1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



37 



contemplation to construct a rail road to pass 

 near Greensborougli, N. C, through Lexington to 

 Salisbury, N. C, at '-vhich point, but about 50 

 miles of railway would connect Salisbury with the 

 great commercial highway, should either of the 

 routes here recommendedbe found practicable." 



These routes are "east of the Broad, through 

 Richland, Fairfield, Chester, and York, pene- 

 trating N. C, so as to intersect the counties of 

 Lincoln, Rutherford, Burke, and perhaps Bun- 

 combe, and having lor its immediate vicinity near- 

 ly all the wealthy section of the south-west of N. 

 Carolina;" or "to follow the Valley of the Broad 

 and Catawba." In North Carolina, the outlet re- 

 commended appears to be nearly that, for Col. 

 Long's reconnoisance of which, Mr. VVhite of 

 Kentucky,has moved in Conirress — Linville Moun- 

 tain to the sources of the Licking, or Big Sandy. 

 The report continues, "Thus by one continued 

 chain of rail roads, would Charleston and Cin- 

 cinnati (Louisville and Lexington) be connected 

 with Richmond and Petersburg. * * * * In 

 such a slate of things, it is easy to perceive that 

 nearly all the travelling of business, and certainly 

 all that of pleasure, between the north and the 

 south, will be diverted, from the sea board, into the 

 new, more rapid, and more convenient channel we 

 have attempted to describe.'''' And, if the low coun- 

 ties of the Carolinas, and Georgia, do not exert 

 themselves, such will, such must be the case. 



But, to exhibit the inducements,! must continue 

 my quotation from this enlightenetl report. Many 

 of the.'=e routes are throuirh the finest mineral 

 countries in the world. In York, Union, and Spar- 

 tanburg, are to be Ibund iron, marble, granite, 

 lime, the latter of which could be sold at Colum- 

 bia, of course at Fayetteville, &c., &c., to great 

 advantage. Next are noticed, the iron foundries 

 of Lincoln, and the salt works of Virginia. As to 

 the Yadkin, if the lock and dam system will suc- 

 ceed, all the country it waters, as well as Wilming- 

 ton and Fayetteville, may be much benefited. 



P. Q. is vehement as to the Wilmington and 

 Halifax Road. "It will not receive enough to 

 keep it in repair." Does he recollect the efTorfs 

 of Philadelphia? Is he aware of the projected 

 road to Pokomoke, on the Eastern Shore, the ob- 

 ject of which is, to dispense with the steamer up 

 the bay, and to lessen its passage from Norfolk? 

 He may rest assured, that a road from Darlington 

 and Harleesville, S. C., to Fayetteville, to Halifax 

 via Waynesborough,Tarborough, &c. &c., would 

 make travellers forget that Raleigh was in exis- 

 tence. He should rettir to Col. Long's report 

 (Doc. 177, session 1834-5.) He willthere find 

 this route distinctly recognized. It is one which 

 I hope will be recognized by Congress, in a dis- 

 cussion that must be in progress before the re- 

 cess. 



I would here, at the risk of being desultory, ex- 

 press my hope that some member of Congress 

 will take up the question of the iron steam boat. 

 The following paragraph speaks volumes on the 

 subject, especially illustrated as they are, by the 

 arrival of one at Savannah; and by the fact, that 

 a bill lor the remission of duties on a steam boat, 

 passed the Senate of the U. S., the 17th Feb., 

 1836. This boat must be (he one which has 

 reached Savannah by the Alcyone from Liver- 

 pool. The one alluded to in the annexed para- 



graph having been built in London at the publica- 

 tion of the notice: 



"There is at present building an iron steam boat 

 120 leet long and 26 feet wide, at Mr. Laid's yard, 

 on the other side of the river. The vessel is to 

 be taken to pieces and sent across the Atlantic to 

 Savannah, between which place and Augusta, 

 she is intended to ply with cotton, &c. — She is so 

 constructed as only to draw two feet and a half of 

 water, and yet to carry 600 bales of cotton on her 

 deck, which, when the wood work is added, will 

 be upwards of forty feet wide. Her burden is 375 

 tons, carpenter'.s measure. We believe that she 

 is the largest sleam boat ever built in this porte: she 

 is certainly one of the most curious and ingeni- 

 ous. 



"A wrought iron steam boat has been com- 

 pleted in London lor the P]ast India Company, to 

 be employed in the navigation of the Ganges. It 

 is 125 feet in length, entirely of iron, except the 

 deck, carries an engine of 60 horse power, and 

 draws less than two lijet of water." 



In addition, we are indebted for the following 

 to the National Intelligencer: "The wrought iron 

 steam boat, ordered from England, has arrived (in 

 pieces) at Savannah. Her length is 120 feet, her 

 beam 26 feet, and her depth (of hold) 7^ feet. 

 She is estimated to draw, with all her machinery, 

 and every thing aboard, 2 feet 3 inches, and will 

 have an English low pressure engine of 46 horse 

 power." 



I cannot avoid making some observations on 

 the heterodox notions of P. Q., as to the power 

 with which he would invest legislatures in the 

 management of rail roads, or indeed any public 

 improvement. I want but to learn the result of 

 the inspection laws in New York and Virginia, 

 and the sagacity of N. Carolina, in refusing twelve 

 years since, iJjlO or 20,000 to Hamilton Fulton for 

 an experimental rail road to Swift Creek, to pro- 

 nounce that in legislatures, the "collected wis- 

 dom" of the nation is not to be found, and there- 

 fore, they ought [not] to be entrusted with the 

 powers "of protecting roads from competition." 



P. Q. forgets that in an industrious and enter- 

 prising country, roads ought to be a matter of ex- 

 pense. The manul'acturer at Petersburg, whose 

 stock is at 25 per cent premium, might as well 

 grumble at being obliged to furnish new machinery 

 to render the profit producing this premium perma- 

 nent, as the citizens of a country complain of the 

 expense of rail roads; and forgetting that they in- 

 d'lrectly add infinitely more to the wealth of the 

 community than any charge they create in repair, 

 call for the odious monoply advocated by P. Q. If 

 he wants for proof, of what a monoply will do, or 

 rather thank the Supreme Court of the U. S., an 

 imaginary monopoly, I will furnish him with one. 

 The Charleston and Hamburg company are now 

 avoiding a wealthy country, and one well calcu- 

 lated for a Rail Road, and running their road in a 

 section totally opposite in character and result. 

 This can only be done to ensure a still greater ex- 

 tent to their monopoly. 



Indeed, joint stock companies, as concocted in 

 the U. S., are fast becoming nuisances. Coke, in 

 his Reports, alludes to a book published in 1610, 

 being a "declaration of His Majesty's pleasure," 

 &c., p. 13, "that monopohes are against the laws 

 of the realm; and, therefore, expressly commands 

 that no Buiter presume to move him to grant 



