FARMERS' REGISTER— PUBLIC WORKS. 



693 



made the use of it sufficiently economical for the 

 steam en;i;ine in navigation. 



" To show the threat probability of this result, 

 or effect of the rail road, we may compare with it 

 the distances and expense by tiie most employed 

 routes now open. Let us take New York as the 

 place of departure, and the Mississippi, at the con- 

 liuence of the Ohio, as tiiat to be reached. From 

 New York to Albany is 155 miles; thence to lake 

 Erie 363; to Cleveland 160; through the Ohio 

 canal 307 ; to Cincinnati 103; to Louisville 150; 

 to the Mississippi 450; together 1938 — of which 

 1105 is free navigation, and 833 is paying toll. 

 From New York to Newbern is, by sea, 460 miles. 

 The following distances and route are assumed to 

 be the most probable location of the rail road. 



Newbern to Fayetteville, 

 to Rockingham, 

 to the Yadkin, 

 to Charlotte, 

 to the Catawba, 

 to Broad river, 

 to the Blue Ridge 

 across the Ridge, 

 to Asheville, 

 to the State line, 



460 the sea passage, 

 100 

 50 

 10 

 60 

 15 

 30 

 40 

 ,' 10 

 10 

 30 



fN. C. rail 

 I road, & per- 



j what more 

 ! by reason of 

 t the curves. 



By the Cumberland to the 



Ohio, 160 



To the Mississippi, at the 



confluence, 48 



208 



f Of which 670 



199^ J '^ ^^'^^ navi- 

 1 gat ion and 

 1.553 tolled. 



This deducted from 1938, shows a difference of 

 715 miles in favor of the North Carolina and Ten- 

 nessee route, over ti>at of Ohio. Besides which, 

 this route reaches the navigable head of the Ten- 

 nessee in 875 miles from New York, of which 

 two thirds is free. This will be the cheapest route 

 to Alabama. The Tennessee is navigable above 

 the Muscle Shoals 600 miles, and each shore may 

 be considered a rich agricultural and mineral 

 country. The nearest market to this part of Ten- 

 nessee, will be the cities of North Carolina. The 

 expense of freight by these two routes, may be also 

 compared. It is stated in a recent publication, 

 that it costs to get a ton of merchandize carried 

 from New York to Louisville, by the lake and 

 canals, ,^2 75 per cwt. (or 55 dollars per ton,) and 

 that it requires 21 days. Freight from New York 

 to Newbern, if in proportion to that across the At- 

 lantic, would be three dollars ; but in the ratio of 

 the freight by steam boats on the Hudson, it would 

 be six dollars : and, as carrying on rail roads can 

 be profitably afforded for two cents a ton a mile, 

 this would be to Knoxville $8 30, and to Nash- 

 VoL. I. — 75 



ville thirty dollars — making ^17 50 to that city ; 

 which is, besides, nearer to the great river than 

 Louisville. And as the Cumberland runs over a 

 limestone bed, it might be easily improved for a 

 low water navigation, by locks submerged and out 

 of the way, when the water is deep enough. But 

 the Ohio cannot be. Its shoals are of sand. 



" The general considerations which strongly re- 

 commend the North Carolina route are, that during 

 five months the northern canals are closed by ice ; 

 that of Pennsylvania four months; that of the Poto- 

 mac three months ; and the Ohio is generally frozen 

 for some months. Besides that, it is too low for na- 

 vigation two months of the summer, almost every 

 year. But North Carolina is in that medium of 

 climate, as well as geographical relation to the west, 

 that })ermits of uninterrupted commercial inter- 

 course through the State. Nor is there any thing 

 in the nature of a rivalry to be apprehended from 

 the Y irginia Improvements. TheChesapeake and 

 Ohio canal has so great an ascent, as in effect to 

 increase the distance considerably. The rise west- 

 ward, is 2486 feet, and the descent to Pittsburg 

 1787 feet — whole lockage 4172 feet. The James 

 river route rises, in 241 miles, 1478 fijet, and de- 

 scends to the Ohio in 222 = 463 miles, 1997 feet. 



" Moreover, we know from the Baltimore sur- 

 veys, that the ground along the great Kanawha is 

 exceedingly difficult, and it is most likely that this 

 work, if ever undertaken, will incline to the north 

 to Covington, and descend the valley of the Green- 

 brier. West Virginia is entitled to the accommo- 

 dation; but having the Ohio navigation, is not, 

 like east Tennessee, in distress for access to mar- 

 ket. Indeed the Baltim.ore surveys show that the 

 high valleys of Virginia, watered by the bi'anches 

 of the James, must principally furnish the busi- 

 ness of the route along that stream, as division to 

 the South Carolina and Georgia line naturally 

 falls in with the system of internal improvement 

 contemplated by North Carolina, whose western 

 frontier includes the head waters of the Tennessee; 

 so that if the State resolves on having this road, 

 the business of the extensive valleys watered by 

 the Holston and the Clinch, would be more likely 

 to descend with the current to Kingston and Knox- 

 ville, and export eastward by the rail road, than to 

 ascend and go north to the James river route, con- 

 siderably circuitous. 



" If we also consider the elevation : — from New- 

 bern to the foot of the Blue Ridge, is stated to be 

 a rise of 1200 feet; which, if the location of the 

 road be gradual, as I suppose it can be on the 

 southern location indicated, is only four feet in a 

 mile. 



" Since, then, there is nothing to fear from Vir- 

 ginia as a rival, so, on the other hand, there is 

 nothing to apprehend from South Carolina. For, 

 not including in her boundaries the head waters of 

 tlie Tennessee, she has, after improving her rivers, 

 already turned her enterprise to the increase of 

 commerce at her capital; and it is more likely 

 that the rail roads will ramify among the fertile 

 counties of Georgia, than that, at her expense, 

 one, at great cost, will be made over the moun- 

 tains to aggrandize Charleston. , 



" The domestic trade of North Carolina will in- 

 deed, (like the interior of Georgia, of New York 

 and of Pennsylvania,) be alone a sufficient object 

 for this main line of rail road, as the base of a sys- 

 tem of branches up every valley to north-west 



