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THE FRENCH BROAD RAILROAD
vs.
THE BLUE RIDGE RAILROAD.
THE FRENCH BROAD vs. THE BLUE
RIDGE RAILROAD.
An argument in fuvor of the former, originally published in the Charles¬
ton Mercury, in three numbers, by " Economy."
NO. 1.
From what has been said and written on the subject of
crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains, by means of a railroad,
it seems to be conceded that the policy of thq State is set¬
tled, and that one or the other of the routes at the head of
this article is to be adopted; and the sole question to be
determined is, which is the better of the two routes to be
adopted by the State, as a State enterprise. Considered in
the light of railroad benefits resulting to the State simply,
there is no great difference in the locality of the two routes,
since their respective termini are the same—that is, Char¬
leston and Knoxville. The chief inquiry, then, in this re¬
spect, is as to the difference of distance, if any, between
these two points.
But as the cost of construction to the State may become
one of serious consideration, involving, as it does, the ex¬
penditure of millions of public money—and this, too, with¬
out a precedent—the members of the Legislature, and
others who control the State finances, should pause, should
deliberate, should weigh well all the attending consequences
and results, before they adopt either route; and, finally,
adopt that route which will cost the State the least money,
while it, at the same time, secures to the State the same
blessings and benefits.
2
This is the issue tendered, to those who favor the French
Broad route, by the friends of the Blue Ridge route—which
is accepted by the former, without condition or qualification ;
and we make the following proposition, without mental res¬
ervation : That, if the French Broad route is not two mil¬
lions better and cheaper to the State than the Blue Ridge
route, we will abandon it, and go for the Blue Ridge route
—provided the friends of that route will agree to abandon
it and go for the French Broad route, in the event it proves
to be $2,000,000 the cheapest. This proposition is made
in all sincerity, and is based upon what is conceived to be
an offer of Mr. Memminger, who is regarded as the oracle
and chief defender of the Blue Ridge route, apart from its
officers and others who are interested. It may be that Mr.
Memminger's argument is not understood, or that it is a
meaningless statement of probable facts, intended to de¬
ceive and catch the careless and unwary. Let him speak
for himself. In his printed speech, delivered in the "House
of Representatives of South Carolina, on the Bill to afford
aid to the Blue Ridge railroad, December Session, 1858,"
which has but recently fallen into my hands, he uses the
following language:
"But it appears to me that this question as to the two
routes was closed in 1854. Since then we have expended
upwards of two millions of money ; and the question really
is, whether the French Broad route is two millions better
than the other ? He who thinks it is, must have modes of
reaching conclusions which other minds cannot pursue."
This statement, with its flippant climax,, announced by
Mr. Memminger with that air of triumph in which he ex¬
cels all others, has not, as was expected and intended,
stricken terror to the friends of the French Broad route.
They are not at all dismayed, and thank him for an issue
3
they never made, and never intended to make. But, since
it has been made, and as we hope in sincerity too, we most
cordially accept it.
We do not know whether or not we can lead Mr. Mem-
minger's mind to the same conclusions we have attained,
and by the same modes of reaching them, but we will give
him the benefit of our reasons,, and leave it to him and those
he represents to say if the deduction is not a legitimate one.
We assert, then, that the French Broad route is two mil¬
lions cheaper and better than the Blue Ridge route, and
proceed to the proof by a very plain and simple table of
figures: In the first place, we admit, for argument sake,
what is not true in fact, that the cost of the French Broad
route will be equal to the other per mile; and that to build
and equip the Blue Ridge railroad will only cost $8,691,677.
This is the estimate of their engineer, and fixes the aver¬
age cost per mile at a fraction over $45,080. The distance
from Anderson C. H. to Knoxville is one hundred and ninety-
six miles—which are the points at which the road forms its
junctions with other railroads. The French Broad railroad
connects with "the Cincinnati, Cumberland Gap and Char¬
leston railroad," at " Paint Rock," on the French Broad
River, at the Tennessee State line, from which point to its
connection with some railroad in South Carolina, the dis¬
tance will not exceed one hundred and twenty-two miles, and
is, consequently, seventy-four miles shorter than the Blue
Ridge route. This statement may be erroneous a mile or
so, one way or the other, but it establishes a very important
truth, and one that no one will deny—that 'if the State
is to build either route, it will save to the extent in the
difference of distance or length of road to be constructed,
ilovv much, then, is saved ? It is admitted, for the present,
that the average cost per mile will be the same as that
4
of the Blue Ridge toad, i. e., $45,080. At this rate, the
saving for the seventy-four miles is $3,335,920! This
saving is on a grade, according to a recent survey, of forty
feet to the mile, which may be increased by raising the
grade to 45, 70, and 120 feet. On a grade of 120 feet to
the mile, for nine miles, we save an additional seven miles
in distance, equal to $315,560, and a total saving in dis¬
tance of $3,651,480. Is not the French Broad route over
$2,000,000 the better route? But this is not all. This
route will not cost as much per mile as the Blue Ridge
route, and for the obvious reason that we will not have
one foot of tunneling, or any necessity for stationary pow¬
er ; while on the Blue Ridge route it is an ascertained
fact, that over three miles of tunneling is required, and,
perhaps, half as much more. Then we have fewer bridges,
less excavation, lower embankments, and a straighter line,
as all surveys and estimates prove beyond a doubt. Major
McNeil, the chief engineer on the old L. C. & C. Railroad
Survey, estimates this division of the route at $21,735 per
mile ; and, by a subsequent and very recent survey, made
by competent engineers, the estimates are below $30,000
per mile. But, to quiet dispute, we will place them at $35,-
000. This gives an additional saving in the item of con¬
struction over the Blue Ridge route of $10,080 per mile
for ]22 miles, amounting to $1,229,760, which, added to
the sum before stated, makes the aggregate amount saved
to the State, $4,881,240! "These are the reasons for the
faith that is in us," and these are the modes we have for
reaching conclusions " which other minds cannot pursue."
But it will be asked, how can the State save $4,8^1,240
by adopting the French Broad route, when the Blue Ridge
Company only asks aid to the extent of $3,000,000—or, at
the outside, $3,705,960? To this we have a ready and
5
satisfactory answer. This "aid" will not be sufficient to
build the road; and the equipment requiring $966,000 is
not included, and must be provided for by the State. Pres¬
ident Frost, in his report of November 10, 1858, at page
28, says : " The B hie Ridge Railroad must be completed
as a State enterprise, or it cannot be completed at all."—
And Mr. Memminger, after stating the case in the most
favorable manner, says: "Tennessee and South Carolina
alone are interested in the road, and it is clear that, if the
road be made at all, they must make it." And again, after
•J
expressing but faint hopes of help from Tennessee, and at¬
tempting to show that South Carolina can build the road
without embarrassing her finances, he asks the questions :
"What will it cost the State to go on and complete the
work?" and "Are her resources competent to pay this ad¬
ditional cost?" (printed speech, pages 8 and 11.) This is
deemed sufficient proof to show that the Blue Ridge Rail¬
road Conpany relies alone on the State for aid to complete
the work. With this understanding of the case, and with¬
out noticing Mr. Memminger's second question, I proceed
to answer his first, for that involves the point in issue.
" What will it cost the state to go on and complete the
work ?" Let us see :
The entire cost-of the vorlc, including the equipment, (a ^l wiihout that
the work would not be completed,) is e' rinmted by iheir. engineer, as before
stated, at $8,691,67?
To discharge this debt the Company ha 1he Charles¬
ton subscription, $1,049,000
Individual subscriptions, 278,00')
Pendleton Railroad subseriplion, 52,0u0
Blue Ridge Railroad, in Georgia, subscription, - - ^3,600
Tennessee Railroad Company, m North. Carolina, - 55,400
Knox and Blount Counties, and private^ subscrip¬
tion, to Knoxville and Charlesion Railroad Co., 250,000
Tennessee State aid, ----- 640,000 $2,328,000
$6,363,677
To further iiquidate this sum, the Company propose
6
issue $1,500,000 of what they call "first mortgage bonds."
No one can tell what will be realized from this source.
The Georgia State bonds, (first mortgage) according to Mr.
Memminger, sold as low as 50 cents in the dollar; it is not
believed these will sell for so much; but we will put them
at 65 cents, which will, doubtless, be a fair average ; this
will raise the sum of $975,000, leaving a deficit still of $5,-
388,677. From this deduct the amount of stock already
issued to contractors, in payment of work, 8 176,vw67. This
leaves the entire sum to be furnished by the State, $5,211,-
810. -This is what it will cost the State, besides interest
accruing during the time of construction. The State has
already given them $1,043,500, (and not over $2,000,000,
as Mr. Memminger has stated,) thus : $43,500 to Pendle¬
ton Railroad Company, and $1,000,000 to the Blue Ridge
Railroad Company, leaving still to be furnished by the State
the sum of $4,168,310. To this sum must be added the
accruing interest on $5,211,810, for it has to be paid, and
the Company cannot provide the means. This item is, of ;
necessity, conjectural, and can only approximate the true
amount. We suppose it will take five years to complete
the work and acquire a business that will pay the interest;
this will give the sum of about $980,000, making the sum
to be furnished by the State, necessary to complete the work,
$5,148,310, and a grand total of cost to the State of $6,-
191,810. This is the conclusion to which we have come,
and this proves our assertion. If any one can reduce the
sum to any considerable amount let him undertake it, and
he will find the cost will be increased rather than dimin¬
ished. In all candor, then, we put the question to Mr.
Memminger, who is at the head of the finances of the State,
to the ta^' ayers ^eneraUv J . pecially to the numbers
of the Legislature, who are asked to assume the responsi-
7
bility of increasing the taxes of the State to 75 per cent,
for the next twenty years, perhaps—to say, is it wise, is it
prudent, is it in conformity with that simple rule of econo¬
my, which requires agents and public servants to manage
the public funds in the same way that a prundent and
cautious husbandman manages his own affairs, to expend
six millions of money for certain ends, when the same ends
may be attained for two? To illustrate: Suppose it nec¬
essary for the State to purchase a certain lot and buildings
in the city of Charleston, and that she had actually agreed,
conditionally, to pay $6000 for it, and had paid $1000 ; and
afterwards it was ascertained that the same sort of a iot
and buildings, at the same place, could be bought for $2000,
would it, not be better to sink the $1000 paid on the first
purchase, and buy the second lot, &c., at $2000, than to
pay the $5000 to complete the first purchase, and by doing
so to sink $4000 ? There are but few men, it is pre¬
sumed, who could doubt their course in so plain a case.—
Let him who will take the responsibility in this matter, and
avoid, if he can, the just retribution that inevitably awaits
him for unnecessarily squadering millions of the public
money.
no. 2.
In the further discussion of the relative merits of these
two routes, it is necessary, before we run the parallel be¬
yond the mere saving to the State, by way of construction
and equipment, to re-state briefly the point in issue, and the
proposition to be maintained in favor of the French Broad
route. We have shown by figures taken from the Secre-
8
tary's report, that the entire capital of the Blue Ridge
Company, including the amount of stock issued to contract¬
ors, in payment of work, amounts to $2,504,867. Beyond
this the Company does not expect or hope to increase their
capital stock by private -subscription, and rely entirely on
the State and the sale of their bonds for the means to finish
the work, which is admitted by the Company will cost $8,-.
691 677.—(Judge Frost's report, .lOth Nov., 1858, page 18.)
The sum to be realized from the sale of Company's bonds
is altogether problematical, and may reach to more than has
been supposed—sixtv-livc cents on the dollar—or, it may,
and more probably will, fall below that figure. But allow¬
ing that amount to be realized from this source, the sum to
be furnished by the State is still five million two hundred,
and eleven thousand e'nsht hundred and ten dodars, exclu¬
sive of interest during construction, which we have conjec¬
tured would amount to nine hundred and eighty thousand
dollars more. With this statement of facts, we leave the
question of cost of the Blue Ridge Railroad to its friends,
and ask them to reduce our figures, if they can, to any con*,
siderable extent.
It is assumed that oue or the other of these railroads is
to be built, and the question really is, which is to be the
cheapest to the State, including the amount of one million
and forty-three thousand five hundred dollars already sub¬
scribed to the Blue Ridge road. The friends of the French
Broad route assert that their route is the cheapest by mil¬
lions, as we have already shown, while it is at the same
time the better route in all other respects. We have as¬
serted that the French Broad route, from its western to its
eastern connection, was only one hundred and twenty-two
miles in length. In this we were slightly mistaken—but
our mistake was over, not under, the distance. Happening,
9
accidentally, the other day, to meet one of the engineers who
made the recent survey, he stated that the true distance from
Spartanburg C. H. to the Paint Rock was only one hun¬
dred and sixteen miles; making this route eighty, instead
of seventy-four miles, the shortest of the routes, and, conse¬
quently, that much more the cheapest. But, to be more
plain, the friends of the French Broad route will, in no
event, ask for aid from the State to an amount exceeding
two million dollars, and this in such a manner as will give
positive (not reasonable, only, as has been required of the
Blue Ridge Company,) assurance that the road will be
built, with guarantees of men who will not, like Bangs &
Co., fail, and swindle the Company; and, until these as¬
surances and guarantees are given to the State, not one
dollar of aid will be asked for.
We come, now, to consider the superiority of the French
Broad route over the Blue Ridge route, in regard to loca¬
tion, and the authority upon which we rest our claim.—
We state what we expect to prove by the testimony of such
witnesses as Gov. Hayne, Gen. Gadsden, Col. Holmes, Col.
Brisbane, and other distinguished gentlemen—the entire
stockholders in the L. C. &. C. Railroad Company—and
last, and by far not the least, Col. C. G. Memminger—that
the French Broad route is the better, for these reasons :
1st, That it is the shorter route from Charleston and Co¬
lumbia to Knoxville and Chattanooga, by at least 30*miles,
and not " three miles " only, as Mr. Memminger asserts.
2d. That it runs through the centre of the State, and by
its capitol, from which point it never can be diverted ; while
the Blue Ridge road will be tapped at Anderson C. H. by
the " Savannah River Valley Railroad," and thereby the
city of Augusta will share the trade, and divide the profits,
with Charleston, growing out of its business, while the
9.
10
Greenville and Coiumbia Railroad will lose the largei por
tion of carrying business of that road, now promised to the
stockholders in order to secure their support.
3d. That while it is superior to the Blue Ridge route, in
point of distance from Chattanooga and Knoxville to Co¬
lumbia and Charleston, and will enable the latter to com¬
pete more successfully with the former for the Western
trade centreing at these points—entering the Tennessee
valley, as it does, some forty-two miles east of Knoxville—
it will open up a competition with Richmond, Norfolk,
Petersburg, and other eastern ports, for the pork, beef,
grain, and other various agricultural products of western
Virginia and eastern Tennessee, which, to send to these
points, would be, as it were, (to use Mr. Memminger's own
words) "to send coals to Newcastle."
4th. That it is seventy or eighty miles the shorter route
from the Atlantic at Charleston to^the Tennessee valley,
passing centrally through this State, and through the finest
and most productive portion of western North Carolina—
affording easy access to Flat Rock, one of the most justly
popular summer resorts in the South—and to and from the
Sulphur and Warm Springs, whose healing virtues, together
with the attractions of that gorgeous mountain scenery
around Ashville and along the valley of the French Broad,
with its varied beauty, surpassing, as it is said, in grandeur,
any mountain sceenry in the world, will draw thousands of
passengers thence, where scarcely one would pass over the
Blue Ridge road.
5th. That while it is the shortest route to the West, it
consummates the old and much-desired L. C. & C. Rail¬
road scheme, by uniting with the " Cincinnati, Cumberland
Gap, and Charleston Railroad," at the Tennessee line,
which again unites with the "Kentucky Union Railroad"
11
at the Cumberland Gap, and completes a continuous rail¬
road connection with Lexington, Louisville, Cincinnati, and
the Lakes.
These reasons are deemed sufficient to show that the
French Broad route is superior to the Blue Ridge route, in
point of location as well as in the cost; and we now pro¬
ceed to prove our position by the testimony of the witnesses
we have named.
First, is the report of the surveyors of the L. C. & C.
Company, Cols. James Gadsden, A. H. Brisbane, and Jas.
G. Holmes, made to the " South Carolina Commission, on
the subject of the proposed railroad," in July, 1836. These
gentlemen made separate reports to the Commission, of
which Gov. Hayne was Chairman, which, together with the
report of the Commissioners, is published in pamphlet form,
and printed by Ramsay & Craighead, Knoxville, 1836.—
From their "summary" to Gen. Hayne, of their observa¬
tions and surveys, to be found on pages 14 and 15, in speak¬
ing of the different routes within the scope of the charter,
they make the following remarks :
" It is greatly to be doubted if the topography of the
wrorld affords so singular and so* striking a feature as does
the valley and river of the French Broad. Drawing its
waters from a thousand tributaries from the topmost eleva¬
tions of the Blue Ridge, and intent on its purpose of con¬
veying them to the valleys below, it forces its way through
hills, cliffs, and mountains, which otherwise would be inac-
cessable, and so equalizes and graduates the elevations over¬
come in the distance traversed, as to present a plane, the in¬
clination of which is not to be detected by the eye. * # * *
This route by the French Broad is further recommended by
the fact, that it penetrates the very centre of east Tennes¬
see, making the wealth of that interior, and hitherto inac-
12
cessible country, tributary to the stream of commerce which
the Charleston, Louisville, and Cincinnati Railroad is des¬
tined to pour on the plains of the Atlantic. Whatever may
have been the impression hitherto, as to the character and
condition of east Tennessee, there is, within that seemingly
limited district of country embosomed between the Alle¬
ghany and Cumberland Mountains, more concealed sources
of wealth, agricultural, mineral, and manufacturing, than
is to be found within a similar extent in any other portion
of the United States."
And the commission, composed of Gov. R. Y. Hayne,
Abraham Blanding, Patrick Noble, Thos. Smith, Thos. F.
Jones, and Charles Edmonston, to whom the foregoing was
addressed, in their report to the Knoxville Convention, July
5, 1836, after discussing the relative merits of the different
routes spoken of, say:
" It cannot be doubted that there is no route within the
limits of the existing charter, by which a railroad can be
carried across the Blue Ridge, that must not pass along the
valley of the French Broad River ; and the commissioners
are under j full conviction that this valley affords by far
the best channel of communication between the Ohio River
and the Atlantic Ocean. * * * From a careful explor¬
ation made by Capt. Williams, of the whole mountain range
within the limits of South Carolina, there does not appear,
in the opinion of that officer, to be any practicable route fof
a railroad, south of the Saluda Mountain."
These reports were made, as appears, to the Knoxville
Convention in 1836, at which time, it will be said, the " Blue
Ridge route " had not been surveyed This is true, though
a reconnoisance of that route had been made by Col. Dray¬
ton, but not reported on; and, to gratify Mr. Calhoun, and
quiet doubts, an instrumental survey was ordered by the
13
commissioners, under the supervision of Capt. Williams,
who, in his report to Gov. Hayne, dated December 11, 1836,
says:
" I have, therefore, directed the survey of the Gap in
question, and Mr. Drayton is now arduously engaged in as¬
certaining the necessary levels and measurements, to deter¬
mine its general adaptation to our object. I have, myself,
made a reconnoisance of it, accompanied by Mr. Calhoun,
whose views and conceptions were communicated to me, and
duly appreciated. I found on this, my second expedition,
that I had previously examined the precise point in ques¬
tion, that the ground passed over was step by step the same,
and that the impression was, therefore, erroneous, that I
had been, in the former instance, misled."
From the result of this survey of the Rabun Gap—now
" the Blue Ridge route "—Mr. Calhoun, and all others who
had advocated this route as practicable, abandoned it en¬
tirely for the French Broad route, as the sequel will show.
In December, 1836, Gov. Hayne, in his report to the
Legislature of South Carolina, after speaking of this route
through the Rabun Gap, and the survey of that pass then
being made, " reserving for a final report, to be made to the
Company when organized, a statement of the result of all
the surveys," and alluding to the French Broad route, ob¬
served, that he " Merely added such facts as serve to dem¬
onstrate that the proposed railroad is entirely practicable,
and may certainly be constructed across the mountains, with
an ascent at the maximum of not rhore than sixty feet in any
one mile, and without a single inclined plane or stationary en¬
gine. Should other routes prove to be still more favorable,
this will be so much gain to the Company."
Were other routes found "to be still more favorable?"—
We will see. This report, it will be remembered, was made
14
to the Legislature in December, 1836. In October, 1837,
a " general meeting of the stockholders " was held at Flat
Rock, N. C., in which convention Mr. Memminger was
prominent and, as usual on such subjects, warmly advoca¬
ted the prosecution of the great work to completion ; when
all other routes were unanimously, by that convention, aban¬
doned for the Butt Mountain Gap and the French Broad
route; and this, too, after the Rabun Gap, or " Blue Ridge
route" had been surveyed and reported on. In Gov.
Hayne's address to the stockholders and the public, com¬
municating the result of that meeting, he uses the following
truthful and unmistakable language :
" After a laborious and patient investigation, with all the
lights afforded, with the reports of the engineers and the di¬
rectors, the stockholders came, unanimously, to the conclu¬
sion, that a practicable and eligible route for the passage
of the Blue Ridge, at the Butt Mountain Gap, by locomotive
engines, had been found, and that by the valley of the French
Broad River this mountain pass, as they had every reason
to believe, was decidedly superior to every other to be found
within the limits of our charter, or, indeed, in the whole ex¬
tent of the mountain ranges dividing the Atlantic from the
Western States."
Addressing the citizens of Tennessee, and further on, he
says;
" Nature, too, has clearly pointed out the true route by
which your communications with the ocean may be most
easily effected. By the valley of the French Broad River,
where, for upwards of one hundred miles,' you encounter,
on an average, a rise of only eight feet to the mile, you at¬
tain the summit of the Blue Ridge at the Butt Mountain
Gap; from whence, by an easy descent, you reach the east¬
ern base of the mountains, and from thence find a level
15
country the whole way down to Charleston. By this route,
which is believed to be without a parallel 'in the topography
of the world, the mountains may be passed by locomotive
engines, surmounting an elevation of only 1054 feet, being
less than one-half of the elevations to be overcome on other
routes across the mountains."
NO. 3.
We propose to notice some of the numerous objections
urged by Mr. Memminger against the French Broad route,
and close the discussion. And in order to be distinctly un¬
derstood, we have noted these objections by numbers, from
one to seven, inclusive, adding our comments upon each ob¬
jection as they are presented. We have thought it unwise
to notice, except incidentally, his minor objection, which
would lead to a profitless and lengthy discussion.
Mr. Memminger, after expressions of sympathy, showing
a decided partiality for the French Broad route, urges,
amongst others, the following objections, to wit:
1. "But I am sorry to be obliged to confess that we have
lost the prize, and that we cannot now regain it."
This is like administering a poison for the antidote. We
would have been obliged to him if he had shown us when
and how we have lost the prize, and why we cannot now
regain it. Perhaps the Blue Ridge road has won it! The
facts do not warrant the conclusion.
2. "If this question were open, it could be demonstrated
that the Blue Ridge scheme is the better."
16
The demonstrable figure, we presume, is in having over
three miles of tunnelling, while we have none. We think
we have demonstrated that the French Broad scheme is the
better, by showing that the Blue Ridge Road will cost the
State over six millions of money, while the Ffench Broad
road will not cost (the State) exceeding two, and that it is
also by far the better route as to location.
3. "The French Broad route goes entirely too far to the
north and eastward for the present condition of things. It
has been shown that the competition of Richmond, Peters¬
burg and Norfolk, is the more serious the farther up the
Tennessee Valley you meet it."
Without pretending to understand what is meant by "the
present condition of things," we beg leave differ most de¬
cidedly with Mr. Memininger, as to the propriety of com¬
peting with Richmond, Petersburg and Norfolk. Competi¬
tion is the aim and end of all railroads ; and if, by the con¬
struction of one you compete with two sections of country
instead of one, it is an argument in our favor. We have
shown that the French Broad route is thirty miles the short¬
est to the Western trade, and fifty miles the shortest to the
Eastern trade. In speaking of which latter, Mr. Mem-
minger uses the following sensible argument:
" But when it is considered that the products of the Ten¬
nessee Valley are the same which reach Richmond from
Virginia and other quarters, it is evident that the carriage
thither is, as it were, taking coals to Newcastle ; while, on
the other hand, at Charleston there is no competition—the
market is clear, and the proximity of the sea, and the West
Indies particularly, furnishes an open door to the produce
which will come there for sale or shipment."
This argument is equally applicable to western Virginia
and eastern Tennessee.
17
4. " The existing charter of the French Broad route re¬
quire it to join the Tennessee rdad at Greenville, some
seventy miles nearer Richmond than Knoxville."
In this, Mr. Memminger is altogether mistaken; the
charter requires no such thing. The Company may build
to Greenville, but the amended charter of 1856, we believe,
authorizes them to commence construction at such point as
may suit their convenience, while the first section of the
original charter enacts as follows : " That for the purpose
of establishing a communication by railroad, from some of
the railroads now built, or in course of construction, in
.South Carolina, along the French Broad Valley across the
western portion of this State, so as to effect a direct com¬
munication between one of said roads in South Carolina
and the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad in East Ten¬
nessee, the formation of a Company is hereby authorized,
which, when formed, shall have corporate existence in each
of the States aforesaid," &c. Nothing more is contained
in the charter about the location of the road, and the Com¬
pany will connect with the East Tennessee and Virginia
Road at Morris Town, by means of the Cincinnati, Cum¬
berland Gap, and Charleston Railroad, some forty-two miles
from Knoxville, instead of Greenville—some seventy miles
from that point—as Mr. Memminger has erroneously stated,
and this correction will enable him to discover another error,
in which he says : " And the difference of distance to
Knoxville is, at last, only three miles in favor of the French
Broad route."
5. " But the French Broad route has another and an in¬
superable difficulty. The gauge of road adopted by North
Carolina differs from ours, and the charter granted by that
State insists upon her gauge. Our road, therefore, cannot
unite with it."
18
To the unsophisticated mind this objection might appear
" insuperable but to one like Mr. Memminger, whose
enlarged understanding and capacious mind is capable of
comprehending and elucidating at once the most extended
and intricate propositions, such an objection is not even re¬
spectable;, much less entitled to a serious thought. The
idea conveyed here is, that when road gauges agree, the
officers of different companies run their respective engines
and cars, with freight and passengers, over their neighbor's
track, and thus avoid change of cars and reshipment of
goods. No one knows better than does Mr. Memminger,
that this is not true; else, why does not the South Carolina,
Railroad Company run its engines and cars to Memphis,
Tennessee ? Occasionally one company may pass a car over
a neighboring road, but these are rare and special cases,
and not at all necessary to the success of businees. Is it
any objection to the Charlotte and Columbia Railroad that
it meets the North Carolina gauge at Charlotte, and, being
different, cannot " unite " with it? The Georgia Railroad,
the Western and Atlantic Railroad, the Central Railroad,
all " unite " at Atlanta, Ga., with the same gauge, and yet
passengers and freight are transhipped at that point; so
again, at Augusta; and in our own State, at Columbia, at
Allston, at Chester, at Kingsville, at Florence, and at
Charleston; and so it is everywhere. The difference in
gauge makes no material difference in the business of a
road ; and if it did, in this particular case, the "break bulk"
would be in South Carolina, where we could control the
trade. j
6. " Moreover," (this, of course, is an ending climax,)
" moreover, North Carolina stipulated that she shall have
the privilege of purchasing so much of our road as is in her
State, whenever she pleases."
19
If this were true, it would be difficult to perceive how
this "privilege " of buying a railroad could affect the rail¬
road itself, unless we can suppose the State would buy it to
destroy it! But it is not true ; the statement is too broadly
made—the result of a determination to kill the French
Broad route, and build up the Blue Ridge route at the ex¬
pense of the State. If Mr. Memminger will examine the
charter with his usual diligence, he will find that the State
of North Carolina only reserves the right to subscribe for
that portion of the road west of its junction with the North
Carolina CentralHoad. This junction will not be effected,
in all probability, east of Ashville, leaving about fifty miles
in that State under our coptrol; and it is quite as probable
the junction will be formed at Paint Rock. But should it be
at Ashville, or at the Butt Mountain, it might well be regard¬
ed as an advantage, to have such a customer as the State
of North Carolina, ready and willing to take the road off
our hands, at cost. It would give a par value to the stock,
for no stockholder would sell for less than par when he
knew the State would take it at par. Besides, all South
Carolina wants is a railroad, and if North Carolina will
build it, so much the better.
We have thus answered—and, it is believed, success¬
fully, too—all of Mr. Memminger's prominent objections
to the French Broad Railroad, but one ; and, as that is pecu¬
liar, we call especial attention to it, which, if true, none of
the others need have been urged. He says :
7. " If the Comparison be towards Chattanooga, which
is the true centre of this Western trade, the French Broad
route would have to bear the added disadvantage of all the
distance between Knoxville and Chattanooga, and this
seems to put an end to the comparison."
Will Mr. Memminger inform us how the Blue Ridge
20
road is to avoid " the added disadvantage of all the distance
between Knoxville and Chattanooga ?" Is not its western
terminus at Knoxville ? Then, how can it possess any ad¬
vantage over the French Broad route, whose western ter¬
minus is, also, at Knoxville ? At this point the two routes
terminate, and to this point the parallel is legitimate and
proper, but beyond this they are comparatively equal in all
respects—both passing their freights and passengers over
the same channels to Chattanooga, and at the same charges.
And since these are common to both routes, how can it be
said, in a spirit of liberal justice, that either route " would
have to bear the added disadvantage of all the distance be¬
tween Knoxville and Chattanooga?" We have sought in
vain for a plausibility in the assertion, and can find none.—
The issue is a false one, and whether it was so intended or
not, is calculated to deceive those who are not familiar with
localities, and to mislead the careless and unwary. It is
susceptable of no other solution. If the western terminus of
the Blue Ridge road was at Chattanooga, instead of Knox¬
ville, then it would possess the advantage claimed for it;
but as it is not, the disparagement is altogether groundless,
and unjust to the French Broad route.
We have thus presented our views of the point in issue,
and think we have demonstrated, beyond a doubt, that the
Blue Ridge Railroad, if finished, will cost the 'State over
$6,191,000. The French Broad route is the better, in point
of locality, and has the prestige of being the much cherished
Louisville, Cincinnati, and Charleston Railroad scheme,
which, in its time, had the unqualified sanction of every
distinguished mind in South Carolina, for being " decidedly
superior to every other route to be found in the whole ex¬
tent of moutain ranges dividing the Atlantic from the West¬
ern States and that to abandon the Blue Ridge road en-
21
tirely, as a State enterprise, for the French Broad route,
we will get a railroad across the mountains, upon the true
principle of State aid only, and at a clear saving to the
State (even considering the amount already subscribed to
the other route as entirely lost) of over three millions of
money.