1836] 



F A R M E R S' REGISTER. 



369 



On (he Liverpool and ManchesU'r Kail Road the 

 (ravel has increased, iVorn what it u-as before the 

 road was made, from an averaije of less than one 

 hundred per day, to the astonishing number of 

 five hundred thousand in the last year, making 

 an average of near 1,400 per day. 



It is from facts like these that we must estimate 

 the profits of our great enterprise. At the lowest 

 possible estimate, there will not be less than one 

 hundred passengers per day, each v^'ay, the first 

 year, which, at five cenis per mile, will be thirty 

 one dollars for each passenger, or six thousand 

 two hundred dollars per day, forming an aggre- 

 gate of two millions two hundred and sixty three 

 dollars per year. Allow half this amount for way 

 passengers, and 3'ou have an aggregate of three 

 millions, three hundred and ninety four thousand 

 lu'e hundred dollars, for passage money only, 

 making upwards of thirty per cent on the whole 

 capital invested, which may be taken for clear 

 jirofif, as the freights will far more than pa}' ever\' 

 ex pense. 



Pitkin gives the number of miles of rail road 

 now in operation at sixteen hundred, and the cost 

 at thirty millions of dollars. The number of 

 miles of canal now in operation is Mo thousand 

 eight hundred and sixty seven, at a cost of sixty 

 t'onr millions, five hundred and seventy three thou- 

 sand and ninety nine dollars. 



Fiom the Journal of Commerce. 

 THE PROGRESS OF STEAM. 



From the extent of our coast, the number of 

 our navigable rivers and lakes, and the "go-ahead"' 

 character of our population, it is evident that 

 steamboats have a special adaptation to our wants ; 

 and as a matter of tact, we are, in this species of 

 navigation, quite in advance of any other nation 

 on the globe. Not only are our steamboats, as a 

 general remark, larger and tnore elegant, but their 

 aggregate tonnage is greater, lis increase, for 

 some years past, has been surprisingly rapid. In 

 1829 the whole steamboat tonnage of the United 

 States was only 39,419 tons. Atlhc end of 1834, 

 beyond which the returns do not reach, it had in- 

 creased to 122,274 tons, and is now doubtless at 

 least 150,000 tons. This, at an average of 300 

 tons to each boat, would give a total o\' five hun- 

 dred steamboats. Their speed has increased al- 

 most as rapidly as iheir number. If we suppose 

 each boat to carry on an average 100 passengers, 

 the aggregate number would be 50,000. About 

 this number we presume, are constantly afloat in 

 these moving palaces. In the vicinity of naviga- 

 ble waters, they supply^ to a great extent, the 

 place formerly occupied by stages, private vehicles, 

 and even legs. It may literally be said that where 

 steamboat navigation is available, no man can af- 

 ford to go on foot. The speed of the boats has 

 increased almost as rapitilyas their number. Fif- 

 teen or sixteen miles an hour is now considered 

 nothing extraordinary. Places which 25 years 

 since were considered far distant, are brought so 

 near together by tins wonderful invention, that 

 they are almost parts of the same town. The re- 

 volutions which it has effected in business and 

 property are very great. By the facility which it 

 gives in the transportation of troops, ordnance, 

 and supplies, it adds immensely to a nation's de- 

 fensive power; and not less perhaps, by the 



Vol. IV — 47 



means it afibrds, of annoyance to a blockading 

 squadron. It will in fact revolutionize the system 

 of naval warfare. If tlie progress of steam is to 

 continue in the ratio of the past ten years, it will 

 r(>qnire a forest per day to supply the consumption 

 of fuel. In short, we see not but the expense of 

 wood and the difficulty of obtaining it, would ulti- 

 mately become so great as to dimmish essentially 

 ihc value of the invention. But fortunately, in 

 this dilemma, we have another resource which is 

 inexhaustible; the mountains of anthracite coal 

 with which cur country abounds. In a few of 

 our boats this article is already used with success, 

 and from its power of producing heat, we have no 

 doubt it will ere long be preferred to wood. If 

 there are any inconveniences or drawbacks attend- 

 ing its use, the inventive genius of our peo|)le will 

 find a way to remove them. Much has already 

 been accomplished in this respect (chiefly by Dr. 

 Nott,) and the rest will be achieved in due time. 



For tlie Fanners' Register. 



WHICH IS THE BEST ROUTE FOR A RAILWAY 

 TO THE SOUTH-WEST? 



No. II. 



The Charlotte Convention have considered and 

 rejected the plan of a western railway south of the 

 Appomattox, as advocated in the last number of 

 the Farmers' Register; and have approved, and 

 recommended the construction of railways fi'om 

 Danville to Farmville — fl'om Richmond to Farm- 

 ville— from Lynchburg to Farmville — and from Pe- 

 tersburg to Farmville. 



The delegates present, when these decisions 

 were made, were 35 in number, of whom all but 

 10 were from the counties of Charlotte and Prince 

 Edward. Of the other 10, 2 werefi'om Richmond, 

 1 fiom Amelia, and 7 from Nottoway. The votes 

 were taken individuallj^, and therefore it is not at all 

 strange that the plan of the railway route from 

 Danville to Richniond. passing centrally through 

 both Charlotte and Prince Edward, should have 

 been preferred, by a majority of the convention, to 

 that of a railway for more general objects, from 

 Richmond through Petersburg, and stretching 

 westward along the great ridge south of the Ap- 

 pomattox. It is my present purpose to consider 

 the plan last named, in the new aspect in which 

 it is placed by the recommendation of the xnter- 

 secting route from Danville, through Farmville to 

 Richmond — supposing that recommendation to be 

 etfectual, and the railway, as recommended, to be 

 constructed. 



To have the clearest view of results, let us sup- 

 pose both these great railways finished, and (as 

 certainly will be, as soon as either,) the western ter- 

 mination of the southern ridge route extended far 

 towards, and perhaps into Tennessee. The point 

 of intersection of the two roads would necessarily 

 be on the dividing ridge, between Charlotte and 

 Prince Edward, and between the head springs of 

 Bush and Bufl'aloe Rivers. On the diverging 

 ridge between these rivers would be the only very 

 good route to Farmville. The point of intersec- 

 tion would be necessarily determined by the meet- 

 ing of these two ridges, and could scarcely vary 

 half a mile from the spot which I assume — which 

 is 29 miles from Nottoway Court House, 20 miles 



