260 



FARMERS' REGISTER— RAILWAYS, kc. 



than ample source of public spirit and public pros 

 perity, in an expulsion of the baneful effects of 

 slavery from your fire-sides." Should such lan- 

 guage be heard, and such terms be granted, tliere 

 is little difficulty in saying, tliat the wealth, impor- 

 tance and influence of Virginia, will, in ten years, 

 be trebled— its downward progress will be ar- 

 rested. 



But, an objection will be started, as to the possi- 

 bility of a Virginia planter having an establishment 

 in the two states. This objection, too, can be re- 

 moved, if a Virginia legislature and a Virginia po- 

 pulation can be made to unite, in creating a cheap, 

 and for the time efficient kind of railway; a railway, 

 that, at the expense of $ 3000 per mile, shall pene- 

 trate the very centre and reach the most distant 

 point of the great and the far west; there it shall not 

 only produce a lucrative, but beneficial employment 

 for the negroes; and, if the principle of life-insur- 

 ance could be so well understood as to be generally 

 applied and adopted, together with a proper system 

 of providence and prudence, a provision would 

 eventually be made for tlieir cheap and easy trans- 

 portation and emancipation. In return, it would 

 bring back the results of their labors, at a low and 

 profitable rate, to the banks of the Chesapeake, and 

 thus give rise to a commerce, the consequence of the 

 sale of that produce, which, of itself, will, although 

 in an indiret manner, more than pay every expense 

 incurred. 



Let us now inquire into the possibility of dis- 

 covering a cheap, efficient and economical rail road 

 system. The subject has been, for many years 

 with me, one of constant and interesting considera- 

 tion. As early as January 7, 1819, my opinion on 

 this subject was thus publicly expressed : — " One 

 of two kinds of roads may be made — the common 

 turnpike, or the artificial rail road. The latter, 

 on which a horse will draw tliree or four tons with 

 great ease, and at the rate of three or four miles an 

 hour, might be laid down, in the first instance, with 

 wood; and when that material shall become as dear 

 as iron, recourse could be had to metal, '/'hen, it 

 will have the decided advantage of resting on a well 

 trodden basis. This will remove all danger of its 

 yielding to any pressure, however heavy it might 



" A very few dollars would show the result of an 

 experiment, that, if the people of Charleston think 

 proper, may be made. Suffice it, therefore, to say, 

 that 180 miles of road would complete the com- 

 munication between Charleston and Columbia and 

 Camden. Sixty more would carry it to the North 

 Carolina line — in all, 240. Calculating on its con- 

 suming 16,000 feet of timber, it would cost .*! 1500 

 each mile, or ^360,000, and answer every (present) 

 purpose." 



But, the people of Charleston would not stoop to 

 a cheap experiment; but, more major um, have liad 

 recourse to an expensive scheme ; and one that must 

 fail in every object, except to i)rove the value of 

 rail roads. At the same time, their expenditure 

 will show the folly, in a country like this, of having 

 recourse to plans whicli are costly, only tempora- 

 rily efficient, liable to rot, and so ol>noxious to fire ; 

 for such is the character of the rail road plan as it 

 has been adopted in South Carolina.* 



What said the Georgia rail road meeting, on the 



* See a description of the Charleston and Hambure 

 rail road, at the end of tliis communication. 



26th June, 1833, at Athens? " From the best infor- 

 mation which the committee could procure, most 

 works of a like character with ihdii proposed by this 

 meetings liave been effected at about the same ex- 

 pense. It is not an unsafe estimate to say, that rail 

 roads can be constructed, on most surfaces, at be- 

 tween 4 and 5000 dollars per mile. Some have cost 

 less. [These are Mr. Black's ' splendid theories,' 

 I suppose.] It is true, that the Charleston rail road, 

 by a recent report of its directors, has cost more, 

 but this case furnishes no certain data, from which 

 an accurate conclusion can be draion. In the first 

 place, it was an entire new plan." [Query — the 

 Carbondale road — J. Bolton, president — See Con- 

 gressional Report.] " It was, in the beginning, as 

 was reasonably to have been expected, from the 

 want of experience, as well as a departure from the 

 know7i practical science on the subject, not economi- 

 cally managed. Besides, they have expended large 

 sums of money on real and slave property, and upon 

 greater quantities of machinery than was at the 

 [any] time required— all of M-hich ought to be avoid- 

 ed, and no doubt will, in the one to be projected by 

 this meeting." 



Slave labor was not, as it ought to, and might 

 have been, exclusively employed. The loss, direct 

 and indirect, was great — direct, in its increased 

 expense and great waste of time — indirect, in the 

 transmission of so much capital from the state. Of 

 this, let Virginia and North Carolina be well aware. 

 The charge for the construction, &c. of the 

 Charleston road, is ^579,838 58— for iron, $105,- 

 161 83: together, -S 685,000 41— the iron is about 

 t*^ 705 per mile — the etceteras about $ 4,295 : toge- 

 ther, $ 5,000. 



The estimates varied. Mr. Mills calculated 

 S 405,000 for 140 miles. Dr. Howard, $ 637,000 

 for 150 miles; (expressly urging the company io 

 remember that distance was, comparatively, of no 

 imiKDrtance ;) and even so late as February, 1832, 

 the chief engineer, (Horatio Allen, esq.) when 

 more than one third of the contract labor had been 

 completed, stated $ 600,000. This sum was (by 

 him, it is to be presumed,) thought sufficient to 

 cover the entire construction. 



It has already cost a million, and probably one 

 million one hundred thousand will be the minimum 

 charge of its construction and completion. 



The surveys have cost i^ 35,959 85 — the super- 

 intendents, S 16,648 : together, S 52,607 ! ! ! ! ! 



The engineer received for a service of each eight 

 months, % 3,600 — a little difference from the sala- 

 ries paid in Virginia to engineers, and quite as libe- 

 ral as the legislature is to lawyers. 



The cost of the locomotives and their etceteras, 

 is to be $ 136,000— their wear and fear, $ 75,600. 

 Etceteras, $ 90,000 : in all, $ 164,000— and, in all 

 probability, judging from the experience we have 

 had of the expenditure of these expenders, the 

 minimvm annual expense will be $ 250,000. 



However, if the Athenian estimate of the pro- 

 duce and consumption of N. E. Georgia be correct, 

 and, according to the prediction of the wiseacres in 

 South Carolina, Sa\annah is to be abandoned, the 

 Charleston rail road may yet do well — if, at least, 

 the charge on the freight of" cotton be reduced; and 

 this it must be ; for if the Georgians charge 81 cents 

 per bale, and the Carolinians 151, in all 232, the 

 scheme cannot be popular — both must recede from 

 their prices and their pretensions. 



But state pride will forbid success to any attempt 



