Charleston and Knoxville Road-Mr. Gourdin's Statement. nect with the New-York and Erie Road at Olean, and to be a six-foot track, so as to open an unbroken wide gauge from New-York to this city. The proposed line, as we understand it, passes down the Valley of the Alleghany, say to Warren, Pa., thence into Ohio by Warren and Ravenna, and on to intersect the Pennsylvania and Ohio road at Wooster or Mansfield, branching southwest to this city. Should this line strike Wooster or Loudonville, it will, probably, take the route through Mount Vernon, Delaware and Springfield in this direction, and will make a pretty direct route from Cincinnati to Olean. It is expected that the rail-road from Columbus, Ga., to Opeleika, will be completed by April, 1854. The road will cross the Chattahoochee a little above the city of Columbus, pass through the north common, and have its depot on the east common near that of the Muscogee road. 167 that the agriculture of that favored valley (embracing East Tennessee and Western Virginia) offers to commerce, will, assuredly, take the rail-roads leading to Charleston; because, though for a traveler bound to New-York, it may be shorter to go by the way of Lynchburg and Richmond, (taking his departure from Knoxville,) than to come in a southwest direction to Charleston, and then to reascend to New-York, it is different with produce, for that seeks only the nearest Atlantic sea-port, and Charleston is nearer to their Valley than any other city on the Atlantic coast. On the other hand, will come the immense cotton crop of the Valley of the Tennessee River, between Chattanooga and the Muscle Shoals-a region of country which already sends to Charleston 50,000 bales of cotton per annum, every pound of which has been hitherto sold in the New-Orleans market, and this in defiance of the impediments offered to transportaOne of the most magnificent rail-road tion by the inefficient condition of the enterprises of the day is that which Georgia State Rail-road. At Chattaproposes to connect Charleston through nooga, a junction will be formed with the Rabun Gap, in the Blue Ridge the Nashville Rail-road, now on the point Mountains, with Knoxville and Chatta- of completion, under the vigorous adnooga, Tennessee, thus throwing upon that city all the public works of Tennessee, connecting with the Ohio or the Mississippi rivers. The portion of the road through Georgia is already chartered, and the directors believe they have the means for its successful completion. The North Carolina section is said to be equally secure. It will be met on the line by Tennessee, whose citizens, under charters and with aid from the State Treasury to the extent of $8,000 per mile, undertake the construction of two lines of road; one to the Northeast, terminating at Knoxville, and the other in a Southwest direction, to Chattanooga. These connections will bring into immediate union with this road, almost the entire rail-road system of the West, the great Mississippi River, with its numerous and magnificent tributaries. ministration of that able officer, V. K. Stevenson, Esq. From Nashville other roads will soon be constructed, stretching in various directions; through Lexington to Cincinnati on one side-to Louisville, in Kentucky, in another; and finally, to Cairo, in Illinois, through which will pass the great Central Illinois Rail-road, designed to connect Chicago, on the Lakes, with Mobile, on the Bay of Mexico. Before Cairo, mingle the waters of the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the St. Louis with those of the Mississippi. These, and the railroad to Nashville, and thence to Charleston, will secure to Cairo the most direct, and the shortest line of communication that can be made from any point in the Mississippi to any point on the Atlantic sea-coast. It is impossible to imagine a combination of circumstances favorable for the concentration of a large In the language of Henry Gourdin: share of the transportation of the count"At Knoxville, will be intercepted the less productions of the immense valleys Central Rail-road of Virginia, now in drained by these noble streams, than will rapid progress of construction, passing then be possessed by Cairo; and hardly through Lynchburg in the direction of less difficult to estimate the immense Richmond; and though it may be urged commerce that it must one day pour with propriety that the Southwestern forth in the direction of Charleston. travel, when this road shall be com- When to extraordinary, and almost unpleted, will, to a considerable extent, paralleled combination is finally added pass over this route; yet the rich tribute the Memphis and Chattanooga Rail more road, now in process of rapid construc- miles; distance from Memphis by way tion, some conception may be formed of of Charleston to Liverpool, 4,300 miles; the value of the vast commerce, the prospective advantages of which, to the state, constitute the honorable incentive that has brought the petitioners before this legislature." The only part of the road unprovided for, is that from the Georgia line to Anderson, South Carolina, which is already in connection with Charleston. The cost of this portion is set down at $2,500,000, which it is proposed to raise by state and city aid. Charleston is asked for $500,000, besides what she will give to the Blue Ridge Road in Georgia; and the state for the loan of $1,000,000, and a subscription of another $1,000,000. We extract the concluding paragraph of the memorial of Mr. Gourdin, which presents the arguments for western trade in the strongest light in favor of Charleston, and against her competitors north and south. We have on previous occasions presented the New-Orleans, Mobile, Richmond and Baltimore arguments. making a difference in favor of Charleston of 1,100 miles. But as nearly all the cotton is shipped from New-Orleans in vessels that go there from English or northern ports empty, (making the voyage for the cotton freight only,) it follows that nearly twice 1,100 miles, or 2,100 miles of this navigation constitute an unnecessary charge upon the transportation of the cotton from this circuitous voyage. To this expense may be added the great peril of the voyage around the Capes of Florida, one of the most fatal coasts known to navigators. These burdens necessarily come off the price of cotton, and hence the reason, among others, why the price of cotton is almost iuvariably higher in Charleston than in the Gulf ports; a difference that will abundantly suffice to show the produce in this direction. All other productions, of course, come under the operation of the same principle. As an evidence of the opinion entertained elsewhere, of the capabilities of rail"It may be asked if the transportation road transportation, I would cite the exof produce over this road may be consid- pectations entertained in Virginia, that ered certain? If New-Orleans, with the cotton will be transported across their advantage of its noble river, may not con- rail-roads on the way from Memphis to tinue to attract the productions of these New-York, a distance of nearly 500 valleys to her port? New-Orleans will, miles greater than that from Memphis perhaps, never be deprived of the largest to Charleston. In Louisville, Kentucky, share of a commerce so legitimately her the merchants have issued circulars, own; but the declaration of her own setting forth the claims of their town to citizens, and her newly projected rail- the trade of Memphis and the vicinity, roads, running parallel with the Missis- and pointing out the advantage of shipsippi, show their own opinion on this ping cotton to Baltimore, Philadelphia question. It must be borne in mind, and New-York, by river and rail-road that in the competition with New-Or- via Louisville. The distance via Baltileans we enjoy a vast superiority in our more to the Atlantic Ocean by that position on the Atlantic coast. The route, is 1729 miles; and from Memgreat bulk of the produce that descends the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, seeks the markets of Europe. The cotton that leaves Memphis, for example, and is destined for Manchester, begins its voyage by turning in the direction opposite to its natural course. phis to Charleston, by the Blue Ridge rail-road, will be 700 miles.” The following is the statement of Mr. Edgerton, president of the New-Orleans and Pontchartrain Rail-road Company for year ending 30th November, 1852 : of the affairs of the Pontchartrain Surplus of assets Proceeding down the Mississippi to New-Orleans, it makes a voyage to that port of 800 miles; from New-Orleans around the Capes of Florida to Charleston, (which must be passed on the way to Liverpool,) is 1,000 miles; from Charleston to Liverpool is 3,000 miles; from Memphis to Liverpool by way of NewOrleans, 5,400 miles. From Memphis to Charleston by rail-road, is 700 miles; Receipts for year ending 30th from Charleston to Liverpool, 3,000 $45,772 30 35,421 23 10,351 07 Estimated receipts of rail-road for 1853 110,000 00 Based upon the following data, to wit: November, 1851...... $64,023 55 80,207 65 Virginia and Tennessee Rail-road-Louisiana Subscriptions. 169 255 66 5,000 00 125,351 07 65,000 00 60,351 07 Capital stock of the company 5,000 shares 500,000 00 The road and depots, locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars and harbor, are all now in first-rate order. The depots and wharves, and other dependencies of the company, are insured against fire to the extent of $79,000. The receipts on the Central Rail-road of Virginia for the last year were $176; 485, an increase of $32,684 over last year. The net receipts were $74,902, nearly 6 per cent. on the capital. As compared with the previous year the Winchester and Potomac Rail-road in their last report show: Increase in annual revenue. -$29,161 08 26,826 09 $291,134 49 We learn through Mr. Garnett, the engineer, that the present capital of the Virginia and Tennessee Rail-road Company is $3,000,000, of which the state takes three-fifths, and only $75,000 are wanted to complete the capital. The whole cost of the road will be $4,500,000. The deficiency is to be raised by the issue of 6 per cent. coupon bonds, redeemable in 20 years, on the mortgage of the road. One million of dollars, it is thought, will be loaned by the state towards the purchase of iron. Whole length of road 204 miles. All the heavy work is finished-the grading of the first 72 miles and four-fifths of the next 63 miles. In a few months the entire bed will be ready to receive the superstructure as far as Wytheville, 135 miles from Lynchburg, and if the iron be ready it will be completed in 1853, and to the southwestern terminus in 1854. The cars are already running 58% miles. When this road shall reach the Tennessee line it will be 565 miles from Memphis, and will connect with the Tennessee Road to Knoxville, 130 miles now in rapid progress; the Georgia and Tennessee Road, towards Chattanooga, though leaving that road, at Cleveland in order to make a more direct route than that by way of Dalton. (This road is now in operation, except 26 miles, next to Knoxville, which are under contract.) The route will then be 40 miles over the Chattanooga and then over the Charleston and Memphis Nashville Road, nearly completed, and under construction, with ample means, Road, the balance of the distance, now &c. At Cleveland the route connects Orleans, and on the completion of the with the road of Georgia and of New Alabama and Tennessee Road from Selma to Rome and Dalton, the line will New-Orleans to Washington City. On be as near as possible to an air line from proposed to make a road towards the the road, 84 miles from Lynchburg, it is within 596 miles from Richmond. But Ohio, which would bring Cincinnati this is not essential to the plan and is opposed by other interests. At Lynchburg the rail-road connects with a canal, of dimensions larger than the original Erie canal, which leads to tide-water at Richmond. It is 140 miles long, and has 500 feet of lockage. When the tide-water connection at Richmond is finished, as it certainly will be in the year 1854, boats loaded at Lynchburg may pass to the shipping at Norfolk. There is now a rail-road being constructed from Lynchburg, with branches to Richmond and Petersburg, being 122 miles to the former, and 120 miles to the latter. From Petersburg to Norfolk a rail-road 80 miles long is chartered. Petersburg is connected with City Point, her present shipping port for foreign vessels, by a rail-road nine miles in length. Our neighbor of the Bulletin is authority for the following, and has based his statement upon those of Mr. B. H. Payne, agent of the Opelousas Road. The following parishes have voted the following sums to aid in the work:Natchitoches, $250,000; St. Landry, $116,000; Lafayette, $36,000; St. Martin, $104,000; Terrebonne, $140,000; Lafourche Interior, $100,000. Total soon be completed, when the boat line $746,000. The following parishes are expected to vote the following sums, and there is little doubt they will:-St. Mary, $157,000; Avoyelles, (private,) $75,000; De Soto, $100,000; Rapides, $260,000. Total, $582,000. Parish of Orleans, (right bank,) $75,000; the city of New-Orleans has voted $1,500,000: private subscriptions, after deducting tax subscription, $600,000. Grand total, $3,503,000. A little over three millions and a half of dollars voted and subscribed. This, it is desired to increase to four millions. It is proposed, also, to increase the capital stock of the company to $5,000,000, and application will be made to the state to take one-fifth, or one million of dollars. Such an amount will enable the directory to construct the main trunk road to Logansport, on the Sabine river, a distance of 324 miles, and to build the branch to the Arkansas line, on its way to St. Louis. to Wilmington will be discontinued. The Metropolitan mail will then be transferred to the Wilmington and Manchester Road, pass from Wilmington via Branchville to Augusta; leaving Charleston out of the great national mail route, and carrying with it the valuable and inseparable attendant-the travel. From that moment Charleston ceases to be the thoroughfare between the North and South, and becomes a mere way-mail station. It may not be amiss here to refer to the road from Pensacola to Brunswick, in Georgia-a work which has suddenly risen to our view, and it is destined to control the whole southern seaboard travel, the course of which being through Savannah, will pass thence, by the railroad to Augusta, (now nearly completed,) where the traveler will meet the continuous line of rail-road, via Branchville to Wilmington-leaving Charleston entirely out of his route. But I proceed to considerations of a more direct and immediate concern. The Cheraw and Darlington Road, which is designed to connect Cheraw and its tributaries in North and South Carolina with the seaboard, will very soon be commenced, having its terminus at the Darlington depot, on the Wilmington and Manchester Road-the distance from which to Wilmington is 110 miles, with grades of fifteen feet and less to the mile. While from the same point to Charleston, via We observed in our last number that the Camden, Columbia and Hamburg the construction of the Manchester and Road, is 165 miles, with some grades as Wilmington Rail-road would lead to high as 30 feet. It follows then, obvicountervailing movements upon the part ously, that the trade of the Pee Dee secof Charleston. In the construction of tion of the state must be lost to Charlesthe Northeastern Road that city should ton; for it could not bear the charges be actively employed. Its line would and delays of this circuitous transportabe from a point on the South Carolina tion. That 40,000 bales of cotton, at Rail-road, near Charleston, crossing the least, and everything else that the counSantee river near Maltessee Lake, ap- try may produce, will go to Wilmington, proaching within a mile of Kingstree, while, for the same reason, the comparathence to a terminus on the Manchester tive cheapness of transportation, WilRoad, two miles from James' Station, Length of road 103 miles; estimated cost $1,240,337. The following is the argument for the road: We look upon the building of this road as fully as necessary to the city as the Northern road. It will pass through a country of unrivaled natural advantages, and will open and foster a trade, the vastness and value of which, to this city, cannot now be calculated. We hail the progress made with unaffected gratification, and say, with all our heart, push on the good work, so auspiciously commenced and under way. The importance of the Northeastern Rail-road to Charleston, demands prompt action. At every point she is threatened with diversion of her trade and travel, which, unless counteracted by this, the only means within her power, must prove disastrous in the extreme. The Wilmington and Manchester Road will mington will furnish all their supplies. To the argument that the bar off the Cape Fear is an insuperable obstacle to the advancement of Wilmington, and that she never can interfere with the trade of Charleston, we reply-that although large vessels cannot enter the river, the passage is perfectly safe, as is well known, for vessels of sufficient burthen, to make her a formidable rival in many branches of commerce. The value of the real and personal South Carolina-Liberal Views of Gov. Manning. 171 estate interested in its construction, is Chattanooga road connects it with Nash estimated at ninety millions of dollars. The aggregate population at 210,400 and both increasing rapidly. The number of bales of cotton produced, is 78,000. The number of barrels of naval stores may fairly be estimated at 100,000. In the last annual message of Gov. Manning, we have these liberal views upon the Internal Improvement System of South Carolina : ville. A road is also about to be made between Nashville and Cairo. Thus you will perceive, that if the Blue Ridge Road is built, commencing at Anderson Court House and extending to Calhoun, Charleston will be connected by a system of roads, not only with Cincinnati, but with Memphis and Cairo, two important points on the Mississippi river, and at a distance from each other equal to the entire breadth of Tennessee, and nearly one-third of Kentucky. All the immense trade which the Mississippi and its tributaries bring to this important point, together with that of the fertile regions through which these roads and outlet through Charleston. At a single glance you must perceive the magnificent prospect it presents. It would be a suicidal policy in our state not to secure this gigantic commerce, now that it is within its reach. But to secure it, the legislature must subscribe liberally. So great are the advantages it presents, so great the prosperity it will bring, the state could well afford alone to build this only link which is now wanting in this mighty chain. But there is no call for this. Charleston, I am informed, will subscribe half a million, and even more, if necessary. Enough has already been subscribed in North Carolina to secure the charter of that state, and Tennessee, by her general system of liberality to her roads, gives $8,000 per mile. As deeply interested as all these states are in this grand scheme, none are so deeply so as South Carolina. I therefore recom "It gives me pleasure to inform you that the rail-roads of our state are rapidly progressing. The Columbia and Charlotte Rail-road, and the King's Mountain Road, are completed. Although heavy their numerous feeders pass, must find its damages were sustained by the Greenville Rail-road from the late freshet, they will soon be repaired, and, under the energetic management of its president and directors, will ere long be completed. The Manchester road is also progressing rapidly. Already do we see the potent effects of these roads in developing the resources of the state, and springing into life the energies of the people. The prosperity which follows in their track is no longer problematical. Living witnesses of it are all around us. Yet this grand system, which is to bring wealth and prosperity to us, and energize into action resources which were heretofore dormant, has just begun. If we would realize their full effects, they must be extended, until the rich commerce of the mighty valleys of the West is poured into Charleston. This can easily be effected by pursuing a liberal and enlightened policy towards them-a policy worthy of the age in which we live. The golden opportunity to command this trade is within our reach. Charters have been granted by the several states through which it will pass for the Blue Ridge Road, which is to cross the Rabun Gap, and extend through Clayton and Franklin to Calhoun, where it will intersect the Knoxville and Dalton road. Through Knoxville a communication will be opened with Cincinnati, (as a charter has been granted by Tennessee for a road to the Kentucky line, and a company is formed in Kentucky to carry it on to Cincinnati.) A road is now in progress to connect Calhoun with Chattanooga. From Chattanooga to Memphis, a road has already been built, and the mend that you subscribe a million dollars to this road, or even more, if it be necessary to complete it. Even if the stock never paid a dollar of interest, it would be a judicious expenditure on the part of the legislature." The subject of a rail-road from Houston to Austin, in Texas, is receiving much attention. The distance is 53 miles; and the committee, in their report, propose to raise the capital as follows: They believe that three hundred thousand dollars can be raised by subscription in Houston and parts of the country interested, payable in instalments, within twelve months after the 1st of January next. But suppose individual subscriptions should not exceed two hundred thousand dollars, they pro |