1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



741 



135 miles in length, 1o Hamburgh, on the 

 Savannah river, opposite Augusta, nearly in the 

 direction of Cincinnati; and the contemplated rail 

 road to Paris, in Bourbon county, Kentucky, ex- 

 actly in the course, of Charleston, (for the construc- 

 tion of which there are, in the opinion of your com 

 mittee, a great many weighty reasons of a local na- 

 ture,) would have a length of about 90 miles, thus 

 leaving but 475 miles to complete this new and 

 most important communication, between the in- 

 terior and the sea-board of the south. 



The middle of this main trunk would be inter- 

 sected by the projected rail road from Richmond, 

 Virginia, via Lynchburg, to Knoxville, in east 

 Tennessee, by which the Old Dominion would ac- 

 quire a new channel of intercourse with her 

 daughter Kentucky; and also with several of the 

 states formed out of the north-western territory, 

 which was once her property — travelling from the 

 west to southern Virginia, being thus restored to 

 the route which it took in the infancy of our set- 

 tlements. 



By an extension west, to Nashville, of the 

 Richmond, Lynchburg and Knoxville road, the 

 whole of central and north Tennessee would be en- 

 abled, with great facility, to communicate with the 

 Carolinas and Georgia, by means of the southern 

 extremity, and with the state of Ohio, by means of 

 the northern extremity of the great highway un- 

 der consideration. 



From the maritime terminations, and the late- 

 ral branches of this extended trunk, let us turn 

 our attention to the northern or continental con- 

 nections which it would establish. 



These would extend, both east and west, from 

 Cincinnati, for several hundred miles, and through 

 every intervening northern point. First, the Ohio 

 river would connect it with western Virginia and 

 western Pennsylvania — embracing the valleys of 

 the great Kanawha, Monongahela and Allegha- 

 ny rivers: Second, the Ohio and Erie canal, from 

 Portsmouth to Cleveland, already finished; the 

 Miami and Maumee canal, in progress from Cin- 

 cinnati to Lake Erie, uniting at Fort Wayne with 

 the Erie and Wabash canal of Indiana; and the 

 Mad-river and Sandusky rail road, from Dayton 

 to the Lake, the execution of which has com- 

 menced, would connect it with the entire chain of 

 northern lakes, from the falls of Niagara to the 

 Straits of Mackinac, and even Green Bay, on the 

 western shore of Michigan, including the eastern 

 border of Wisconsin Territory, north or maritime 

 Illinois and Indiana, the whole of Michigan Ter- 

 ritory, a part of Upper Canada, and the centre 

 and northern declivity of Ohio: Third, the Wabash 

 and Erie canal just mentioned, and the rail road 

 from Lawrenceburg, at the mouth of the Great 

 Miami, to Indianapolis, already begun, would carry 

 its advantages into the depths of Indiana: Fourth, 

 the Ohio river from Cincinnati to the Mississippi 

 would connect, it, beneficially, with south and west 

 Illinois, Missouri, and the immense extent of un- 

 settled territory watered by the upper Mississippi 

 and Missouri rivers. Thus the proposed main trunk, 

 from Cincinnati to Charleston, would resemble an 

 immense horizontal tree extending its roots 

 through, or into, ten states, and a vast expanse of 

 uninhabited territory, in the northern interior of 

 the Union, while its branches would wind through 

 half as many populous states on the southern sea- 

 board. 



The extent of this inland communication from 

 north to south, through the centre of the United 

 States, would comprehend at least 15° of latitude, 

 and could only be compared with that established 

 by the Mississippi river. It would not indeed be 

 limited by the continent, tor, as many important 

 islands of the West Indies are contiguous to South 

 Carolina, they would, in fact, be comprehended in 

 the new facilities of intercourse that would be es- 

 tablished between the south and north, and should, 

 therefore, be taken into the estimate. 



Of the physical practicability of constructing 

 the main trunk of the proposed rail-way, across 

 the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and North 

 Carolina, your committee see no reason to enter- 

 tain a doubt. It is true, that it must traverse 

 many of the branches of the Cumberland and 

 Tennessee rivers, and scale the southern extremi- 

 ties of the Alleghany Mountains. One of the 

 branches, however, of the latter river, the French 

 Broad, as we have already seen, originating on the 

 slopes of the Blue Ridge, the most southern of 

 the mountain chains, runs to the north, traversing 

 the western angle of North Carolina, to unite with 

 the Tennessee, thus opening a pass through a 

 part of the mountains, and inviting to the enter- 

 prize. Of the height of the remaining mountains, 

 your committee cannot speak with confidence, but 

 believe it to be less than that of the Alleghanies, 

 where they are traversed by the rail road and ca- 

 nals from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. However 

 this may be, no decision of the question of physi- 

 cal practicability can be made, but by competent 

 engineers, on an actual examination of the 

 route. 



The question of expense can of course only be 

 settled by the same means. Assuming that the 

 projected rail road from the Ohio river, opposite Cin- 

 cinnati, to Paris, in Bourbon county Kentucky, 

 will, from the considerations limited to the region 

 of country concerned, be most certainly executed, 

 and referring to the actual completion of the rail 

 road from Charleston to Augusta, the intervening 

 section would not, as we have seen, exceed 475 

 miles, which, at the high price of 12.500 dollars 

 per mile, would amount to 6,000,000 of dollars; a 

 sum not greater than is about to be expended by a 

 company of capitalists, in the construction of a 

 rail way within the state of New York, to run 

 nearly parallel with her grand canal, and connect 

 the same waters with the same city. 



It may be said, however, that the central part 

 of the Cincinnati and Charleston road would run 

 through a country but thinly inhabited, and fur- 

 nishing little aid, either in the construction of the 

 road or in swelling the amount of transportation 

 upon it. But why is it so sparsely peopled. 

 Manifestly, in part, because of all portions of our 

 common country, it is the most inaccessable and 

 the most destitute of facilities for the exportation 

 of its iron, salt, coal, tar, turpentine, and other na- 

 tural productions. To wait, therefore, for a den- 

 ser population, as a condition for commencing a 

 great work of internal improvement, which only 

 can augment that density, would be to wait for 

 the developement of an effect, before resorting to 

 the only cause that can produce it. Let the road 

 be executed, and an instantaneous impulse will be 

 given to improvement in that region. If, howe- 

 ver, it were too steril for such a result to occur, no 

 argument against the project could arise from that 



