Beau- 

 fort road, leading from the fine harbor at that 

 place, is the most important from that fact, as an-t 

 other outlet will be thus opened to the ocean, and 

 the produce of the upper country will then find 

 additional means of being shipped to any portion 

 of the commercial world. The inlet at Beaufort, 

 is said to be not only the best in our own state, 

 for its depth of water, having from 22 to 24 feet 

 on its bar, but it is not to be surpassed by any 

 other from the Chesapeake to Pensacola. Why 

 then, it maybe asked, was not its rail-road placed 

 in the first class? The answer to a majority of 

 the convention, was plain and satisfactory. It 

 has no produce, no capital ; these must be brought 

 from a distance. One great trunk in connecting 

 the east and west, was deeined sufficient. A road 

 from Beaufort to Raleigh, and thence to the west, 

 had been authorized, and it totally failed. The 

 convention had no reasonable grounds to believe 

 that it would prove more successful at present. 

 Two connectins roads were too expensive to be 

 undertaken at the same time by the state, and her 

 true policy forbade it. Hence, the one Irom Fay- 

 elteville was selected as most likely to succeed, 

 as required by the pressing demands of our wes- 

 tern citizens, as leading to markets in which ca- 

 pital is already employed, and as having an outlet 

 that might answer present demands. Again, 



